Abington Naturewatch

Saturday, 19 December 2015

Green Woodpecker and Pheasant in West Field

Peter Dawson took these photos of his regular garden visitors - a Green Woodpecker (16 Dec.) and a male Pheasant (6 Nov.), who sweeps up the seeds dropped by the other birds. Peter has also noticed that there have been many more Coal Tits around this year.

Other reports on 19 December:

Derek:

We have had a Song Thrush singing as though it was spring and we have twice seen Goldcrests on conifers in the garden recently.

A Grey Wagtail visited our garden on 7 December and Andy saw one near the sluice on 14 December.

Andy:

Starling murmuration still going strong - 300+ circling around Granta Park lake for about 30 minutes yesterday - 3:40-4:10pm.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Starling murmurations

During Andy Merryweather's talk on Friday 27 November, one of the audience asked whether there were any Starling flocks or more properly Starling murmurations near Abington.

Soon after that, Andy was walking between buildings on Granta Park at around 3:45pm, and noticed on more than one day a nice mini-murmuration of around 200-300 Starling over the cricket green and lake on Granta Park. The flock did its thing, wheeled around for about 10-15 min before finally dropping out of view to roost.

Since then, a couple of other people have seen this local mini-spectacle. If anyone else is interested, it could probably be seen on other afternoons at the moment at around 3:30 - 4:00pm - the picnic tables by the lake might be a good place to sit and watch.

Sunday, 29 November 2015

After Andy Merryweather's excellent talk "What's that Bird? - Birds you might see in and around Abington" on Friday evening, he saw a single male Brambling under the bird feeders in his garden on Sunday 29 November. The first to visit since 2013, it was feeding on sunflower and rosehip seeds on the ground, and moving around in a flock of Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Thursday, 12 November 2015

Blue Tit nest on the Settlement!

Pam took these delightful pictures of baby Blue Tits during Spring 2015,
A total of 11 hatched, and all 11 flew.

Sparrow Hawk on South Road

Pam has seen this Sparrow Hawk in the early mornings at 36 South Road, beginning November 2015

Saturday, 7 November 2015

Male Gadwall on Granta Park lake

Andy saw a single male Gadwall on the lake on Friday 6 November, in amongst the sizeable Mallard flock.

Sunday, 4 October 2015

Squirrels in Church Lane

Now we know who's eating our apples!

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)