I am fortunate to be allowed to walk large areas of farmland and some parts of the large Army training area known as STANTA (Stanford Training Area), this morning I visited some beautiful habitats within this area. The habitat visited included the beautiful Watton Brook valley and adjoining marsh and meadows.
This visit began with a small flock of Linnets flying into a willow, the male bird looked stunning with its beautiful bright crimson breast.
No evidence of passage seen save for a single Whitethroat passing purposefully south through a well vegetated ditch. The meadows here often hold passage Yellow Wagtails at this time of year, these beauties are seen feeding around grazing livestock. I think the fresh SW wind probably prevented any notable passage, although I did find 3 Chiffchaffs, one of which was in a small Hawthorn alongside Watton Brook.
Watton Brook and the adjoining marsh has an abundance of plants which attract invertebrate life, the sides of the brook are dominated by Rosebay Willowherb and Burr reed, the adjoining marsh has an abundance of knapweed and Ragwort. Goldfinches were present in good numbers (80+) and were often seen feeding upon seeds of tall weeds whilst overhead 100+ Swallows gathered to feed upon flying insects.
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| Watton Brook Valley 15 August 2024 - Just a single Chiffchaff seen in the valley but 100+ Swallows overhead. |
A closer look at some fresh cow dung saw some interesting invertebrates, one particular attractive large fly on dung was the Mid Day Fly, this insect has beautiful golden coloured bases to the wings. Mid Day Flies lay eggs in the dung and I understand the larvae predates other life forms in the dung.
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| Mid Day Fly on fresh dung 15 August 2024 |
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| Mid Day Fly 15 August 2024 (Showing its lovely golden wing bases) |
A walk around a large meadow to finish my visit produced just a single, unseen, alarm calling Lesser Whitethroat in a tree-lined hedgerow. Finally, given the strength of the wind I decided to walk the sheltered side of a hedgerow filled with various fruits in the hope of finding a migrant Warbler species, I did see something move but was not quick enough to ID it. I did see a couple of Greenfinches however.
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