Highlights More breeding bird evidence, including juvenile Blackcaps.. 10 butterfly and 18 hoverfly species.. meadow now carpeted with colourful flowers (and the flower that looks like a bee!) Weather Temperatures stayed below 20C on all the Wildwatch Wednesdays. Sunny intervals and light breezes for the first two Wednesdays. The final Wildwatch of June – the […]
Highlights Record number of hoverflies (including 4 new to St Nicks); scarce summer bird visitor returns (and two stunning juvenile water birds); the magnificent big yellow “L”! Weather Temperatures ranged from 14C to 19C. Some sun (especially on the 3rd and 10th). We stayed dry! Birds On the 3rd, A Whitethroat sang all morning near […]
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 […]
(European) Robin Erithacus rubecula Perhaps the UK’s favourite bird, the Robin is familiar to most people, with its reddish throat and breast, and confiding manner. Its song is perhaps less familiar than its appearance. You can hear the song by clicking here. It might sound a […]
Weather: Cloudy at first, then sunny. Little wind. 5C to 11C Observers: Eithne, Ian, Kaye, Kaj, Linda Last week, our blog headline was “Has Spring Been Cancelled?”. What a change this week! It felt pleasantly warm, especially when the sun was shining. And there were signs of Spring everywhere. This resulted in several “firsts” for […]
Weather: Early snow shower cleared to lead to sunny intervals. Cold, Northerly breeze. 2 to 3C. Observers: Ian, Kaye, Kaj Ian went for his usual pre-Wildwatch stroll round Osbaldwick Beck, but was soon driven back to the Environment Centre by a short, heavy snow shower. Then he and Kaye set off early, and covered the North-Eastern […]
Weather: Sunny intervals, short blustery showers, fresh to strong N wind, 8C (felt colder in wind) Observers: Doug, Ian, Janetta, Jim, Kaye, Kaj, Steve, Tim A good turn-out of eight people today, with Doug and Jim coming along for the first time. The recently-melted snow had swollen the two becks, with Tang Hall Beck being particularly full. […]
Weather: Drizzle for first half hour, then just overcast. Cool. Very light breeze. Poor light Observers: Ian, Kaye, Janetta The weather might have been dull for this, the first Wildwatch of 2013, but in the bird song and behaviour, and in some of the plant life, there were some promises of the Spring which will […]
Weather: Overcast, some drizzle, cool breeze. Observers: Carrie, Ginny, Ian, Kaye, Kaj, Linda A rather damp start to our walk, but not as wet as we thought it might be! Water levels in both becks had dropped over the past week, but there was still a good flow of water through both of them. There […]
In cold, still, sunny weather, ten visitors joined Ivana and three Wildwatch regulars to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We decided we had enough confident observers to cover seven different areas of the reserve, including the Environment Centre garden. Between us we found 20 species – not quite as high as on […]