Ever since arriving in the meadows in 2014 we have been keeping a list of bird species that have been seen or heard in or from the meadows. Although things plodded along for the first couple of years, it was only when John and John, bird ringers and both expert birders, started regularly putting their mist nets up here that the list really got going.

Some of the more unusual birds now making an appearance on the list are bee-eater, cuckoo, red-billed chough, alexandrine parakeet, snow bunting and ring ouzel.

A barn owl started visiting the meadows in October 2023 and went onto the list as number 98. Nothing else then happened throughout 2024 but a group of ringers netting in the meadows this April heard a Mediterranean Gull which became number 99.

But we weren’t left dangling on the brink for long. Whilst we were in Shetland last week, John contacted us to say that he had seen a male golden oriole fly over the meadows. What an amazing bird to have on the list as number 100.

But there is now an additional entry on the list as well. We were walking round the meadows this week when we heard the unmistakable purring of a turtle dove coming from a large and densely vegetated holm oak next to the wild pond.

For several years the meadows were part of Operation Turtle Dove. This project started in 2012 aiming to reverse the devastating declines in turtle dove numbers in this country and is a partnership of the RSPB, Fair to Nature, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Natural England. When I say a devastating decline I am not exaggerating, because these birds suffered a 99% decline in their UK breeding population between 1967 and 2020.

As part of Operation Turtle Dove we were sent three big bags of seed for supplementary feeding each spring. We spread the seed weekly onto a rotavated strip in the meadows, mimicking cultivated farmland which is where turtle doves love to be. The hope was to catch the eye of a dove as it arrived back in the country in late April and to bring it up into breeding condition as soon as possible so that it could have more than one brood of chicks a season. However, after three years, we had failed to attract a turtle dove here and didn’t want to waste any more of their money so withdrew from the project after the 2021 season.

But there has been some recent good news about turtle doves. Their numbers have increased by 40% in Western Europe since 2021, which was when a temporary hunting ban was put in place in France, Spain and Portugal. Previously around a million turtle doves were being shot each autumn in these countries which was having an enormous impact on the population and was clearly unsustainable. But this hunting ban is not permanent and is being frequently reassessed – we shall have to see what happens next.

So turtle dove has gone onto our bird list as number 101. After hearing it near the pond this week, I put several trail cameras out to see if it would come down for a drink and we would get a look at it. But although we saw stock doves and woodpigeon, we unfortunately have not yet seen the turtle dove:

The cameras will remain in place for a while to see if the bird has stayed in the area and will return to the pond at some point.

There is also a camera in the box where a pair of swifts are once more nesting this year. By 10th June, two eggs had been laid:

On 11th of June, just as we left for Shetland, broken eggshell was visible in the box suggesting that the chicks had hatched:

On our return I am delighted to report that there were two ugly but precious little chicks doing well in the box:

As well as this, a squadron of up to six swifts are often to be seen tearing around the meadows and circling the wildlife tower on the garage where we are playing their calls. Never before has there been so much obvious swift activity here. We have five more swift boxes up and available for use and the hope is that these swifts will have noticed them and will return to nest next year.

As I went through the trail camera photos when we got home from Scotland, young magpies and crows dominated the action:

Great spotted woodpeckers are an unusual sight in the meadows but a juvenile passed through whilst we were away:

Woodpigeon are still displaying and presumably going for another brood:

This is not a good photo but I include it because it is a first – we have not seen a tawny owl with a rat before. It’s amazing it could lift it:

It is lovely to see so many butterflies in the meadows this year.

The chequered form of the 10 spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata f. decempustulata, has red spots on a black background rather than the other way around:

The badgers were busy digging out two buff-tailed bumblebee nests in our garden while we were away. It has been so dry that it must be difficult for them to get at the worms that would normally make up 70% of their diet:

Nothing much to report about the foxes:

Although here is one with a rabbit at 4am recently just as it was about to get light:

At Walmer Castle, where Dave and I are volunteer wildlife monitors, the toads were mating in the Queen Mother’s pond back in February:

There are now lots of little toadlets in the pond to delight the visitors:

And common darters are emerging from the waters:

There are so many invertebrates visiting the large area of Stachys (lambs ears) in the cloud hedge border including these amazing wool carder bees. Having seen how good this plant is for wildlife I have now planted some up in our garden at home and hope to see wool carder bees here next year:

This next photo is interesting. I was watching this battle on the Stachys for a while and it seemed like the bee was trying to eat a beetle. But this couldn’t be right because the bee just eats pollen and nectar:

There were also several hoverflies with distinctly red abdomens:

Over in the wood, although the shallow ponds dried up whilst we were away….

….the deeper ponds continued to retain some water:

A grass snake has paid two more visits the pond:

It is very lovely to see it.

The green woodpecker chicks fledged while we were away. They were certainly looking ready to go as we left:

And here is one emerging from the hole at first light one morning:

A second chick remained and continued to be fed:

The trail camera failed to capture the second fledging though and now all is quiet at the nest. The excitement is over for another year.

We found three male dormice in separate nests in June’s tour of the thirty dormouse boxes in our wood:

We had been hoping to find litters of young this month but are now speculating that it has been too hot for the dormice to use the boxes. Hopefully they are having litters further up the trees where it is airier.

We did find an additional four dormice nests in the boxes with no one at home. Two of them were beautifully constructed like this one below:

We were away a lot in the first half of the year. Now, with July just around the corner, we are comfortably settled back home for the rest of the summer. I am looking forward to having some quiet time here to get things back under control and potter around enjoying our local wildlife.