Even though this January was the coldest the UK has seen in 10 years, our brilliant Wildwatch team were undeterred by the chilly conditions and still spent lots of time at St Nicks, observing and recording as much wildlife as they could find. Below are some of the team’s highlights for the month. Gorse shieldbugs […]
Wildlife at St Nicks has been flourishing this spring. Wildwatch volunteers would normally be meeting every week to record – and enjoy – this. Alas, this is impossible right now. However, several Wildwatchers have been able to visit individually and share their sightings with us all. And of course staff members continue to do essential […]
New life sprung forth this March at St Nicks – as always. Despite inevitable difficulties, the Wildwatch team was still able to enjoy some great wildlife sightings. Wildwatch groups met as usual on the Wednesday mornings of the 4th and 11th of March – seventeen of us on the latter date. (What a long time ago this […]
Highlights Rare mammal sighting.. visiting Winter geese and an early Summer visitor.. camouflage in the Environment Centre Pond.. and a tiny, tiny new plant! Weather A colder than usual three months (December to February) with many frosty mornings and, especially after Christmas, several snowy ones, meant that wildwatching at St Nicks was a rather chilly […]
Highlights Over-wintering summer visitor? .. skulking rail still present.. blank on Shieldbugs..return of Water Vole.. Lemon Disco! Weather Not surprisingly, temperatures fell throughout the month. 12C was recorded on 7th December, falling to 2C on the 28th, the latter day being bright, sunny and “nithering”! Birds The long-staying Water Rail was seen on all four […]
Highlights St Nicks bird records broken – twice! 24 months of Shieldbug records. Spring flowers start to emerge. Weather Mainly sunny and calm on Wildwatch Wednesdays, apart from the 17th, with temperatures between 2C and 8C Birds Who says that February is a boring month? This month, the St Nicks Wildwatch bird species record was […]
Highlights Tiny winter visitor makes a brief appearance.. What’s shiny, rough, smooth and pygmy?.. Spring under way with male and female flowers showing. Weather Temperatures remained seasonally low, between 2C and 7C, but dry and mainly calm on the Wildwatch Wednesdays. The Boxing Day floods continued to ensure high water levels on both the […]
Highlights Late summer, early spring for plants.. several scarce St Nicks birds seen.. edible or deadly poisonous – we didn’t dare test.. Weather Generally mild (10 – 13C) and cloudy, with some sunshine on some days. But on 26th and 27th, the floods came, due to the problems with the Foss Flood Barrier. Large areas of the […]
Highlights First summer bird visitor returns.. insects slow to awake in cold month but first hoverflies of the year seen, then a butterfly.. trees in flower! Weather Temperatures stayed around 7C on all four Wildwatch Wednesdays, but managed to creep up to 10C later on the 25th. Most days were sunny, or had sunny intervals, and […]
Highlights Snowdrops everywhere.. Water skulker and Tree “mouse” return.. a February shieldbug first, and a semaphoring fly! Weather Snow showers greeted us on the 4th, with a chilly 1C. But during the month, temperatures slowly rose and we had bright days on the 18th and 25th. Birds Last month’s statement that the December Water Rail […]