June -August

When most of the young grey herons were fledging, one of the pairs laid a repeat clutch and only hatched their young in mid June. Fortunately for us, the nest site was quite exposed and it has been possible to watch the comings and going of this family, with the web-cam. The young one fledged in early August but remains around the pond, occasionally being fed by its parents. The adult little owl has also been seen back visiting the nest site, via the web-cam, especially when it is raining - so presumably it uses it to shelter.

Several broods of young mallard have been seen on the decoy and the pair of tufted ducks was still present in mid June. Although there was no young to be seen, the female was often missing, presumably sitting on her nest. At last, on July 15th a female tufted duck was seen with nine ducklings. This is the first ever breeding record on the decoy, although birds have been present over the last couple of years and may have tried before. The weather broke and the heavy rain was a real problem for the female. However, when she was next seen, she still had all nine young. Her luck did not hold: soon she was down to four but whether from the adverse weather or predation we do not know. All four seem to be progressing well and are now nearly half grown.

The little grebes have gone on to build a second nest, while the young, from their first nest, are now capable of flying. Meanwhile, another pair arrived (possibly the ones which were chased away in the spring) and built a nest. The first young to hatch succumbed, in the bad weather, but the other adults are still incubating their four eggs. It will be interesting to see if they make it through, as it is now very late in the season. However they are very diligent parents and will make a good go of it.

Buzzards have been regular visitors around the Decoy, since spring, but, with the trees in full leaf, it was difficult to keep track of them. Additionally, the herons remained unconcerned, although they have been known to desert, if buzzards are present. On July 19th a recently fledged buzzard - just able to fly - was seen with an adult, confirming the first breeding of the species at the decoy. Later on, in the same week, two newly fledged young buzzards were seen sitting on the branches of a dead tree, calling piteously to be fed. More recently, the whole family have been seen in flight over the Decoy and further afield, although the adults are still feeding them.

In June the dragonflies did well, with a good number of four-spot chasers, a broad-bodied chaser and three species of damselfly observed around the pond and ditches. The butterflies appreciated the warm weather, in early July, and plenty of large skippers and gatekeepers were seen. A few meadow browns and a comma were also recorded. Both brown hawkers and southern hawkers were flying around the pond and woodland areas and, more recently, a common darter has been spotted. While the Marsh hide was being cleaned out, a roost of twelve peacock butterflies was found, in a dark corner. All but three flew away, when the spider's webs nearby were cleared, but five returned about a quarter of an hour later. A red admiral joined them briefly. During the sunny periods gatekeepers and speckled woods were also seen. 

  Butterfly roost  

Small Pheonix moth

In August a moth trap was set overnight. The weather wasn't ideal but it produced a good catch of seventy five moths of twenty six species. Unfortunately this year they were all common varieties but nonetheless there were good numbers of several species, evidence that there is a healthy population of insects thriving on the Decoy. 

Two work parties (one on the 7thJuly and the second on 20th August) spent several hours working on the Decoy, catching up on the general maintenance of the site. The shrubs in front of the hides were cut back, the vegetation from the seating area cleared, the path was strimmed and a fallen tree which was blocking the path was removed. All the hides and the cottage were brushed out and tidied up. After all the hard work, a barbeque was a welcome break for the volunteers from the Friends of Pickerings Pasture.

The first sign of autumn migration was in the first week of July, with some returning green sandpipers! Shortly afterwards, a common sandpiper was seen in the Ramsbrook. Both species have been seen intermittently on the marsh and on the decoy pond since. The first teal was seen in mid July. By early August, massive numbers of Canada geese had returned to the marsh, with over two thousand being counted on several occasions. Amongst them, from time to time, a greylag goose and a barnacle goose have been glimpsed. Over 350 lapwings were roosting at high tide, together with one hundred and fifty dunlins and a few black-tailed godwits. On the high tide, of 12^th August, two little egrets were seen close by, on the marsh pool. The massive flock of Canada geese were still present but the lapwing flock had increased to over seven hundred, with one golden plover being found with them. On the marsh pool a greenshank spent time feeding: catching small prey items. Several times, it flew into the Ramsbrook or on to a nearby scrape, calling as it went, but quickly retuning to resume feeding.

Other interesting observations were a mixed flock of tits and warblers, which included willow warblers, blackcaps and at least ten chiffchaffs, seen in July. This flock included a treecreeper, which is a bird that is seldom seen on the Decoy. The sedge warblers, regularly seen by the swing bridge, reared two young. Towards the end of July, plenty of swifts, with a few house martins and swallows, were seen circling above the decoy wood, attempting to find insects, in the wet weather.

The duck numbers are slowly increasing, with plenty of mallards now on the decoy and the first teals also appearing. Recently, a juvenile garganey was spotted with them and two green sandpipers are using the floating rafts to rest on. Sadly, as we publish, the little grebe's nest has failed before the eggs hatched. It would seem an increase in the water level washed it away. Maybe it's for the best - the stickleback population must have taken a real hammering this summer.

Two little egrets on the marsh pool.