The season is moving on with ripening crops and grass, the vegetation is looking scruffy with many plants already turned to seed. Plenty of food about for all the birds. The main nesting season is almost over around us and when I was taking the dogs about I thought how quiet it was and there was nothing about. How wrong I was! The first animal I saw on my morning walk was a young Buzzard picking over the field by the river that has just been cut for hay. There are plenty of little birds in the hedgerow and I’ve spotted a family of Jays. I am also seeing a glimpse of the Barn Owl in the morning now, although he soon disappears back to the barn. we haven’t sighted him in the evenings since the hay was cut. I can still hear what could be youngsters in the barn. I also spotted a Kingfisher from the footbridge, always in a hurry.

I spent some time watching a young Greater Spotted Woodpecker in the spinney he was busy preening and tapping the tree for insects.

The lane where we walk is enclosed on both sides with a tall hedge so it is a little microclimate all of it’s own. We see Butterflies, Damsel, Dragonflies and this year there has been some interesting species. There are a pair of Brown Hawker dragonflies patrolling up and down on warm evenings and one evening I spotted a large Golden-ringed dragonfly, I had never seen one before.

There hasn’t been the variety of Butterflies this year, not sure why as the weather hasn’t been too bad. The butterfly in abundance this year has been the Meadow Brown’s, as I walk up the lane there are clouds of them flying up.

In the last few days I have noticed a few little Gatekeeper butterflies as well.

Towards the end of my usual morning walk along the trailway there is a field where I often see a Roe Deer. Today the field had been cut at last and what I saw was mum with twins in the field, what a lovely sight. They were a distance away but I managed to get a picture of them.

I had a trip into Blandford to walk along the Stour meadows with a friend, there is usually something to see and we wanted to see Kingfishers in particular. We saw plenty, possibly around six zooming up and down but we didn’t get a chance to photograph them they were too quick for us. There were a family of Grey wagtails and plenty of Moorhens and down the quiet end of the meadows on the river I spotted a mum with newly hatched chicks which I was pleased to see, I do hope they survive.