The wildlife of St Nicks buzzed and bloomed in May as always, regardless of human troubles. The regular group of Wildwatch volunteers could not, of course, meet up as usual for their weekly walk around the reserve. But a few of us could enjoy St Nicks during our legally-sanctioned local walks. We recorded what wildlife […]
Highlights A mouse and a mouse-like bird.. best month ever for hoverflies.. we seek him here, we seek him there – but we didn’t find him! Weather Dry, 16C – 20C with some sun on the first three Wildwatch Wednesdays.. rain on the 26th. Birds Our summer visitors were recorded every Wednesday in July. At […]
Wednesday afternoons throughout July were generally overcast yet it was still very warm with temperatures around 20 degrees most weeks, though the 26th was slightly cooler at 17 degrees. Still, we had a very successful month and came across lots of exciting species. Birds Around the pond this month, we were not disappointed by our […]
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 Cool damp weather suppresses butterflies, and other insects.. birds defending their breeding territories.. trees & bushes reach their flowering peak. Weather Temperatures remained low throughout most of the month.. around 10 – 12 C, although a mainly sunny day on the 4th saw the thermometer climbing to 18C. We had intermittent rain on the […]
Highlights A Southern Hawker Dragonfly on the Butterfly Path, well away from water.. one of the most poisonous moths in Britain photographed.. another two sightings of an increasingly rare (for St Nicks) warbler.. loads more butterflies.. lots of juvenile birds.. and an increasingly rich flower meadow! Weather A very wet start to the month on the […]
Highlights Evidence of Water Voles breeding.. Sightings of Garden Warbler and Whitethroat.. Nine species of butterflies seen in the month.. First damselflies of the year seen. Weather Dry for the first three Wildwatch Wednesdays, with some sunshine, and temperatures rising to 23C on the 14th. The final Wednesday was very wet, which depressed sightings of birds and […]
Weather: hot, humid, mainly sunny Observers: Amanda, Cliff, Declan, Janetta, Kaye, Linda, Maigen, Mike, Tracey In similar conditions to last week’s, except possibly even hotter and more airless, birds continued to be hard to find, one or two plants are experiencing a very short flowering season, but there were clouds of butterflies and small insects. […]
Weather: Sunny intervals, light breeze, warm in the sunshine – 15C to 19C Observers: Amanda, Carrie, Declan, Ian, Janetta, Kaye, Paul, Rosemary, Tim, Tracy A good turn-out of ten people today, with four new people joining in the group walk. We split into two parties, with Kaye and Janetta taking Amanda, Paul and Tracy on […]
Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis Whitethroats are members of the Warbler family, visiting Britain only in the summer to nest and breed. They are a tiny bird, smaller than a House Sparrow, but they have a very distictive, scratchy, warbling song. You can hear the […]