With a bit of luck the offspring will stay hidden in the reed and evade the attention of predators!

This photo taken in April, (and really is only a ten minute walk from the city centre!) ……..

and a colourful creature that only the most tolerant gardener would like to see …..

… a vine weevil on the stalk of our spring flowering fritillary…

and one of our volunteers, wildlife photographer Luke Massey,  has included this photo of a heron on our site in his calendar for 2013 ….

For  more information and to see more of his excellent photographs, go to Luke’s website:            www.lmasseyimages.com

Seen perching on the boardwalk handrail, Tuesday morning…. and yes, there are two. No copying or pasting here …..

A rare dry day saw the volunteers out in force for the first cut of the meadow area ……

A view of the River Ver now the hedge has been laid.

Make the most of it! Recent showers have had  no effect on the continuing fall in water level.

On the subject of our local chalk stream, a new book has been announced ……

- The River Ver –  A Meander through Time

 by Jacqui Banfield-Taylor

This first major and comprehensive work on the River Ver
reveals a fascinating story from source to confluence and prehistory to the
twenty-first century of a chalk stream that has shaped not only the local
landscape but the lives of people past and present.

With a forward by the renowned television presenter and
wildlife photographer Chris Packham of Spring/Autumn Watch fame, the book tells
of the Ver’s long, interesting and chequered history, including archaeology and
geology, milling and watercress growing, problems with abstraction along with
rainfall and aquifer records, abstraction and flow charts and comprehensive
records and details of a selection of local flora and fauna.

There are wonderful personal memories and experiences
sprinkled throughout the book of people who have lived, worked and played on or
near the river, helping to bring the past to us here in the present, all
complemented with over 300 illustrations, many never seen before in public and
some going back more than 250 years.

The River Ver, A Meander through Time, makes it clear how
valuable and important our chalk streams are and how vital it is to raise their
profile and that of the rich diversity of wildlife they support. This
beautifully written and illustrated book hopes to encourage readers to take an
interest in exploring and caring for this superlative resource and its
surroundings and help to give the River Ver its rightful importance now and for
future generations.

This hardback book is due to be published in July 2012 and signed
copies will be available in the first instance direct from the author at
£24.99. Please email riverver@btinternet.com
or call 07792 588892, or from the publisher – Halsgrove Publishing www.halsgrove.com
and all good bookshops (ISBN 978 0 85704 160 9). There will also be a book
launch – date to be announced.

Blackbird, blue tit, carrion crow, chaffinch, coot, dunnock, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, green woodpecker, jackdaw, jay, kingfisher, lesser redpoll, long tail tit, magpie, mallard, moorhen, ring-neck parakeet, robin, siskin, song thrush, wood pigeon, and wren

and all before 10.00 am  …. learner birders take note, make an early start!

and could this be the rare redpollarder?

• What  you saw - species (sex, numbers or other details are useful but not essential)
• When you saw it - i.e. the date
• Name of observer
• Where you saw it within the site, e.g. bird was overhead, in the Mere, on alders