June is a transitional month in the life of the reserve. And with this weather is it really June? After all the spring activity as birds establish territories, find mates, and build nests, after the new growth of the reeds, June calms down. Well calmer that May! After our exciting films from our Blue tit next which you can follow on our social media, we had 8 successful fledglings and many other species will be doing the same. For a lot of species, it’s now about feeding up ready to make their flights back to the warmer climates for the Autumn/Winter. The recent weather will be making this crucial feeding time very challenging as the insects numbers are incredibly low.
In contrast, some are very much easier to find. The most obvious examples are Mallards which have nearly finished raising their young, no longer need their breeding finery and go into a dramatic moult. The males all lose their striking colours and all their flight feathers; what’s left is a layer of feathers that look almost identical to female plumage. This has the advantage of being much better camouflage for a bird that is flightless for a few weeks.
Image credit Jeremy White
After a burst of growth in Spring (presumably because of the large quantity of rainfall), our plants put on a lot of leafy growth with relatively few blooms. Some flora that hasn’t been slowed by the weather are the orchids. The reserve is absolutely covered in 4 of our 5 species with 14 Bee orchids counted in just one patch of meadow. Southern Marsh are treating us to lovely pink bursts and a few sneaky Pyramidal are keeping the botanists on their toes! We’re now seeing Grass vetchling, waves of Red clover and Bird’s foot trefoil that are keeping the pollinators happy.
Visitors were beaming late May as not only were the Bitterns being spotted up to 17 times in one day, but a pair of Hobby came as a late day sighting, chasing the dragonflies over the lagoons. they have since been seen again down over the mudflats. Potentially a breeding pair. Peregrine and Marsh Harrier sightings have been few as the Marsh Harrier are a young pair still learning the ropes of becoming parents. We are having our most successful year with our bitterns, and they are still very active with almost daily sightings by many visitors. The feeding flights are in full swing with a hotspot on the western side of the reserve. Clearly there is lots of Rudd over there!
Image credit Ieuan Evans and YOTM Images
Image credit Ieuan Evans
The Cuckoo was heard this week which came as a surprise. The number of Cuckoo’s each year get fewer with less calls being heard. We had a couple this year that favoured calling from behind the hide. Swifts and House martins are filling the skies now with screams as they find a mate.
Image credit Kirsty Lindsay
Late May and June mark the start of dragonfly and butterfly season. Dragonflies could be seen over open water hunting smaller insects or the females could be watched egg-laying by dipping the end of their abdomens just under the water’s surface and onto submerged vegetation. The easiest to spot (and to photograph) are the four spotted chasers which roost near the bouncy bridge and can frequently be seen there basking in the early sun. We had a good start to the season for Butterflies with many Brimstones and Orange-tip out, but in recent weeks, the Butterfly transect as part of the UK’s Butterfly monitoring scheme and provided very few for this time of year. The temperature for June this year is considerably lower than previous and will no doubt be having an impact on our insects.
Bearded reedling, Bittern, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue tit, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, Common whitethroat, Coot, Cormorant, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Great white egret, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Hawfinch, Herring gull, Hobby, House martin, House sparrow, Kestrel, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser whitethroat, Little egret, Little grebe, Little owl, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Raven, Reed bunting, Reed Warbler, Robin, Sand martin, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Tufted duck, Water pipit, Wheatear, Whimbrel, Woodpigeon, Wren, 2-spot ladybird, 7-spot ladybird, Rufous-shouldered longhorn beetle, Thick-legged flower beetle, Brown-banded carder bee, Common carder bumblebee, Shrill carder bee, Brimstone butterfly, Common blue butterfly, Green-veined white butterfly, Large white butterfly, meadow brown butterfly, painted lady butterfly, Peacock butterfly, Red admiral butterfly, Small skipper butterfly, Small White butterfly, Speckled Wood butterfly, Black-tailed skimmer dragonfly, Blue tailed damselfly, Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly, Common blue damselfly, emperor dragonfly, Four spot chaser, Hairy dragonfly, Common shrew, Rabbit, Stoat, Weasel, Biting stonecrop, Comfrey, Grass vetchling, Hemlock water dropwort, Meadow buttercup, Red clover, Ribbed melilot, White clover, bee orchid, Common spotted orchid, pyramidal orchid, Southern marsh orchid, Grass snake.