The first Crosswort was seen flowering in the Main Field on the 1st of the month. The Orchid patch was still looking magnificent as were the Bluebells and the large patches of Greater Stitchwort in the rough grass. Three Wood Mice and a Slow worm were found when moving a block of wood that had been left near the First Field Shelter, it was replaced. Harry cleared the turfs from the Long Path that had rolled down when the bird crop area was being ploughed. 21.4mm of rain fell overnight and it was windy as a heavy band of rain passed through. On the 2nd Pip and Harry put up the electric fence around the winter bird food crop.
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- Bluebells in Corner Wood
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- Lichen on Blackthorn
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- Orchard Hedge
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- Slow worm
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- Slow worm
The trail camera on the Flo Pond caught some really exciting footage on the 3rd, a female Mandarin with 11 ducklings arrived and they were around for a few hours, probably from the nestbox above the top bridge where a female was recorded sitting on the 24th April. When a male flew in the female chased him off. On the 5th a pair of Mallards turned up just after dusk and stayed around much of the day.
The Wildflower Walk on the 8th had just three visitors but we were blessed with great weather and the Orchid and Bluebell patches were spectacular, we recorded 20+ flowers. The area that was the winter bird food crop in 2022 is now a colourful mix of White and Red Campion, Buttercup and Foxgloves. On the 9th there were two Slow worms and a Wood Mouse under one sheet of corrugated at the top of the Main Field and a Wood Mouse and nest under the other. Harry added five roof beams to the Field Shelter in Kiln Close and on the 10th Harry and Josh put the roof sheets on. That night, when out between 10pm and 11:15pm to see the aurora (unsuccessfully) we saw several rabbits feeding on the winter bird food crop. There was a Fox picked up on a trail camera crossing the vegetable plot and a pair of Mallards roosting on the Flo Pond and they were there again overnight on the 11th. Late morning on the 12th another first for the LLP when a solitary Canada Goose flew up out of the rough grassland beside the Wibbly Wobbly Path just above the crossroads.
On the 15th Harry and volunteers Steve and Bruce burnt up all brash in Forde Orchard & started second fire near the roadside edge to burn off the cut Blackthorn from the winter. A kestrel was seen, for around 10 mins, hunting over the rough grass on the roadside edge.
Checks on the Waterleat small bird boxes revealed the following:
Four boxes had Blue Tit nestlings that were still naked and blind, with 4+, 6 and 7 young, plus another with 4 young and three eggs. The brood of 7 was in the north-end nestbox of the Top Field Shelter, where the nestbox was erected in Autumn ’22. Two small nestboxes had Great Tit breeding, both with adults sitting, and the Implement Shed duck box had 5 well-feathered young Great Tit. Nest box 36 had an adult Dormouse in torpor and the upper duck box contained a completely empty nest, suggesting that the whole Mandarin brood fledged successfully.
David mowed the paths on the 16th and saw a Skylark on the Wibble path and by the crop, there was also a Mistle Thrush feeding on the crop. On the 17th Harry and volunteers burnt up the cut Blackthorn on the roadside edge & hand pulled creeping thistle within North Park and Kiln Close. Five young Great Tit in the implement shed duck box were ringed.
Blue Tits were going in and out of the northernmost nestbox on the First Field Shelter on the 19th and the young could be heard in the box. On the 20th a Skylark was singing and flying very low over the Top Field at the south end of the ‘airstrip’. Mallards were roosting on the Flo Pond. Lots of Beautiful Demoiselle were flying around the ponds and the Hornets are now active over the LLP. Harry strimmed under the electric fence. A pair of Grey Wagtails were seen on the river around the top bridge for several days.
The digger was put into use again on the 22nd when Harry created a flat area in Forde Orchard for the Beehives. The Mallard Drake was alone on the Flo Pond in the morning. On the 23rd a small brood of o 2 Great Tits were ringed in one nestbox with one unhatched egg. A brood of 6 Blue Tits was ringed in Corner Wood and another brood of 6 was ringed from the box on the First Field Shelter. A trail camera on the small mammal feeder showed that the local Woodmice were enjoying the Sunflower seeds despite a Goat sleeping on the top of it. On the 25th there was a small, brown, dry Toad under the corrugated sheet nearest to the First Field Shelter and Wood Mouse, the Toad was there, on its own, again on the 26th.
Another first for the LLP on the 26th when a Female Goosander was picked up by trail camera, diving on the Flo Pond. In March 2007 a pair were seen flying over the LLP, but we have never recorded a sighting on the reserve. The Mallard pair were caught on the Flo Pond trail camera overnight and in the early hours of the morning and a solitary male is being seen regularly on the Flo Pond during the day , making us wonder if the female is sitting on the island.
The Skylark was seen again on the 28th over the central part of the Main Field. On the 29th the Toad was under the corrugated sheet again, this time sitting next to a Slowworm.
We recorded a mean temperature for the month of 12.7°C which is 1.2°C higher than our 19-year average but 0.5°C degrees lower than last May. Rainfall was 114.4mm over 16-days (average here 75.37mm), the wettest May by a long way since 2007, 2007 and 2008.