Date: 11th August 2022
Time: from 8:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 21°C to 28°C
This was my first visit to the small pond in the north of the site since 5th July 2022. The extremely hot weather in recent weeks has unsurprisingly led to a significant reduction in the water level.
Fortunately, however, it was still able to attract 2 Migrant Hawkers and a single male Common Darter. This was my first record of Migrant Hawker for the site of 2022, bringing the total to 9 species of dragonfly/damselfly. However, I was unable to get any photos of either species since they were both very active and failed to settle on the vegetation around the edge of the pond.
The large field that has to be crossed to reach the pond was knee deep in grasses and wild flowers and the edge of the pond had several clumps of Water Mint (photo below) which provided a nice aroma as I sat and watched the dragonflies.
I saw 3 Red Foxes during my evening visit the day before (see here) and it was a little surprising to see 2 individuals on a hot and sunny morning.
The first Red Fox that I saw was a very brief sighting of an individual in the south west corner of the site before it disappeared into the dense vegetation.
The second Red Fox that I saw was in the western section of the cemetery. It was clearly aware of my presence but allowed prolonged views before slowly walking off out of sight. Maybe it was just too hot to bolt for cover. I was able to get several photos over a period of around 10 minutes although the light was somewhat challenging given the harsh and bright sunlight and with the animal in deep shadow.
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: Red Fox
With regard to birds, it was again predictably quiet given that it is the height of summer, both in terms of the number of species seen or heard calling/singing.
However, there were a number of highlights including the following: Common Whitethroat (2 seen together in bushes close to the pond), Blackcap (3 heard alarm calling), Chiffchaff (3 heard contact calling), Green Woodpecker (1 heard calling in the wooded area at the end of the track from Larkins Tyres and 1 seen flying over the scrub area close to the pond), Greenfinch (1 seen flying over the scrub area close to the pond)
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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