June is a great month to see birds and wildlife in your own back garden. With the warm, dry spring lot’s of familiar birds are busy feeding or caring for their young. If you’re lucky and have birds in a nest box make sure there is a fresh water source and also feeding stations to help the parent birds until the young are ready to fledge. If you don’t have any breeding birds in the garden, don’t worry as once birds have left the box they tend to stay together as a family moving through gardens and parks looking for food and water.
Out on the reserves, Exminster marshes has been attracting a good number of Hobbies. These Falcons time their breeding season with the influx of Dragon & Damselflies which are abundant during our summer months. A highly agile bird capable of catching their prey out of the air, a sight which is well worth seeing this season.
The long staying Bonaparte’s Gull is still popping up around the Exe. Mud bank lane in Exmouth is a good place to see the bird as the roost runs along the new cycle path. A summer plumage Slavonian Grebe has been seen between Dawlish Warren and Starcross. These birds breed up in Scotland, so it’s quite unusual to see them around here in their full splendour. At Bowling Green Marsh over a high tide you should be able to see a nice group of Black-tailed Godwits, the males of these will be a fantastic rusty orange at this time of year.
Here at Darts Farm the crops in the fields are starting to fill out, we’re keeping an eye on the ponds as last year we spotted Scarce Chaser Dragonflies (pics to follow if seen). In the shop we have a good promotion on Bird baths, 15% off. The offer runs from the 8th of June until the 21st of June.