SKYLARK SUE’S REFLECTIONS OF NATURE

AUGUST 2014

 

Kingfisher at Rye Meads

 



Scruffy, moulting male blackbird



 

Young great tit

 



Young robin just beginning to get its colour



 

Female house sparrows

 



Young blue tit

August 1st was warm though not as hot as it has been of late. The garden was filled with birds, including families of blue tits and great tits, a young robin, sparrows, blackbirds, collared doves and wood pigeons. There were also white and peacock butterflies, whilst on the following day, one of my favourite butterflies, the red admiral, graced our buddleia with its presence. On the 4th, a speckled wood butterfly was sunning itself on the side of the birdbath, sparrows were basking in the sunshine against a blue sky and a young starling was just beginning to get his adult spots. This is the first year that we have grown teasels in the garden but so far, they haven’t attracted any goldfinches, which was the aim. However, I have grown fascinated by the symmetry and beauty of these strange plants, and find that I am constantly photographing them. I find them stunning.

 

 

Red admiral on Buddeleia

 

This stunning speckled wood was sunning itself on the bird bath

 

Male house sparrow



Starling beginning to get its spots



 

Young blackbird

 



Teasel



Hungry blue tit

 



Bathing robin

 



There was a bathing robin, a hungry blue tit and several sparrows in the garden on the 7th. The blue tit – and I am positive it was the same bird – kept coming down, and then spending several minutes on the feeder. Normally, they take a few seeds or some fat and fly off quickly.  On the following day we were very pleased to see a few long-tailed tits mixed in with a small flock of blue tits. Interestingly, although they frequently go around together, the blue tits can be quite belligerent with the long-tailed tits, often trying to keep them from the feeders. A robin was singing sweetly – we have heard it for a few days now. It’s good to hear the bird song, as most birds cease singing in late spring, after the breeding season and during the moult. Over the next couple of days the birds, especially the tits, kept coming down, and on the 10th there was a large moth in the garden one evening.

Unidentified moth

Great tit



Great tit and blue tit

August the 10th was designated as ‘Hen Harrier Day’ by Mark Avery and Chris Packham, who organised a peaceful protest against the persecution of these majestic birds which are often illegally killed by gamekeepers, and are now an exceedingly rare sight in Britain. The aim was to have peaceful protests across the north of England, where the birds have their stronghold. Unfortunately, it was much too far for me to travel, and so my daughter and I were photographed with a poster ‘We’re Missing Our Hen Harriers’, which was posted on a website alongside hundreds of others and taken along to the event, so that those who couldn’t make it still felt in some way involved.

Probably Buff Ermine moth caterpillar

Mint moth on mint!

Mint attracts many insects such as this bee

Even the humble green bottle is beautiful when you look carefully

On the 13th a hairy caterpillar, which I believe was buff ermine moth caterpillar, was, rather strangely, on some leaves near our pond. There was a mint moth around – on the mint, which was useful for id purposes - and many other insects including bees and flies.

Chris Packham at the Bird Fair



With Mike Dilger

The 15th of August saw me at the Rutland Birdfair, an annual event jointly organised by the RSPB and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. For me – and for many others who attended – the highlight was a talk given by naturalist Chris Packham about the Malta Massacre of migrating birds (see Reflections of Nature April). His talk was so powerful, especially as he had brought along people that worked with him or that he met in Malta, that it touched our hearts and, as far as I am aware, it was the first Bird Fair talk ever to receive a standing ovation. As is usual at the Bird Fair, there was plenty to see and do, and the marquees were filled with stands from various wildlife organisations, artists, book sellers, wild life products. Often you could see celebrities from various wildlife programmes, too. I managed to chat to Chris Packham and Milke Dilger during the day. When we returned home my husband told me that earlier in the day he had heard a noise in the house, looked around and found a robin nearby. It had obviously entered through the slightly open kitchen door. The robin was quite calm, and after my husband had opened both front and back doors, confidently made its way back outside. On the 16th, we were extremely pleased to see a wren in the garden. We do get them from time to time but, rather like dunnocks, they tend to keep themselves to themselves, and stay in the undergrowth. We have introduced quite a bit of ivy into the garden lately, and also have quite an impressive growth of ivy around the trunk of the apple tree; maybe it is attracting wrens because it provides good cover, and also attracts small insects. Ivy creates hiding places for overwintering insects, too.

Heron

Cormorant

Green Sandpipers

Young Moorhen



Kingfisher



Kingfisher



Kestrel

A trip to the RSPB nature reserve at Rye Meads on the 18th was rewarding. We had excellent views of a kingfisher from the Kingfisher hide. The bird was perched on a branch sticking up from the water, and was there for several minutes before flying off. Later it returned, but seemed reluctant to enter the nest hole as a large heron was nearby. The kingfishers are believed to be incubating their fourth brood. For me this was a personal highlight, as although I have spotted kingfishers in the past I had never before managed to photograph one. I’ve usually seen them as a flash of turquoise light. Other birds sighted that day at the reserve included green sandpipers, cormorants, kestrel, blue tits, coots, mallard, gadwall – the females’ white flashes making them easy to recognise when mixed in with the other ‘brown ducks’ – lapwing , swans with young, Canada geese, black-headed gulls, moorhens and long-tailed tits. Due to the warmth of July combined with the August rain, there seems to be an abundant crop of berries and fruits, and we even noticed some early fungi. There was a particularly attractive specimen of a speckled wood butterfly resting on one of the paths.



Female Gadwall

The following day we were at Hatfield Forest, but there were not so many sightings as usual – there were some mallards on the lake, but no sign of the grebes. A grey squirrel was posing on a fence, tail curled over its back, while a female blackbird was perched in an elder bush, enjoying the berries.  A red admiral butterfly was trying to sunbathe in the weak sun on some mud, while on the grass an extremely tatty gatekeeper was doing the same thing.

Female blackbird on elder

Grey squirrel

Plenty of insects around



Red Admiral



Tattered Gatekeeper

That evening there was a frog in the pond again, so hopefully we are seeing a return of these now vulnerable amphibians.

Frog amongst the duckweed

 On the 21st there was a small flock of sparrows in the garden and bathing in the fountain, and on the 23rd back came the long-tailed tits, as well as a grey squirrel. There was a young newt in the pond. Various birds were around, including several tits, and by now there really was a change for the worst with the weather – on the 25th it was cold and poured with rain all day, and the following day it was chilly. Between the showers over the next few days, the bees, blue tits and long tailed tits still frequented the garden, though there was little sun.

Young smooth newt



Long-tailed tits

Blue tit and Long-tailed tit



Blue tit

Leaf-cutter bee

Young barn owls

Mackinders eagle owl

On the last day of the month, with the weather slightly brighter, we had a lovely bonus when on a trip to our local garden centre the Epping Owl Rescue was outside, with a selection of owls including barn, Asian Wood and burrowing as well as a box containing four young barn owls. Back home, there was a red admiral in the garden – I have noticed many more of these butterflies about this year; their dramatic black, red and white colouring really appeals to me. There was also a pretty pale yellow/green spider, which I identified as a female flower crab spider and which posesses chamaeleon abilities. In the front garden was a large garden spider that had trapped a bee. In fact, I noticed that several garden spiders had managed to catch bees in their webs.  

Female flower crab spider

Garden spider with bee

August turned out to be a changeling month – after the heat and sunshine of July, the weather gradually deteriorated. Considering the time of year, the wet and quite chilly weather over the last weeks were really unexpected.

Sunflower - the iconic summer flower