Flooded Meadows at Old Amersham

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Notes from a Natural Garden May 2018. By Don Stone.


1st Swallow over Swan Bottom & first Swallow of the year over Sly Corner, our Robins fledged today, Stewart has a Wheatear at Potter Row; Chesham UTD beat MK Dons in Bucks & Berks Cup Final at Stadium MK (MOO CAMP) 4-3 on penalties; 3rd  strong heady scent coming up from the Bluebells early morning, 6 House Martins over Swan Bottom; 5th  Small White, Holly Blue & Orange Tip, butterflies in the garden, the latter feeding on Dandelions & Herb Robert, 4 House Martins above the house, Bugle in flower; 6th pair of Garden Warblers at St Leonards, 2 pairs of Linnets, Whitethroat, 3 Yellow Hammers, Blackcaps & Chiffchaffs at Arrewig Farm, Speckled Wood also noted here, much earlier than they normally occur in the garden; 7th Whitethroats are back from wintering in Africa  & the males are singing their scratchy little song in their usually summer territories along the country lanes & hedgerows, a very obliging Roe Deer stag out early this morning; 8th Linnets over Graham & Ruth’s garden at Swan Bottom; 9th Cuckoo Flower just coming into bloom; 10th the government shows it’s commitment to the environment again with proposals to remove protection from 43,000 wildlife sites & one of its options for the Oxford – Cambridge Expressway is through Otmoor RSPB reserve, one of the remotest areas of central England…. The Futures Bleak, The Futures Concrete; 11th pair of Goldfinches repeatedly returning to a tuft of Alpaca hair impaled on barbed wire fencing, one bird gathering a beak full of hair as the other kept watch & escorting it back to nest site in nearby Horse Chestnut; 13th Green Woodpecker bathing in pond, a well concealed adult & juvenile Tawny Owl calling from nearby tree at 8-15pm, Bush Vetch in flower; 15th pair of Bullfinch in front garden; 16th House Martins have been busy with the house work on their return from Africa, judging by the dusty dead chick from last year’s brood laying on the lawn; 18th pair of Bullfinches in Graham & Ruth’s garden, Purple Flag Iris in bloom; 19th 3 Starlings continually returning to the lawn early morning & ravenously gathering Leather Jackets, with up to 4 at a time hanging from their beaks; 20th a 3-30am start was rewarded with close up views of 2 Cranes in the county, Sprawky is seen bathing in the pond for the first time this summer, in what will be his third summer with us, first appearing as a Juvenile back in 2016, 12 Newts in the pond; 21st Ox-eye Daisies in bloom; 22nd Birds Foot Trefoil also beginning to bloom, another brood of Blackbirds has hatched judging by the broken eggshell I found this morning; 23rd a pair of Great Tits have not read the manual & are nesting quite happily in an open front nest box in Frances garden instead of using the standard Tit box with a hole, Tawny Owl sat atop the flag pole at 9-15pm; 24th Green Woodpecker feeding on the lawn, Yellow Iris now flowering in the pond, Tom found a pair of Hoverflies mating, (thanks to Neil Fletcher for ID help), Buttercup meadows looking stunning in the evening sunshine at Lower Bassibones Farm (everyone raves about the Blue Bells, these are equally as good); 26th  a Heron visits the pond & finds a tasty Frog on the menu, later in the day a female Blackbird repeatedly visits the pond edges gathering nesting material; 31st as I trimmed the Blackberry stems in the garden boundary hedge with a pair of shears a Dunnock flew from it’s nest from within, luckily for it I didn’t use a petrol cutter, I wonder how many young perish in the nest at this time of year due to hedges being cut to early? farmers face a fine for such actions. After talking with our new neighbours Martin & Sophie it seems the Starlings that were frequenting our lawn bred successfully on their property, as have a pair of Robins & Blackbirds, more interestingly House Martins have been prospecting around their roof eaves, the pair of Orange Tips remained around the lawn throughout the month. Remember… “If it’s alive, let it live,” everything has a reason for being in the GRAND SCHEME of THINGS!!

                                         Whitethroat   Copyright: Stewart Dennis

                                                                                                                        
                                        


                                         Roe Deer  Copyright: Don Stone          
                                                                                                                     
                                        
                                          Cranes   Copyright: Don Stone                         
                                            
                                        
                                         Hoverflies  Copyright: Tom Stone