Another warm dry month with days of prolonged sunshine. The airwaves were full of bird song and the warmth bought forth a multitude of wildlife.
SIGHTINGS
Birds: Jays, Hooded Crows, Magpies, Buzzards, Black-headed Gulls, Heron, Sparrowhawk, Wood Pigeon, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Chiffchaffs, Pair of Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Robins, Wrens, Blackbirds, Blackcaps, Song Thrushes, Pair of Mistle Thrush, Goldcrests, Dunnocks, Siskins, Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Coal/Blue/Great/Long Tailed Tits, Pair of Stonechats and Dartford Warblers, Tree Pipits, a Cuckoo heard calling from beyond the north of the Reserve.
Plants/Trees: Gorse, Violets, Primrose, Flowering Currant, Rowan all in flower.
Butterflies/Moths: Large/Small White, Orange Tip, Comma, Peacock, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, Heath Moth.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Small Red Damselfly.
Beetles: Green Tiger Beetle, Ground Beetle, Gorse Weevil, 7 Spot Ladybird, 20 Spot Ladybird, Burying Beetle.
Bugs: Gorse Shield Bug, Pine Cone Bug, Common Flower Bug, Mirid Bug, Ground Hopper, Bristletail, Springtail.
Spiders: Clubiona corticalis, Zora spinimana, Crab Spider, Wolf Spider, Hunting Spider, Money Spider, Raft Spider, Pirate Spider.
Insects: Owl Midge, Black-banded Spider Wasp, Common Wasp, Nomad Bee, St. Mark’s Fly.
Reptiles: Adders, Grass Snakes, Slow Worms (legless Lizard) Common Lizards.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Moles, Roe Deer, Wood Mice, Pipistrelle Bats.
After returning from Africa, arriving in mid-April, three singing male Tree Pipits plus several females were heard and seen - the highest number since our monitors have been recording.
A marked increase in numbers of singing male Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps on the perimeter of the Reserve.
Pipistrelle Bats recorded flying at dusk from the second week in April.
