A huge wasps nest has been made underneath one of the bird boxes by the side of the lake, in the old oak tree. I saw one last year taken over by tree bumblebees. I often see the wasps on the wooden bridge sawing up the wood for the nest, it's surprsing how noisy the gnawing sound is. Here is the nest today with the wasps being very active:

And a close up of the nest itself:

Even though wasps aren't my greatest friends, I know from having one just outside my kitchen door that they don't bother you at all. This nest won't be used again next year, it will be abandoned in the early autumn and the wasp colony will vacate it.

There was one lonely Canada Goose with over one hundred greylags this morning:

and a heron peering over from the other side:

Lots of flowers are now coming into seed and fruit. This yellow flag iris:

Hawthorn:

Elderflower berries:

And the lovely berries of the deadly nightshade. This is more commonly called bittersweet nightshade now:

The himalayan balsam has really spread around the far side of the lake this year. It's very invasive and smothers other plants, but they do remind me of Audrey2:

There were very few hoverflies and butterflies this morning despite it being fine with no wind. A few bumblebees were around including this one with huge pollen baskets. The bee will brush the pollen into the sac until they bulge over:

This weekend saw me in South Devon on a bird ringing course. Not directly related to my work at Beale Park but it's here that I got the idea into my head I'd like to learn more.

The weekend was gorgeous but not great for birds as there was quite a breeze. The friday evening saw us at a swallow roost by the sea - there was a bit of commotion with mackerel driving in whitebait which had become stranded on the beach by their thousands:

This meant I spent a lot more time rescuing the fish than at the bird mist nets. I also had to rescue a mackerel who'd been over keen and had got himself stranded as well. Later a seal came in to eat the mackerel so it was all go. Birds ringed that evening were swallow (all juvenile), one starling, a reed warbler and that was about it. A hobby was flying overhead trying to chase any unsuspecting juvenile swallows.

Every day was a 06.45 start  - the saturday we walked down to the spit area where the mist nets are:

and each had a turn in ringing. We practiced on wire legs first before the real thing. Most birds caught were reed warbler:

a couple of sedge warblers:

A blackcap which I ringed and a lovely little robin which of course, Robin ringed:

By 08.30 on each day the birds were drying up. The trainers said it was the slowest for a long time, perhaps because of the late cold spring. Just as things were starting to get slow, a sparrowhawk came in:

A beautiful juvenile, probably female.

The weekend was great - good company, good accomodation and great trainers. I learnt all that I had gone for, from setting up a net and dismantling to how to ring birds. We also had classroom sessions on migration and data inputting plus the reasons behind ringing in the age of new technology. I wouldn't say I am confident enough to ring birds and may stick to wild flowers but as the training is a minimum of 2 years, watch this space.

Perhaps I should practice on my chickens.....

I last visited the lake area a couple of days ago after an absence of 2 weeks. The purple loosestrife was out on show:

As well as the water mint:

The swallows were still making an appearance and there were a lot of small jumping fish today. A few more butterflies including the usual whites - green veined whites and small whites:

A bar-headed goose who had strolled over from the bird park was making its way around the lake feeding on the grass. I have seen this bird quite a few times here over the last couple of years before it wanders back:

 

By the rivers edge, a heron was fishing with just it's head poking out of the undergrowth:

A little rabbit was here to greet me this morning, sharing the grassy area with the juvenile green woodpecker:

There was also a solitary cinnabar moth caterpillar on a ragwort nearly stripped bare by it:

These guys turn into beautiful red and black day-time flying moths which are poisonous. The caterpillars feed off the poison in the ragwort and store it in their bodies and this gets transferred to the moths as well. A study shows that with all of the ragwort clearance in horse fields and pastures, the cinnabar moth is declining.

The smell of the water mint was very strong today - a few butterflies were about, mainly green-veined whites but also this ringlet:

A very tatty looking small tortoiseshell:

And a few meadow browns by the river. The usual mix of birds were around but no sign of any Canada geese today. Three lapwing flew very high up overhead and there were also a couple of juvenile mistle thrushes.

By the woodland, there is now a mass of wild parsnip which wasn't as widespread last year:

And a long-tailed tit family were busy in the trees:

 

The mute swan couple were busy looking for water weed this morning:

There was also a green woodpecker hopping nearby in the grass. It was by itself  - I haven't seen or heard any signs of a family this year which was very active last summer.

In the wood, a froglet was crawling among the leaf matter:

A few damselflies were around and this black-tailed skimmer:

 

 

These are quite common around the lake but I made the mistake of looking at my dragonfly book at other species and saw what looked very similar, a keeled skimmer. It isn't really the right habitat as they like damp heathland but there are a few localised patches of them in Berkshire. I would say this is a black-tailed skimmer as it has faint orange arcs around the edges of its tail if you look carefully.

Again, very few insects around - this small tortoiseshell:

And the common soldier beetle was everywhere today. These are also called blood-suckers:

The garden warbler family were in their usual spot making a lot of noise calling to each other. Other warblers seen and heard were chiffchaff, black-cap and willow warbler. These will be off in the next few weeks as will the swallows who regularly come here to drink from the lake.

The kestrel was hovering over the grass when I arrived but kept getting in the way of a group of swallows who were visiting. The kingfishers were also very active scooting past me but as usual, I couldn't seem to get a good shot:

Again very few insects around, although I did see a solitary small tortoiseshell. The pyramidal orchids are doing well:

And there are still a few patches of ragged robin:

Self-heal is everywhere on the grassy areas. There were a few in the woodland as well - I presume it is self-heal as I can't identify it as anything else, but it was much taller than I was expecting which threw me a bit:

The mullein plant has flowered as well:

This is in the same area I watched a female terrapin dig her hole for eggs last year:

 

 

 

My favourite area is looking good at the moment and is usually teeming with warblers, tits and kingfishers. I couldn't spot any tadpoles today but it was quite weedy:

Further along there were a family of garden warblers. These sound very similar to blackcap but their song is longer and I think, scratchier. The family were busy looking for insects, preening and just enjoying the sun. They appear much yellower in these photographs - they are much browner than this: