The Abbey Millstream is far more overgrown than it used to be. Swans now have to clamber over fallen trees and find a way through the reeds as they make their way from the weir towards the Abbey Gardens. While the vegetation makes life more difficult for the larger birds, it also provides plenty of dead branches as perches.

Sometimes the combinations of birds are unexpected, such as this heron sharing a perch with a group of ducks.

Or this wood pigeon alongside a young pied wagtail.

Another perching bird is the kingfisher. I spotted one this evening, but almost as soon as it landed it was gone in a flash of blue before I could get a better photograph. I saw it perch again a little further along, but this time it disappeared before I could even raise the camera. Even so, it was beautiful to see.

There was also a pair of collared doves perched beside the stream today. This is one of them.

When the light catches the water at the right angle, fish can be seen swimming beneath the surface.

The insect life has also been thriving. One of the most colourful visitors I came across was this Scarlet Tiger Moth.

There are some ducklings, though not as many as you might expect given the number of ducks. The moorhens seem to have had more success, with several young birds around.
The swans have not produced any cygnets this year, at least not so far. I’m not sure why that should be.

A succession of wild flowers has brightened the banks throughout the month. One of the sweetest-scented is meadowsweet.

Back in May I reported the blackberry blossom. On the last day of June the first blackberry had already appeared.

There will be many more in the coming days and weeks.

At the end of what has been a very warm half-term week for late May, the Millstream has lots of wildlife. There were lots of ducks and a couple of swans with no young, but I have concentrated on the birds with young, as well as insects and flowers to be seen along its banks and on the water.

This female mallard has a single duckling. It is still small and fluffy, with brown-and-yellow down.

This type of bird is sometimes referred to as a “manky mallard”, a disrespectful name sometimes given to domestic ducks that have hybridised with wild mallards. They frequently show varied plumage, such as the dark brown and black feathers seen on the duck.

There have been lots of Yellow Iris beside the Millstream during May. As the month comes to a close, some of the flowers are fading and beginning to form seed pods. They are found on the margins of slow-moving water, and the Millstream flows particularly slowly because of fallen trees and growing reed beds.

This juvenile Moorhen has disproportionately large feet, which help it walk on floating vegetation. Moorhens are normally quite shy, but this one clambered onto the bank near me, tweeting, with no adult moorhen in sight. I think it is the same bird I saw a few days later nibbling water weed above the weir, again without an adult in sight.

In various places along the Millstream are Yellow Water Lilies. They have yellow, cup-shaped flowers, which bloom a few inches above the water. Their large floating leaves are disc or heart-shaped.

Damselflies can be seen in great numbers among the reeds and water lilies. I slipped into the stream just after taking this picture. The water only came up to my calves, but I did lose my glasses for a couple of minutes before spotting an arm sticking through the surface.

A family of Canada Geese regularly travels up and down the Millstream.

There’s lot of Blackberry blossom near or beside the Millstream, attracting lots of bees. This honey bee is carrying pollen on its hind legs.

I also saw this butterfly on the blackberry blossom. It may be a Large Skipper, although it did not seem particularly large.