Monday 8th to Saturday 13th June
Another week with little of interest bird-wise. The recent rain has meant that the floods at least exist again and there seems to be quite a bit of insect life on the surface. However I do wonder how attractive it is to waders as the margins consist of churned up mud and it doesn't look that appealing to me at least. On the Meadow there are still plenty of wood pigeons, starlings, corvids and recently quite a few juvenile pied wagtails so there has been some breeding success with that species. House martins and swallows continue to hawk over the Meadow in good numbers and linnets can often be heard and seen flying about the place. To the north skylarks are still singing and there are still a few black-headed gulls dotted about the place. It shows how bad things are when a lone lesser black-backed gull one day was a point of interest!
In Burgess Field the usual summer breeders are still going about their business of raising their families so there is not so much bird song though on Friday in the south east corner a singing male blackcap spurred a nearby male to start singing which then got a nearby garden warbler going as well. A kestrel was seen hunting over the north end one day. One can always rely on whitethroats and reed buntings to be singing on any visit and the green woodpecker has been seen a few times recently.
On the butterfly front in the grasses the main species are still large skipper and small heath whilst around the margins there are the odd tortoiseshell, speckled wood about. I know even less about moths than I do about butterflies but there seemed to be a hatch of five-spot burnets with loads of them feeding on the clover on Friday. There are also lots of common heath moths to be found in amongst the grasses.
The first returning green sandpipers are now starting to be seen in the county so with any luck things will start to pick up soon though whether the Meadow will attract much in its present state remains to be seen.
Addendum:
A late addition to the week was a LITTLE EGRET on the Meadow (OOS - MBG). It shows how quiet things are when this bird easily gets the "Bird of the Week" award!
One of the many Five-Spot Burnets that were out and about today © Adam Hartley
A Large Skipper © Adam Hartley
In Burgess Field the usual summer breeders are still going about their business of raising their families so there is not so much bird song though on Friday in the south east corner a singing male blackcap spurred a nearby male to start singing which then got a nearby garden warbler going as well. A kestrel was seen hunting over the north end one day. One can always rely on whitethroats and reed buntings to be singing on any visit and the green woodpecker has been seen a few times recently.
On the butterfly front in the grasses the main species are still large skipper and small heath whilst around the margins there are the odd tortoiseshell, speckled wood about. I know even less about moths than I do about butterflies but there seemed to be a hatch of five-spot burnets with loads of them feeding on the clover on Friday. There are also lots of common heath moths to be found in amongst the grasses.
The first returning green sandpipers are now starting to be seen in the county so with any luck things will start to pick up soon though whether the Meadow will attract much in its present state remains to be seen.
Addendum:
A late addition to the week was a LITTLE EGRET on the Meadow (OOS - MBG). It shows how quiet things are when this bird easily gets the "Bird of the Week" award!
One of the many Five-Spot Burnets that were out and about today © Adam HartleyA Large Skipper © Adam Hartley