Welcome to Nature’s Calender. Throughout the year I will attempt to give a picture of what life is like on our wonderful reserve, Dobcroft.
January as seen it’s usual mix of weather. Snow, flooding on the paths and glorious sunshine on icy days.
Mid month crocuses flowered in the ‘Moth Garden’. Our first moth of the year, Agonopterix arenella showed up on the Reserve (many thanks to Steve Palmer for identifying that one). Beautiful ‘Jelly Ear‘ fungus appeared in the Woodland.
And we were visited by Redwing. Reed Buntings becoming regulars at the feeding station. Siskins recorded for the first time on Dobcroft. And finally some our lovely Robins seem to be pairing up.
RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch
On top of that Jean, David and myself (all members of ‘Friends of Dobcroft’ and the Land Management Team) carried out the annual hourly watch on Dobcroft on 29 January 2021, as part of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. Fortunately the rain kept off and we selected to view the birds around ‘Dragon’s Fly‘ (one of our ponds) feeding station.
Overall 16 species of birds appeared. These are the individuals we were lucky enough to see:
- 1 Dunnock
- 1 Magpie
- 1 Wood pigeon
- 1 Wren
- 2 Blackbirds
- 2 Bullfinch
- 2 Carrion crow
- 2 Chaffinch
- 2 Coal tit
- 2 Reed bunting
- 2 Robin
- 3 Great tit
- 3 Long tailed tit
- 3 Mallard
- 4 Blue tit
- 4 Goldfinch
Looking forward to February delights!
Gillian Blackburn, Friends of Dobcroft Land Management Team