This Month’s Sightings

June

1^st – 1 Grey Heron seen west of Common Piece Lane flying south, 1 Grey Wagtail seen at the treatment works and 2 male Reed Bunting seen in Stanhope Wood reed bed, Barbastelle bat recorded in a field at the back of houses on Burton Road, the first ever record in Findern

4^th – 1 Little Grebe, a pair of Tufted Duck and 1 Reed Bunting seen on Mercia Marina Wildlife Pond and 1 Cormorant seen on the pylon SW of the pond

5^th – 1 Kestrel seen S of Bakeacre Lane, 5 Lapwing seen flying N over Bakeacre Lane, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Meadow Brown butterfly (the first sighting this year) also seen in Bakeacre Lane

9^th – 1 Barbastelle bat recorded again in the field at the back of houses on Burton Road

12^th – 1 Little Egret seen in the field at the back of houses on Burton Road

July

4^th – A total of 21 Bat boxes along the towpath and our wildlife sites were checked by Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group. Several boxes contained Blue Tit nests, wasp nests and tree bumble bee nests. 5 boxes contained bat droppings showing signs of use and 4 boxes were occupied by bats. 3 Soprano Pipistrelle and 1 Leisler’s bat were recorded.