Wildlife Wednesday   23-6-2021

By Peter Hanscomb

It’s Wednesday again , so it’s time for another trip to the Meadow Hide, and today I’m flying solo. And it’s an early start for me today leaving the house at 4 am. The meadow continues to grow apace and I want to make the most of the long day starting with a little strimming of the paths. 

It’s been mildly damp here in the U.K. for the past week and the meadow continues to change every day I visit it. There is now a canopy of hogweed covering the whole meadow and in places the meadow is now taller than me . Anyway paths re cut it’s time to settle into the hide , ready to watch and hopefully photography the wildlife.

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker family are now regular visitors to our feeders here at the hide. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker ( Dendrocopus major )  is the larger and more common of the two black and white woodpecker species found in the U.K.  Our woodpecker family’s nest is in the trees just behind the hide. The juvenile male bird is now following mum around the meadow , constantly calling for attention and more food. He hasn’t worked out how to use the feeders just yet but keeps trying. In the meantime he can always rely on mum for his next meal !

One advantage of the recent damp weather is that there’s no need to carry water into the meadow to top up the paddling pool. Because of the shallow design it loses a lot of water due to evaporation during the hot summer days, the recent wet weather has topped the pool up to nearly full. The pool has proved to be a popular addition providing drinking water for both birds and mammals and also provides a bath for our feathered friends.

Guest book

Mammals – Grey Squirrel, Brown Rat , Fox , Rabbit 

Birds – Blue tit , Great tit , Long tailed tit , Coal tit , Chaffinch , Robin , Dunnock , Blackcap , Wren , Blackbird , Magpie , Crow , Jackdaw , Pigeon , Greater spotted woodpecker , Pheasant 

Birds of prey – Buzzard , Red kite , Kestrel

Others – Tree bumblebee , Speckled wood butterfly , Red admiral butterfly , Peacock butterfly , Hornet