CYGNET SURPRISE

There was a pleasant surprise on Sunday morning when it was realised that two swan families had bred at the park this spring. This very young group of six cygnets were seen feeding on the park pond for the first time this morning. The family had their nest amongst the thick stand of reedmace.

After seeing the cygnets at the pond I walked along the park seawall and saw this original group of seven cygnets resting by the central ditch in the fields. This has been their usual haunt for the last fortnight. Only now I realise this family was not the one that nested at the pond but had probably had a nest hidden along the central ditch.
Thirteen cygnets will be a lot of hungry beaks to find food for - and there's bound to be some nasty family rivalries to sort out this summer!

The swallows have finished building their nest in the hide and are presumed to have some eggs that she's incubating. She seems quite tolerant of visitors to the hide if they come in quietly.
Work was done today to screw shut the window flap beneath the nest so it can't be opened. One of the other window flaps has been wired open to allow the birds to come and go. Fingers crossed!

This skylark looked a bit anxious as I walked towards it on the seawall, sticking its crest up before it flew off to the field.
The avocets have returned to the saltmarsh lagoons near the Point having been flooded out three weeks ago. Sixteen birds were noted here with possibly four or five birds sitting. Another pair were feeding on the park pools.
Two of the month old lapwing chicks were still feeding in the field and a pair of redshank were also in the fields.

At the park pond 2 little egrets and six tufted ducks were noted along with a number of chicks of coots and moorhens. At least one reed warbler was singing here and also the nearby Cetti's warbler sang too.

Three fox cubs were enjoying the peace and quiet of the back of the park's grazing fields on Sunday morning. Here the vixen watches over while one of the cubs pins another cub to the ground.

 

 Nice to record some of the nationally rare ground lackey larvae on the saltmarsh by the Point. The adults should emerge between mid and late July.

Butterflies noted at the park today included a painted lady, 2 common blues, holly blue, speckled wood, small white, orange-tip, small heath and large white.

Two broad-bodied chasers were noted and also the first emperor dragonfly of the season.

There was a report of a badger cub seen in Bromans Lane in the afternoon for the second day running.

One adder was noted at the park in the morning in its usual spot.

This hummingbird hawk-moth was seen feeding on the honeysuckle in the car park on Saturday, photographed by Kerry Sturdy.