🦆 Cotwall End Valley nature diary: August 2024
August 1
Song thrush and female blackbird feeding on blackberries.
Several meadow brown butterflies on the heath.
One swift in flight during the evening.
August 3
Four swifts (1,3) and one swallow over the valley.
August 7
Four swifts visible from the green.
August 8
Three mallards (females) and three moorhens (two adults, one very young bird) on main pool.
August 9
Lesser black-backed gull on the telegraph pole in Longfellow Road. A regular sighting.
August 10
Noctule in flight (west to east) across Straits estate late dusk.
August 14
First grey wagtail of the year, on a spring brook on the eastern slope.
August 15
Grey heron, mallard juveniles (3) on main pool.
Female mallard on Bob’s brook.
Jackdaws (21) on fields off Moden Hill.
18 black-headed gull and 6 lesser black-backed gull feeding on the green after rain.
August 18
On an early evening walk along Straits Road, I said to my wife that I’d love to see a house martin.
Within a minute, two appeared, feeding in the immediate area. A first for 2024 and a lifer for the valley.
August 19
Single swift in the valley, heading south to north.
August 20
Single swift over Straits estate.
August 26
First kingfisher of the year, in flight along Bob’s brook.
Two coal tits singing.
Fox in woodland.
Five common buzzards high over the valley.
Four ravens in flight over the valley.
August 27
House martins (10) in migration flight.
August 28
Juvenile mistle thrush in woodland.
Two female mallards and two moorhen on main pool.
A new species (ever) for the valley, as a garden warbler made its way through the back garden.
August 30
Raven in flight across the valley.