This May five of our volunteer observers sent in reports, having recorded 54 different bird species in the parish, with 30 species on the Hurst and 34 seen or heard on Old Bridge Meadow and Overy Mead Piece.

The bird breeding season is now at its height with welcome reports of Buzzard, Kestrel, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Grey Wagtail all nesting in the local area.  Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Starlings and Mallard have all been seen with young, while on the predator side Magpies were spotted raiding a Blackbird nest.

Download full copy of report

The long, warm days of June are ideal times for butterfly spotting. Apart from the more obvious, larger ones like Brimstone, Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell, the water meadows are home to the much smaller Common Blue, and brilliantly orange coloured Small Copper. Please do send us your butterfly observations, along with a note of when and where you saw them.

Dusk is the time to watch for bats. Just as it’s getting dark they’re best spotted against what remains of the lighter sky. Last month we found another Soprano Pipistrelle in one of our Trust bat boxes and last year we also recorded Daubenton’s bats over the River Thame and the large Noctule bat flying high over Dorchester Bridge.

 We are still hoping that last year’s Grasshopper Warblers will return to the Hurst. Listen out for their insect-like buzzing song from the meadow at dawn and dusk. Unlike a real grasshopper, it goes on for very long bursts of up to 15 seconds or so, and seems to rise and fall in volume as the bird turns its head while singing.

For our team of bird recorders, we have gaps in our records of the following species for the month of June: Egyptian Goose, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, and Feral Pigeon. Please keep an extra look out for these, wherever they may be in the Dorchester parish.