More Granta Park Wildlife

Andy M's colleague, Diane Hatton, spotted this lovely Bee Orchid flowering near the MedImmune building.

Whilst on a lunchtime walk this week, Andy M spotted several Black-tailed Skimmers resting on the edge of the lake, as well as Common-Blue Damselfly and many Ringlet butterflies in the meadow near the sluice. Finally, at the river's edge an adult Grey Wagtail was seen feeding a fledged youngster.  The young Grey Herons have now left the nest (photograph from 14th May).

Black-tailed Skimmer (thanks to Darren Bast for the id!)

Common Blue Damselfly

Ringlet butterfly

Adult (upper) and young (lower) Grey Wagtail near the sluice

Young Grey Heron on the nest in willows near the river (14th May)

Granta Park wildlife

Derek made a visit on the afternoon of 25 June and took these photos of a Little Egret on the edge of Granta Park Lake and two pictures of a Brown Hare.

Banded Demoiselle near the Millennium footbridge

Jennifer took this photo on 21 June:

Butterflies

Jennifer reports that quite a number of Small tortoiseshells are being seen now, especially since the lavender has come into flower.  Also large numbers of Meadow browns everywhere.  Look out for Peacock butterflies too, they are becoming less common now.

This is Jennifer's picture of a Small Tortoiseshell (22nd June):

Peter saw lots of small dark butterflies on the former LSA and in Granta Park (Sluice Wood) on 22 June. This is one such, apparently a Ringlet:

End of May Bank Holiday Weekend Bird Survey

Derek says that nine reports were received, with the 48 species below being recorded within the bounds of the two civil parishes

Blackbirds, Collared Doves, Robins and Woodpigeons were the most frequently noted, being recorded on 8 reports.

Blackbird	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Pheasant
Blackcap	Great tit	Pied Wagtail
Blue tit	Greenfinch	Reed Bunting
Bullfinch	Green Woodpecker	Red-legged partridge
Buzzard	Grey Heron	Robin
Canada Goose	Herring Gull	Rook
Carrion crow	House sparrow	Skylark
Chaffinch	House Martin	Song thrush
Chiffchaff	Jackdaw	Starling
Coal tit	Jay	Stock dove
Collared dove	Long-tailed tit	Swallow
Corn bunting	Magpie)	Swift
Dunnock	Moorhen	Whitethroat
Goldcrest	Mallard	Woodpigeon
Goldfinch	Mute Swan	Wren
Great Crested Grebe	Nuthatch	Yellowhammer

Blackbirds nesting on High Street

George discovered this Blackbirds' nest on Saturday morning 3rd June when looking out of his kitchen window. He saw a male bird fly into the hedge and fly out almost immediately. He thinks it is amazing that they stayed put after his son Michael had only a few days before trimmed the hedge - to within an inch or so of the nest.

They survived the stormy weather on Tuesday 7th and are doing well.

On 10th June, they were looking healthy and hungry, and getting their feathers:

On 13th June, they look almost ready to fly the nest!

George reported that they all flew the nest some time on the afternoon of 14th June. He did not see them leave as he was too busy but, when he went to check early that evening, there was just an empty nest.

Trip to Lakenheath Fen 3rd June

Derek arranged a trip to Lakenheath Fen on Saturday morning.
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/find-a-reserve/reserves-a-z/reserves-by-name/l/lakenheathfen/about.aspx

A good group (17 people) met at 10:00; we had an introductory talk by an RSPB Volunteer when we arrived. We walked along a well maintained path, stopping to eat our packed lunches at the west end of the public area. We then returned to the car park, most of us following the river back, about 3.5 miles walk in all.

There is a good walk through a varied wetland habitat, mostly reeds and grazing marshes, with some poplars, the remains of a Bryant and May matchwood plantation. The railway forms the south boundary and the river the north.

As you can see below, the weather was good.

We saw a good number of birds, insects and flowers, including 43 species of birds:

Bittern	Great Tit	Oystercatcher
Black-headed Gull	Greenfinch	Pheasant
Blackbird	Grey Heron	Redshank
Buzzard	Greylag Goose	Reed Bunting
Carrion Crow	Hobby	Reed Warbler
Cetti's Warbler	Jay	Robin
Chaffinch	Kestrel	Rook
Chiffchaff	Lapwing	Sedge Warbler
Common Tern	Little Egret	Stonechat
Coot	Long-tailed Tit	Tufted Duck
Cormorant	Magpie	Whitethroat
Cuckoo	Mallard	Woodpigeon
Gadwall	Marsh Harrier	Wren
Goldfinch	Moorhen
Great Crested Grebe	Mute Swan

Andy took these photos:

Male and Female Four-spotted Chaser Dragonflies

Drinker moth caterpillar

Cinnabar moth

Painted Lady

Barry took these photos:

Common blue damselfly

Four-spotted Hawker 

Four-spotted Hawker

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Four-spotted Hawker

and a couple of Peter's

Tortoiseshell

Common blue damselfly

Grebe on nest