Category Archives: wildlife

Abbey Millstream Through the Year: May 2026

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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.

Abbey Millstream Through the Year: April 2026

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The bridge over the Millstream to Coseners House is currently closed for strengthening work. A temporary diversion takes vehicles and pedestrians round via the concrete bridge and back next to the open air pool.

Along the Millstream, the hawthorn (may blossom) is alive with insects, attracted by the brightness and spring nectar.

A long-tailed tit flits through the hawthorn, pausing on ivy at the water’s edge before flitting off again.

Small blue butterflies flutter alone, or twirl up together, and occasionally land.

A heron stands poised in the reeds before striking at something in the shallows.

Moorhens are plentiful along the Millstream, though there are no chicks to be seen just yet.

Near the weir, a lone duckling was snapping up mayflies in an independent way for one so small. There was no sign of any siblings and the nearest adult ducks were some way away.

What could be its mother was feeding at the weir, leaving the youngster to fend for itself near the weir.

What could be its father (you can never be sure with ducks) tipped up for deeper food.

These Canada geese, by contrast, were keeping a close watch over their young as they made their way along the Millstream.

Bluebells at Radley Large Wood

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Radley Large Wood is putting on a glorious display this April. Carpets of bluebells stretch through the trees, alongside a variety of other wild flowers — Wood Anemone, Primrose, Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Lesser Celandine, Greater Stitchwort, and Pink Campion. There’s also the birdsong to enjoy.

But it is the bluebells — their colour and scent — that make this a special time of year to walk through the wood.

There are a few parking places along Sugworth Lane, but the wood is also easily reached by bike from Abingdon or foot from Kennington or Lodge Hill. If you can’t make it in person, here’s a short video to give you an idea of how it looks.

A Swan Family and Lone Cygnet

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In Abingdon, a swan family has been growing up this year. They travel between the River Thames above Abingdon Weir and along the Mill Stream by the Abbey Meadows.

At first there were two adults with eight cygnets. Then the family became one adult with seven, and now just six remain, guarded by the lone parent.

One cygnet has gone its own way, and can often be seen from Wilsham Reach and St Helen’s Wharf.

But life, apart from the family, is not easy. A gang of adolescent swans now dominates that stretch of the Thames. In past years an adult ruled there with its family, chasing off rivals. This year the younger birds have taken charge, and the solitary cygnet is seen off whenever it ventures where they want to go, like the slipway where they like to preen.