Nature Watch

Although the end of April into early May was a cold period with heavy rain and thunderstorms, the past few weeks have been fair with warm sunshine. This has given a much needed kick - start to the season. Insects are much in evidence now, providing food for the many species of birds which rely on them for feeding hungry young.

SIGHTINGS

Hazelwood - Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Chaffinches, Magpies, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Coal/Great/Blue/Long Tailed Tits, Song Thrush, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Jays, Slow Worms and Grass Snakes. Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, Orange Tip and Brimstone butterflies. Celandine. Thyme Leaved Speedwell, Garlic Mustard and Broom plants in flower.

Wet Wood - Song Thrush, Blackbirds, Robins, Coal/Great/Blue/Long Tailed Tits, Chiff Chaffs, Nuthatches, Jays, Sparrowhawk, Speckled Wood butterfly, Female Roe Deer, Bog Beacon fungi.

Heath - Buzzards, Stonechats, Dartford Warblers, Tree Pipits, Jays, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Wrens, Mistle Thrush, Marsh Harrier, Mallard Ducks, Small Heath and Brimstone butterflies, Lousewort plants in flower and a young Adder.

Boardwalk - Chiff Chaffs, Great Tits, Wrens, Heron, Swallow, Raft Spiders, Common Lizards, Newts, Great Diving Beetles, Pond Skaters.

A pair of Tree Pipits have returned from migration and can be seen and heard on the central heathland.

A Marsh Harrier flew over the site, South West to North East, on 20th April.

Mistle Thrushes have been observed in the Beaufoys Plantation, just to the left of the Redwood Drive entrance.

A pair of Chiff Chaffs have built a nest to the right of the East end bridge at the Boardwalk. Keep a look out for them when feeding of young commences.

The call of a Cookoo was heard from the North Woodland fringe on 11th May.

Many of the nesting boxes are in use with parent birds busy visiting with food for their young. Several early broods have already fledged..

The first Bat detection reading was taken on 25th April on a milder night. Pipistrelle Bats were also recorded visually.

Watch out for young Grass Snakes swimming in the stream bordering Hazelwood.


Recordings by Christine Wilcox

Nature Fact

Female Pipistrelle Bats will be actively looking for nursery sites during May to birth and raise their young. They selected a mate last September, hibernated from October to April delaying fertilisation until the warmer Spring weather. They give birth in the Summer.

Site Management

Encroaching aquatic plants were cleared from the Wet Wood stream at the East end bridge. Posts installed ahead of fencing off a small area adjacent to the Beaufoys Plantation fence line. This is to ensure the recently cropped gorse bushes are not trampled underfoot thereby enabling the young growth to flourish

Events

A Nature Observation walk led by George Dunkling took place on 27th April, just after a thunderstorm! Quiz poems and factual information featured. Fourteen people attended.