Barry Mouser Saw a Skylark singing over the end of the airstrip at Rayne and a family of Grey Wagtails, 2 adults and two juveniles feeding on the insects at the nearby sewage farm.  There was also a family of Whitethroats, again two adults and two youngsters in the nettle patches down Rectory Lane.  Barry reminisces that when he was a youngster in Suffolk this bird was called the Nettle Warbler.  The hollow blocks of the cricket pavilion walls for the fifth year running provided a home to a pair of Great Tits.
John Taylor found Vapourer Moth caterpillars on his Hazel tortuosa.  As John said the female moth which is difficult to find as it is wingless and relies on the release of Pheromones to attract the males.
Lloyd Walker Brunwin Road sent me pictures of a bright yellow bird on his feeders which was similar to a Canary but was not quite right.  I sent it to a birder but have not yet a reply.  Like me he probably does not wish to admit defeat.

Phil Monk saw a Little Owl in Rectory Lane and a Spotted Flycatcher in the churchyard.
Anne Lane Brunwin Road watched a Sparrow Hawk chase a Blackbird up the stream by their garden.  They both disappeared into a bush but despite lots of noise the Hawk emerged empty beaked.
Beryl Brice, Brunwin Road reported that the pair of Blackbirds in a Pyracantha bush by their garage are about to start a third brood.  They are using the same nest as last year for all this years broods.  They have reared 7 young already and shows that Blackbirds are having a successful season.  Many of the insect eating birds are not being so successful.  Our Tits produced nil or low numbers of fledglings this year.
Ken Turner saw a Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly on a new pond just dug by David Claydon in Shalford Road.

We have an Amelanchier bush whose berries draw large numbers of birds every year to feed on them.  Shaving one morning I counted 8 species feeding, the ground feeders Stock Dove, Partridge and Wood Pigeon flew up and grabbed a berry and hung on until they parted from the bush.  Others such as the Chaffinch, Bullfinch and Green Finch fed from the branches but still had considerable difficulty plucking the berries off.  Often they would hang momentarily in the air until the berry gave way.  Though the berries are slightly sweet they have little flavour to my palate so do the birds know they are nutritionally rich?

Some 15 years ago I built a Barn Owl box in a Barn at Goulds.  There has been no interest till this year.  As I reported earlier this spring Syl saw a Barn owl in the yard and it appeared to come from the barn.  Then Andy Goodey found a dead Barn Owl at the end of Pods Lane so we thought the worst and assumed our Owl had died or lost its mate.  I looked in the box at the beginning of June and found two eggs and I heard the parent leaving the box.  I foolishly had no one checking the box entrance.  On the 24th June with a son checking I looked again and one egg had hatched into a white 30mm baby owl Francis saw two adult Barn Owls leave the nest.  To avoid disturbance I have not checked again but it is late in the year for Owls to be rearing young. The habitat in the Parish is not ideal and what habitat there is has very lush growth this year making it very difficult for the parents to forage and to rear and fledge young successfully.

Someone who traps Mink on their water has reported that he has not caught any for a long time but recently has had 3 male Mink in rapid succession.  Trapping is some distance from the river system and shows how far these predators will travel from the river where one would expect to find them.

Roger Jiggins Tel. 01376 324 311, email mailto:r.jiggins@btconnect.com (please put Wildlife as the subject)