There continued to be a good number of over wintering birds in Yarmouth and Newtown with a good number of Brent Geese seen. There were also smaller flocks of Brent along the whole of the Solent mostly ranging from Yarmouth through to Bembridge Harbour. 

 

It was good to see a number of Lapwing, Black Tailed Godwits, Wigeon and the beautiful Teal. On an organised walk at Newtown there were a few Golden Plover in their winter plumage to be seen. These are extremely well camouflaged in the golden yellow grasses of the scrapes. Plenty of little Dunlin were also around and you could see them almost in large flocks flying around the creek. There were also flocks of Oystercatchers which always look impressive though less of the Spoonbills turned up this year and I believe there were only 4 at Newtown this year which is a shame as they are spectacular to see.

 

One of my favourites the Common Redshank were seen at both Yarmouth and Newtown and at Yarmouth the rarer lonely Spotted Redshank, a single bird of this species, could be seen near to the other Redshanks. This bird has been at Yarmouth for a couple of years now and doesn't even bother to fly home for the summer months.

 

Red Squirrels continue to be seen every day during the late winter months and are always a joy to see especially when they chase each other around the tree trunks. A good number of youngsters appeared this Spring and one even tried to threaten me with its angry noises until it came face to face with me and thought I was a bit too large to intimidate and promptly ran away!

 

Regular visitors to our bird feeders this year were a couple of pairs of Bullfinches. These still continue to visit every day and like to feed on the Sunflower seeds. I have seen no evidence of youngsters though. I think they must be kept well hidden. A couple of Greenfinches were also seen but these are unfortunately a lot rarer now.

 

We also saw Great Spotted Woodpeckers which visit every day. Now the youngsters are coming to feed on the peanuts. A Great Spotted Woodpecker nest was spotted not far away high up in a tree. You could hear the youngsters inside and if you were patient, they would pop their heads out of the hole. 

 

In May and June I have had sightings of a Red Kite locally. This bird seems to be spreading it's territories and hopefully it will start to breed and do well on the Island. Also a couple of Hobbies have been sighted. These come over in the summer from Africa. 

 

We were very lucky to see a Nightjar fly out of our next door neighbours garden earlier in June. We like to sit outdoors late in the evenings and listen to their churring calls. 

 

The first Butterflies I saw was in early January on a beautiful sunny day at Quarr Abbey. There were two Red Admirals sunning themselves on a hedge. But it was a month or so before more Butterflies started appearing. Brimstones were in good numbers on my transect and I often found 3 or 4 trying to mate with the same female. Other early Butterflies seen were Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells. 

 

The Isle of Wight Butterfly the Glanville Fritillary started to be seen in early May. Reports that I have heard seem to be that there are less around this year and when I have gone to look they have been lively and not as many around as the previous two years. They do have a good stronghold along the downs and along the coast along from Freshwater and Compton and at Ventnor Revertment though. At the Revertment there was a very early Clouded Yellow spotted which most probably meant that it bred on the Island which is unusual for this butterfly.

 

June has had good reports of the White Admiral and 11 in total were seen on my last Transect which compares to 3 over the whole summer last year. On a butterfly walk in June at Newtown a large number were seen there also and others have reported good numbers of this butterfly so it appears to be a very good year for them. 

 

We dug out where there used to be a pond at the bottom of the garden late last year and it has had great results this year. There were a very large number of tadpoles seen. It was great to watch the tiny froglets make their way out of the pond when they were ready. There are also a few newts in the pond. Not easy to see but I think they are Common Newts.

 

There is a beautiful male Broad Bodied Chaser that has made the pond his home. There are also around three females nearby - they have been seen mating. Other Dragonflies seen so far this year near the pond include the Emperor Dragonfly, Ruddy Darters (we had the earliest recorded one in the garden on the Island this year), Common Darters and Black Tailed Skimmers. There have also been Large Red Damselflies, Azure Damselflies, Common Blue Damselflies and Blue Tailed Damselflies recorded. All of these around the pond area. It is amazing how much wildlife a pond brings in.

 

We continue to grow and encourage wild flowers in the garden and during 'No Mow May' left the front lawn as well as a lot of the back. To my delight here were a lot of Common Spotted Orchids that grew in the front lawn and made a spectacular site. It was well worth practicing not mowing!