April 2021

12 Buckden Roundabout April 2021 Wildlife in Buckden It was great to see the wonderfully made nest - boxes made by a kind resident being put up around the village one day in Feb- ruary. Within just a couple of weeks, the ones on Greenway were being explored by Blue and Great Tits. There will be much competition to see who gets one of these very flashy new homes! I like this time of year before the migrants arrive in force from mid - April as you get the chance to enjoy the resident songbirds and their displays. The Sky- larks are singing away in force and in numbers as usual in the fields along Mill Road. The other hotspot for them is along the footpath out to Grafham Water where a few more have ter- ritories. Brown Hares are also bounding away in the fields along Mill Road, with up to four present daily in their favourite field next to Greenway where I can watch them from my house. Enjoy these two special local residents while you can at this site. It was a slow start to the insect season despite some sunny days. The temperatures just didn ’ t get high enough, or for long enough. That said some intrepid Red - tailed and Buff - tailed Bumblebees were out and about before the end of February. I still hadn ’ t seen a Brimstone butterfly in the Parish up to the middle of March. Perhaps you had more luck with this classic spring sign? One feature of this spring that I hadn ’ t noticed before was big numbers of Pine (a poor name as they can be found on lots of trees!) and Seven - spot Ladybirds gathering in swarms post - hibernation on walls and trees in the village. The wonderful white - bloomed Bird Cherry trees near the A1 underpass and the trees in Buckden Towers were especially good for them when the sun did shine. I ’ ve spent the last few months, while my travels have been curtailed, continuing to compile the now very big list of spe- cies, and wildlife records, for Buckden Parish. I am confident we have a list to rival any other Parish in Cambridgeshire. It isn ’ t surprising as we are so lucky to have such unspoiled areas, wonderful habitats and so many people who care about our wildlife and do good things for it. These records, from a wide variety of sources and over the years, also tell us where our wildlife, and especially our really threatened (Priority) species, is found to pinpoint the most important areas and sites to try and protect, as our Neighbourhood Plan shows. One bird that is now firmly established on our Buckden list is Great White Egret. These huge white herons are even taller than Grey Herons and make the Little Egrets you can see around the Parish (especially the river and Buckden Pits area) look tiny in comparison. Up to three have been frequenting Buckden Pits for several months now. Will they start to breed here? I think Little Egrets will certainly breed in the Parish for the first time this year based on a very “ cosy ” group I ’ ve been keeping an eye on. You may have heard of the project to reintroduce magnificent White - tailed Eagles to the Isle of Wight. After release on the island, these young birds wander around the UK and due to their satellite tags, their exact movement and locations are known. A friend of mine saw one of these birds pass north over Staploe the first Friday in March and I conjured up a faint hope it might linger, so I headed for the west side of the Parish on the footpath from Taylor ’ s Lane. Once I ’ d got across the A1, I received news it was at Grafham Water and not only that it was sitting on the south shore. My pace quickened somewhat, and I reached the dam where I finally located it sitting on the shore. I had wonderful views of it sitting in the trees there and even catching a trout from the water, which was the first time one of the young eagles had caught something for itself. It lin- gered and I returned on a walk on the Sunday where it was flying around high over the west end being mobbed by tiny - looking Red Kites. These eagles are our biggest bird of prey with an eight - foot wingspan. If you think our resident Buzzards and Red Kites look big, these “ flying barn doors ” dwarf them! Of course, I was hoping it would fly into Buckden Parish air- space and it probably did at some point. We ’ ll just have to wait to add that one to our wonderful list of almost 190 different bird species now recorded in the Parish. Mark Ward is the RSPB ’ s Head of Supporter Experience and a nature writer. He has lived in Buckden for 10 years and Cam- bridgeshire all his life. You can share your wildlife records with him by emailing him at goldenbins@hotmail.co.uk Brown Hare - Photo by Jean - Jacques Boujot Great White Egret - Photo by Charles J. Sharp White - tailed eagle - Photo by Christoph Müller