July 8, 2008
Cambridge peregrinations
There has been precious little bird activity recently, save for a lone flyover Crossbill seen from my workplace. From time to time I jog down to Grantchester meadows, which is a great place to observe some of the commoner species such as Chaffinch...
Common Whitethroat...
... and Yellowhammer.
Banded demoiselles are frequently seen fluttering over the Cam. This female appears to have lost a leg.
Many of the Moorhens along the river now have chicks.
The first young Common Swifts have also fledged, and screaming family parties can now be seen over the city centre most evenings.
This male Kestrel, photographed through my kitchen window, was using the Pembroke library as a hunting perch.
I took advantage of a sunny weekend to survey 2km squares for the Cambs ladybird atlas. Adult ladybirds were relatively thin on the ground, with most of last year's adults already dead and the new generation only just appearing. I did reasonably well, getting three of the commoner small species (14, 22 and 24-spots, respectively)...
... and additionally one of our cryptic smaller species, Rhizobius litura.
During my surveys I came across a young pike at Dickerson's Pit, Milton CP.
Another survey designed to measure the changing abundance of deciduous tree-dwelling ladybirds along the Backs turned up a Pine Ladybird pupa, suggesting that this species has found a suitable food supply to reproduce on limes.
