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Country Matters 12th June 2003
Andy Goodey has reported hearing Bramblings flying over Rayne in March. A Little Owl perched in a tree opposite the Cock and then a Tawny Owl in a different tree five minutes later. His first Chiff Chaff was heard on 17th March followed by many more of the same species. He has only found one Willow Warbler and this was holding a territory at the Rayne Lodge fishing lakes. Blackcaps are in good numbers and a Lesser Whitethroat has claimed his garden for its territory.Andy also reports that the Kingfishers are nesting along Pods Brook. They appear to have nested in this area for many years but I have had no reports as to how successful they have been. He has seen two Whimbrels and heard another along the river. This is a new record for Rayne. Andy has also heard two Nightingales along the river but they did not stay in the parish. He has recorded two Yellow Wagtails near the Rayne Riding Centre and two pairs each of Yellowhammers and Bullfinches. The latter is a bird that appears to be increasing after many years of none being reported in the Parish.
There have been numerous reports of Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers in gardens throughout the village. The nesting Green Woodpeckers in our garden have just hatched their young and a Great Spotted Woodpecker has just brought two juveniles to the garden to feed.
Andy saw 5 hares along Pods Lane and I saw a courting pair and a pair mating. I had never seen this and assume that these private encounters normally happen at night. There are two pairs of Linnets along Pods Lane but the Yellowhammers do not seem to have returned this year.
Denise Goodey saw a Muntjac near Sunlido and Harold Giles saw a Muntjac with fawn near Duckend Green. Fox and fox cub reports from many sources.
Song Thrushes do appear at last to be increasing though Andy reports the pair nesting in his garden were robbed by Jays and one of the two pairs at Duckend Green lost its mate to a road vehicle.
One of my favourite birds, the Spotted Flycatcher is nesting over a doorway on the farm. To non-birders this is an LBJ (little brown job). It is one of the later migrants to return to this country and it immediately builds a nest, lays eggs and after a short incubation period hatches and very quickly fledges young and then departs. Roger Martin had a pair last year that apparently had two broods. Its main characteristic is that it sits on a perch and when an insect flies past darts out and often with a show of acrobatics catches its prey and flies back to the same spot on its perch.
This is repeated endlessly. We had a pair several years running by the office window which meant the paperwork mounted up as my productivity decreased.
The fish thieves have been at work, several garden ponds have lost fish this year. Herons are probably the cause, not only will they swallow the smaller fish but they also spear very large ones with their beak and leave them on the bank. It can be quite difficult to find the entry mark so look carefully before blaming the cat. We had a heron on our pond, which didn’t see me until I was within 3m. This would have been a juvenile as the adults are very wary birds and do most of their garden fishing as its just getting light in the morning. I suspect on bright summer nights this means they fish most of the night.
Our pair of Goldcrests have just fledged their young and their parents are busily feeding them very small insects. The Stock doves have produced one youngster and we had a Turtle Dove in the garden but only for a day.
Many garden ponds have abundant frog spawn every spring and many gardens also have toads. They are both far more common now that when I was a youngster. I would be interested in reports of newts in ponds in the parish as a survey is underway on amphibians and reptiles in Essex and the results will be used in a new book.
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