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Chairman's Letter May 2011

Petersfield Heath Nature Notes
Summer 2010

...continued

JULY
Early July saw small numbers of returning Common Terns at the pond. These birds have bred inland and are now making their way to the coast before migrating to tropical West Africa for the winter. Numbers of these birds at the pond rarely reach double figures. On one day a Kingfisher, Cormorant and Heron were seen, the latter two becoming regular visitors this month. The Little Grebe pair were still present and the Great crested Grebes had one youngster. It was at least 2-3 weeks old when I first saw it so they had kept it well hidden. In other years the young have broken cover early on and have ridden on their parents back but this one was well beyond that stage. A week or so later on an early morning visit I was greeted with sight of the Little Grebe pair with three young. The adult Little Grebe is no size at all so these youngsters were just small balls of fluff with one being smaller still. I never saw it again, so it perished quite quickly.

AUGUST
This month saw a small influx of Great crested Grebes, both adults and young, to the pond. The young still retain their stripey plumage so are easy to identify. There must have been a plentiful supply of small fish to satisfy these birds plus the now daily visitors of Cormorant and Heron. The Little Grebe parents went off in opposite directions taking one youngster to feed with them but after a few days one parent and young had vanished, perhaps one of the Herons took them. Little else was seen this month apart from a single Common Sandpiper and Tufted Duck.

SEPTEMBER
The final month of this period was quieter still with the Cormorant and Herons only seen occasionally. A maximum of 9 Great crested Grebes were noted and the remaining Little Grebe and young still present but elusive. A large flock of 180 Canada Geese plus a single Greylag returned before dispersing again at the end of the month. One or two Tufted Duck put in the odd appearance and a Kingfisher on one day only rounds off this month.
The combination of a cold winter and very dry spring/early summer proved to be detrimental for most of the butterfly species. Totals for the Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper were as follows: 58 (161), 148 (396) and 137 (213) respectively with the 2009 totals in brackets. During August it seemed there were white butterflies everywhere but even their numbers were around 50% down on the previous year. Species showing an upturn were the Common Blue and the Small Tortoiseshell, the latter not seen throughout 2009 on the Heath.

Alf Smallbone

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