Weekend Wildlife Saturday 17th July from the Meadow Hide

Welcome to another Weekend Wildlife , from the rather gloriously sunny Meadow Hide here in North Wiltshire. Another day flying solo here in the hide and it’s been surprisingly busy for a hot summers day , with most of the action centred on the paddling pool.

it’s been a poor year so far for our native butterflies. ( you wouldn’t think so if you visited the meadow ) April was the sunniest on record,  but we also experienced a large number of frosty nights while May has been one of the wettest months on record. Conservationists warn that the UK is experiencing an increasing number of extreme weather events as a likely consequence of climate change and they need the public’s help to measure the impact on butterflies and moths. If you want to take part , click here for more details.

In conjunction with the Big Butterfly count , here at the meadow we are now trying to record more of the insect life , and I decided to purchase a macro lens to help record our findings. Safe to say I had forgotten just how hard it is to photo flying insects with a manually focused lens . Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.

Anyway it’s been a busy day , all the usual suspects on duty , plus the Bullfinches and goldfinch. Peggy continues to thrive despite only having one leg. The rabbit hole has fresh deposits of earth at the entrance , but still no sign of our new tenants, or the rat pack.

Guest book

Mammals –, n/a

Birds – Blue tit , Great tit , Chaffinch , Robin , Dunnock , Blackcap , Blackbird , Crow , Pigeon , Greater spotted woodpecker , Wren , Chaffinch , Bullfinch , Goldfinch

Birds of prey – Buzzard

Others – Tree bumblebee , Speckled wood butterfly , Red-headed cardinal beetle , Peacock butterfly , Large white butterfly , Meadow brown butterfly , Flesh fly , Greenbottle fly , Hover fly , Common earwig

Gallery