Saturday and Sunday 22nd and 23rd June

Kestrel (c) Bark

The moor is looking even more fresh and lush than it did last week, and last week it had looked wonderful. It was warm and humid and the  standing water in the ditches and the scrapes has been topped up again.

Grasses are tall and setting seed across the main fields, brambles are starting to flower, and the hedges are spangled through with wild roses that range in colour from pure white through to deepest pink. At the reedbed the fresh new phragmites has finally made its way through and over the top of last year’s dry reeds.

Young Blackcap and Robin (C) Bark

There was still birdsong to be heard as I arrived in the carpark field. Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap were going strong and as I walked along the bridleway Sedge and Reed Warblers were advertising their presence. There were several Cuckoos calling and we watched one, presumably a female, sitting on top of one of the reedbed willows searching for a careless Reed Warbler to parasitise. Several times Cuckoos perched up in the oak trees behind the first screen calling intermittently.

Cuckoo in the oak (c) Bark

A pair of Ravens cronked their way directly over my head on Sunday morning. Their flight was not direct and purposeful, they tumbled and chased each other in what looked to be a mixture of display and sheer exuberance.  

There were a couple of both Lapwing and Redshank chicks around the scrape on Greenaway’s. 

Lapwing chick and Snipe (c) Bark

As the summer progresses, we should be seeing some muddy margins from the first screen, which should encourage passage waders. Last week a pair of Black-tailed Godwits called in briefly.

Black tailed Godwits (c) Norman Smith

At the second screen there are still several Common Tern chicks showing on the tern raft. The adult birds are coming in and out with fish and although somewhat diminished they will still fledge some juveniles. There was one on Sunday that has almost learned to fly although it could only manage to flutter up vertically a couple of feet before parachuting back down.

Adult Common Tern (c) Mark Chivers

There is one Hobby that is taking up a regular perch on a fence in the middle of Greenaway’s. By mid-morning this weekend it was up and about chasing down dragonflies, skimming low over the ditches almost disappearing at times below the height of the grasses.

Long Tailed Tit (c) Bark

In the hedgerows and in the carpark field there are now frequent mixed parties of young birds feeding together, taking advantage of the mutual security that many eyes offer. There are still some family parties to be seen, where the adults are feeding newly fledged chicks out in the bushes.

Marbled White Small Tortoiseshell and Painted Lady (c) Bark

The sun has brought on butterflies in good numbers. There were Small Tortoiseshells and a couple of Painted Ladies nectaring on the flowering privet along the bridleway. Along the Roman Road there were Speckled Woods and a few Large Skippers, in Long Meadow there were pristine newly emerged Marbled Whites. There were a number of orangey day-flying moths near the first screen that frustratingly failed to sit out anywhere that would give a clear view, I managed just one useable picture, they may be some kind of Carpet moth…… any answers?

Mystery moth (c) bark