Wild sightings at Sherwood
Spring has almost sprung!
We’ll kick off with my favourite UK songster, my personal icon of spring, the woodlark! Woodlark (Lullula arborea) are only found at select sites around the UK as they are very particular and need the perfect habitat in which to breed in; Budby seems to tick all their boxes as the reserve is definitely the Nottinghamshire strong hold! 💪
They put on dazzling territory displays high up in the sky, often flying round in circles and they do this whilst singing, now that’s multi-tasking! Once they land on the ground they become invisible and blend in incredibly well with the heather and sandy soil.
Be wildlife wise
Woodlark, and many other ground-nesting birds, are particularly susceptible to disturbance by people. When walking on Budby South Forest, please always stick to the paths, and keep dogs on leads between March 1 and August 31. We ask *all* our visitors to take heed of any signs and stick to the managed paths as much as possible at this sensitive time of year. The birds (and other wildlife) need space to rest, feed and nest. This is often on the ground for heathland species, so they are very easily disturbed, which means them wasting valuable energy fleeing instead of breeding. The NNR is one of only a few places in the county these birds have, so their needs are put before our recreational ones.
Keep and eye on the sky but for now please listen to and enjoy this short clip of a singing woodlark on Budby this week.
Woodlark Singing
by Indy Kiemel Greene
Next we meet the gorgeous buzzard, they are one of the UKs most common raptors but that in no way means we shouldn’t take notice of them. Now that we are finally experiencing some good weather the buzzards have been making the most of the gentle breeze and blue skies.
They use the thermals and the wind pressure to get as high as possible. Once they pick up a thermal they can soar to great heights, they are usually seen at around 400m but on a good day they can be picked up well over a thousand meters! I wish l could do that! 😂 Groups of 5 and 7 have been seen over Budby and Sherwood this week so keep your eyes to the skies!
Buzzard by Indy Kiemel Greene
Now then, someone’s having a long winter break! The pair of stonechat that we spoke about a few months ago are still here! Escaping the cold north these two have been a really nice addition to the Budby reserve list and really add a welcome splash of colour to the cold bleak days.
Pictured below we have the male on the left and the female on the right. Here’s a fun stonechat fact, their call sounds like two stones being hit together so listen out for that!
Male stonechat (left) and female stonechat (right) by Indy
Let us know what you see!
Remember to fill in the recent sightings book in the Visitor Centre. Leave your comments on our Facebook page and tag us in your Tweets on Twitter if you have any wildlife sightings or identification queries.
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