Last month I asked the question, “Where have all the swifts, swallows and house martins gone?” I can now tell you that small parties of swifts arrived back in the village at Waverton and Vicars Cross about a month late. A group of five or so have now been seen regularly over Woodfields, and ten or more on Brown Heath Road near the Waverton shops, with similar numbers over Vicars Cross. So we have at least three breeding colonies. There are a few more house martins and swallows about, but nothing like the usual numbers which is very disappointing. I’ve been excited however to find several dragonfly species at Hockenhull, including male & female broad bodied chasers and also a 4spotted chaser. One of these delightful and delicate dragonflies was also seen in The Park in Christleton and I photographed one sitting on Beryl’s knee at Dunham Massey whilst we sat watching four male 4 spotted chasers displaying over a small mill pond. We were able to have a really good look at its compound eye. A Southern hawker dragonfly, male and female banded damselflies, together with common blue and blue tailed damselflies, are now flying in good numbers near the Gowy. Butterfly species seen include, peacock, small tortoishell, speckled wood, small skipper and red admiral.

The best sightings of birds include two spotted flycatchers displaying near the pond, whilst several pairs of chiff chaff and blackcap seem to have done well with lots of fledglings flying about. Cettis and sedge warblers are also very vocal and are probably breeding again in the Poplar plantation. Goldfinches are very prominent everywhere, and at least one pair of greater spotted woodpeckers has produced young, with two youngsters flying past me earlier in the week. The warm sunny weather has also seen barn owls hunting at dusk.

We are also delighted with the progress of the wildflowers in the Legion Meadow, and as I write at least 50 common spotted orchids are in flower, with lots of bird’s foot trefoil, purple vetch, wild geranium, pink campion, ragged robin and yellow rattle to be seen. Yellow and blue are the predominant colours of the meadow this month, although all the flowers could do with a drink of water, as we have now had over twenty days since it last rained. There are still too many tall grasses there, but the number of flowering plants is increasing every year, due to longevity of the new site and our management regime. It is said that a wildflower meadow takes about 15years to really establish itself, and the Legion Meadow was first planted in 2008. The main issue has been that the soil on the meadow is too good, as wildflowers thrive on poorer soils, but there is great progress to be seen this year.

Sadly the same can’t be said about the varieties of orchids that once grew on the wet meadow at Hockenhull. Despite cutting back the meadow in autumn, and grazing with sheep, the taller grasses, reeds and other vegetation including flowering marsh valerian and meadow sweet has just taken over, so the smaller orchid varieties don’t get any sun and a chance to flourish. 40 years ago I could take children and villagers onto this superb traditional Gowy wet meadow wearing Wellingtons, and see hundreds of early purple, northern /southern marsh and common spotted orchids in one central area of the marsh. Nowadays I can’t even get into this meadow in summer, as the reeds and grasses are over head high! There is no doubt that something dramatic is happening to our climate, and I have seen incredible changes happen during my 49years of observation and involvement with the reserve.

PS A group of 25+ swifts were seen flying over the fields behind Christleton Hall and the churchyard on 19th June.