LIGHTNING AND LIZARDS

Friday 8th started off with loud rumbles of thunder and bright cracks of lightning passing over the park. The accompanying downpour lasted for a couple of hours so it wasn't surprising to find the park deserted during the morning.

When the weather brightened up in the afternoon I noticed these two common lizards basking on a small stick poking out of a hedge. Their colouring blends in well with the colour of wood so that they are often very hard to spot. There is quite a good population in the park amongst the long grass and with luck and patience, they can often be found. They do like to sunbathe and so the best places to look for them are on the top of logs, the bottom of fenceposts or maybe just on a tussock of dry dead grass.
The warm conditions brought out a few insects of interest such as this blue-tailed damselfly. This dainty and delicate cousin of the dragonflies is the commonest species at the park. It is regularly found resting alongside hedgerows or sunbathing amongst the low vegetation such as nettles. Most of these damselflies can be seen close to the water of the ponds and ditches where they rest amongst the rushes and reeds. The azure damselfly is also common at the park and is often seen alongside the blue-tailed damselfly.
Enjoying the afternoon sun on the beach was the first painted lady butterfly of the year. Across the park there were several meadow brown butterflies flitting amongst the long grass with the first one being seen on Tuesday. One or two small heaths were also seen as was a red admiral, holly blue and speckled wood.


Birdlife on the park included one of the resident sparrowhawks hurtling across the car park, several skylarks and meadow pipits bringing life to the airwaves above the grasslands, whilst in some of the bushes, whitethroats and lesser whitethroats can still be heard. During the early morning deluge the fluty song of the blackcap added a cheery note to the proceedings.