A fresh beautiful morning to be out in the Country Park, the clouds in a Tortoise shell pattern, light and speckled. Looking up a Jackdaw was in pursuit of a Heron that had something small in its mouth, I had to double-take but it was later confirmed by the bird ringers that they had also seen a Heron fly over this morning.
From large Copse the sounds of Green Woodpecker, Pheasant and Blue Tits were heard while male and female Blackbirds foraged in the Hedgerow.
A busy day for birds, the bird ringers saw; Garden, Willow, Grasshopper and Sedge Warbler, 4 Nightjars, Swallows, Blackcaps, Tree Creepers, Red Start, Chiffchaffs and Lesser Whitethroats. While down in the bottom gully 2 Spotted Flycatchers were seen.
We stopped to admire the amount of vibrant red Hawthorn Berries, adding a depth of colour to the greeny-brown hue of the meadows and upper gully. The windblown Hawthorn trees do look amazing as their shapes are carved out by the strong southerly winds.
Looking across the meadows assessing the amount of Ragwort which isn’t very much in most meadows after our volunteers have been busy pulling it up during work parties, a Magpie was scuffling around in the grass. A beautiful Meadow Brown butterfly was sat in the warm sun on a Rough-Hawkbit flower.
Wondering around field 6 in search for our Hereford cattle a ‘charm’ of Goldfinches flew overhead, resting in the scrub, then proceeding to follow us as we made our way around the field. A tree caught my eye; a Blackthorn tree almost unrecognisable by the Jellyfish like shape of Old Mans Beard that smothered it. Also seen were Dunnocks, Wheatears, Chiffchaffs and Stonechats. Walking back towards the centre a Dor Beetle was turned upside down on the path its bright blue petrol like colour of underneath shone bright, we turned it over and moved it to the side.