Today I arrived at Dunces Corner Pond to see another swan on the pond. It was a pleasant surprise to see this was a Whooper swan, which is a new species to the reserve.

Now our recently arrived Mute swan has not been impressed by the new arrival and has spent most of the day harassing the Whooper.

At one point it became a bit brutal and the mute had the whooper penned into the reeds and was pecking feathers out of it. Hopefully things will have calmed down by tomorrow!

It’s that time of year where all sorts are popping out the woodwork, literally.

I’m no expert but I have tried to give a name to most of the ones I have seen.

One of the fields where we planted a wildlife hedge missed out on its double fence due to it having a crop in there. Now the crop has been harvested we are now looking to put the second fence in. The first job was to clear all the vegetation that has grown over the last year.

I have started this process:-

It was interesting to see the contrast between a section that had been hidden by thick vegetation and was growing well:-

The section which wasn’t quite so hidden:-

It shows how the deer grazing has stunted the growth!

So, hopefully, when we get the second fence in place this will give the hedge a better chance of growing more quickly.

We have a new arrival on our big pond:-

She appeared last Friday and seems to be a youngish female mute swan. It looks like she is used to human contact as she has taken food from my hand.

Could get a bit of a problem if Charles and Camilla decide to return soon!

Just a few pictures of various visitors to the bog over the last few days.

I had a wander down to the reserve tonight and it was an eventful trip. The deer were out in numbers with four adults and four fawns spotted. This included a mother and youngster I have not seen before :-

I also saw three badgers out for a wander including this young cub trotting around the field next to the reserve:-

I was also lucky enough to see our local barn owl cruising over the reserve (too dark for a photo). There were also a number of bats flying over the reserve.

We have a very active population of badgers at the moment so my paths have been suffering as they bulldoze their way down the paths, looking for earthworms and insects I presume.

They also will eat snails and hazel nuts, the clip below (if you play with the sound up) you can hear the badger cracking open either a snail or nut, not sure which.

The aftermath of a busy badger night:-

Popped down to the Wansbeck this evening to see how our cygnets were progressing. It was nice to see how big they are now looking really healthy. So from May when they looked like this:-

To August when they looked like this:-

I came across this strangely magnificent caterpillar today.

I believe it is the caterpillar for the Rustic Tussock Moth which if confirmed is a new one for the reserve. I have sent the pictures to my moth expert for confirmation.

A strangely beautiful little creature.

Our Moorhens have been very busy this season, just provided a third brood of chicks. Its a small brood with just 3 chicks.

During a recent rain shower the mother was sheltering the youngsters and it shows where the phrase ‘taking them under your wing’ may have come from!

We also have a juvenile Little Grebe which I think was one of the two born on site.

We also have a couple of Mallard chicks that suddenly turned up a couple of days ago, they look maybe 3 or 4 weeks old.