I've been covering the patch on a regular basis recently but still managed to miss the best bird (an Osprey over the fisheries on the 11th). None the less locally nesting
Buzzards and plenty of
Red Kites have kept the ball rolling. I'm still attempting to track down where/if the
Kestrels are breeding but I have strong suspicion they are as I've seen pairs together carrying food. A walk down to the canal produced my first
Holly Blue of the year along with
3 Pruple Hairstreaks chasing each other around at the highest point in the canopy of Mercey's Wood.
Marbled White and
Small Tortoiseshell seem to be having their best ever year on patch and there are good numbers of both
Comma and
Large Skipper on the wing, although the blues have yet to emerge. I year ticked
Gatekeeper on the 7th and have since seen them in good numbers all over patch.
Birds of interest have included the first returning
Pochard on the KL Fisheries lake, a single
Common Tern on the 9th and two on the 11th.
The KL School playing field has certainly reaped rewards in terms of quantity with a single warm afternoon noting a total 193+ birds using just the one field! The majority constituting
Starlings but there were families of
Mistle Thrushes,
Pied Wagtails,
Greenfinches and
Green Woodpeckers making use of the short grass to access the inverts below. Farmland species still surviving in the area include
Linnets,
Yellowhammers and
Kestrels although I'm not sure how much longer any of them will remain given recent population trends.
I also found the hollowed-out remains of a Signal Crayfish at the side of the canal, unfortunately confirming their presence in the local waterways.
Signal Crayfish
No comments:
Post a Comment