End of summer

Ah well, nearly the end of August and thus summer is almost done. Not a classic one by any stretch of the imagination, but the wet start certainly had an effect on the plant life on the common. I don't think many birds flourished, but there were large numbers of swallows around today, so at least they may have done well in the last couple of months. Let's hope they accounted for some of the biting insects that got me.

It was very quiet on the common this morning, as of course almost all birds have stopped singing now. Almost the only birds to be heard were the inevitable wood pigeons, but I did pick up the soft calls of some bullfinches.

On Scouts' Pond I discovered a moorhen with a small chick; surely the last brood of the year. Here is a picture of a fringed water lily, just opening at the water's edge.

Walking across the boardwalk I noticed several grass of parnassus flowers. This is one of our signature species, and it is good to see it seems to be doing well. Nice to see a bee on one of the flowers, and as I carried on across the boardwalk towards Warren Road it was encouraging to see large numbers of bees and hoverflies busy on the flowers.

Message from Chairman John (following Working Party 11th August)

Dear All

 

Thanks to all who helped this morning.  Your splendid effort achieved more than any Chairman is entitled to expect and will delight all who use and enjoy the Boardwalk.  Less noticeably (at least to the non-cognoscenti) but equally valuable is the effect of 4 years battle with the Himalayan Balsam which I think we now certainly have on the back foot. I say, "Bravo and Hurrah" to all of you.

 

Regards from John

Hot at last

Now we have finally had some hot weather the insect life on the common has sprung into life. There are more butterflies around at last; mainly ringlets and meadow browns, with the occasional comma. The grasshoppers are singing away like crazy. I've seen a couple of dragonflies at Scouts' Pond, one being a ruddy darter, but the most noticeable species there is the common blue damselfly, which this year is present in large numbers.

I rather like this sinister view, with the strong sunlight casting a shadow from the insect on the back of a leaf:

And after numerous attempts, I was finally pleased to get a reasonable shot of one in flight:

Further on along the boardwalk were a couple of juvenile reed buntings, evidence of at least one successful breeding. The rotten weather this year has probably had a bad effect on breeding success, but at least one brood of one of our signature species has survived.

Damsels, not dragons

On a quick spin across the common this afternoon I wondered if there might be any dragonflies about, especially at Scouts' Pond. The answer was a resounding NO, although there were large numbers of those common blue damselflies you find everywhere. There was a dragonfly in the garden later on though, so they must be about.

The birdsong is starting to fade away now; a few desultory chiffchaffs and a couple of half-hearted blackcaps, and one reed warbler still going strong, was about the extent of it.

Mole, out of hole

I found this quite sizeable, but dead, mole on the way into the recently cut School Meadow. Apart from a slight mark on its back there was no obvious sign of why it died, but I assume an owl or fox are the prime suspects.

A bit further on, at Scouts' Pond the flag irises are now in flower, and I'm quite pleased with this picture of a bee just leaving one of them. Nothing much else to report there at the moment; certainly no dragonflies yet.

On the common itself there were at least two reed buntings singing, and still one reed warbler. Took loads of pictures of a bunting near Warren Road, but none of them turned out particularly well.

I am however not too displeased with this whitethroat, which was in the field above Pit Common.

Three juvenile moorhens on the Pit, expressing some alarm about a cat that was prowling around. Let's hope the moggy went hungry!

Flowers etc

Good to see in this morning's sunshine that the ragged robin, orchids and cotton grass is coming into flower.

Still very few butterflies - there were a couple of white ones about, and some speckled woods in Warren Woods, but otherwise not much else.

On the birds front, good to hear the reed warbler still going strong, and I heard a whitethroat for the first time this year (on the common, that is). Lots of blackcaps (I counted 6) and several chiffchaffs, but sadly still no willow warbler. This species has gone into a steep decline, and I fear we won't be hearing its lazy summer song on the common this year. And no cuckoos either.

At least there are still at least two young moorhens on the Pit. And I'm seeing more house martins than I have done for a couple of years (one of the wildlife survey species don't forget).

Deer seem to be proliferating; I had a good view of a muntjac on School Common this morning, and took this

last week at Scouts' Pond. Other people are reporting more frequent sightings of Chinese water deer and Roe deer.

Moorhens up trees and on the water

Last Saturday was a day for moorhens. The first one I found was at Scouts' Pond: nothing very remarkable in that, except I only found it because I heard a lot of crashing around about 10 feet up a spindly alder tree. The crashing was caused by a moorhen climbing where I didn't realise moorhens climb. I got the impression it was feeding, rather than just hiding unsuccessfully. It was hiding enough however to prevent its picture from being taken.

No such shyness on the Pit, where one adult was looking after 5 young chicks. I suppose some at least will be flattened by passing traffic as happens every year, but let's hope some survive.

At last there are some more records coming in of swifts and swallows. No house martins on the common yet, but I did have one fly over my house today. No cuckoo for the common, but one was heard behind Warren Woods the other day. We're getting a smattering of butterfly records, including our first peacock of the year. If only it would warm up, we might get some more!