Yesterday afternoon there was a short break from the rain around 2.30 p.m. The arable field had 20 greylag geese and 50-plus herring gulls. And the area in the SW tip of the arable field next to Pony Wood had around 45 house martins and 3-4 swallows all flying low and gorging on the flying insects. In addition, there were about 40 goldfinch feeding on the thistle seeds.
This male blackcap was in the Pony Wood extension yesterday evening.
A large flock of goldfinches were feeding on the thistles by the Aldcliffe Road ponds. Photo attached.
Steve
Saw a Roe buck in Flora Field on the evening of 13 July 2021. He was foraging amongst a weedy line in the barley field and was visible from the bench area next to the one at Harries View. Nice set of antlers. Seemed to be on his own.
A very, very small smooth newt* eft crossing the path by Cromwell’s Pond this lunchtime.
Hand for scale; I didn’t pick it up, just lifted it off the path with a dandelion leaf.
* I think… the yellow strip on the back matches the eft photo on the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_newt
