Here comes the sun.....

                 The May of 2021 was wet and cold, and a disaster for much wildlife. It is thankfully behind us now. June has brought sun and warmth at last and the promise of real summer days. In Crow Wood the first butterflies are on the wing, nesting birds are feeding young and trees, delayed by the cold, are coming into leaf and flower. The Great Spotted Woodpecker nest in the dead pine is now full of noisy young birds with parents finding a ready supply of insects and grubs to feed them. Some of the Blue Tit nest boxes are now empty as the chicks have fledged already, while a few late migrating species like the Spotted Flycatcher have just arrived and started to think about nesting. Turtle Doves are late nesters too but sightings have been rare this year so far. I am continuing to put out a special RSPB seed feed for them on the main track but have only observed them on it once so far. 

Great Spotted Woodpecker at its nest

                      Lots of other birds are enjoying it all the same including a rather bold Red-legged Partridge and its mate, spotted this week. My hope is that the shy Turtle Doves are getting on with nesting somewhere close by. They are such fine birds but have the unenviable label as the UK's fastest declining species with 90% lost in the last 20 years. An orchard in a field adjoining the wood has been grubbed up this year and 3000 pear trees planted in their place with lots of human activity which may well have spooked them from their usual perches. The summer is still young and, if here, they will be around until late September, so there are still plenty of days to find them......I am an optimist by and for nature

Elder flowers just opening

A Speckled Yellow - this is a day flying moth, common in early June

Larch cones, they will turn brown as the summer progresses

A Painted Lady butterfly, a migrant species that has likely travelled from North Africa

A Red-legged Partridge

A Spotted Flycatcher high in the Scots Pine area, is that a nest its guarding ?

A Common Blue butterfly feeding on Self-heal