A Tale Of Two Woods

Not being able to park up at Stratton Wood car park, because of pipe laying, I decided to park up at Stanton Park and walk to Stratton Wood via the track that leads you to Kingsdown Lane. Once on the lane I headed north, past the crematorium and then into Stratton Wood on my left.  No narrative today, just a few images of what I saw and a few captions to go with them.

Stanton Park

Yellow-bellied Terrapin in the right hand pool as you head up the main drive from the car park. He was still there I when I came back from my walk 2 hours later.

The first of many Bluebells that are now appearing throughout the wood.

This is the Hornets nest from last year. Either kids have been throwing sticks etc at it or the Woodpeckers took an interest in it. It would be nice to think it was the latter.

There's always a Robin to photograph and this was very vocal.

Both Wood Anemones and Lesser Celandine flowering alongside each other.

A male Blackcap high up in the canopy. A difficult shot through all the branches. But that's where many of them are at this time of year, as they set up their territories and sing out loud to entice a female to their patch.

Now in the distance, where the tall trees are, is Kingsdown Way and behind that is the Crematorium. If I turned round 180 degrees I would be facing Stanton Park. The footpath has always run along the hedge-line you can see on the right. This year there is rapeseed on the left, the new "track" I'm standing on and what looks like a set-a-side running up to the hedge. If anyone has ever walked along the hedgerow footpath in the winter, it is horrendous. So this new path is looking good for this year.

Just before you back to the the car park, you cross the stream. I hadn't realised there were fish in there albeit Sticklebacks. But there were dozens of them.

This one was feeding in the mud, but as to what species it is, I'm unsure. Have to get a net out if the Wardens will let me, unless of course they know what they are! It's either a three-spined or nine-spined Stickleback (AKA ten-spined). 

Note:

In the UK there are three recognised species: the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus and the nine-spined stickleback Pungitius pungitius can be found in freshwater, saltwater or brackish waters, whereas the fifteen-spined stickleback Spinachia spinachia is purely marine More Here

Birds Recorded: 5 Mallard in flight, Moorhen, Wood Pigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, 1 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, 4 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Nuthatch, Wren, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.

Butterflies seen: Speckled Wood, Orange-tip (male and female), Green-veined White, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

Also: Terrapin and Sticklebacks sp.

Stratton Wood

In the background a storage facility for caravans off Kingsdown Lane, but the hedgerow here on the right produced a Lesser Whitethroat, my first of the year.

Several Goldfinches about and this chap posed for me no less than 20ft away.

A bit further away was this Chiffchaff, and was 1 of 5 heard singing here at Stratton

Apologies for this series of images but it was fascinating to watch this Bee-fly hover above the soil and then drop down to "lay" her eggs.

I've never seen this before but reading up on it, it appears that the female will disperse her eggs by either flicking them into holes or depositing one at a time.

Once dispersed she was up again before........

.............finding another spot.......

....time and time again.......

..........and again.....

The adults will keep searching for nests of solitary bees, wasps and beetles and when they find one, hover near the nest entrance, and will either dip their abdomen into the surface of the soil to lay their eggs or flick them in.

The hatched larvae then lives off the unfortunate bee, wasp or beetle larvae.

This Peacock butterfly was making the most of the sun as it fed on the nectar of this Blackthorn out in flower.

Other butterflies out today were Orang-tip, both male and female and this Speckled Wood.

I also came across a Brimstone and this Small Tortoiseshell.

Apart from the Anemones and Blue Bells, the Cowslips are now well out in flower

Very similar to Primroses the tall stem tells it apart.

Birds recorded were: 1 Buzzard, Wood Pigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, 1 Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 10 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Nuthatch, Wren, 1 Jay, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, and 8+ Bullfinch.

Butterflies seen: Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Orange-tip (male and female), Green-veined White, Large white, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

Other invertebrate: Bee-fly, Drone Fly, White-tailed Bumblebee, a Grasshopper sp.

Also 1 Rabbit and a Grey Squirrel