Here's to black roosters, white

dancers and a grebe that got away

Dunstall Park, July 2013

Sporadic and brief visits to the racecourse during July in what is normally one of the site's quieter times, so perhaps a round-up is in order, a few snapshots of a month when migrants moved, the earth burned and butterflies danced.

Families of Canada Geese walk sedately across the central grass area as the heat increases mid-morning, the procession marking the end of one of their daily grazing sessions, the thirteen gosling now virtually adult-sized, following their parents to duck under and through a hole in the lake fence.  The birds follow a path single-file through dried rough grass, down the earth bank, across the mud margins and under a burning sun they push out on to the water to rest and preen.  Their relief at being afloat again is almost palpable.

Striking, alert, with black-moustache and azure wing-flash, an adult Jay sits, watching intently from a bush at the north western corner of the racecourse.  Its attention suddenly drawn to an insect at the very tip of the branch, the bird hops forward and as its weight becomes unsupportable, delibrately falls to one side and drops, the insect flying up as the branch shakes.  Already the Jay is climbing, describing an almost perfect circle against the bright sky to snatch its prey on the way back down.  The bird settles on its original perch, and consumes its victim.  A ten-second performance from a corvid to match a Spotted Flycatcher.

Two stripe-necked juvenile Little Grebe (fledged, from another site and present from mid-month) float together on the lake preening and washing, all is calm, a female Shoveler feeds in the shallows, adult and juvenile Coot are chugging to and fro, a juvenile Grey Heron stands hunched on the island, where House Sparrow feed in stands of rosebay willowherb and adult and juvenile Starling cluster, sunning themselves against a bank of bramble.  An immature Lesser Black-backed Gull lands and floats towards the grebes. Sensing danger, one moves away as the gull lifts off and accelerates towards the sibling, its intention suddenly clear, but not to the grebe, which young and inexperienced sits motionless as its attacker homes in.  The gull twists and plunges forward, its wingtip hitting the water, there's a splash as its bill seems to touch the smaller bird, but the grebe vanishes, crash-diving at the last moment and avoiding the fate of Mallard duckling, many of which were amost certainly taken in this way earlier in the summer.  The gull shakes itself, straightens, climbs and moves off towards the city. No easy pickings this time.

The heat has been intense for days, but overnight thunderstorms are promised.  It's mid-evening on 22nd, the air is still, the atmosphere close, as a flock of at least 50 House Martin, adults and youngsters from the nesting colony on the nearby Farndale housing estate, swarm around the tops of floodlight pylons near the grandstand and Barn Swallow track back and fore low over the grass near their stables breeding site.  Three swallows perch in bushes by the edge of the lake, where a Coot still finds time to be stroppy, rushing past a single Green Sandpiper which stands motionless in the shallows (this migrant species has been dropping in at the lake throughout the month, with four birds seen on June 30th).  A Stock Dove bends forward to drink from water so still it reflects the outlines of  c.40 Lapwing clustered along the muddy margins, as a young Whitethroat flies from the base of a bush and disappears into the grass.  Dusk approaches, so it's back along the tarmac strip towards the grandstand. More than 500 dark shapes are resting, preening or foraging, black against the scorched yellow-brown grass, most of them Crows and Jackdaws, with a scattering of juvenile and adult Rooks, all drawn to this pre-roost gathering.  I leave before they do, clouds are gathering on the far horizon, the heatwave is ending.

The month is coming to a close, the storms have retreated, and at the lake it's quiet in the late morning.  The two young Little Grebe are still present, 12 Lapwing fly up as a female Sparrowhawk flaps her way across towards the Farndale, and a Green Sandpiper picks its way along the shoreline.  Flying low from the oak copse near the Water Bridge, an adult Buzzard gains height before moving purposefully towards Stockwell End, where it circles, drops and is lost to view.  It's sunny and hot, but not with the intensity of recent days, long grass and thistles along the north western edge drainage ditches stirring gently in the warm breeze as fluttering shapes move through and low above them, butterflies dancing their way from one flower to the next, a sight which was missing last year in one of the worst-ever breeding seasons for their kind.  Small Whites are here in abundance, with smaller numbers of Large Whites, Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Small Tortoiseshells.   Two newly emerged Peacocks sun themselves, "eye" wings outstretched, perfect in colour and form  (a female Common Blue was seen earlier over close-cropped grass by the lake, and in recent days Commas have appeared).  A last look upward, slender white shapes are flicking and twisting against the bright sky, a flock of ten or more Black-headed Gulls fly-catching high over the lake, drifting towards the city as they follow the insect feast.  Summer has a way to go yet . . .   

                                      
(NB.  Dunstall Park is a restricted commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled).