Early start at Cranford Park

I was at Cranford Park at 7.30am this morning, all in the hope of catching up with the Little Owls. Within twenty minutes I had found one but it spotted me at the same time and I managed one very poor photo before it flew away to another oak.......

 

 

I hung around for another hour but to no avail. The juveniles should be visible in about 2-3 weeks.

 

By the wood circle the noise of other juvenile birds filled the air. Probably the most vocal were the Blackcaps and I could just see a juvenile through the foliage....

 

An adult Song Thrush was calling loudly from another tree near the circle....

 

The Common Whitethroats at the Headland were also vocal although I couldn't see any juveniles, just a few adults.....

 

Buttercups and daisys are flowering all over the park. I tend to check every buttercup flower as they seem to be very attractive to little critters.

This one below is a sawfly larvae.....

 

 

In Bluebell Dell there's a favourite log of mine (and Sheila's favourite too). I was resting there when I heard the unmistakeable incessant call of young Great Spotted Woodpeckers. It didn't take long to locate where the noise was coming from......

 

There is an old broken branch that fell ages ago and lodged itself between some other branches eventually coming to rest hanging upside down.....

 

The woodpeckers have taken advantage of the dead branch and made a nice size hole.....

 

 

Both male and female GS Woodpeckers were actively feeding the youngsters but it was incredibly hard to get a decent focused photo and I didn't want to try too hard or get too close in case I disturbed the birds....

 

Later in the day I found another two nest sites, again purely by hearing the youngsters calling, but no photos of either of them as both trees were inaccessible.

 

Another buttercup gave up a male Thick-legged Flower Beetle....

 

 

And there were plenty of Cardinal Beetles around, this one is the Black-headed Cardinal......

 

Last weekend one of the main paths was blocked by a fallen tree, today I found that there are now main paths blocked by fallen trees.....

 

Today's butterfly transect wasn't as good as I had hoped.

 

14 butterflies of 6 species

 

Brimstone x 1

Green-veined White x 1

Holly Blue x 2

Red Admiral x 1

Peacock x 5

Speckled Wood x 4

 

Red Admiral

Red Admiral

I checked all three wild Honeybee hives that I know of, and all three were very active. I couldn't get a decent photo of the oak tree hive but had more success with the bricked archway hive and the Secret Garden ivy hive...

 

 

One new hoverfly species for me today. This is one of the tiny little black jobs, Cheilosia sp but I cant narrow it down any more than that....

 

 

A very pleasant seven hour visit, most of which was spent on my bum observing the wildlife our wonderful park has to offer.