We have a diary in the office that we use to record wildlife around the park and estate - first sightings, unusual species or little anecdotes of behaviour. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of entries, so I thought I would share a few on here:
17/5/13 - First swifts of the season seen in a large group (about 20) above Bell Brook behind Norton Farm.
25/5/13 - The mason bees in the orchard are producing eggs and pollinating all our trees (good job!). The straws in the plastic tubes will need harvesting soon.
26/5/13 - Otter spotted down by the confluence, and lots of tracks nearby on the riverside.
5/6/13 - A pair of red kites flying over the deer park close to Bob's house.
7/6/13 - First fallow fawn seen on top of the park - only hours old - ran into Reptons wood.
11/6/13 - Red kite flying over Ismore woods in the afternoon. Also heard a cuckoo in the woods in the deer park.
19/6/13 - The following seen at the bird observation area, feeders are working. 3x greater spotted woodpecker, 2x rabbit, 2x wood pigeon, 3x squirrels, 1 robin and 1 blackbird. At Duncote Farm I saw 14 young partridge, about 2 days old, going into the corn.
I'm really pleased that more cuckoos are being heard around the Estate as last year I didn't hear a single one! Last week I was up in Scotland walking the West Highland Way and there were cuckoos calling all day long. It's also good to hear that the kites are being seen more regularly - there have been a few sightings over the years (my first ever kite was flying high over the Stables courtyard!) but in the last couple of weeks more and more people are mentioning them.
No comments:
Post a Comment