Tag Archives: birds

Wild flowers at College Lake

26 Thursday Jul 2012

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What a difference a week makes. The weather is fantastic and yesterday we had a beautiful day at College Lake near Tring. This is an old quarry that is now managed by Beds, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve. There are two lakes and a range of other habitats (woodland, grassland, open meadow, wildlife garden etc) in this lovely chalk downland.

For more information see BBOWT website http://www.bbowt.org.uk/

There are plenty of bird hides around the site with a charming one at ground level next to a shady pond with a frogs’ eye view of things. The new visitor centre has refreshments available at some times of day and great views over the reserve.

Yesterday we were looking at all aspects of wildlife, especially birds, and at the start of our walk we were treated to the sight of two hobbys in the cloudless sky. We also saw oystercatchers, redshanks, lapwings and a variety of gulls.

For me though, the real treat was the variety of wild flowers in the area providing nourishment for many beautiful butterflies. Unfortunately butterflies are not easy to identify or photograph but they included gatekeepers and marbled whites.

Here are some of the wild flowers we saw. I hope I have identified them correctly.

Greater Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa)

Pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis)

Common Centaury (Centaurium minus)

Melilot (Melilotus officinalis)

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare)

Yellow-wort (Blackstonia perfoliata)

Bird week

02 Saturday Jun 2012

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This has been a bird week. I have a new bird feeding station, bought after the table my father made me fell to bits. Feeding stations are much cheaper than new bird tables and also more flexible with their numerous hanging bits and pieces. You can have peanuts, seeds and fatty products. I don’t use the latter since just providing peanuts and seeds seems to cost a fortune.

Bird feeding station

I find myself a bit concerned about starting to feed birds like this. They come to rely on it and I am not sure that is a good thing. Also, we may be introducing diseases via communal feeding, dirty seeds and nuts etc. I would like to know what others think.

Since introducing the peanuts we have seen some beautiful bullfinches and great spotted woodpeckers have become regular feeders. Seems an unusual move from feeding on insects to peanuts, but what beautiful birds.

Paxton Pits, Huntingdonshire

During the week we visited Paxton Pits.

http://www.paxton-pits.org.uk/

This is a huge nature reserve around a working gravel pit alongside the Great Ouse. There are delightful walks throughout the area with a variety of habitats for birds. Herons and cormorants breed there. Most of the birds in the sky were cormorants the day we visited. Cuckoos were also flying overhead. It was wonderful to hear them calling continuously. I haven’t heard one at home for years.

The main attraction for us though was the nightingales. We heard them quite clearly and realised what a range of sounds they can produce. I hope I will be able to recognise their singing from now on. They make quite a noise for their size.

Paxton Pits is a great day out.