Nature Notes April 2022

Date Published: 04-05-2022

A very dry month.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Common Gulls, Black headed Gulls, Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Tawny Owls, Wood Pigeons, Great Spotted/Green Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Siskins, Stonechats, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Blackbirds, Wrens, Goldcrest, Dunnocks, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Insects: Buff-tailed Bees plus other species, Bee-flies, Midges, Wasps, Flies, Five Spot Ladybird, Wood Lice, Ants.
Mammals: Grey Squirrel, Foxes, Mole activity, Pipistrelle Bats, Soprano Pipistrelle Bats, Hedgehogs.
Butterflies/Moths: Brimstone, Large White, Peacocks, Orange Tips, Comma, Speckled Wood.
Plants in flower/berry: Common Gorse, Wild Cherry, Amelanchier, Broom, Laurel, Catkin, Dandelion, Bog Myrtle, Celandine, Ribes.
Pond Life: Pond Skaters, Whirlygig Beetles. Common Newt.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Small Red.

The nesting season is well under way; both Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were heard calling for mates in several locations on site.
A number of Hedgehogs were caught on camera from mid-April.
Bats seen and detected by night devices on warm evenings.
Grey Squirrels were observed eating the new shoots on trees and bushes, particularly Oak.

Recorders: C. Wilcox, K. Wilcox

SITE MANAGEMENT
A work party convened on 26thApril and continued the removal of rubbish and debris from the ditch behind Hazel Drive as well as clearing encroaching vegetation from the bank.