Sunday, 6 October 2019

September 2019. Interesting Sightings around The Abingtons


September 2019
Amphibians and Reptiles
Activity in ponds is ‘shutting down’ and only a few developing Tadpole and Newt will remain in the water over winter. Adults are now on land looking for places to hibernate. No reported sightings apart from tiny Newt tadpoles found in pondweed in one pond on LSA. 

Birds
Hobby – brief sighting, flying fast and low over hedge along ‘hairdresser path’ on Granta Park (26th).
Swallow – several reports up until 19th. Three successful broods reported from a site on LSA.
House Martin – single birds / small flocks reported until 29th.  Flock of 100+ over Granta Park on 24th.
Swift – single bird flying over Granta Park on 16th – unusually late in the year.
Blackcap – young or female on garden feeder on Cambridge Road.
Chiffchaff – single birds on 2-3 occasions in mixed tit-flock on Granta Park.
Robin – heard singing more regularly again from sites around the village.
Coal Tit – single bird seen in group of Great Tit and Blue Tit on garden feeder in Gt Abington.
Goldfinch – flocks of c12-15, with a few Chaffinch and Greenfinch, returning to feeders.
Goldcrest – single birds in gardens on Cambridge Road and South Road, and in Sluice Wood.
Linnet – starting to congregate into small flocks (10-20) on Abington Park Farm and Granta Park.
Grey Wagtail – several reports single bird along river near Millennium Bridge and in Sluice Wood.
Pied Wagtail – gathering in flocks of around 12-15 on Granta Park cricket pitch.
Meadow Pipit – four feeding on scrubby garden on Granta Park.
Nuthatch – one reported in several gardens.  Treecreeper – one in Cambridge Road garden.
Jay – seen collecting acorns in Granta Park, and in a Great Abington garden.
Red Kite – several reports of 1-2 soaring over the village centre, and at Abington Park Farm.
Sparrowhawk – several reports in gardens, usually seen chasing small birds.
Buzzard – several reports of single birds flying over the village
Tawny Owl – male calling ‘twoo-hoo’ from trees behind Lewis Crescent (16th).  Barn Owl also heard ‘screeching’ from same trees later in month.
Mallard – eclipse mostly over now for c80 on Granta Park lake.  Also Barnacle Goose (3-7) and Canada Goose (3) on lake, and nine Greylag Goose flying over.
Great Black-backed Gull – in fields adjacent to Cambridge Road, and in Perse sports fields.

Butterflies, Bees and other insects
This has been another quiet month for butterfly reports, probably due to the very variable weather, with 144 reports during the month.
Butterflies – reports this month were dominated by the Small White butterfly. Next were Red Admiral and Comma (quite large numbers this late in the year), and Painted Lady (a few reports of single sightings). There were some reports of  Speckled Wood and Large White, but only one report of Small Tortoiseshell and three of Peacock (these seem to be in decline). Much less common butterflies seen were Common Blue, Small Copper and Small Heath.
Bumblebees – again very few reports.
Dragonflies – a few Southern Hawker and one Emperor dragonfly at Granta Park, and three reports of Common Darter by the Millennium footbridge.
Other reports: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.
It is worth noting that sightings from the LSA and Granta Park are notably different from the more usual garden habitats.

Flora
Sally Turnidge has recently stepped down as our Flora reporter, for personal reasons. The Project Team, and all Abington NatureWatch members, would like to sincerely thank Sally for all her fine efforts in this area over the past years. 
If anyone would like to know more about taking on the role of the Flora Reporter, please contact David Farrant.

Mammals
Pipistrelle Bat – reported in gardens on Meadow Walk and Cambridge Road.
Short-tailed/Field Vole – one in Cambridge Road garden.
Wood Mouse – feeding under the bird table in a garden on Cambridge Road.
Fox – two in the field adjacent to the ‘hairdresser path’, east of Granta Park.
Badger – one found dead along Chalky Road.
Hare – one near ‘hairdresser path’ on Granta Park.
Muntjac – two sightings, one in garden on the High Street, and another on Cambridge Road.
Fallow Deer – seven young deer, still with spotted coats, near Abington Park Farm.

Rivercare
Abington RiverCare team undertook their routine river sampling on 30th.  Reports of the usual Caddisfly, Up-wing flies (mostly Olives), Freshwater Shrimp and a few Signal Crayfish (Blog article).
Himalayan Balsam – several plants were reported growing just upstream of the Sluice. These were subsequently removed by the Abington RiverCare team (Blog article).

Weather
September was generally a hot month, with light winds. Rainfall 56mm, with 48mm falling between 23rd and 30th. Highest temperature 29.3ºC on 15th, with a lowest temperature of 1.1ºC (on 18th) but was more generally around 11ºC as the low.

Many thanks to all those who contributed reports of their sightings for September 2019:
Darren Bast, Peter Brunning, Audrey Bugg, Lois Bull, Anne Dunbar-Nobes, Francis Daunt, David Farrant, Gaynor Farrant, Jennifer Hirsh, Carole McCrae, Len Mead, Andy Merryweather, Polly Merryweather, Freda Orgee, Brian Parris, Gareth Rees, Bill Rusted, Gill Smith, Sam Tennant, Derek Turnidge, Sally Turnidge.

Please email your sightings, within the Abington parishes, to the relevant ANW Recorder:
Amphibians and reptiles: Anne Dunbar Nobes       ac.dunbar.nobes@gmail.com
Birds:                               Derek Turnidge               derek@turnidges.com
Butterflies, Bees etc:       Jennifer Hirsh                  jennifer@hirsh.com
Mammals:                        Gill Smith                        richardandgill.smith@live.co.uk
Flora:                               Currently vacant - if interested, please contact David Farrant for more details.

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The Aims of Abington Naturewatch

At their meeting on 9 April 2005 the members approved this revised version of the aims of Abington Naturewatch:

  • To monitor and record the wildlife (fauna & flora) within the borders of the Abingtons;
  • To encourage protection of our wildlife, maintain its quality and foster its diversity;
  • To promote awareness of the richness, potential and problems of the natural environment of the Abingtons;
  • To cooperate in improving access to the local natural environment for the benefit of all Abington villagers.

Pat Daunt, Founder

The organisation is informal and communication is by email if possible; members are notified of events from time to time. Contact details are maintained by a small "project team". There is currently no membership fee as costs are covered by voluntary contributions at events.

Members are encouraged to report notable sightings of flora and fauna within the Abingtons to the appropriate sector coordinator and an illustrated record is published annually.

A map of the area covered, with some features noted, is available here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=213774935674882866424.00000111dca2be9f06ab8&z=13>

For more information or to join, please contact David Farrant on (01223) 892871.

Contributions to our records should be sent to sector contacts or either of the above. Photographs may also be submitted to Andy Merryweather (amerryweather61@gmail.com)