A vast amount to catch up with , and being away has meant I misssed taking pics at
the optimum flowering time, so I've found some of the pics on the web.
Plants now flowering :~
Amphibious Bistort: an unusual plant , which is actually growing in the dyke across the Ings, in the water. This a good sign of the dyke's biological health , along with the Frogs , Toads and Minnows.
Purple Loosestrife : Also along the dyke.
Great Burnet : one of the characteristic Ings plants , on the drier parts . Once used
as a cure for dysentery :
Knapweed: along the Cycle Track. For sore throats and healing wounds :
Yellow Loosestrife : a handsome plant , in one or two clumps along the riverside track...
just possible it was planted.
Giant Bellflower: a spectacular tall member of the Campanulacae ,we have one patch
just north of the Old Bridge , on the riverbank.
I just missed the flowering with my camera , but took this last year:
Common Meadow Rue : just a few plants ,along the dyke again , pretty well over now.
Musk Mallow : Old Churchyard.
Great Willowherb: the native one :
Not to be confused with the Fireweed or Rose-Bay Willowherb ,a North American plant
introduced in the 19C ,and spread along railway lines: now everywhere.
Toadflax: Cycle Track. Curious we don't have more of it elsewhere in the village.
May be the calcareous base of the old railway suits it, whereas elsewhere the soil acidity is wrong.
And of course the Thistles are now out everywhere.
We have two obvious species , the Marsh Thistle :
And the larger and more impressive Spear Thistle:
That's only about half the plants I've seen in the last couple of weeks , but I shall try to catch up later .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insects :
We have some butterflies about, which are becoming fairly obvious now, but there is not the variety of species one could wish.
The Small Tortoiseshells are hatching all over : very familiar, and the newly-hatched ones
are looking very bright and smart.The Red Admiral is also about : everyone recognises these two.
And the Green-veined white is the most conspicous butterfly around at present.
There are a very few of the migrant Painted Ladies still left.
One or two less familiar ones :
The Meadow Brown : a haunter of hedgerows :
The Speckled Wood : on the edge of wooded spots : not many , but we do have a few.
I've not really paid attention this year to moths ,which might be for a future season , but one moth which came in my windows recently is the Common Emerald , unusual in that as its name suggest, it's green :
Another obvious insect very numerous at present : the Soldier Beetle , usually as a pair
clenched in coitus on top of a plant:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birds : A few unusual things of note this week :~
First , Harblow reports seeing an Egret on the Ings across the river from the Palace.
Following this lead , some days late , I cycled over to have a look.
No Egret, alas.
The most likely candidate is the Little Egret , which has been extending its range
northwards for thirty years now . They are commonplace now in Cornwall and Devon,
and also in parts of East Anglia, so seeing one here is not that unlikely.They have
also been seen in E.Yorkshire.
I missed it , but I was able to watch a virtually pure white Barn Owl for twenty minutes.They tend to be pretty pale anyway , but this one was about as near to albino as I've ever seen.
Yesterday evening I was out late and watching another Barn Owl on our side of the river : this one was more normally coloured.
Whilst watching , it caught two voles or whatever, and carried the second off to a tree, which
is possibly its nest site.Last year I saw a young Barn Owl in the same area, so with any luck they are breeding here.
But whilst out there watching and listening on a second tip-off , I heard the unmistakeable insect-like call of a Grasshopper Warbler... and although my ears are only just able to hear it, two younger companions were in no doubt.
It's forty years since I first heard one , in Dorset .
If your hearing is in reasonable shape, you won't miss it.
If however you are older and somewhat high-frequency deaf , it's only just on the edge of audibility . Sounds like a grasshopper, starting quietly and getting louder, the call of variable length.
Pic Steve Bird.
Do go here to the RSPB site and listen to the call : great asset, this facility put up by the Society:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/grasshopperwarbler/index.asp
You are very unlikely to be able to see the warbler itself : hides from view in the long vegetation.
On the subject of Warblers, I made a quite definite identification of a Sedge Warbler.
Not a rare bird by any means , but good to have them, and their presence suggests that our Ings are becoming a more interesting site for wildlife.
Pic RSPB.
****************************************************************************************************
the optimum flowering time, so I've found some of the pics on the web.
Plants now flowering :~
Amphibious Bistort: an unusual plant , which is actually growing in the dyke across the Ings, in the water. This a good sign of the dyke's biological health , along with the Frogs , Toads and Minnows.
Purple Loosestrife : Also along the dyke.
Great Burnet : one of the characteristic Ings plants , on the drier parts . Once used
as a cure for dysentery :
Knapweed: along the Cycle Track. For sore throats and healing wounds :
Yellow Loosestrife : a handsome plant , in one or two clumps along the riverside track...
just possible it was planted.
Giant Bellflower: a spectacular tall member of the Campanulacae ,we have one patch
just north of the Old Bridge , on the riverbank.
I just missed the flowering with my camera , but took this last year:
Common Meadow Rue : just a few plants ,along the dyke again , pretty well over now.
Musk Mallow : Old Churchyard.
Great Willowherb: the native one :
Not to be confused with the Fireweed or Rose-Bay Willowherb ,a North American plant
introduced in the 19C ,and spread along railway lines: now everywhere.
Toadflax: Cycle Track. Curious we don't have more of it elsewhere in the village.
May be the calcareous base of the old railway suits it, whereas elsewhere the soil acidity is wrong.
And of course the Thistles are now out everywhere.
We have two obvious species , the Marsh Thistle :
And the larger and more impressive Spear Thistle:
That's only about half the plants I've seen in the last couple of weeks , but I shall try to catch up later .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insects :
We have some butterflies about, which are becoming fairly obvious now, but there is not the variety of species one could wish.
The Small Tortoiseshells are hatching all over : very familiar, and the newly-hatched ones
are looking very bright and smart.The Red Admiral is also about : everyone recognises these two.
And the Green-veined white is the most conspicous butterfly around at present.
There are a very few of the migrant Painted Ladies still left.
One or two less familiar ones :
The Meadow Brown : a haunter of hedgerows :
The Speckled Wood : on the edge of wooded spots : not many , but we do have a few.
I've not really paid attention this year to moths ,which might be for a future season , but one moth which came in my windows recently is the Common Emerald , unusual in that as its name suggest, it's green :
Another obvious insect very numerous at present : the Soldier Beetle , usually as a pair
clenched in coitus on top of a plant:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birds : A few unusual things of note this week :~
First , Harblow reports seeing an Egret on the Ings across the river from the Palace.
Following this lead , some days late , I cycled over to have a look.
No Egret, alas.
The most likely candidate is the Little Egret , which has been extending its range
northwards for thirty years now . They are commonplace now in Cornwall and Devon,
and also in parts of East Anglia, so seeing one here is not that unlikely.They have
also been seen in E.Yorkshire.
I missed it , but I was able to watch a virtually pure white Barn Owl for twenty minutes.They tend to be pretty pale anyway , but this one was about as near to albino as I've ever seen.
Yesterday evening I was out late and watching another Barn Owl on our side of the river : this one was more normally coloured.
Whilst watching , it caught two voles or whatever, and carried the second off to a tree, which
is possibly its nest site.Last year I saw a young Barn Owl in the same area, so with any luck they are breeding here.
But whilst out there watching and listening on a second tip-off , I heard the unmistakeable insect-like call of a Grasshopper Warbler... and although my ears are only just able to hear it, two younger companions were in no doubt.
It's forty years since I first heard one , in Dorset .
If your hearing is in reasonable shape, you won't miss it.
If however you are older and somewhat high-frequency deaf , it's only just on the edge of audibility . Sounds like a grasshopper, starting quietly and getting louder, the call of variable length.
Pic Steve Bird.
Do go here to the RSPB site and listen to the call : great asset, this facility put up by the Society:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/grasshopperwarbler/index.asp
You are very unlikely to be able to see the warbler itself : hides from view in the long vegetation.
On the subject of Warblers, I made a quite definite identification of a Sedge Warbler.
Not a rare bird by any means , but good to have them, and their presence suggests that our Ings are becoming a more interesting site for wildlife.
Pic RSPB.
****************************************************************************************************
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