The year proceeds

Still no sign of lizards for me on this warm and muggy day, although I saw enough to satisfy me whilst on holiday in Malta recently. There are signs that the summer is starting to wind down however; I found the attached puffball fungi on School Common this morning. Several dragonflies on display, but not much else of note to see, although I did find a kestrel  alarming the residents on the Jubilee boardwalk. It's very unusual to find a kestrel in woodland, so perhaps it was an inexperienced youngster.

Lizards

I have seen no lizards on the Common this year. Last year I only found one or two basking on the boardwalk, but the year before there were a lot. Someone visiting our stand at the Horticultural Show last weekend said they had seen some; has anyone else? The attached was taken in June 2007.

Inclement weather, and where are the swifts?

With unerring accuracy I went to the Common today, only to be rained on in no uncertain terms whilst I was on School Common. Even sheltering under an oak tree with my waterproof jacket and hat covering most of me, one of those pesky mosquitoes still managed a munch, on my hand, which was about the only bit they could reach.

I saw no birds of any consequence, but did hear what I took to be a young bird of prey; probably a kestrel, but perhaps as a couple of years ago, a sparrowhawk.

The skies seem to have gone quiet in the last week, with no screams of swifts reaching my ears. Today was not much of a test as they would have been washed out of the sky, but is anyone aware if they are still around? Last year the last date Swifts were recorded over the Common was 18th July (although they may have been there later of course; I just didn't see any.) In 2008 the last date I was aware of them was 1st August.

To get the ball rolling, apart from co-ordinating the recording of bird sightings on the commons, I'm also taking an interest in butterflies. We've recently been lucky enough to have some white admirals: this is a picture of one I took on School Common:

I was also quite pleased with this red admiral, taken from the new section of boardwalk leading to Scouts' pond:

And this is a small skipper (or possibly an Essex skipper) seen on the mixed grass area on the Warren Road side of the SSSI:

                                                    

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to Southrepps Commons Trust's new venture into the internet. We've set this blog up as an experiment to see if there is any interest in using the internet as a medium for sharing information about our wonderful commons. We hope it will be of interest to people who visit the commons, those who volunteer to help maintain them, and anyone else with an interest in them.

In particular, it would be great if it gets used to note sightings of wildlife, plants or anything else of interest. It could also be used to draw our attention to areas needing attention.

We also hope that people with memories of the commons as they were in earlier times will add their comments, to help us write our historical information on the website. (See: www.southreppscommonstrust.org.uk/)

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