Nature Notes June

The month started off with unsettled weather producing a mixture of wet, windy, cooler with showers, but ended with warm sunnier days with the occasional downpour of heavy rain. Another quiet month for observations.

SIGHTINGS
Birds: Feral/Wood Pigeons, Jays, Magpies, Carrion Crows, Black-headed/Herring Gulls, Buzzards, Blackbirds, Robins, Song/Mistle Thrushes, Dunnocks, Wrens, Coal/Long –tailed/Blue/Great Tits, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Great Spotted/Green Woodpeckers, Siskins, Blackcaps, Nuthatch, Tree Pipit, Nightjar, Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers.
Plants in flower: Cut-leaved Geranium, Blackberries, Cotton Grass, Common Helleborine, Heather/Ling – Cross-leaved, Bell.
Fungi: Yellow Brain.
Reptiles/Amphibians: Common Lizards.
Insects: Pond Skaters.
Dragonfly: Broad Bodied.
Damselflies: Small Red, Common Blue, Banded Demoiselle.
Mammals: Pipistrelle Bats, Grey Squirrels.
Butterflies: Speckled Wood, Small White, Silver Studded Blue, Small Skipper. A number of different species of day flying Moths.

The sound of a Nightjar was heard from early June.
Robin young are now losing the speckled appearance, replaced by the rustic red breast.
Rowan Trees along Hazelwood path on the southern end of the site have berries colouring up.
Holly berries are now forming.
Very noticeable this year is the success in breeding by the Bullfinches, Blackcaps and Siskins.

Nature Facts

During June, Foxes abandoned the breeding earth. Young Bats were born. Young Frogs left the ponds. Light-weight summer Squirrel dreys of grass started to appear, often built by juveniles. Most fledglings became independent.