April 2015 Nature Notes

Birds

I caught a shot of the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) feeding from the seed feeder whilst standing on the bird table.

Plants

 We had a bit of luck in that we were able to keep a Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) alive all winter and it is now flowering. I have never seen one flower before. They usually die within the first couple of weeks of getting them home.

Some sort of strange daisy that appeared in my lawn. I dug it out and put it in the wild lawn where it won't get mowed.

Nature notes; March 2015

Nature Notes: March 2015 

Birds

Snippets of interest:

A jay (Garrulus glandarius) on the Roman Road.

A kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) on the conker tree.

A crow (Corvus corone) chasing a barn owl (Tyto alba) on the Roman Road.

Two yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella) in an oil seed rape field near B.

Yellowhammer 

Up to four buzzards (Buteo buteo) near B woods.

A sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) on the bird table and one wet evening it kept coming back to perch on the pergola above the feeders.

A kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) was spotted twice in the ditches near the second wood on the Roman Road at 16:45 on the 12th. I watched the blue flash of rump fly up the ditch when I was on my way down and again on my way back.

Two pied wagtails (Motacilla alba) fighting on the roof of the garage.

A one eyed great tit on the bird table.

 

A great tit but a poor eye

Mammals

I saw five deer (Capreolus capreolus) and two hares (Lepus europaeus) on the 6th when I was walking on the Roman Road.

The oddest site I saw was on the Saturday afternoon of the 7th I met a fox hunt coming up the Roman Road. There was perhaps two or three men in red coats riding the boundaries of the fields with a pack of dogs but they looked like they were out of luck trying to raise any foxes. The main body of the hunt were composed of 20 to 30 riders all plodding along chatting dressed like gentry in their best fox hunting costumes. A very odd pastime.