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 […]
Despite restrictions, our fantastic Wildwatch team have continued to collect wildlife data for us throughout the pandemic, whether out on their daily exercise or meeting up to do socially distant sessions (when allowed). This has been incredibly useful for us as it means we still have weekly records of the wide range of wildlife found […]
Highlights An early winter visitor…20 new invertebrate species recorded…a great summer for hoverflies. Weather Except for one warm sunny day in June, indifferent and cloudy (though dry) weather greeted most Wildwatch mornings until mid-July, after which Britain’s long hot summer dominated our Wednesday walks until the last two meetings of August which were duller. […]
Highlights Greenfinches bounce back… eight new invertebrates…tiny member of the Rose family. Weather Wildwatch weather at St Nicks from the beginning of March to the end of May reflected the national picture, with both plant life and insect emergence held back by the cold late start of Spring. In March early frosts were followed by […]
Highlights The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la!).. the year’s first butterflies appear, and the Harlequinade begins.. mewing in the air and creeping in the garden! Weather Temperatures started to creep up during the month, starting with a cool 4C on the 1st and reaching 11C later on subsequent Wildwatch Wednesdays. There were some […]
Highlights: new arrival, emerging hibernators, and the flowers that bloom in the spring.. Birds Our resident birding enthusiast was absent for all but one of the Wildwatch walks during March, so it is no surprise that after February’s two broken species records, nothing so exciting happened on the five Wednesdays of March. Our total species […]
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 Winter & summer birds overlap; striking autumn colours; shieldbugs still bugging, but butterflies have flown Weather Temperatures were generally in the low teens. The 14th was the only Wednesday with any sunshine, whilst on the 28th, heavy rain curtailed the Wildwatch activity after about an hour. Otherwise, conditions were dry, if a little soggy […]
Highlights: Prolific fungi, fox & cubs (!), scarce visitor to the Environment Centre plus a new pair of birds, and lots of little creatures skulking under logs and stones. Weather: Temperatures ranged from a minimum of 7C to a max of 11C. Mainly cloudy on Wildwatch Wednesdays, but a sunny day on the 5th and rain […]