JUNE- AUGUST

The buzzards hatched three young in their nest high up in the oak tree and they fledged in early July. The adults fetched in plenty of prey items for the chicks: mainly very small rabbits. The young could be heard calling for food long after they fledged and they remained around the Decoy for quite a while. They were later seen on the posts near Pickerings Pasture hide where they were seen to catch worms. This is not unusual: a large part of the buzzard's diet is small invertebrates. Over the coming weeks they will learn to catch larger prey and will eventually be evicted from their parent's territory.

A lovely surprise was a female Montague's harrier, which was seen hunting the marsh early in the morning, on the 18th June, and over the meadow, by the field pools, later in the day. It was last seen flying off towards the North-east.

The tufted duck, which had been seen creeping out of the pool, into nearby long vegetation, finally produced four young, in the first week of July. On the same day, a female mallard was seen with ten newly hatched ducklings and another female had six larger young. Unfortunately neither the young tufted ducks nor the female were seen again: so we presume the young died during the torrential downpours, which occurred on several days around this time, and the female left the pool. Surprisingly, in view of the weather, the late broods of mallard did very well: the brood of ten lost one young and the larger brood of three progressed well.

The young from the wren's nest, which was inside the pond hide, fledged at least five young on the 19th June. There were also two pairs of swallows nesting in the bird hides this year, and five young fledged from each nest. The pair in the Tom Johnson hide again used the artificial nest, provided by the Friends of Pickerings Pasture, for their first brood. They built a normal nest for their second attempt but unfortunately this second nest failed.

In early June the weather was very poor for butterflies, although three large skippers and several green-veined whites were spotted.

On the July 4th three grey wagtails were feeding on the exposed mud of the moat. On the same day a brood of at least four young chiffchaffs were being fed by their parents and several young blackcaps and two young whitethroats were seen as well.

 The moth trap was opened and the visitors were able to see what had been caught during the previous night. Forty nine moths of twenty eight different species were found: small phoenix, antler moth, scalloped oak and yellow-tail demonstrated that not all moths are dull brown and the early thorn showed that sometimes moths can be confused with butterflies!! An "old lady" surprised many of the visitors by its size. Three years ago some Svensons copper underwings were found roosting behind the door of the history tree: several generations later and they were still roosting there. The conditions must be good...

A further work visit by the Friend's group members was essential to replace the decking at the entrance to the pond hide. The old wooden flooring had rotted, making it dangerous to walk on.

The Decoy is not famous for its plant species but purple loosestrife, foxgloves, yellow loosestrife and hemp agrimony do brighten up the area.  The hemp agrimony, in particular, attracts lots of butterflies to feed on the nectar. On one warm evening pipistrelle and noctule bats were recorded flying about the decoy pond.

A BTCV work-party was present on site for three days in August: clearing out the drainage ditches and removing the large amounts of silt that have built up over the years. This vital work is very strenuous and dirty so we are very grateful for their help.  Wednesday 10th August was a rather wet day, but a guided walk, with one of the community park wardens, was well attended. From Pickerings Pasture they walked via the private farmland onto and around the decoy.

In the first week of August, after some migration, at least fifteen chiffchaffs, a couple of willow warblers, several blackcaps and two whitethroats were feeding in the bushes. A greenshank circled the pool area and carried on towards the field pools were it remained overnight. Two brown hawkers and a southern hawker dragonfly were still flying and there were good numbers of gatekeepers and speckled woods.

Several members of the Friends group made a further work visit to repair the supports for the swing bridge. They were aided by a local welder on this occasion. Later in the month another work-party did some splendid work painting and repairing the notice boards, red-leading the bridge stanchions prior to them being painted, and the bird hides were cleaned out as far as possible as the swallows were still sitting on eggs. Some pruning work was taking place when a barn owl was flushed from a large willow tree, where it had been roosting.

The pair of swallows in the pond hide also re-laid in a very small nest built on a ledge. These eggs hatched on the 24th August, so the young will be in the nest until about the 15th September, assuming all goes well.

On the marsh pools a spotted redshank, two greenshanks and a ruff have been present, with good numbers of black-tailed godwits. A maximum of three hundred and twenty were seen on the field pools. The first wigeon of the autumn appeared on the 15th August, with seven teals.

On the 24th August a juvenile wheatear was present on the marsh with more white wagtails. A large flock of a thousand Canada geese were noted grazing on the marsh and a marsh harrier was seen flying south and over the Mersey.

As the wildlife changes by the season there will be more walks from October until February, from Pickerings Pasture to the Decoy. Anyone interested should contact Ann, the community park warden, on 0151-425-4706. It may be necessary leave a message, with your name and phone number, on the answer phone.

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