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August Post Script
It appears that grey squirrels can eat fly agaric mushrooms, so the animated antics featured in last month’s blog may be due to the fungus’ hallucinogenic effect. Videos from 30th August show a stoat behaving similarly, however stoats are carnivores so maybe this one was naturally exuberant.
1st September
The sub-heading for this month in Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year is ‘Airy Spheres of Thistledown.’ The phrase comes from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.
Farmer Barry took the hay off the Top Grazing.
2nd September
Clare had a friend over from Weardale and they sowed Yellow Rattle seeds on the Top Grazing. They encountered a frog near the feeders. Clare continued her work on the big pond.
The two does and their kids are obviously sharing the same space. They all go through the Scrub regularly though a single kid is now frequently seen there on its own and not all the triplets appear together each time they are caught on camera.
3rd - 4th September
More work for John on the classroom floor and for Clare on the big pond, where she saw another frog. The herons clearly haven’t eaten them all.
Clare made a note of all the recordings on the trail camera over a 24 hour period:
5.29 Eyes at hare height in the mist
6.11 Doe + large moth moving north to south in the mist
6.32 Rabbit in the half-light
7.25 Hare going east then turning south
9.29 Doe travelling west
10.17 Hare going east
12.18 Blue tit attacking the camera
12.34 Sound of camera attack and fluttering wings
15.25 Lone kid moving east
16.47 Doe foraging behind the hawthorn
20.06 Hare paused in half-light
20.07 Hare still there
20.08 Hare runs off east
20.12 Nearly dark, doe going east; blackbird alarm calls
12.15 Doe and one kid
20.15 Doe and kid eating
20.18 One kid joined by another; much scratching
20.18 Both kids foraging
20.23 Hare running through going east, several moths
22.02 Fox approaches from east, changes direction and leaves south
5th - 7th September
Clare knew two bee colonies needed feeding with sugar syrup as they had eaten all their stored honey. It was first necessary to remove the super (box with frames for honey), so Clare added a clearer board. This has a slightly complicated route for the bees to find their way through and down into the brood box, however the smell of the queen is an enticement for them to work it out. It is harder for the bees to find their way back up. Clare returned early the next morning only to find a lot of bees still in the super. This was unusual as the board had worked well on several previous occasions. Clare brushed the bees off and managed to add a syrup feeder without getting stung though did pause when she had to retrieve a crown board (the board that sits on top of the boxes and under the roof) from the shed. The penny eventually dropped - she had put the clearer board on top of the super instead of underneath. Clare then put the clearer board in the correct place under the super of the second colony and went to continue her work on the big pond feeling ever so slightly foolish. A sparrowhawk swooped through the feeding station, though again no birds were taken.
John finished using up all the boards salvaged from the storm damaged sheds last November.
Finally there is substantial rain. The island in the big pond is once more an island.
Footage of one of the kids shows how the spots on its coat are fading.
Further videos of the doe and triplets. You can see mutual grooming in the second clip.
10th September
The day began with an auspicious sign for John. The Guardian cryptic crossword featured the following clue: ‘Fishy food reportedly expensive, one ruminates’ (3,4) Answer at the end of this blog post.
Clare and John joined in with the local Village Show. Clare was thrilled to win a First Prize for her fruit scones and Second Prizes for cheese scones, rock buns and shortbread biscuits. John, however, completely swept the photographic board with photos he had taken on Liddells. So well did he do that he came home with a trophy. The label for the long-tailed tit doesn’t really do justice to John’s achievement.
Meanwhile the stoat appears in the Scrub again.
Clare declared the restoration of the big pond’s wall complete.
Footage of the kids in the evening shows they can be distinguished as two does and a buck.
11th September
John started working on the east wing of the classroom.
The deer are seen very frequently on the Scrub camera. A doe runs away and you can see how the white hair on her rump goes erect when the animal is alarmed, making a much larger white patch (target) visible. One kid appears on its own and its squeaking is audible. The triplets all try to suckle. When kids are very young is it almost impossible to distinguish what sex they are; here you can see the differentiation on their rump markings in daylight, to show that there are two does and a buck. Later the buck kid tries again to suckle, however the doe is clearly trying to deter him.
On her walk home, Clare saw an exquisite seed head lying on the path. There were no wildflowers nearby except Creeping Thistle and Yarrow and it is not from either of them.. Any identification help would be gratefully received.
12th September
Clare was delighted to show a group from the local National Women’s Register round Liddells. She had been concerned that it was a bit late in the season to see much of interest and was pleased to be proved very wrong when she did a wildflower survey the day before the group arrived. Initially she found over 30 species still in flower and this number increased to 38 by the end of the visit. Particularly striking were the violets out on the west verge of the Pit Wood. There were also Red Admiral, Large White and Speckled Wood butterflies, Southern Hawker and Common Darter Dragonflies and Emerald Damselflies, and a variety of birds on the feeders. The group made a very generous donation by way of a thank you - Clare and John have bought two Aspen saplings to join and talk to Juno’s tree, and they will buy wildflower plugs in the Spring.
After the visit Clare started digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge leading in to the big pond. She noticed a large number of tiny pond snails on a rock in the pond.
John completed the door to the classroom. He considers it to be the best door he has yet made. He has made a lot of doors.
Violet
Common Carder bee on Red Clover
Proliferation of pond snails - any suggestions for an appropriate collective noun will be welcome
John admiring his door
13th September
Clare dug out more of the pond channel. There have been numerous male Common Darters around but very few females. This female obligingly paused on a fence post for long enough for Clare to get her phone camera out. The male Southern Hawkers that have been around don’t rest like the darters, though they will come teasingly close, however they move so fast it is very difficult to photograph them. Clare managed to get one in a shot with her phone camera. If you would like to see really splendid photographs of dragonflies, visit trogtrogblog.blogspot.com
Every autumn Clare determines to learn to identify more fungi and then remembers how difficult it is to be sure of the identification. She thinks the bracket fungus featured below might be Turkeytail.
Female Common Darter
Male Southern Hawker
14th - 19th September
John had his trail camera on the Meadow. He enjoyed the footage of the hare so much, it was only on the third viewing that he noticed the deer in the background.
Two hares appear in the Scrub again. A kid appears to be on Robinwatch.
Two clips of a stoat in the Scrub. In one it appears to be going round in circles; in the second it is chasing a hare, which is considerably larger than the stoat.
Clare finished digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge. All that is needed now is the water to run through it into the pond. She saw the remains of a hare near the roadside pond - maybe the stoat had been successful in its hunting.
A rabbit is at cross purposes with a hare.
In the Pit Wood, the doe with a single kid (identified as another doe), are foraging on fallen leaves.
There is a fast and furious chase sequence involving birds, a hare and a fox.
John makes substantial progress on the east end of the classroom.
21st September
John raised the roof on the east end of the classroom. Clare saw three hares while walking round.
24th September
A successful fox hunt. It is not clear what the fox has caught.
25th September
Footage of one of the does shows her losing her summer coat.
26th September
The east end of the classroom is nearly fully boarded out. Shutters and flooring remain on the to-do list.
While smearing the stump in front of the hide with her highly popular (with the birds) peanut butter paste mix, Clare noticed a significant flourish of Sulphur Tuft fungus.
The ‘Murder Buck’ appeared again in the Pit Wood. (For any new subscribers, this is a mature buck that has antlers devoid of any tines. That is to say the antlers will resemble two long spikes, without the traditional brow and rear antler tines. The reason that this type of beast is called a 'Murder Buck' comes from the damage that this type of buck can cause to an opponent when sparring.
29th September
John and Mel planted nearly 40 hazel saplings in the stump circle and on the verge of the Pit Wood. Many thanks to Kathryn R for donating the plants.
Finally for lagophilic readers, a hare, which is somewhat startled by a blackbird, to end this post. On a whim, Clare searched to see if there were any relevant fables. She found a print instead.
30th September
For the botanists among readers, the wildflowers still out on 11th/12th September were: Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Bush Vetch, Buttercup, Chickweed, Common Cat’s Ear, Clover (Red), Clover (White), Common Daisy, Dandelion, Eyebright, Foxglove, Goldenrod, Groundsel, Hawkbit, Heather, Hedge Woundwort, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Meadow Vetchling, Michaelmas Daisy, Nipplewort, Ragged Robin, Ragwort, Red Campion, Red Hemp Nettle, Ribwort Plantain, Self Heal, Sow Thistle (Prickly), Thistle (Creeping), Thistle (Marsh), Thistle (Spear), Tormentil, Tufted Vetch, Water Mint, Wild Carrot, Willowherb (Broad-leaved), Willowherb (Rosebay), Violet, Yarrow
The answer to the crossword clue is ‘roe deer’.