Date: 10 August 2026
Location: Tylney Hall
Duration: 5 hours
Habitat: Parkland, woodland and wetland
Species encountered: Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), Jay (Garrulus glandarius), Willow Emerald damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) and Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Field Notes

Today, I spent around five hours exploring the grounds of Tylney Hall with a friend. The visit provided a welcome opportunity to observe a habitat quite different from the sites I usually frequent.

During the visit, I continued developing my feather-identification skills and found several notable specimens. These included feathers from a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and a Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), as well as a striking Jay (Garrulus glandarius) wing feather with its distinctive blue barring.

Tylney Hall had more standing water than the other sites I had visited recently, although the water levels were still noticeably lower than normal. Around the wetter margins, I recorded a Willow Emerald damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) and a Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum).

The effects of the prolonged dry weather were also clearly visible. The rhododendrons were wilting and generally in poor condition, while the unusually low water levels provided further evidence of how dry the wider landscape had become.

Although this was not a formal survey, five hours of unstructured observation gave me valuable practice in species and feather identification. The visit also offered a useful point of comparison: Tylney Hall retained considerably more water than the drier habitats I had been exploring, making the effects of the dry conditions elsewhere appear even more pronounced.

Photographs