Sightings

greater spotted woodpecker high up in a willow, pecking the bark; chiff-chaff calling over the reedbed; a substantial squirrel drey by dragonfly pond. grey squirrel. moorhen perched in a willow above the middle pond. and some great new fungi have appeared recently. blackbird alarm calls.

Today – Heard: cettis warbler call several times and a kingfisher call. Saw and heard a greater spotted woodpecker; saw a muntjac doe in the reeds on the island; saw several wrens, a goldcrest and various tits – long tailed, great and blue, a grey heron and a jay.

I saw a Two-Banded Wasp hoverfly on the Trap Grounds on 14 July. Apparently it has never before been recorded on the site.

BAT SURVEY led by Suzanne Dalton this evening, on the night of the Summer Solstice. In the Trap Grounds we identified Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, and Noctule bats (no surprises), but also a Barbastelle -- a species never before recorded here, and classified as Vulnerable in Europe. And we identified Daubenton bats along the canal, particularly under the Frenchay Road bridge.

Sighted a water vole today around 11.45pm, my first ever! I was walking on the boardwalk near the point where it joins to the path from the canal. It was in the water there, on the opposite bank, swimming a bit and then walking along. Small ears and tail about a third of its body, and dark. Also a goldcrest, woodpecker, blue butterfly and baby slowworm

Saw a Kingfisher zooming along the stream, from south to north. In past years Kingfishers have nested at the far south end of the stream, so maybe this one has returned to its former home.

6th April 2024 - Female Vestal Cuckoo Bee (Bombus vestalis) in the wild flower meadow. Also known as Southern Cuckoo Bee. Not rare, but interesting to see. Beautiful bee with some nasty habits. Social parasite of Buff-tailed Bumblebees, which nest in the Trap Grounds. The female Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee enters a host nest, kills the queen Buff-tail, and then lays her own eggs. The Buff-tail workers don't notice the take over and rear the Cuckoo Bee eggs regardless...

Scarlet elfcups - lots of them! Kingfisher fishing in Swan Pond, jay, treecreeper on a willow by the stream, big crow cawing & overseeing everything, 3 adolescent cygnets, almost white now, eating the floating duckweed. Songthrush calling. Lots of flitting calling small birds inc long tailed tits, great tits (‘teacher! teacher!’) All in last three days.

Today. Heard: green woodpecker calling its laughing call several times. Saw: four squirrels all together in some sort of squirrel pow-wow by the newt pond; two wrens in the undergrowth and log plies by board-walk; a jay; a team of long-tailed tits; two blue-tits. Various small birds flitting among the tree tops and twigs; a moorhen. On 20 Nov: a jay well-camouflaged as it dug amongst the brown leaf litter on the ground; two well-grown cygnets on the lake. On 15 Nov: the flitting pale yellow of a grey wagtail on the stream in the adjoining housing estate; a heron. 11th Nov: a jay; and I watched a kingfisher as it flew, zooming flat over the water along the canal from Frenchay Rd Bridge southwards, stopping and perching from time to time, inc on the weeping willow of No. 21 Hayfield Rd., from where I have often spotted kingfishers fishing. I saw a kingfisher again two days ago also, flying a similar trajectory, but perching on the fence of No. 33, then darting to fly off under Aristotle Bridge. 23rd Oct: I counted 13 earthstar fungi in one group just off Frog Lane. This is the largest number in one area that I have so far ever counted in the Trap Grounds – although I see them every autumn.. 5th Oct: a jay burying an acorn on the leaf litter and soil of the newly cleared area by the boardwalk.