July 2014 Nature Notes

Birds

A month when most of the birds have deserted the garden to pursue their interests in unknown places. The grain harvest started on the 14th and the oil seed rape on the 17th, which means there is spilled grain and wide open spaces for the birds to investigate.
However, some birds have remained in the garden; mainly members of the tit family.

Juvenile blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus).

On the 7th seven young starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were seen on the bird table. They barge and jostle each other like young boys waiting in line for school lunch. By the 21st I saw 15 of them at one time in the feeder area.

Other juveniles that have been spotted were three young robins (Erithacus rubecula) on the bird table on the 5th.

 The same evening I saw four blackbirds (Turdus merula) chasing a barn owl (Tyto alba) down the farm road.

We also have a large flock of sparrows which can number up to 50 at a time. They love to bathe in the dust of the farm track on dry days and can be heard squabbling among themselves in the clump of conifers as they settle down for the evening.

I don't often see the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) coming into the garden but I spotted this one hunting around the gate.

Mammals

On the evening of the 1st at 21:00 I saw two roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns and their mother at the end of the farm road near Junk woods. I also saw four hares at the same place and time. Hares (Lepus europaeus) became a rarer sighting once the fields were harvested. However I did see a group of hares chasing each other and standing up on their back legs in what appeared to be an almost 'pronging' movement.

Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are still visiting the garden and a rabbit proof fence had to be installed around part of the veg plot to keep them out. Rabbit scrapes are proving more of a nuisance than what they are nibbling.
Mice can be seen scuttling about and one mouse used the tall dahlia stems as a ladder to the bird table so that he could eat the spilt seed.

Insects

I caught this couple in the field margin near B woods.

Soldier beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)

A common beetle found throughout the UK between March to October and feed on small soft-bodied insects.

 It's quite rare to see them singly. More often they are seen as mating pairs, earning them the nickname of 'bonking beetles'.Ref: 1

Their brown, maggot-like larvae live in soil and leaf litter.

These wasps decided that a bird box would make a great place to build a nest.

Fungi

Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus)? growing on dead beech tree (Fagus).

May Nature Notes

May 2014

The birds who survived the winter and were successful in their breading are now moving into the next phase of their life cycle. That is to say they are putting all their efforts into bringing up the next generation. The starlings were picking out any meal worms from the bird table mix to feed to their offspring the 'starlets'. There has been up to three at any one time pestering the parent.

A speckled starling

Get a beak full of meal worms

Feeding time

Young birds could also be seen on the U lake.

Black swan with cygnet. 

Great crested grebe chick

Parent still on the nest

Mallard ducklings

Coot and cootlet

 However, birth was balanced with a couple of deaths.
On the 16th I found a dead barn owl on the path next to the A64 towards Askham Bryan. It had no rings on the legs so i threw it over the hedge.
On the 19th there was the head of a greenfinch on the stones under the bird feeders. I thought it might have been the cat because I had seen it in the garden a couple of days before.
I found the culprit the next morning as i witnessed a sparrowhawk swoop in and miss the birds on the table but he then hopped into the bush and plucked a bird out. It then landed with the bird in its grip, where it kneaded it a couple of times before flying off.