Earlier in June John Clarke was out looking at the stewardship margins that have been left to self seed this year with arable wild flowers. In addition to a host of very interesting species including meadow buttercup, field and long headed poppy, white campion, venus looking glass, scented mayweed, pineapple weed, field gromwell and cornflowers he also stumbled (almost) on a Yellow Hammer Nest. It is quite rare for these little birds to nest on the ground, especially adjacent to a bridleway that is heavily trafficked with walkers and their roaming dogs! It was a real treat to have established an area for wildlife and for them to actually use it! I guess they felt secure in the thick wild flower cover and there must have been an abundance of food. Even this summer there were lots of insects feeding on the wild flowers, themselves being a taste snack for the farmland birds in the area.
This is where the nest was and as you can see it was a really lucky find. The nest wasn't disturbed and hopefully the eggs would have hatched. Judging by the large numbers of Yellow Hammers there this morning, the population in this small part of England is turning more yellow, if not Gold!
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