Category: Fauna

Wren

The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is tiny, only the goldcrest and the firecrest are smaller among British birds, but it has an enormous voice, apparently ten times louder, weight for weight, than a cockerel.

Audio: Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) by Lars Edenius from xeno canto.org

Images: taken in the reserve by Cheryl Cronnie

Blackcap

A Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) photographed in the reserve last week by Cheryl Cronnie.

Audio by David Bissett from xeno-canto.org

One of the reserve’s greater spotted woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major) photographed by Cheryl Cronnie.

Easter Bunny

For decades there has been a rabbit warren in the hedge between Sleepers Field and Cornfield, in the stretch from the picnic place to Puddle Corner. Here’s a video that shows how astonishingly complex such a warren can be.

Header image: rabbit (CC0) from pixabay.com

A gallery of squirrels

We know they are an invasive alien species that inflicts terrible damage on our trees every year – but they are also much loved, long term park residents.

Header picture by Simon Knight

We have been working with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Water Team to establish great crested newt habitat in the reserve. Here is a video of what we hope might be happening somewhere in one of our ponds.

Bullfinch

Bullfinches are regular visitors to the park. Despite the male’s glorious colouring, they are quiet, retiring types, rarely seen. DKG took this picture in April 2019 early one Saturday morning when the park was pretty much empty of visitors.

Continue reading “Bullfinch” →

Nesting

At this time of year, the reserve’s blue tits are building nests in holes in our old trees. The ash tree at Fiveways harbours a nest every year and the fenced oak near the bottom of the Arboretum seems to have attracted more than one pair already.

Here is a video of a female blue tit building a nest while, outside, the male guards the site from marauders and thieves.

Video from The Nest Box
Header picture by Simon Knight

Butterflies

The spring weather has brought our butterflies out of hibernation. On Wednesday, Ian reported a peacock, brimstones, commas and a small tortoiseshell.

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1&2 Brimstone 3&4 Comma 5&6 Small tortoiseshell.
Header Image: peacock by DKG

Winter blue tits

During the winter, in natural woodlands, blue tits spend most of their time in oaks, searching for insect food in the trees’ rich ecosystems. But at this time of year they turn their attention to the midges, mites and wasps that come to lay eggs in the new leaf buds.

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The Eurasian collared dove, Streptopelia decaocto, seems ubiquitous: one of the park’s noisiest and most common species. But it wasn’t always so.

How come?

Jay

Ian Bushell photographed this young jay in the reserve on Sunday morning. He said:

It is last year’s chick, a one year old bird that has raised its crest; adults have black and white bands on their heads. Its call, which was what attracted my attention, was more like the mew of a buzzard rather than the harsh call of the Jay.

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