AUGUST NATURE NOTES

We’re told that grass is extremely resilient, and that the apparently dead mats of crisp straw that have appeared around the country during the drought will spring back into life once we get regular rainfall again. In some of the more heavily used areas, the grass has been worn away completely howver, leaving bare ground that is now being colonised by opportunist species, such as the curiously-named shepherd’s purse with its disctinctive heart-shaped leaves.

In late April and May a pair of great crested grebes were regularly seen on Tonford lake, just upstream from Hambrook, leading to hopes that they would nest. After not having been since, on August 15th the adults were seen with two fairly well-grown youngsters (right). Young great crested grebes have the most remarkable striped plumage, unlike that of any other UK bird. You would imagine that this acts as camouflage in a reedbed where there is a strong vertical structure to the habitat but baby grebes take to the water very soon after hatching, so don’t linger amongst the wetland vegetation stems. So what is the purpose of this strange patterning?

The tufted duck is familiar as a winter visitor to UK lakes (a small flock appears on Tonford lake every October or November) and has been gradually colonising the country, with an estimated 450-550 pairs in Kent, maknig their homes in suitable marshes and river systems. A female tufted duck with four well-grown ducklings was a delight to see on August 25th, a small flotilla slowly making its way upriver. 

The old railway embankment can usually be relied upon to attract migrant warblers, and this month the scrub on its slopes has sometimes been alive with chiffchaffs, blackcaps, garden warbler and whitethroat, all fattening up on berries and insects prior to making the long haul back to the Mediterranean and Africa. Less expected atop the embankment one day was a reed bunting; while their name gives a fair indication of their preferred habitat, the birds do not feel obliged to spend their entire lives in wetlands, and sometimes move into dry, bushy areas.

A hobby was seen flashing overhead on August 10th. This is one of our migrant raptors, but one that lingers rather longer than most summer visitors, for reasons closely tied up with its diet. On arrival, the adults are feeding mainly on larger aerial insects such as dragonflies, but these don’t become abundant until early summer, so the eggs aren’t laid until around June, meaning the young hatch in July and fledge in August. There are still plenty of dragonflies around at this time, but now the adults capitalise on another food source – juvenile birds. In August these novices are streaming south on their first migration, offering their predators every reason for not being in a hurry to obey the migratory urges themselves.

Happily, kingfishers have been more in evidence this month, frequently zipping up and down the river like electric bolts.

Photo credits: Dave Smith for tufted ducks and hobby