It’s June and, not before time, there’s lots in flower. Much
of what should have flowered early came late. Some of that still lingers here
and there, now joined by splashes of yellow pimpernel, germander speedwell, red
campion, buttercups, herb bennet, herb robert, bugle and other June flowers. Delicate
pignut will soon be joined by its more substantial cousins – hogweed and
angelica are in leaf and looking robust. Leaves are on the trees and the
woodland floor is covered in greenery. Insect life doesn’t appear to be faring
so well though: today we saw just two common carder and no other bees.
Back in the first week of April when it should have been
spring, it seemed an everlasting winter. It promised then that maybe this was not
to be the finest of years to be surveying and reviewing this Local Wildlife
Site; but it is what it is.
 |
| Bare Banks of Leap Mill Burn |
 |
| Frosted Leaves |
Some flower was beginning to show: golden saxifrage here and
there beside woodland streams and damp ditches; birch trees dangling catkins;
dog’s mercury avoiding showy display; the reliable daisy. There were green
leaves, but most was pale brown and dormant. Movement under the ice of a pond
suggested some invertebrate presence, impossible to identify. Even the birds were
quiet.
 |
| Dog's Mercury |
In mid-March, the first of these sorties to survey the flora
and fauna of West Wood Local Wildlife Site had revealed even fewer signs of
spring, but it did give the recorders opportunity to wander through parts of
Gibside’s West Wood not often visited and gain some impression of what it might
hold. A sad find was the remains of roe
deer buck - hair, some skin, a front leg and collar bone - the left-overs of
poachers, tidied-up perhaps by a fox. The buck had been a regular sighting for
one of the rangers here, but hadn’t been seen since early January. It is widely
reported that the roe deer population nationally has grown too much in recent
years and that a cull is much needed. If that is so, then it should be
strategically and humanely done, and maybe the poacher thinks so too and acts
accordingly, but we cannot be sure without control and management.
 |
| Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage |
After what seemed like months of winter weather, two days in
mid-April gave us sunshine and the highest temperatures since September. It was
feeling and beginning to look at bit more like spring, but still there were few
plants in flower. Clearly it was going to be a while before the season would be
back on track.
But by this time, some nest building going on - red kite
sitting on a nest used last year, collections of twigs being assembled in trees
to be kept an eye on, and buzzards had been seen again at an old nest site. By
the second half of April, grey wagtails were nesting under the road bridge by
the new car park, undeterred by the construction work going on around them –
unlike a pair of dippers who had shared this stretch of Leap Mill Burn in the
past but now, it was suspected, were migrating upstream. By mid-May this was confirmed
with the finding of a nest with four warm eggs, soon to hatch into promptly
ringed chicks.
 |
| Yellow Pimpernell |
 |
| Bugle |
Sadly, red kite activity around their previously used nest
site area has ceased. It is possible that they have been driven away by people
coming this way, but not many do. Perhaps they have been harassed once too
often by crows.
 |
| Leap Mill Burn in June |
No comments:
Post a Comment