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Dry Drayton Nature Notes - May

 

Here we will build a collection of monthly nature notes for Dry Drayton. You can find here information about regular and more unusual sightings of Parish flora and fauna. Please send us your sightings to add to these pages or send your local wildlife queries to us.

 

Dry Drayton Nature Notes for: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

 

John Clare, The Shepherd's Calendar 1827

Come queen of months in company
Wi all thy merry minstrelsy
The restless cuckoo absent long
And twittering swallows chimney song

Flora Splendid display of blossom on the red Hawthorns beside the Park and Almond blossom on the trees along Oakington Road.
Insects and Spiders Plenty of Butterflies on the wing, including: Large White, Small White, Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Peacock, Comma, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, The Wall, Small Heath, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper
Amphibians and Reptiles Smooth Newts and Great Crested Newts can be found in ponds and boggy places.
Birds

First of the Swifts will be in evidence early this month, and listen out for the first Cuckoo. Swallows, Martins and Turtle Doves return to us.

Most birds are feeding their young at the nest or in the nesting box.

Blackbird, Robin, Songthrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Starling, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Wood Pigeon, Crow, Rook, Magpie, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Pheasant, Red legged partridge, are all to be seen.

Hobbies can be a rare migrant at this point in the year.

A single Osprey was seen in Dry Drayton 24 May 2015 (Cambridge Bird Club Annual Report 2015)

May 25 2014 - unproven sighting in Dry Drayton of a white tailed eagle (Cambridge Bird Club Annual Report 2014)

Reported in the July 2010 Newsletter by Dr and Mrs David V Alford, 23 May 2010 single Red Kite gliding west to east, high in the sky, 12.00-15.00. Since their successful re-introduction by Natural England, Red Kites are now not infrequent visitors to the Parish. (The report of the re-introduction of the red kite is here: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/84009)

Mammals Muntjac deer can often be seen on the road verge between Madingley and Dry Drayton. Foxes are more often smelt than seen, but there have been past sightings of young cubs in the village gardens this month. Badgers are here, but a rarer sight. Squirrels are much in evidence. A small number of black mutations of the grey squirrel can be seen in the village.

 

Dry Drayton Nature Notes for: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

 

Species Lists for Dry Drayton: Flowering plants and ferns | Fungi | Insects and spiders | Amphibians and reptiles | Birds | Mammals

 

Nature Notes on: The Dry Drayton Environment and Change | Flora | Insects and spiders | Amphibians and reptiles | Birds | Mammals