Nature Notes September 2018

Date Published: 01-10-2018

The weather during September was dry on the whole, with one weekend in particular
being very windy and wet. The feel of the arrival of an early Autumn, as many plants
were already fading and leaves falling.
SIGHTINGS
Birds: Carrion Crows, Buzzards, Jays, Magpies, Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls,
Heron, Tawny Owls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Sparrowhawk, Chaffinches,
Bull Finches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Goldcrest, Siskins, Nuthatches,
Treecreepers, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins,
Dunnocks, Willow Warbler.
Mammals: Badgers, Fox, Roe Deer, Hedgehogs, Pipistrelle Bats, Grey Squirrels, Wood
Mice, Common Shrew, Common Bank Vole.
Butterflies/Moths: Brimstone, Large White, Small White., Species of day flying
Moths.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Small Red, Emperer.
Fungi: Bay Bolete.
Plants in flower: Rowan Berries, Holly Berries, Ling Heather, Low growing Gorse, Bell
Heather, Cross-leaved Heath.
Pond Life: Pond Skaters, Common Frog.
Insects: Flies, Midges, Orb/Sheet Web Spiders, Wasps, Bees, Hover Flies.
Two Badgers were caught on a trail camera, in the same image, lured in by provided
peanuts.
Three Hedgehogs seen at the same time, in one location, where food was provided.
On dewy damp mornings, spiders webs were seen clearly, with the moisture droplets.
The majority of migratory birds departed during the month.
The first of the Autumn fungi appeared.

Recorder:  C Wilcox

NATURE FACT
Badgers spend most of the day out of sight, underneath a sloping area covered with
plenty of undergrowth. Inside this hidden lair they either rest of are busy digging to
improve and enlarge their chamber and passages. At dusk they are up and about
playing; hunting for earthworms, insects and small mammals; airing bedding or
collecting new bedding for the sett.

SITE  MANAGEMENT

The work party  continued  clearing scrub and young trees from the bog near the boardwalk in an effort to get an area cleared here before water levels on the bog begin to rise.   The material  cut was dragged and stacked ready for a bonfire later in the year.