Sunday 17th June and it's life as usual on the river but with a sense of urgency, making up for lost time.
Birds with nests that were destroyed by the floodwater started building anew the day after the floods receded which meant breeding activity had to start from scratch, with males perching on prominent branches, singing loudly - a second April.
The day was windy with sun and cloud alternating. Dog roses all along the river banks were now flowering together with Elder with buds and flowers just appearing on the brambles. The rich hawthorn blossom that dominated the riverbanks only a few days ago had disappeared, leaving small green berries which will sustain our winter migrants when they arrive.
There was abundant insect activity amongst the nettles, brambles and wild flowers on the river banks with the river flowing swiftly. In some areas the sound of the wind tearing through poplar leaves drowned out birdsong but poplars are not so popular with most birds - given a choice, oak, ash, willow, hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hornbeam, pine and all the hedgerow plants are preferred.
Rosa canina - Dog rose - excellent for wildlife.
Heres a summary of wildlife seen on 17th June 2012:
Birds which were most likely to have been affected by the floods were busy singing or building new nests - wrens (17) were singing and rebuilding on the banks dashing across for moss and grasses - higher up this time; they had been used to low river levels during the months of 'drought' and have been caught again by the river in flood. Whitethroats (4), summer visitors, were late this year and had only started nesting recently here, with probably more to come. Blackbirds (17) were singing strongly and others were carrying food for young in hedgerow nests whilst numbers of robins (8) were singing too
with some thin calls from speckled fledged juveniles asking for food. House sparrows (54) were doing very well with large numbers of juveniles still being fed. Lots of chattering in the riverside bramble thickets and some expert 'flycatching' action over the river indicated that all was well with them.
Chaffinches (9) were calling and singing loudly and 2 goldfinches were singing from the top of an oak but only one greenfinch was heard. Appearing well before the whitethroats this year was another summer visitor, the chiffchaff (7). It's always audible as soon as the sun appears and never seems to give up during its season here. Much less easily distinguished, a garden warbler was singing, with only glimpses of it seen, also late to arrive this year. Blackcaps (9) arrived in very good numbers and have settled in well along the river, the males just giving very short snatches of their varied song as most adults were very busy feeding fledged juveniles or still busy carrying food to nests on the banks.
In a conifer where a blackcap family was foraging for insects, two goldcrests were also feeding - characteristically never still for a moment. Nearby a noisy racket broke out - a magpie had just flown into the tree - was it a fight to the death perhaps? A nest being raided? No, just an adult bringing food to some hungry magpie nestlings. The small birds in the same tree continued foraging, unconcerned.
Keeping very quiet in a quiet bend on the river were 3 mallard, the female well camouflaged in the debris under the bank and close by a dunnock flew across to sing a short quiet song. The weather was not ideal for the treecreepers (3) but one was seen flying from one tree to another more sheltered from the wind where two juveniles were calling.
Song thrushes (2) were quiet, flying low to collect food in the muddy banks and a single nuthatch was heard - a soft contact call to juveniles. Although they have several calls, the green woodpecker is always unmistakable - one flew across between the trees, giving a short yaffle and became visible.
Blue tits (43) and great tits (15) were very unlikely to have been affected by the floods, with numerous fledged youngsters being fed by exhausted-looking adults. With all the recent rain and very damp weather there would have been no shortage of caterpillars for the nestlings in the oaks and now some of the more daring fledged youngsters were seen foraging for themselves low down on the banks amongst the undergrowth and in the willows.
Each tree seemed again to have its own sentinel woodpigeon (28) which would fly out with a commotion of flapping wings when it spotted danger, alerting the smaller birds which would instantly take cover.
They all play their part in the diversity of the river habitat and although large, have predators seeking them out. A pile of woodpigeon feathers under a tree indicated a recent successful attack, probably by a sparrowhawk - shortly afterwards a sparrowhawk was seen darting across the glade, perhaps the culprit.
The song of skylarks (3) alerted me to happenings in the sky where several swifts were flying extremely fast and low in the wind, catching insects and starlings (45) flew towards the riverside trees in groups. 4 crows followed and there was a fine view of a common buzzard, gliding over its territory, using the thermals created by the ground warming up in the sun.
In a stretch of the river sheltered from the wind some Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies,
Birds which were most likely to have been affected by the floods were busy singing or building new nests - wrens (17) were singing and rebuilding on the banks dashing across for moss and grasses - higher up this time; they had been used to low river levels during the months of 'drought' and have been caught again by the river in flood. Whitethroats (4), summer visitors, were late this year and had only started nesting recently here, with probably more to come. Blackbirds (17) were singing strongly and others were carrying food for young in hedgerow nests whilst numbers of robins (8) were singing too
with some thin calls from speckled fledged juveniles asking for food. House sparrows (54) were doing very well with large numbers of juveniles still being fed. Lots of chattering in the riverside bramble thickets and some expert 'flycatching' action over the river indicated that all was well with them.
Chaffinches (9) were calling and singing loudly and 2 goldfinches were singing from the top of an oak but only one greenfinch was heard. Appearing well before the whitethroats this year was another summer visitor, the chiffchaff (7). It's always audible as soon as the sun appears and never seems to give up during its season here. Much less easily distinguished, a garden warbler was singing, with only glimpses of it seen, also late to arrive this year. Blackcaps (9) arrived in very good numbers and have settled in well along the river, the males just giving very short snatches of their varied song as most adults were very busy feeding fledged juveniles or still busy carrying food to nests on the banks.
In a conifer where a blackcap family was foraging for insects, two goldcrests were also feeding - characteristically never still for a moment. Nearby a noisy racket broke out - a magpie had just flown into the tree - was it a fight to the death perhaps? A nest being raided? No, just an adult bringing food to some hungry magpie nestlings. The small birds in the same tree continued foraging, unconcerned.
Keeping very quiet in a quiet bend on the river were 3 mallard, the female well camouflaged in the debris under the bank and close by a dunnock flew across to sing a short quiet song. The weather was not ideal for the treecreepers (3) but one was seen flying from one tree to another more sheltered from the wind where two juveniles were calling.
Song thrushes (2) were quiet, flying low to collect food in the muddy banks and a single nuthatch was heard - a soft contact call to juveniles. Although they have several calls, the green woodpecker is always unmistakable - one flew across between the trees, giving a short yaffle and became visible.
Blue tits (43) and great tits (15) were very unlikely to have been affected by the floods, with numerous fledged youngsters being fed by exhausted-looking adults. With all the recent rain and very damp weather there would have been no shortage of caterpillars for the nestlings in the oaks and now some of the more daring fledged youngsters were seen foraging for themselves low down on the banks amongst the undergrowth and in the willows.
Each tree seemed again to have its own sentinel woodpigeon (28) which would fly out with a commotion of flapping wings when it spotted danger, alerting the smaller birds which would instantly take cover.
They all play their part in the diversity of the river habitat and although large, have predators seeking them out. A pile of woodpigeon feathers under a tree indicated a recent successful attack, probably by a sparrowhawk - shortly afterwards a sparrowhawk was seen darting across the glade, perhaps the culprit.
The song of skylarks (3) alerted me to happenings in the sky where several swifts were flying extremely fast and low in the wind, catching insects and starlings (45) flew towards the riverside trees in groups. 4 crows followed and there was a fine view of a common buzzard, gliding over its territory, using the thermals created by the ground warming up in the sun.
Female Orange-tip butterfly of riverbank flowers
In a stretch of the river sheltered from the wind some Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies,
Banded Demoiselle damselflies and Large Red damselflies were flying low, settling on the nettles that had been well submerged only a few days ago. There were some micro moths low down amongst the grasses , 7 spot ladybirds amongst the nettles and bumblebees (white tailed) and hoverflies were busy on the newly flowering Elder. It seemed too windy for butterflies but soon several Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral appeared together with a number of female Orange-tip butterflies flying strongly over the riverbank.
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