Painted Lady butterflies

27th may 2026 - this year seems to have been a good year for Painted Lady butterflies, which migrate across the channel to southern England, the abundance of which varying from year to year.

Andy M saw several together, vying for the best spots from which to display in the sun in his garden, and occasionally twirling together in an upward spiral before coming back down to their perches!

Late May Bank Holiday Bird Survey - results

26th May 2026 - as in previous years, ANW members were invited to count the number of bird species they saw within the parishes over the May Bank Holiday weekend, from Friday 22nd to Monday 25th. They were also asked to record the maximum number of individuals seen together at one time for each species.

Slightly disappointingly only five reports were received this year, but between them the participants managed to cover most of the village, including the Roman Road, Granta Park, the Old Railway Cutting and the LSA, as well as several areas around the village centre.

The total number of species recorded was a very creditable 54 - including seven species of Warbler, as well as Little Grebe, Mandarin Duck and Little Egret, and more unusually a Peregrine and Treecreeper. The full results are shown below.

Fledging of 'our' Long-tailed Tit family

24th May 2026 - over the last month or so, Andy M has been watching a pair of Long-tailed Tit build their nest - in a tree just outside the kitchen window! 

Such a pleasure, watching them fly back and forth with tiny beaks-ful of feathers, lichen and moss from which they build their nest (see blog post 23rd April). 

Then, once the eggs were laid and hatched, both parents were again busy to-ing and fro-ing with small insect meals for their chicks. As they grew, whilst we couldn't see them (or the nest), we could hear their calls more often, until late morning on 24th May, the parents stopped bring food to the nest and instead, starting calling from a nearly twig. Slowly the young emerged and made their first unsteady fluttering flight into nearby foliage. The parents seemed to feed them briefly there, before they all disappeared into the woody scrub at the end of the garden.

Spindle-moth caterpillars

24th May 2026 - about this time of year, several trees a bushes become covered in fine webs. Closer inspection reveals that these are not made by spiders, but by the Spindle-moth caterpillars, which are busy munching their way through the leaves. Once a tree is stripped, they 'abseil' down on fine threads in the hope of being carried to another suitable tree.

Treecreeper family

24th May 2026 - in Lagden's Grove, Andy M heard the faint high-pitched 'whistle' of Treecreeper, and looked up to see a small family group working their way up the trees, feeding and calling as they went.

Damselflies

24th May 2026 - there were good numbers of Common Blue Damselfly 'swarming' low over the lake in the sun, with some starting to pair up ready for mating. The lily pads carried a few Red-eyed Damselfly on them too, whilst a couple of Emperor Dragonfly patrolled above them all (too fast to photograph!).

mating pair of Common Blue Damselfly - male, above

Common Blue Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

On the lake and in the reedbeds

24th May 2026 - Andy M counted no fewer than four singing male Reed Warbler in the various patches of reedbed around the Granta Park lake, the normal number being one male! These warblers visit us for the summer to breed, before returning to Africa. Also in the reedbeds were Reed Bunting, the males singing out their simple song.

On the lake was a Little Grebe male, making its strange rattling, high-pitched trill of a call, hoping to attract a mate. Whilst the Mallard were clearly well ahead of the game, as one female already had a small group of fluffy ducklings around her.

Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler

Reed Bunting

Little Grebe

Mallard ducklings