Pair of Little Owl on Granta Park

A pair of Little Owl have been spotted regularly over the last week or so by Andy M on Granta Park, and from their behaviour he believes they may be nesting.  This one was keeping a close eye on him!

Young Grass Snake in Church Lane

Viki Brunning found this young snake hiding under a shovel in the garden on 15th April. The Metpost gives a scale - it's for a 3" fence post - so the snake is about 10-12" long.

Blackcap in High Street garden every day

Jennifer took this picture of a male Blackcap in her garden last week. Derek reports that he had both a male and a female in his Cambridge Road garden recently.

Black Redstart visits Abington

Andy M spotted a Black Redstart on 20th April - most probably a female on migration - seen feeding on the ground, chasing after insects using parked cars as cover, but also flying from a perch and catching insects mid-air, showing its bright orange rump and tail feathers as it flew.  It was around for just a day, presumably refueling before continuing its journey.

Wood Mouse on South Road

Anne reports:

“This little Wood Mouse has been living under shrubs close to our bird feeders for some weeks now, and despite being essentially nocturnal, seems to think nothing of collecting seed during the day, so we see it nearly every day. We’ve even watched it have a confrontation with a dominant robin."
The photo was taken on 16 April.

A very useful factsheet can be downloaded from:  http://www.mammal.org.uk/sites/default/files/factsheets/wood_mouse_complete.pdf.

Siskin on High Street

Jennifer took this photo of a Siskin on her bird feeder on 9 March. 

Birds around the village

With Spring now in the air, Derek has had more reports of birds on the move! 

In the first week of April there were reports of a Red Kite over West Field, from Peter Dawson, and Derek saw a Redlegged Partridge in their front garden. David Farrant reported hearing Several Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap singing in Sluice Woods on Sat, Apr 9.

Andy M heard around 3-4 Chiffchaff and a pair of Blackcap singing in the disused railway cutting on the morning of 10th April - as well as a pair of Linnet, and a single Swallow flying over, also calling.  Interestingly, the Chiffchaff was displaying by 'wing-flicking' - like a Dunnock, Andy hadn't observed a Chiffchaff displaying in this way before - and got a couple of pictures of the wing-flicking, and one of a male Blackcap.

Chiffchaff wing-flicking

Chiffchaff wing-flicking

Chiffchaff

Male Blackcap

Butterflies and other Insects

The warmer spring weather has brought new activity to our gardens. Jennifer reported that several members have been seeing butterflies, especially Brimstones, on the few warm and sunny days we have had in the last couple of weeks. 

She would welcome news of any sightings, giving the date, butterfly name, number that you saw and where you saw it (e.g. garden, Church Lane, Granta Park etc)

You can also report ladybirds and, later in the summer, dragonflies and damselflies.

Andy M said he had a very striking Angle Shades moth resting under the eaves of his garage on 10th April - see picture.  He also saw at least two Common Carder Bees in the garden.

Angle Shades Moth

Bee fly on High Street

This photo of bee fly was taken on 7 April by Helen Pimblett in their courtyard: