Leverton Nature Watch with Maureen Humberstone

August and September 2010

The first week of May saw at last the Hawthorn begin to blossom filling the hedgerows with its fragrant scent and Meadow Buttercup adorned the roadsides.  A real sign of old fashioned summers, remembering as a child meadows full of them.

In my pond in the garden, Marsh Marigold came into flower and the tiny white flowers of wild strawberry appearing around the sides.  The Moorhen that has been in the garden for over a year now came proudly presenting 8 tiny fluffy chicks, now down to 6, and nearly as big as mum.  I saw my first tiny baby Mallard ducklings on the 2nd May swimming with mum on the Dovecote drain.

May 1st saw the first arrival of the Swift all the way from Africa.  A bird that does everything on the wing; feeding and mating in the air, and only ever settling when on its nest, never on the ground like Swallow or House Martin.

Wheatear were seen on a field just past my house.  A bird that seems to be in short numbers this year for some reason.  May also saw the arrival of the Chiff Chaff, a small brown little bird with its familiar chiff chaff song, singing its heart out along the hedgerow of the Roman bank.