Recent Sightings 02.07.23
The heatwave of June has officially passed and we are getting lots more rain now, but it is still consistently bright most days.
The long warm days are great for spotting butterflies, moths and dragonflies around the reserve. In the Paddocks this week, one of our reserve wardens saw a garden tiger moth. We’ve also had loads of butterflies: red admiral, speckled wood, meadow brown and small tortoiseshell. These are mostly spotted along the Avenue, meadow walk and Peter Scott Trail. As for dragonflies, they continue to buzz about our ponds. Recent highlights include an emperor dragonfly along the meadow walk and a blue tailed damselfly laying eggs in the Paddocks.
On the mammal front, weasels have been seen regularly at the Folly Pond. There was also a red fox down there on Friday. A roe deer buck was seen on the island in the middle of the pond this week as well.
As usual, we are busy with birds. Many birds using our nesting boxes are onto their second broods. Tree sparrows feeding their young on the Peter Scott Trail and some juvenile greenfinches were observed this week. Other youngsters that are around are the mute swan cygnets on the Teal Pond and lapwing chick on the Folly Pond. Sunday has been a busy day for raptors: sparrowhawk, osprey, buzzard and a rather scruffy looking male marsh harrier.
Words by Marianne Nicholson
Feature image of red admiral butterfly by Ian Henderson
