Tuesday 8th August 2017 - Dunham Park

A select group donned waterproofs for an evening at Dunham. A stroll from the Swan With 2 Nicks showed numerous Canada and Greylag Geese in the fields and a squirrel delicately balanced on the tip of one of the posts.  Very calm and quiet in the park itself. Over to one of the pools, where a surprising number of slightly unusual flowers were seen: Sweet Flag, Gypsywort, Skullcap and Marsh Pennywort.

Pool in Dunham Park

Whatever the weather...

Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus), Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris)

Other plants in the pool included Purple Loosestrife, Water Mint, Great Willowherb, Bulrush, Marsh Woundwort  and Yellow Water-lily (both finished flowering). Mallards, coots and Moorhens were in or around the pool.

Numerous Fallow Deer and a couple of rabbits were seen while walking over to the lake nearer to Charcoal Road, with much tormentil in some of the boggy areas. A Green Woodpecker was heard but not seen. On the lake were a couple of Mute Swans and a female Tufted Duck.

We saw a couple of Crows and a dead, young Long-tailed Tit on the ground en route to the Clock Tower area.

Given the cloud cover, the light faded quite early, which was encouraging for bat watching. However the dampness did not encourage the insects that might attract the bats. Nevertheless at least one Pipistrelle braved the conditions to justify our waiting, and brought the bat detector to life, clicking vigorously but briefly (at about 50kHz).

So despite a little drizzle (it could have been much worse), it was an enjoyable evening - and much quieter than if it had been sunny.