Snakes Alive!

George Woodley saw this grass snake on 22 May near Hall Farm... others have also reported seeing them.

Swans on Granta Park lake

George Woodley writes:
At least two cygnets have arrived; this was taken at 11:16 on Friday 21 May. The Pen had just returned to the nest as I was about to take the picture. When I returned after lunch only the Cob was on the lake.



On Sunday afternoon, I saw no sign of the cygnets but the Cob was chasing away the geese; he seemed to tolerate the ducks.






Postscript: George writes on 31st May that all the swans have disappeared. It seems certain that once again the young have died and the adults left.

Second River Sampling 2010 - 13th May

Although there was still a good amount of water, our findings over five attempts were surprisingly poor, one of the poorest ever - the persistently cold winds and nights presumably the cause of this. Populations were everywhere low and diversity hardly impressive. Apart from one mayfly larva at the third sampling, specimens were again small. At the Ford the relative abundance of beetle larvae was a feature as last time, as also were the limpets on one rock.

We sampled at 3 sites: the Ford, the Football Reach and by the Millennium Bridge.



Caddisfly larva

Blue tits

Jim Cracknell has been watching a front door a bit closer than Downing Street...