A sunny, warm morning, I head towards Oak Road, hoping to see if the swans have cygnets. I briefly pop in the Barmston Drain at Beresford avenue, but is a very spiky and almost impregnable jungle of nettles, creeping thistle and hogweed, so I soon have to turn round. A very old and faded Small Tortoishell basks near the Oak Road playground. The water around the lake is high, but has receded enough so that the south path is walkable without wellies. I walk slowly hoping not to flush insects basking in the sunny side of the wood. I'm not disappointed, a fresh Broad-bodied Chaser, and then another are basking and hunting by the path (top shot). Later, in the same area, a Banded Demoiselle. Blue-tailed Damselflies and Azures complete the dragonfly list. There are plenty of the later two, which bodes well for the year at Oak Road.
I start walking counterclockwise around the pond when a sound stops me in my tracks, a Marsh Frog, unmistakably calling from near the metal bench. I take some recordings and try to spot it, but it is in the reedbed and I can't see it. Another one is calling from the other side of the pond, and a Cetti's Warbler joins in. Hard to think that we are not at Tophill Low!
The swans have indeed cygnets, eight altogether and they are taking them to food. I meet a dog walker on the river bank taking a detour from the lake footpath after the cob threatening display by his cygnets.
The damp areas around the pond are good habitat for the Slender Groundhopper.
The swan family.
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