Wednesday 10 August 2022

Too Clear and Too Hot

I know what you're thinking, here come the excuses for something or other, and you're not wrong there! Monday morning, I headed to the Nature Park to have a ringing session to monitor breeding birds, and any early migrants, but as soon as I left the house at 5:00 a.m. I could see that it was crystal clear, and I knew straight away that I wouldn't catch many birds. And I didn't, with just singles of Cetti's Warbler, Robin and Sedge Warbler ringed.
 
Cetti's Warbler
 
In terms of wind strength, it is suitable for operating mist nets for ringing right through until Sunday (14th), but I have decided not to bother based on the clear conditions again, and more importantly the temperatures. The combination of clear conditions and high temperatures means that few birds will be in the reedbed and willow scrub because of a 'clear-out' effect and inactivity due to high temperatures, and the weather isn't conducive to dropping any birds in. I'll probably have one ringing session over weekend with Alice, as she is till training, and any birds she rings will help with her ringing permit application.
 
As it was quiet ringing-wise, it was equally quiet birding-wise, and I didn't have any sightings that I want to trouble you with. 
 
Yesterday, I was doing some work at my client's cracking farm in Bowland with a friend and colleague from the RSPB, and the place was alive with insects. The combination of the hot weather, with the sheer number and diversity of flowering plant species, and the numerous wetland features on the farm, meant it was hooching with butterflies and dragons, and we recorded such species as Emerald Damselfly (just one, but probably more), Azure Damselfly (numerous), Common Blue Damselfly (numerous on all the ponds and scrapes with copulating pairs and lots of ovipositing), Emperor Dragonfly (several hawking over the ponds and scrapes chasing damselflies), Golden-ringed Dragonfly (one in some streamside vegetation), Common Darter (several immature individuals), Small Skipper (several), Large Skipper (several), Small White (several), Small Copper (several), Red Admiral (several), Small Tortoiseshell (several), Peacock (several), Meadow Brown (numerous), Ringlet (odd individuals) and Small Heath (odd individuals).
 
Azure Damselfly
 
A couple of the wetlands on the farm (above & below)


There are some very vague estimates there, so Gail and I are going to go back on Friday morning for a good mooch round, and we'll attempt a few counts. In some of the species-rich pastures were carpets of Sneezewort, which is something that I have never seen before, and I think it is because we have got the management of the grasslands spot on with native breed cattle (Belted Galloways). So, it just goes to show that if you get the habitat right, the wildlife will respond. Marvellous! 
 
Sneezewort carpet (above & below)
 

 

I just pulled a notebook off my bookshelf for 1996, and on the same date 26 years ago in a reed-filled railway cutting close to the Nature Park, we ringed 270 Swallows from an estimated roost of 3,000. Wow!

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