On Saturday morning, Roland and I will be leading a walk around the Reserve to look at what we are doing to manage our farmland habitats for wildlife. This is a perfect time to do this. Let's face it, the birdwatching is pretty poor in August, but the plants and insects are at their best and many of them are in grassland. It's also an interesting time on the farm, between hay-harvest and grain-harvest.
It would be great if our arable fields looked like the photo, but this field is actually by Offord Mill, opposite Buckden Marina.
The Hay-Time Heroes this year are Davy Jones and the two Rangers, Big Matt and Little Matt. They have put in a huge number of hours to get the hay cut, turned and bailed, then sold and delivered, all in just over a week.
The hot spell has brought out a lot of gatekeeper butterflies and a few common blues as well as comma, peacock, Essex skipper and small skipper. Dragonflies are everywhere and the first migrant hawkers have arrived.
