Nature Notes August/September 2025
Date Published: 06-10-2025
Mostly dry, warm and sunny weather with cooler nights during last two weeks of September.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, CarrionCrows, Magpies, Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, Tawny Owls, WoodPigeons, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Great Spotted Woodpeckers,Stonechats, Siskins, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Blackbirds, Song Thrush,Robin, Wren, Goldcrests, Dunnocks, Chaffinches, Greenfinches,Bullfinch, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Pipistrelle Bats, Mole activity, Fox.
Insects: Common Green Grasshopper, Field Cricket, Garden Spider,
Midges, Black Ants, Woodlice, Buff tailed Bees, Species of Flies andBees.
Butterflies/Moths: Large White, Peacock, Brimstone, MeadowBrown, Holly Blue, Silver-studded Blue, Red Admiral, SpeckledWood.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Common Darter, Broad Bodied Chaser,Southern Hawker, Small Red.
Pond Life: Whirlygig Beetles, Backswimmers, Pond Skaters.
Plants (in Flower/Berry): Cotton Grass, Rowan, Holly, Ivy, Blackberry, Crocosmia, Bell Heather, Ling, Cross-leaved Heath, White Pond Lily, Low growing Gorse.
A few Silver-studded Blue Butterflies still seen in the second week of August.
Bat readings identified movement up to the end of September.
Single and small groups of Chiffchaffs were seen on site, in readiness for migration, returning to African countries to over Winter.
Recorders: C Wilcox K Wilcox
NATURE FACT
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is both the most numerous and widespread of all our Woodpeckers, occurring in almost all areas where there are suitable trees. With its pied plumage and scarlet patches, it is a conspicuous bird. Its normal year-round call, a harsh and far-carrying `tchack`, or its staccato breeding-season drumming, quickly draw attention to its presence. Its deeply undulating method of flight, too, is conspicuous and characteristic consisting of a few flaps of the rounded wings, followed by a deep swooping glide, before the next series of flaps helps it gain height again.
Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker Image by K Wilcox
