Sunday 31st May to Sunday 7th June
It was another quiet week on Port Meadow with the floods becoming completely dried up though the recent rain has now topped them up again. The grass is starting to reclaim much of the exposed mud again. There are still lots of buttercups in full blood and the Meadow is looking very pretty.
An evening walk around Burgess Field at the start of the week found a few bats flying around and a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER reeling quietly. I've not heard these delightful birds during the day for some time now so it seems that dusk is now the only time to hear them. I also disturbed a badger in one of the hedgerows and got a brief glimpse of it before it scurried off. There was also a family of animals of some kind, perhaps foxes, making little yelping noises near the railway bridge.
There are plenty of house martins hawking over the dried up mud. I was wondering whether there were more insects over the mud than over the rest of the grass. Occasionally SAND MARTINS are also seen in amongst them. The swallows tend to stay closer to the river and I presume that they are nesting around there somewhere. The resident and summer breeders were all about and busy feeding their young: green finches, linnets, gold finches, chaffinches, reed buntings, all the warblers including the CETTI'S WARBLER still, magpies, crows and pied wagtails are all about. A COMMON TERN was seen flying over the Meadow on one occasion, presumably going from the canal to the river. There are lots of wood pigeons feeding on the Meadow and on one day I counted over a hundred of them. The black-headed gulls seem largely to have left now as well though there are usually one or two still about. There was a very cute family of young magpies about at the bottom of Walton Well road one morning and a fledgling robin was seen in the Trap Grounds.
There are quite a few butterflies about in Burgess Field at present. There were lots of speckled woods along the eastern end near the railway and the grasses are full of small butterflies and months. I managed to identify some small heaths and large skippers. A small tortoiseshell was also seen as well as one or two straggler painted ladies.
There are lots of rabbits around within Burgess Field including plenty of young ones © Adam Hartley
An evening walk around Burgess Field at the start of the week found a few bats flying around and a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER reeling quietly. I've not heard these delightful birds during the day for some time now so it seems that dusk is now the only time to hear them. I also disturbed a badger in one of the hedgerows and got a brief glimpse of it before it scurried off. There was also a family of animals of some kind, perhaps foxes, making little yelping noises near the railway bridge.
There are plenty of house martins hawking over the dried up mud. I was wondering whether there were more insects over the mud than over the rest of the grass. Occasionally SAND MARTINS are also seen in amongst them. The swallows tend to stay closer to the river and I presume that they are nesting around there somewhere. The resident and summer breeders were all about and busy feeding their young: green finches, linnets, gold finches, chaffinches, reed buntings, all the warblers including the CETTI'S WARBLER still, magpies, crows and pied wagtails are all about. A COMMON TERN was seen flying over the Meadow on one occasion, presumably going from the canal to the river. There are lots of wood pigeons feeding on the Meadow and on one day I counted over a hundred of them. The black-headed gulls seem largely to have left now as well though there are usually one or two still about. There was a very cute family of young magpies about at the bottom of Walton Well road one morning and a fledgling robin was seen in the Trap Grounds.
There are quite a few butterflies about in Burgess Field at present. There were lots of speckled woods along the eastern end near the railway and the grasses are full of small butterflies and months. I managed to identify some small heaths and large skippers. A small tortoiseshell was also seen as well as one or two straggler painted ladies.
There are lots of rabbits around within Burgess Field including plenty of young ones © Adam Hartley