Sunday 13th May brought some bright sunshine with small clouds increasing in size as the morning advanced, becoming breezy, the rivers flowing fast and still high through banks full of Cow parsley and wild garlic in flower and buttercups on the grass.
Hawthorn flowering in profusion on the river bank, a great attraction for insects and birds seeking insects to feed to their young.
Hawthorn flowers - May
and Willow catkins now blowing away like snow in the breeze
On this Sunday, 13th, there was plenty of spring activity with many fledgling starlings noisily taking their first flights together to and from the oaks, hawthorn thickets and hedgerows (69) and large numbers of blackbirds, mainly adults collecting food for their young from the damp grass (26). Blue tits were also intent on foraging, some adults accompanied by fledglings still being fed in the safety of oaks and willows (32). A crow made a clumsy landing near them but they were not frightened off by its noisy flapping. Large numbers of wrens (20) were singing all along the river bank, perhaps making a second start on nesting after losing nests when the rivers were in flood. Many had built nests quite low on the river banks after many months of low water levels during the 'drought', only to have them washed away in the unseasonable heavy rains.
House sparrows had obviously been successful with early broods as there were numerous juveniles and singing adult males in hedgerows and brambles (79) with adult chaffinches (10) singing loudly, somewhat later in raising young. Just a single male greenfinch could be heard. Goldfinches (10) were seen in ones and twos, some singing. Great tits (15) were foraging in the Hawthorn blossom, some with large juveniles still asking to be fed. Just one dunnock was seen low on the river bank, well hidden whilst a treecreeper, also well camouflaged was busy foraging for insects on a willow trunk in the sun. Three more treecreepers were seen in other river trees, two of them juveniles.
Robins were probably quietly busy raising young but 6 were seen, with 3 singing. Carrion crows (9) and rooks ((3) could also be seen carrying food for their young across the fields whilst swifts (2) flew overhead after insects and 2 skylarks could be seen, both singing over their territory. A group of herring gulls (9) sailed high above the trees and woodpigeons (25) were flying over, searching for some dry grass on which to forage whilst two green woodpeckers called loudly from different grass areas. A third was yaffling loudly from its nest site in an old tree, no doubt fending off a prospecting magpie; several large magpie juveniles were hopping around in the trees with adults nearby. Glimpsed through a gap in a hedge - an unusual sight of a red fox foraging in the middle of a field for earthworms in the short grass, surrounded quite closely by 7 magpies hoping for a share of its find. Two pied wagtails bounced around on some bare earth, catching insects.
Warblers were now more numerous, with 7 chiffchaffs, all singing, in trees along the river, a willow warbler singing and 4 smart male blackcaps all singing in different thickets. A whitethroat could be heard but was invisible in brambles on the river bank.
Further along a pheasant could be heard calling in the background whilst a song thrush sang loudly under the tree canopy.
The spring scene would not be complete without butterflies - 11 Orange-tip butterflies over the river bank nettles, Holly Blue high amongst the hawthorn branches, Speckled Wood amongst the oak leaves, Bumblebees and Ladybirds, many Mayflies over the river and best of all, Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies over the river undergrowth and some higher in overhanging branches.
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