April - not at all taxing

3rd April

Clare saw the first Dandelion of the year out on the Meadow. Juno managed to find all the eggs Clare had concealed. Maybe the spotty paper wrapping made them easier to see.

4-6th April

The middle path through the Pit Wood proves as popular as ever with local fauna. Chris Wren says that the badger is musking - marking territory.

8-9th April

John and Dave began working on a quad bike friendly entrance to the Top Strip.

Sue D donated several Water Figwort plants and began planting some by the Big Pond.

10th April

Hal, Beth, Juno and marshmallows got toasty warm with a fire in the story-telling circle.

A pair of Mallard seem to be considering setting up residence on or near the Big Pond.

Clare planted the rest of the Water Figwort and Clare and John added twelve Purging Buckthorn hedging plants into the developing hedge in the Orchard.

11/12th April

Clare and John have started to create a pond in their garden. This has produced hugs amounts of surplus soil which John and Dave are bagging up, taking to Liddells and using to build up the roadway on the Wetland.

John spotted tadpoles in the roadway pond - a great relief as there was a risk the frogspawn would have been killed off by the cold weather. The ducks are probably feasting on any tadpoles remaining in the Big Pond.

There appears to have been a pigeon social in the Pit Wood.

17th April

After starting work on creating an extension to the east-west fence along the north edge of the Wetland, John had another excursion with his camera.

The ducks have flown - probably having exhausted the tadpole supply. Unfortunately with no access to expenses the ducks had to go without a duck house to entice them to stay.

“Clare said it was rude to stand on the table.”

18th April

Anticipating summer, John built a shelf onto the outside of the shepherd’s hut in the hope that a swallow might be tempted to nest there. He saw a Woodcock heading for cover near the signs to the hide, clearly taking the signage literally. Cowslips are out on the Meadow.

19th April

Clare opened her hives for the first time this year and was dismayed. One hive had very few bees and no brood. This had been a weakish colony going into the winter and Clare suspects the recent period of very cold and then wet weather proved too much. The second colony was full of bees and had three to four frames of brood. They were quiet on the frames and clearly ok. The last colony had a lot of very bad tempered bees, probably because there did not appear to be a laying queen. Clare will add a frame with eggs in the hope that the bees will create a new queen.

Clare’s mood was improved by seeing more footage of a Tawny Owl.

20th April

John decided to have an evening visit to Liddells and saw about six hares on the Top Grazing.

21st April

Hares are the most frequently captured creature in trail camera footage. They usually seem to be taking their time on the path, however these two are showing quite a turn of speed.

22nd April

Clare had her first drive of the quad bike and loved it. Using it certainly speeds up getting about on Liddells. The badger too seems to be putting on a spurt. As it is going in the opposite of its usual direction, perhaps it had forgotten something.

25th April

Clare and Barry teamed up to look at Barry’s hives and Clare came away with a frame of larvae and eggs to offer to her colony that looked as if it would survive with a new queen.

Violets are out on the Wetland and in the Pit Wood.

26th April

John and Dave tackled some of the fallen trees in the Pit Wood and John started making a quad bike-friendly track so the the wood can be brought out.

In the absence of Willow and accompanying music, the buck has taken to stripping the raspberries. John says he is a very fine specimen and a youngster - his antlers remain quite thin and his head is held high. With older deer, the head droops more as they walk.

27th April

John saw Siskins and a Greenfinch on the feeders - firsts this year for both species.

A fox appears very interested in the trail camera.

29th April

Clare bimbled round Liddells (OED Word of the Day 01.04.21 ‘bimble:’: to move at a leisurely pace, esp. on foot, to amble, wander). She added Oxlips, Cherry blossom, Bluebells, Wood sorrel, Soft rush and Wild strawberry to plants that have come into flower this year.

30th April

Mel donned his waders and planted more pond plants. The female mallard was on the Big Pond when he arrived and he found more goose faeces and a pair of Greylags were circling over the land. John and Mel removed more large stones from potential quad bike + flail mower paths.

Clare and John saw three hares on a last-of-the-month visit to Liddells today. Clare was delighted that Siskins visited the feeders while she was there. There has been a thrush singing frequently very close to the hide recently. Clare and John like to think it is the one captured by the trail camera.