Weekend Wildlife from the Meadow Hide

It’s the weekend again , and the only place to be and be seen in is the meadow hide . Today I’m joined by my wife Anne in the co-pilots seat. The day started with a flourish, a fly past by the world famous Red Arrows , who flew over the meadow in two formations of five planes . Not an everyday sight at the hide !

The Woodpecker family were out in force and what a difference a few days make in the development of juvenile birds. Last Wednesday I witnessed mum feeding junior all day with the young woodpecker constantly calling for food. Today he was quite happily feeding himself. A big change in only three days !

If you have been following the blog you might know my favourite bird is the humble , common Blackbird. Back at HQ ( aka our home ) the blackbirds are very confident and will explore our garden , even if we are outside sitting on the patio. At the hide our resident blackbirds are a lot more reserved and shy . The slightest movement or noise and they are off into the trees. So it was a real surprise and pleasure to have the male come down to the paddling pool for a little splash around.

The other surprise of the day was the amount of activity from the local birds of prey , in particular the Red kites and Buzzards. The centre of attention seemed to be the adjacent field. Through out the day there was an almost non stop coming and going, sometimes with three or four birds in the air at once. Now I have to admit my in flight photography needs some work and to be fair the birds didn’t come that close to the hide.

Guest book

Mammals – Grey Squirrel, Brown Rat ,

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

Birds of prey – Buzzard , Red kite , Kestrel 

Others – Tree bumblebee , Speckled wood butterfly , Red admiral butterfly , Peacock butterfly , Cloudy Yellow butterfly , Red-headed cardinal beetle