Category: 2022

The days are getting shorter and the weather cooler, although this has been the mildest autumn for many years. The leaves are starting to get their autumn hues and spindle is particularly striking with its reddish orange, oval leaves and clusters of bright pink-and-orange berries hang from its twigs. The berries are a good food source for all kinds of creatures but are poisonous to humans. The conditions are ideal for fungi but so far we have only seen the species in the photo which we think is from the Agaricus family.

Berries of the rowan, holly, elder and guelder rose are still abundant and at the end of September small flocks of redwings were seen and a flock of over 20 fieldfares on the 18th October.  Kites, buzzards, and ravens fly overhead – the latter often with its infamous croaking call.

We have spread wildflower seeds taken from the farm to the wildflower meadow. Seeds are from angelica, knapweed, corncockle and birds foot trefoil. The latter is the food plant of the five-spot burnet which we have on the farm and are hoping to attract here. The solitary butterfly orchid we found is now in seed and we hope the plant will spread.

We saw this beautiful comma butterfly. It gets its name from the comma-shaped white spots on the underneath of its wings. It overwinters as an adult and is found throughout the year, having several broods. It is one of the most widely distributed of all the UK butterflies and we see the species here occasionally. Its favourite foodplant is the nettle flowers.

The common darter is still around, several fly around the pond.

Following weeks of dry weather and extreme, record hot temperatures, we did wonder how the younger trees would cope. When digging the graves, around 5 feet deep, it was clear to see how dry the ground was. So far, though, they all seem to be coping well. All were planted in 2012 and most are growing fast. With regards to the established trees in the ancient hedgerows, we had one outgrown pollarded ash collapse recently and several of this species are going to need attention in the winter as they are showing signs of Hymenoscyphus Fraxineus (ash dieback). As we write this (mid-August) the young rowan, guelder rose and spindle are flush with many berries. The crab apple trees too have fruited well and the apples are delicious!

At the end of August we scythed part of the meadow. Scything is the perfect option – it is quiet, just a rhythmic swishing sound as the blade cuts through the grass and this method needs no fuel. We cut as late as possible, so the wildflowers and grasses have had chance to seed.  The weather was perfect, dry and sunny with a cool breeze.

Insects are not so abundant than in previous years. Once the ragwort has finished flowering, we pull it out to ensure it does not spread on to neighbouring land where it can be a problem for livestock as it is an accumulative poison. Usually the plants are covered in insects but this year they are not. Sadly, we have found no sign of the cinnabar moth after introducing four caterpillars on the site last year.

There has been the occasional small copper butterfly, a few hoverflies, bees and flies but nowhere near the number of insects seen over previous years. Butterfly and moth species are down. The meadow brown is still the most common butterfly here, followed by speckled wood. There have been only a few ringlets, whites and solitary red admirals, peacocks and painted lady. We did see the pretty, day flying Five-spot Burnet moth. Its food plant is the birds foot trefoil which is abundant here. Dragonflies and damselflies too are reduced. We saw a couple of Brown Hawker mating in the vicinity of the new pond on the 19^th August. The common darter is a fairly regular sight, and we sometimes see the Golden-ringed dragonfly.

A lovely surprise was finding a butterfly orchid that just appeared alongside one of the paths in the burial field behind the car park. As far as we are aware, and we spend quite a bit of time working all over the nature reserve, this is the only one! We hope it will spread.

Birds too have not been abundant. We were pleased to see five bullfinch in mid-July and we have also seen jackdaws, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, red kites, swallows and swifts.

A mixture of sunshine and showers this month have encouraged lots of flower blossoms, new growth and long grass. We have been clearing blackthorn from the main tree planting areas. We have also pulled some bracken. During the spring and summer, we ensure we do no work that will disturb nesting birds. Birds seen and heard this month include, garden warbler, willow warbler, rook, buzzard, blackbird, robin, chiff chaff, dunnock, chaffinch, song thrush, blackcap, red kite, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, rook, crow and wren.

The dainty and very pretty green lacewings (Chrysopa perla) are flying around. The harvestman spider is abundant. The viburnum beetle lava have been very active on one area of guelder rose, eating large chunks from the leaves. This species can be a pest but as we have so many guelder roses we don’t envisage a big problem. The Panorpa communis is one of the UK’s few scorpion flies – its curved tail (which gives it its common name) looks like a sting but it is the male’s claspers used for mating. The emperor dragonfly has been seen flying over the wildflower meadows.

A lovely surprise was spotting a hummingbird hawk moth. It seemed to be taking nectar for the flowers on the large patch of red campion at the car park entrance. Usually, we see this moth feeding on red valerian. Other moths and butterflies seen include straw dot, silver ground carpet, dingy footman, common carpet, marbled white spot, grass rivulet (a local, tiny white moth that frequents wildflower meadows) red admiral, meadow brown, ringlet, large white, small skipper, small heath, speckled wood, peacock and a male Longhorm nemophora degeerella. Its antennae are about 4 times longer than this tiny moth’s body. The female has a much shorter antenna. It is quite common and can be seen dancing in the sunshine among the trees. A lava of a drinker moth was found and photographed by James, who helps with the land management.

The tiny micro moths are abundant. Having looked for the tiny micro moth, C. fibulella on the extensive patches of speedwell here, this year was the first time we have seen them. We have spotted 6 so far. In the buttercup flowers we have found Micropterix calthella, with its metallic bronzy forewings and Cocksfoot (Glyphipterix simpliciella) with its silvery-white streaks. These tiny moths can be seen better using close focus binoculars. The tiny caterpillars feed on the seeds of their foodplant, which is mainly cock’s foot (Dactylis glomerata) grass. When fully grown, the larvae will enter the stems of grass to pupate. Infested stems can be detected by the presence of small holes along their length.

It is wonderful to see the yellow rattle spreading. We sprinkled seeds in several areas last year. There are now many patches in the meadows and some in the woodland areas of grass, particularly alongside the paths. This species is a hemi-parasite (meaning partially parasitic)
on grasses and some legume herbs, such as clovers. As it weakens the grasses it allows other wildflowers to flourish so is an excellent plant for the wildflower meadows. The seeds germinate in early spring. It flowers May to July and sets its seeds in July and August, after that it dies. The new seeds continue the cycle the following year. It does need to have some space to grow within the grass sward.

Spring is well and truly here now with blackbird, robin, siskin, chiff chaff, dunnock, chaffinch, song thrush, blackcap, red kite, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, wren seen or heard. We found remnants of a robin’s egg – sadly probably predated. The blossom is out in profusion on the bird cherry, crab apple trees, rowan, blackthorn and hawthorn.

 

The carpets of speedwell have started to flower in profusion, as have the selfheal, red campion, stitchwort and Solomon’s seal. A recent report has revealed that it is the dandelion that is the favourite source of nectar for pollinators. This new research was published by the National Botanic Garden of Wales in the Journal of Applied Ecology. It has created a league table of the favourite flowers of bees and hoverflies, giving a window into their secret lives.  Dandelion, buttercups, and lesser celandine were the favourites in the spring. In the summer, bramble was popular with both bees and hoverflies but bees particularly like knapweeds, thistles, and cat’s ear whilst hoverflies favour angelica and hogweed. We have all these plants in abundance here.

 

We found a pretty red poplar leaf beetle – it was on a sapling under aspens – the poplar species are one of its food source plants. We have also seen many bees of various species and sizes. The Bombus lapidarius is probably the most easily recognised bumble bee species with its black body and orange tail. The solitary hairy footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes), with its distinctive banding, is one of the earliest bees to emerge in the spring.

In April we dug a pond at the furthest end of the far burial field. It abuts an existing stream. On the day it was dug it started filling with water and attracted a heron. During the first week we found skaters and other pond life starting to colonise the water. The banks have been planted with native plants. The adjoining areas of thick bramble were cleared and more trees will  be planted here in the autumn. Bramble is an important plant but there is plenty elsewhere so we decided to clear this particular bit to make the footpath maintenance in this area easier.

 

 

Since September the thrushes (song thrush, mistle thrush and redwing) and blackbirds have been enjoying the abundant supplies of berries from the guelder rose, spindle and hawthorn. As well as the more common blue, coal and great tits, we have regularly seen a group of around 8 long tailed tits. Five bullfinches have also been frequent visitors over the winter months. Cycling down the lane to the site it is wonderful to the diverse sounds from hundreds of starlings as they warble, chatter, whistle and trill whilst sitting in their favourite tree – an impressive sitre. . hear the tweeting and tittering from the hundreds of starlings These are not resident birds but ones that spend the winter here coning from Northern Europe.

The 12^th January was what we call a ‘jewel’ day with a sharp frost in the morning, staying cold with frost on the ground but sunshine all day. The dew on the ground and the abundant water droplets on the many tree branches sparkle in the sunshine, like lots of diamonds. The mistle thrush has started to sing (early this year, first heard on 10^th January) and it is lovely listening to him as we work on clearing bramble and blackthorn. It is said that the mistle thrush got its name from its love of mistletoe. They will apparently strongly defend a tree laden with berries. We do not have any mistletoe here but maybe we could introduce some in the future. It is a parasite which gets its food from the host tree.  One of the species it is said to grow on the hawthorn. We have a lot of this shrub here.  The mistle thrush is larger and paler than the similar song thrush. A male robin accompanies us almost at our feet as we work. He searches for worms and other creatures as we dig. Sometimes he sits atop a small tree or shrub and sings. Next month many of the resident birds will be starting to choose their nesting sites so our work in the hedgerow areas will cease so we do not disturb the birds..

We found clumps of the parasitic jelly fungus known as ‘witches’ butter ‘so called because of its butter-like consistency and greasy surface. Jelly fungus belongs to the class Heterobasidiomycetes and can be a wide range of colours – from white to orange, yellow, pink, or even black. They all have a gelatinous texture when exposed to sufficient moisture. They can absorb as much as 60 times their weight in water so can go from small dry blobs to beautiful, colourful structures. At the point of attachment to the tree the fungus feeds as it is a parasite, but it rarely causes much damage. 

Nellie proved herself useful as she has been taking the finished seats down to the burial areas. She seemed to enjoy this work and in particular when the sledge had been unloaded and she was allowed to graze on a particularly lush (for winter) area of grass under the oak tree!