Butterflies

July - rain, rain, go away!

As usual, a reminder to go to www.liddells.co.uk to read this blog post, where the videos will be found in all their glory.

First some trail camera footage from the last day of last month. The buck seems to be in festival mode, certainly festooned.

1st July

This month began on a musical footing with the Hexham Village Band arriving to visit the tree they had planted as a memorial for one of their players and for a picnic. Clare provided the band with maps and several members enjoyed a walk around the site; one group were lucky enough to see a doe with a kid. In her mission to extend the range of Yellow Rattle in the county Clare made sure a few people took away envelopes full of seed.

Clare photographed a fly that caught her eye. It is a Noon or Noonday fly, Mesembrina meridiana and is jet-black with orange on the base of its wings, on its feet and face. If you read this article, you will understand why Clare thinks it is the insect embodiment of the phrase ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’, or gold.

Shortly afterwards Clare saw the hoverfly below. She thought this too was rather attractive. A bit of identifcation work proved it to be a Tapered Drone Fly, Eristalis pertinax. Furthermore she discovered that ‘the larva of E. pertinax is a rat-tailed maggot and lives in drainage ditches, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water with high organic load and low oxygen concentration’. (uknaturalst.org) She found it by the Roadside pond which has a lot of algae at the moment. Where there’s muck, there’s maggots.

On a wander through the Pit Wood Clare noticed that the path down to the spring was covered in Self-heal and reminded her that the tutor on her Orchids course told the group that as a child he and his sister were frequently given Self-heal tea by their mother who believed the plant to have considerable medicinal qualities. The plant’s alternative name Heal-all would support her view.

Clare also used her time to pull the flowers off Hogweed plants in the Meadow and on the Hayfield - behogheading? The plant is highly successful, as is Cleavers. Clare thinks they may well take over the world. She also began her annual Yellow Rattle seed harvesting.

While the band were picnicking and making music, the doe and a single kid were captured on camera in the Scrub and shortly afterwards in the Pit Wood. The next day a kid is seen on its own in the Scrub, then late that night doe and kid are together in the Pit Wood.

4th July

TrogTrogBlog Chris visited to fulfil an offer he had made last year which was to return to Liddells with his Lunar Hornet Moth lure to see whether the moths could be found on Liddells. Chris had looked at last month’s blog post and offered the recording of the up-till-now called Marsh Tit to his new bird identification app, which concluded that the call was that of a Willow Tit. So, either the Marsh Tits have been wrongly identified all this time or there are both species on Liddells. Many specialists find it hard to distinguish between the two species, however the wizardry of the Merlin app showed no hesitation in its identification.

Chris’ lure failed to attract any Lunar Hornet moths on this occasion, however on a visit to a different site he discovered that ‘the moths are not evenly distributed, even in suitable habitat,’ so it may be worth trying again next year in different places on the site.

Clare ordered a sweep net which Chris said he had used for collecting Yellow Rattle seeds.The net is also of course for catching insects for examination.

5th July

Clare was surprised to notice that the Yellow Iris growing on the edge of the overflow to the Big Pond which she had been expecting to come into flower for a while, had grown very long foliage and turned into Reed Mace or Bullrush. Goodness only knows how the plants arrived, however they are very welcome. After last month’s beetles bonking on Hogweed but not Hogweed Bonking beetles, here are some not bonking Hogweed Bonking beetles.

6th July

It is approaching time for the rut and the younger buck is making sure his presence is established in the Scrub. He is captured anointing and scraping.

8th July

Clare spent a day on Lindisfarne looking for orchids and came across Ragwort with Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. Ragwort enjoys a troubled reputation because it is toxic to grazing animals, however the animals will not eat it in the wild. The plant becomes a threat when it finds its way into hay and the animals eat it unaware. There is Ragwort on Liddells however Clare monitors the Hayfield and the Meadow and pulls it out if it appears there. She leaves it on the Wetland where it can benefit insects. This article illustrates the benefits. She saw several Dark Green Fritillaries and met a new insect when it landed on her lunchbox lid. It proved to be a Stiletto Fly Thereva nobilitata and did indeed seem rather noble.

A kid on its own in the Scrub again and in a week it has grown considerably.

9th July

Emerald damselflies are now around in abundance and Clare thought she caught a glimpse of an Emperor Dragonfly however it was never still and so hard to be sure about the identification. The Emeralds were more co-operative. Below is a male, a pair mating and a male attempting to sabotage a mating pair. John Lewis-Stempel describes dragonflies and damselflies as the ‘flying jewels of the British natural world,’ and tells how they ‘share a mating method requiring Kama Sutra dexterity. When interlocked, the two insects form a ‘wheel’ or ‘heart’ shape’. The mating can take place on the wing, or perched on vegetation or on the ground. There is also a photo of a water spider having trapped a damselfly in its web and enjoying its prey.

Damsel in distress

John and Clare have been curious about the fate of the triplets, they haven’t been captured on either of the trail cameras since the first footage last month, however there has been footage of the doe with two kids. It seems likely that one of the triplets has not survived.

July 10th - 16th

While Clare was away for a week in the East Midlands, where she saw large numbers of Gatekeeper butterflies, which she hasn’t ever knowingly seen on Liddells, John spent time repairing the fencing on the Meadow ready for the sheep later in the year. Originally John and Clare only needed to rabbit proof the Meadow so used chicken wire. The sheep put on in recent years made short shrift of that so John has replaced sections with sheep netting.

Final preparations for the first school visit have involved strimming paths and the story-telling circle. At the last minute Clare noticed three wasps’ nests in the meeting room where they would have been a hazard too far for the children. The nests are beautiful and it seemed a shame to destroy them, however the risks of an allergic response to a sting outweighed aesthetic and environmental considerations. ‘Providing for herself, the queen settles on a location and starts to build. She constructs using wood mixed with saliva. This forms a malleable pulp that is perfect for moulding. The queen lays eggs into the hollow spaces - the cells - she creates. The eggs hatch and grow to become her first worker wasps. When they reach adulthood, the new workers take over the responsibility of foraging for supplies and building the nest. The queen is then resigned to laying eggs for the rest of her life.’ nhm.ac.uk

18th July

The forecast could not have been much worse for today’s school visit however nothing ventured…

The children arrived with wellies and waterproofs and the weather held until they left. Some of the children were a little nervous at first - Catherine, their Head, reminded John and Clare that as four year olds, they had been much affected by lockdown, especially in their spatial awareness and confidence outdoors, so Liddells felt particularly big to them. Clare and John welcomed them into the meeting room and Clare told the story of how Liddells got its name, said a little bit about what Liddells was for and invited a discussion about what creatures might live on Liddells. Some of the children had found a Violet Ground Beetle on their way and so that was examined under a microscope along with some moths that Clare had collected from the Shepherd’s Hut. Outside someone found a Silver Y moth and then noticed that its wings were vibrating. Apparently shivering before take-off allows moths to increase the temperature of their flight muscles until the power output of these muscles is sufficient to lift the insect's body mass. A great new discovery for a school day. Then everyone set off to explore the site. A pause by the big pond provided an opportunity for pond-dipping and seeing baby newts, whirligig beetles, pond skaters and more. Of course there was a story told in the story-telling circle followed by toasting marshmallows on the fire. More walking round with an opportunity to try out the swing, then back to the meeting room for lunch. After that the children were all more confident and so were happy to run around and around some logs that Clare had set up as a slalom course. They left just as the rain began. The whole visit was a success for all concerned and plans are afoot for more.

Story-listening

Story-telling

Attentive listeners

The soporific power of stories by the fire

Wet and weary, but much more confident

John and Clare were pleased to see that there is still a kid around although no doe appears.

21st - 22nd July

Clare was pleased to see a few more of the Broad-leaved Helleborines in flower. There are fewer of the plants this year than last and Clare was wondering about whether they had been eaten by the deer, however apparently the plants can flourish in alternate years. Clare hopes this is the case. She also noticed an insect she hadn’t knowingly seen before and discovered it is a Yellow-sided Clover-sawfly Tenthredo nothra. They are widespread and common in grasslands and other legume-rich habitats. The nocturnal larvae feed on clovers and vetches. Adults fly in July and August. They are avid flower-visitors, especially buttercups, umbellifers and thistles, and can carry prodigious amounts of pollen. Clare also saw a Marmalade Hover Fly Episyrphus balteatus on some Hogweed, which reminded her that Hogweed has its benefits.

23rd July

A lot of rain is falling and has been for several days. It is feechie (‘Dirty, filthy, disgusting. Also (of weather): foul, rainy.’ OED Word of the Day 13.05.23), leaving the ground queachy (‘Of ground: swampy, boggy, unstable.’ OED Word of the Day 28.04.23. Probably good weather for a pad (‘A toad. Later also: a frog.’ OED Word of the Day 24.04.23

Readers might correctly assume that the weather is inhibiting work on Liddells so Clare and John have to find other things to do, such as updating this month’s Blog post.

24th July

A break in the rain. John and Clare had a walk around Liddells with a view to updating their to-do list. Instead they were distracted by seeing cherries on the Wild Cherry trees and hazelnuts on the first Hazels they planted in the Top Strip.

Then Clare noticed a web woven around the top of some grass and saw that there was movement inside the web. The spider is a Furrow Orb Weaver Lariniodes cornutus. You can see the distinctive dark V on its abdomen. This specimen was over 10 cms so is most likely a female.

There was more to discover - two more insects demonstrating the value of Hogweed. First a Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Sceliphron cæmentarium, a solitary parasitoid wasp that builds nests out of mud. These sphecid wasps collect mud balls at puddle and pool edges for constructing nests. Then a Golden Dung Fly Scathopharga stercoraria which was overwhelming a Marmalade Hover Fly. In seeking information about this latter insect, Clare came across this article and was struck by how similar her photograph was to the one heading the article.

Last year a mystery plant appeared in the Pit Wood and it has now revealed its identity. It is Burdock. Apparently the roots taste like a cross between sweet chestnut and parsnip ‘but most often require major excavation to remove them from the usually hard and stoney ground. You need to forage the roots in Autumn or Spring of the first years growth to be of any worth. The roots can be roasted like parsnip, sliced finely and stir fried or made into a puree. The stems of the younger plants can be eaten until about May when they become woody and bitter. The tough outside of the stem needs to be removed first revealing a thin vegetable that can be treated like asparagus or used raw in salads. The leaves best use is to wrap and protect food when cooking in a ground or clay oven or in campfires…Recent studies have shown that the extracted oil from the root of Burdock is rich in essential fatty acids and phytosterols…Burdock was commonly used in cooking in the UK in times past but has long been forgotten about’. The article adds the helpful suggestion that the plant’s leaves make a useful umbrella if you are caught in the rain. https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/burdock/

25th - 29th July

Clare took the last three cages off the Larches in the west end of the Hayfield. She then set about painting the new boards on the outside of the meeting room. Some of the boards at the back have been sitting on soil so are damp at the bottom. Clare dug a small trench below them and will have to wait for the boards to dry out before she can complete the job. The rain is frustrating this year’s hay-making, however Tom who cuts the hay has reassured John and Clare that the hay won’t be spoiled and that August will not be too late for the job.

Clare cut several willow whips from the first willow seat and used them to replace those that had been frayed in Sylvia’s Avenue. She was pleased to see that several of the frayed cuttings had sprouted and hadn’t died as she had thought.

Clare secured the new netting on the Meadow to the top wire and found 9 more Creeping thistles in the process - the total is still under 100, so a distinct improvement on previous years. The flowers were alive with bees foraging. Clare noticed a Dandelion seed head that had expanded to a beautiful structure, and a Six Spot Burnet Moth Zygæna filipendulae busy feeding on nectar from a Scabious - you can not only see the spots very clearly, but also the proboscis going down into the flower.

Other insects enjoying some sunshine - a Red Admiral, a Seven spot ladybird and a Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax. The Common Drone Fly is a bee mimic and Clare was pleased to notice it as a recent email from NHSN had included a piece about bee mimics.

Meanwhile the trail cameras have captured several videos of the deer. First a doe runs through the Scrub with the older buck in pursuit a couple of minutes later.

The rut continues - the next sequence shows the doe with her kid, then the buck a minute later, the doe running five minutes after this and finally the buck again a minute later. The kid is still too young for John to be confident of its sex although Clare has put a small bet on it being a doe. You can see along its back that the buck is just beginning to lose its summer coat.

The final video of the month. The kid alone in the Pit Wood shows how its spots are fading and how much it has grown.

30th July

Clare did some preparatory work for wall repair in the Pit Wood by cutting down a small ash tree that was threatening to undermine the wall, removing the loose stones and excavating fallen ones from under the moss. Meanwhile John made several quad and trailer trips to collect wood from near the Trapezium bridge. The logs will cut, split and stacked this weekend if it is dry.

June - the call of the wild

First corrections and clarifications from last month. Chris, ever supportive, helped untangle the mysteries of the dragon/damselfly emergences. Chris says that the last photo of the May blog post shows ‘four damselfly exuviae and two damselflies.  The white threads coming out of the back of the two in the centre are the nymphs’ spiracles and are evidence that emergence has occurred.  Bottom left, hidden by a leaf…there are two more, one behind the other.  The upper damselfly is a female large red, recently emerged and beginning to colour up.  The lower one has only just emerged and has no colour or visible markings so we can’t say what it is, although it will be a large red or an azure.  It is still in the process of expanding its wings which will go clear like the one above’. Chris also commented that the penultimate photograph shows a Four-spotted chaser, not, as Clare had labelled it, a female Broad-bodied chaser. He pointed out the extra spots on the wings; he said that without a clear view of the abdomen, it isn’t possible to determine the sex.

NB remember that to see the videos (and there are some particular delights later in the Blog) go to the website www.liddells.co.uk and click on the Blog page.

1st June

Clare decided to embark on her 30 Days Wild - readers take note, this Wildlife Trust challenge has been featured in The Archers this year - by having a stroll round Liddells to see what she could see. She wondered about attempting some grass/rush/sedge identification but decided life was too short. She made for the Big Pond where she realised that almost every upright growth in the water had several damselfly exuviae attached.

She noticed a pair of Pied Wagtails flying away from the Hayfield, and what she guessed was a juvenile Rook hopping along the boundary wall while a parent bird appeared to caw encouragement from the top of an Ash tree.

A juvenile’s beak appears quite thin

She was keeping an eye open for any glimpse of a doe and kids and did hear a deer bark but with no sign of the animal. As she approached the north-east corner of the Pit Wood, she kept her eye out for Spotted flycatchers. It’s the part of the wood where she has seen them in previous years although she had spent a while looking there without success two days previously. She was delighted to see a pair of the birds and watched them for about half an hour as they fluttered between an Ash and a Hawthorn. Next she went to the hide to fill the feeders and was amazed to see a Spotted flycatcher on top of one of the Hawthorns in front of the hide. It flew off towards where she had just been watching them. Neither Clare nor John have ever seen this species near the hide before. While she was watching, a Tree Sparrow, usually very shy about coming on to the feeders if someone is in the hide, spent a lot of time taking mixed seed. Then a pair of Siskins perched nearby. These have not been seen for months here. A good bird-watching episode. All these sightings are a reminder that the breeding bird survey doesn’t account for all the birds that may be around. It was also a great start to Clare’s 30 Days Wild.

Clare then had another unexpected experience - she realised that about a dozen sheep and lambs from the neighbouring field had pushed against the bottom gate, freeing the bolt though the chain was still in place, and opening it sufficiently to force their way through the gap, and were busy grazing on the Meadow. Clare set about some impromptu shepherding. This involved unlocking the gate while not letting any more animals in. At the sound of the padlock some cows and calves came running down to the gate so they had to be sent on their way first. While this was happening some of the sheep had made their way up through the Scrub and were near the open gate into the Hayfield. Clare managed to head them off at the pass, get to the gate before them and close it but then had to make a wide arc round the sheep to encourage them back down. She also had to keep an eye on the neighbouring field to check nothing else was getting in. This involved a lot of running up and down hill seeking different routes from the sheep. Fortunately the splinter group made their way out of the gate. Clare then sought to move the Meadow sheep. She managed to encourage them out of the Meadow and she closed the hurdle - not an easy task as it hadn’t been moved for ages and the chicken wire at the bottom had become enmeshed in grass. As she moved them towards the gate they broke back into the Meadow by forcing themselves through the wire. Hurdle off again. Clare felt like a beginner at a sheepdog trials as they sheep kept circling the Meadow, approaching the entrance and then going off in a different direction. At last they left the Meadow but then chose to go back into the Scrub. Clare wanted to head them off before they reached the top so went up through the Scrub by a different path. The sheep, intent on getting to the top, were ahead of her. Clare went back down to the bottom, through the gate and up the road, in through the top gate and approached them from above. This seemed to work and the sheep headed down the main path. Clare took the other path and hoped to stop them turning left at the bottom rather than right and through the gate. This was a good plan except the sheep were slower than Clare had expected and were still quite a way up the path when Clare appeared at the bottom. Guess what - they went back up the path. Clare repeated the last section of the plan and this time the sheep came all the way down the path and turned right and out through the gate. Clare reckons this counts as a wild experience. She can also see that it does all sound quite amusing. One day she hopes to be able to laugh about it. Fortunately she was soothed on her walk home by seeing a pair of Linnets and a mile further on, a pair of Greenfinches.

June 2nd

Clare noticed that the cattle grazing with the sheep had been munching on the Sycamores overhanging Liddells’ road wall, probably because they are sweet with honeydew at the moment, and the cattle had knocked down quite a section of the wall. Clare made her way down to the NE Strip to prune the Sycamores there and reduce the risk of more damage. As she approached the Meadow she saw a ewe and two lambs happily grazing there. They must have split off at some point during yesterday’s shenanigans and returned to the Meadow after Clare had left. Fortunately Tim and Jane were walking past at just this moment so the business of removing the sheep only took a couple of minutes. Hardly wild at all.

The Flycatchers were still in the same area of the Pit Wood and using the same perches as yesterday. Clare returned a deer’s bark with one of her own, a skill learned from John. She saw a large newt in the Big Pond and a green Weevil on the road gate.

Clare thinks this is Polydrusus cervinus although the description does not include metal gates as a habitat.

A clip from the trail camera in the Pit Wood - although no wildlife is to be seen the footage is included here because the bird calling is a Marsh tit. They are often seen on the feeders but not so often heard.

Later that same evening the camera captures a wonderful close up of the older buck’s head. You can see the gutters (grooves) and pearls (the knobbly bits) on his antlers, and just what a fine head he has.

June 3rd

Clare did more Sycamore brashing while John repaired the wall. After that strenuous work John went to see if he could photograph the Flycatchers. He was very pleased with the result. Rightly so.

Clare had a leisurely walk around and several wild encounters - a Goldcrest, a Treecreeper, a Sparrowhawk and the Flycatchers. She sat in the hide for a while and noticed a Great tit make numerous trips to peck up some of the peanut butter-based paste that she makes and leaves on the tree trunk feeder. The bird took the paste to the nestlings in J2.

By the pond she saw a female Broad-bodied chaser ovipositing, a Small Copper butterfly and had an up close and personal encounter with a Large Red damselfly.

Keen film fans might recognise a film from 1970 referenced here (answer at the end of this post)

4th June

Mel arrived to complete a wildflower survey. He showed Clare the difference between a Bulbous buttercup and a Meadow buttercup. In the latter the sepals are turned downwards.

John created a Sycamore Gap on Liddells by removing the spindly trees in the NE Strip which were not only tempting the cattle but crowding out some Oaks.

Bulbous buttercup

Meadow buttercup

John thinks the footage below is of the younger doe and is left wondering if she is pregnant. Time may tell.

5th June

Clare often hears Blackcaps singing on Liddells however with all the foliage she rarely sees one. Today one perched in one of the Hawthorns in front of the hide. Catching up with some old episodes of Tweet of the Day later on, Clare was reminded that the bird is referred to as the ‘Northern Nightingale’.

Clare set about some preparatory work for the school visit next month by beginning to weed the steps up to the Point of View ready to add new chip.

Mel sent his updated record of the wildflowers on Liddells. It’s an impressive and encouraging record and John and Clare are hugely grateful to Mel for the time he has given and the thoroughness with which he has done this. You can see the record here. Mel was interested to find several specimens of White Bugle not far from the hide. He commented that these are quite rare. He also enjoyed the Orange Hawkweed on the Meadow and the Water Violet in the Big Pond.

White bugle

Mel prefers the name Grim the Collier:

‘Although Pilosella aurantiaca (more commonly known as Fox-and-cubs) is a native of northern Europe, it must’ve been introduced to Britain a very long time ago as it gets a mention in Gerard’s 1633 Herbal. Gerard called it Grimme the Collier, which seems to me a most intriguing name. I’ve read speculation that the name may have been coined because the plant’s hairs resemble coal dust on a miner’s beard (really?) but there was also a play that originated in the early 1600s called Grim the Collier of Croydon and that was apparently based on a real-life character from the mid 16th century. It would seem more likely that the plant’s name relates to the person or the play but, in that case, I can’t help wondering: was Grim tall with a head of bright orange hair? Was Grim an invader from northern Europe? Were these particular flowers mentioned in the play?’ (Earthstar.blog)

Water Violet

6th June

Hares and roe deer are predominant on the trail cameras however Clare and John are always pleased to see evidence of other life (except grey squirrels).

8th June

Clare was working on the steps when she saw a Red and Black Froghopper. Struck by their colour she thought about London buses and wondered if several would turn up together. Sure enough within a few minutes she had seen four, clearly the Routemasters of the insect world. Here are a couple:

John has been surprised to see the younger buck still around, particularly as this is the time when does give birth and have usually pushed the former year’s youngsters away by now. You can see that this one has, in roe deer head terms, a rather poor set of antlers.

However the older buck seems aware of the younger one’s presence as he sniffs at this branch and the next day is seen chasing him through the Scrub.

9th - 11th June

Clare noticed the first of the Common Spotted Orchids out in flower on the Meadow and a profusion of Ragged Robin at the base of the Crag. A female Broad-bodied Chaser perched long enough for Clare to get a photograph and she watched a family of Willow Warblers near the apiary. One juvenile stayed still for long enough for a short video.

13th June

Clare was delighted to be receiving a new colony of bees today - a small colony that was the result of swarm control by beekeepers in a nearby village. The delivery was due early in the morning as it was so hot and when Clare arrived at Liddells the dew revealed a mass of webs all over the grass.

‘Sheet webs are usually built by the Linyphiidae. This is the largest family of spiders in the UK, with 280 species. It includes the tiny money spiders said to bring good luck if you find one wandering over you.

The smallest species tend to build their sheet webs on depressions in the soil, others on low vegetation and some on tree bark.

The money spider hangs beneath its web, waiting for dinner to land above.’ (https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/spider-webs.html)

14th June

John and Clare have been keen to retrieve the trail camera discs as they have been expecting the roe does to have their kids at any time now, however here is the older doe still pregnant.

15th - 21st June

While metaphorically pacing the corridors of the maternity ward, John and Clare enjoyed welcoming Hal, Beth and Juno for an afternoon on Liddells, continued their preparations for group visits in July and for John’s inaugural talk on roe deer which he is giving at a local village hall. Clare also completed this year’s assault on the Creeping thistle on the Meadow - she was delighted to have found only 78 in total, well down from previous years.

Positioning the first post for what will become a tree house. Beth would like it noted that John is not carrying anything and that carrying it over, she had the heavy end

Juno and Hal indulge in a bit of tree climbing…

while John assumes the role of Health and Safety Officer

Juno joined in Insect Week by finding and examining the nymph of a Froghopper inside Cuckoo Spit. She couldn’t resist finding a use for Foxglove flowers.

John took his camera to the pond.

Male Broad-bodied chaser

Azure damselflies mating

John also spotted the creature below on a leaf on the pond. Clare thinks it belongs in a cartoon or animated film. The Royal Entomological Society has a wonderful insect identification service and the response to Clare’s enquiry about this one was that it is ‘one of the leaf beetles from the family Chrysomelidae with some 280 UK species. This one could be Plateumaris sericea or a related species. They have a variety of colour forms and are found near ponds where the larval food plants are’.

After leaving the bees alone to settle in for a few days, Clare moved them from the nucleus hive (5 frames) to a full size brood box. The bees had built wild comb on top of the frames - Clare thinks they must be upwardly mobile.

John says that bucks often seem to be invisible in the summer months however the older buck is maintaining his presence for the trail camera in the Scrub.

22nd June

The day before John’s talk ‘A Year in the Life of the Roe Deer’, Clare decided to change the discs in her camera. Imagine her delight when she saw the perfect postcript for the talk.

Clare reckons the one at the back is destined for a career in comedy. The doe has had triplets for the third year running.

The doe is picked up by the camera in the Pit Wood later the same day though only two kids appear.

23rd June

One kid appears on its own in the Scrub.

24th/25th June

With paths needing chip, John and Clare hired a chipper and invited a few friends to come and work extremely hard in return for some cake. Fortunately they have great friends. Five piles of brash were converted to the wood equivalent of mincemeat, about two dozen bagfuls were used on paths and the rest bagged up for future use. Clare was so focussed on the work she forgot to take photographs until the end so it looks as though Jane E did all the work. Clare and John would like to extend their thanks to all who took part - Barry, Jane B, Mel, Pat and Jane E. As ever they all pitched in with huge amounts of effort, great good humour and a much valued generosity of spirit. Thanks too to local farmer John R who donated lots of bags to reuse.

Jane B discovered a visitor on her jacket which Jim Hardie of the Royal Entomological Society identified as ‘an adult female meadow plant bug, Leptopterna dolabrata which is a plant/capsid bug, family Miridae of which there are some 230 UK species’. Good for it to appear in Insect Week. Also supporting Insect Week - Clare noticed these beetles bonking on Hogweed while she was walking home. Regular readers of the blog will know that in spite of their location and activity, these are not Hogweed Bonking beetles, although they may be trying to emulate them. These are Speckled Longhorn beetles Pacyytodes cerambyformis.

Adult female meadow plant bug

‘In the UK it is locally common in the south of England and the west midlands, throughout Wales and more local and scarce through most of Scotland. Adults are active from May until July … the typical habitat is deciduous woodland and wooded parkland but they fly well and will travel some distance to visit flowers and so may occur away from wooded areas, e.g. we found specimens on umbel flowers beside a busy A-road in Surrey far from any woodland, they are very active and on warm days may display a habit of hovering above flowers and moving rapidly, in the way a hoverfly might move. Mating occurs throughout the season and pairs may be seen on the leaves and flowers of various shrubs and herbaceous plants, typically umbels but also meadowsweet.’ (ukbeetles.co.uk)

Clare saw these beside a path between woodland and a road.

Crossing the Hayfield to some of the brash piles on Saturday, Clare noticed three very small couches all close together, suggesting the triplets had been left to lie up there. John says very young kids are scentless so their presence can’t be detected by the likes of a fox. On Sunday Clare arrived early and went onto the Meadow to remove some Hogweed flower heads and found a single couch. She thought this might not be one of the triplets who would most likely be together. Seeing a movement out of the corner of her eye, she realised she was looking at a single kid at the far end of the Meadow. It ran backwards and forwards along the fence line for a while watching Clare. No other kids appeared, nor a doe, so Clare left it confident that it would either find a way out or be found by the doe. John and Clare are left wondering if a second doe has given birth.

Clare also had a couple of delightful butterfly encounters on the Meadow.

25th June

Footage from the Scrub camera suggests that there is indeed a doe with only one kid.

28th June

Two video clips from the Scrub camera both seem to suggest that there is a doe with just one kid, maybe the kid Clare saw on the Meadow. The triplets have not appeared all together on the cameras since 22nd June. In the first clip it looks as though the doe stops to groom the kid just out of range of the camera.

29th June

John and Clare set about the last of the preparations for the Hexham Village Band’s visit on Saturday. Clare then went to Barry’s for some beekeeping and was delighted to spot a new queen fairly quickly - cataract surgery and new spectacles seem to work. Once a queen is identified she can be marked and this makes the whole process of swarm control considerably easier. Queens born this year are marked red although Barry’s queen was marked green as this was the pen to hand; clearly Clare and Barry are catering for red/green colour blindness.

If you have taken up the 30 Days Wild challenge, John and Clare hope you have enjoyed it.

The answer to the film question posed on 3rd June is Claire’s Knee, directed by Eric Rohmer. Clare remembers going to see this film as a student in the days of power cuts. The film had hardly started before the cinema was plunged into darkness whereupon Clare heard a disgruntled voice behind her complaining, “We haven’t even seen Claire, let alone her knee!”

October - nature red in beak and talon, and under the wing

A reminder to access this Blog through the website - liddells.co.uk where you will find all the videos. They will be unlikely to play though your email, and may not even show up at all. There are some crackers this month.

Thanks to Jane E and Barbara for their suggestions for a collective noun for pond snails - ‘preponderance’ and ‘snuggle’.

1st October

Local farmer John brought 45 ewes to eat down the grass on the Top Grazing. Clare noticed two more wildflowers still in bloom that she hadn’t included last month: Field Scabious and Red Campion.

More rain has left the Big Pond within a few centimetres of being full. Water is flowing freely through the channel Clare cleared under the Alphabet Bridge.

Clare spotted a Common Puffball and an Orange Birch Bolete near the pond, and more Turkeytail fungus, this time on the trunk in front of the hide.

A badger goes through the Scrub

2nd October

A male Southern Hawker and a male Common Darter are still flying around the Big Pond and the pond level has gone up another couple of centimetres.

The trail camera shows a hare nibbling at a sapling. Hares and rabbits can damage young trees although there is often more publicity given to damage attributed to deer.

3rd October

John is interested in the varied diet of roe deer and was pleased to see a kid grazing on fungi.

Less than an hour after the kid’s browsing, a Sparrowhawk (TrogTrogBlog Chris thinks it is a juvenile), catches what looks like a Blackbird. The Sparrowhawk is mantling its prey. Mantling is hunching, crouching, or arching shoulders and spreading wings over a recent kill to conceal it from other birds and predators just as a mantle cloaks a person. In heraldry the mantling is the drapery or piece of cloth tied to the helmet above the shield in a coat of arms. In the video the sounds are coming from the captured bird. There is a ten minute gap in the footage so it is possible that the Sparrowhawk took its prey off, as Chris so vividly described, to eat it to death. A doe and kid wander through the scene of the crime and show how far their winter coats have developed. As if all the Sparrowhawk footage wasn’t striking enough, a Buzzard comes in to pick over the spoils. You can see just how much larger it is than a Sparrowhawk and it is exciting to have caught this bird on camera as well. A doe kid (who seems to end up with a feather on its nose), a hare and then a rabbit all seem to be investigating the odiferous interruption to their familiar route through the Scrub. Clare and John only saw the footage on their return on 10th October (see below) so Clare went up to see if any evidence remained. The feathers confirm the victim was indeed a Blackbird.

4th October

A stoat runs through the Scrub.

5th - 9th October

Clare and John spent a few days away visiting the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss. Clare has had Bearded Tits, or as they are more properly called Bearded Reedlings, on her bird bucket list for some time and hoped that on her fourth visit to this reserve, she would be lucky and see them. The birds did not disappoint. Carl Linnaeus classified the birds in the genus Parus with the tits, however they were subsequently removed from this category and placed with the Parrotbills only to be recognised recently as a unique songbird with no other close relations, and placed in the monotypic family Panuridae (from the Greek panu, "exceedingly", and ουρά, "tail"). The male sports moustaches rather than a beard. Clare and John had other treats - a Great White Egret, a Bittern in flight, a Marsh Harrier hunting over and in the reeds, an otter and lots more besides. Clare decided that the time away might have been what some people call a ‘holiday’; she found the word between ‘hogwash’ and ‘holistic’ in her dictionary. Interesting concept. A selection of ‘holiday’ photography is included for Blog biodiversity.

Male Bearded Reedling on a grit tray. The birds spend the summer months feasting on insects. However, to avoid having to migrate south like the swallows and warblers, the Bearded Reedlings change their diet to reed seeds in winter. The seeds are extremely tough so the birds eat grit to make the seeds easy to digest.

10th October

The Big Pond is up to its overflow. The roadside pond is filling slowly although the shallow and deep ends have yet to join up.

A dog fox marks his territory in the Scrub.

12th October

John completed the exterior of the west wing of what he and Clare have decided to rename the Meeting Room. The new name embraces the broader use for the space that John and Clare hope will happen.

13th October

A sunny autumn day and there were several butterflies on the Michaelmas Daisies in the Meadow - a Peacock, two Commas, a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood. The Speckled Wood proved too flighty to photograph. The flowers were also humming with bees foraging. Clare was pleased to see many honey bees adding to their stores for winter.

A large female Sparrowhawk perched briefly in an Ash tree in front of the hide before flying off. No birds were caught this time.

Clare has been waiting for the opportunity to include another crossword clue in the Blog. This time the clue was in the Guardian’s August Bank Holiday puzzle, a double-grid alphabetical crossword with no numbered lights; answers had to be filled in where they would fit. Maskarade, the setter, added a theme of given names: one of each pair of answers for a letter of the alphabet was a name, and the names beginning A-M went into one grid, and the names beginning N-Z went into the other grid. Fiendish. The clue in question is: ‘Oak’s sudden flourish mentioned by American and British Composer, Edmund, half-heartedly’ (7,5) The answer lies in the photograph (and at the end of this Blog post).

A roe doe and her kid show their gorget patches. Not all deer develop these white areas on their throat however when they do develop on an individual deer, they are most easily seen when they’re in their winter coat. ‘A gorget was originally a piece of material wrapped around a woman’s neck, during the period of time immediately after the fall of the Roman Empire. After that, it was used to describe the pieces of armour placed around the throat of a soldier, to protect them from injury during battle. Subsequently, as their effectiveness as protective amour waned, they were used as a badge to distinguish rank in the army. I’m not sure what the gorget’s functionality is on a roe deer. Unless, of course, the white patches to help with their protective camouflage, by breaking up the outline of the neck in heavy cover.’ (aboutdeer.com)

15th October

Today’s offering in Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year is all about Spindle Trees. Happily Clare had photographed the berries earlier in the week having not been wholly taken up with her house-keeping.

‘…the spindle is quite Japanese in its contortions; the boughs, with their twisted grey-green bark, seem positively to writhe, and the leaves and berries are sprinkled so sparsely that they seem to decorate rather than clothe its antiquity…the flame-coloured leaves and pink and orange berries of the spindle-wood glow like clusters of some strange exotic flower…there is something strangely unfamiliar about these berries of the spindle-wood - berries which open out into dull pink segments, like petals, and expose a bright orange centre, which is really a seed…There was a time, not so many generations ago, when even a woman who knew nothing of trees in general, and cared less, being wholly taken up with her housekeeping, would have recognised the spindle-wood at a glance. In those days when the spinning wheel flashed beside every hearth, and everything possible was made at home, the tough close-grained wood of the tree was in constant demand, and many a pair of lovers must have come to such a tree as this to choose branch and cut it, to make a spindle for the lady’s use.’

From The Peverel Papers, Flora Thompson

Today was meant to be a Green Gym day to plant trees, however it was raining substantially in the early morning so John and Clare cancelled. Then of course, the rain stopped. John and Clare decided to go up and plant some trees anyway. They planted 10 Oaks and decided on sites for more of the saplings they have waiting for the next Green Gym day in a week’s time. Clare protected the saplings with gorse, tied round the plants with Brambles.

More vulpine marking in the Scrub.

15th October

The Pit Wood camera recorded the first Fieldfares and Redwings of the winter foraging on the ground.

16th October

Clare and John saw Fieldfares flying over the Scrub and the Pit Wood.

Neighbour Chris brought his hydraulic log-splitter to Liddells and he and John worked their way through all the logs that John and Dave had brought from felling around the site. Clare indulged in one of her favourite activities, stacking the logs. Yes, she has read Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way, although she doesn’t aspire to such aesthetically pleasing log piles as the Scandinavians.

The roadside pond is filling slowly.

17th October

More Fieldfare sightings and Clare startled a Woodcock in the Scrub.

The doe with triplets spends time grooming one of the doe kids; the buck arrives, tries unsuccessfully to suckle and is subjected to a more intimate grooming.

18th - 19th October

A Tawny owl downs its prey in one and flies off; twenty minutes later it flies past the camera right to left (video not included); a minute after that the bird is on the ground again and eating something it as caught; in the early hours of the next morning it has yet again hunted successfully. The Scrub is clearly a place for small mammals. Or perhaps not, depending on whether you are an owl or a small mammal. The Barn Owl Trust has an information page about Tawny Owls. If you want to know more about their diet, click here.

21st October

Green Gym Day and the weather was on the side of planting and neighbouring farmer John had moved the sheep from the Top Grazing to the Wildflower Meadow. John and Clare were joined by six stalwart friends, one of whom brought additional trees he had grown at home, and they all set about planting 55 trees. An Apple and two Damson trees went into the Orchard, a Hazel and two Aspens were added to the Pit Wood and all the rest - Oaks, Beeches, Elm, Horse Chestnut, Willows - were planted at the east end of the Top Grazing. Each tree was given a protective circle of Gorse or Hawthorn secured round the sapling with bramble twine. Clare has devised this method after reading about how Gorse and Hawthorn scrub make perfect areas for trees to regenerate.

Walking through the Pit Wood Clare, John and Barry discovered a large area of Fly Agaric which was largely uneaten, unlike the ones in the Scrub.

The shallow and newly deep areas of the Roadside Pond have finally joined up.

After watching many hours of deer going through the Scrub, the sight of one of Texels came as a bit of a shock. Apparently it had gone awol on the trip down from the Top Grazing. It seems to have benefitted from the grazing.

22nd October

The old buck makes his way through the Pit Wood. You will see that tip of one side of his antlers has broken off.

Meanwhile in the Scrub, and much earlier than it has been seen before, the Tawny owl flies up on to a perch.

24th October

A hare and a kid browse together in the Pit Wood. Within seconds a stoat runs offstage then returns. The hare is eating apples Clare had put down in front of the camera in the hope of attracting Fieldfares and Redwings, however there are still plenty of berries on the trees for them to eat.

Later that same evening an owl is captured waiting for prey.

25th October

The Tawny Owl appears yet again in the Scrub, hunting successfully in the early hours of the morning and later in the evening.

Between the owl’s two appearances the camera captures two hares, a Jay and a high speed stoat, while in the Pit Wood a single Redwing is seen foraging in the leaf litter. Although the red under its wing is faint, the pale stripe over its eye is very clear.

30th October
Clare saw her first Goldcrest of the winter in a Hawthorn near the bee hives.

Crossword answer: Quercus rubra: Querc sounds like “quirk” = “sudden flourish” + US = “American” + RUB[b]RA = British composer Edmund.
Definition: “Oak” – the Northern Red Oak.










August - being driven round in circles

For new subscribers, it will be unlikely that you can watch the video footage through an email. We suggest that when you see the Blog email, go to liddells.co.uk and click on the Blog page. All the video clips will be there.

1st August

Clare and John visited the Knepp Estate in Sussex. This is where Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree have abandoned intensive farming in favour of a pioneering rewilding project. The Maori use the word kaitiakitanga, for ‘Guardianship or management, esp. of the natural resources of a place or area; environmental stewardship considered as a duty and responsibility of the inhabitants of an area’ (OED Word of the Day 04.07.22). The undertaking is inspiring, based as it is in respect for and trust of nature, and those qualities were apparent throughout. Although not the best time of year to see some of the more exciting species that have returned there, Clare and John each saw a Turtle Dove in fight, many White Storks and were astonished that a pair of red deer stags grazed within ten yards of the hut where they were staying. There were numerous Gatekeeper butterflies which Clare had not knowingly seen before; Clare noticed a Common Field Grasshopper had landed on her jacket, a short distance from its usual habitat of unimproved grassland, which was there in abundance.

Meanwhile, back on Liddells, the trail camera in the Scrub captured footage of a neighbour’s dog chasing one of the roe triplets. The doe and other two kids appear, following the scent and much alarmed. Clare and John are now waiting for any footage that shows the kid has been reunited with its family.

2nd August

Tim and Jane thought they had seen a Purple Hairstreak butterfly on the large oak on the Wetland last evening, so set off again this evening to try their luck. They were successful and saw a couple on a tree that overhangs the north boundary near the bee hives, although photographing the butterflies proved hard.

4-5th August

Clare has learned a lot about roe deer from John and was therefore excited to discover what she believed could be a driving circle in the Scrub, a clearly trampled circle round a Hawthorn. In the rut, a buck, sensing a doe coming into oestrus, will quite literally, drive her round in circles or a figure of eight until she is receptive. This may happen over several days. The buck appeared early in the day of the 5th. John came to look at the circle and agreed with Clare’s speculation so Clare moved the Scrub camera to focus on the central Hawthorn. Later that day the doe appeared, the buck is seen in pursuit, and a single kid follows on its own.

Clare worked some more on digging out the roadside pond while it remains dry.

6th August

Clare found a Ground Beetle cloaked in a spider’s web on the brush in the Necessarium. Ground Beetles are often found under the bark of decaying wood, so perhaps the sawdust was the attraction. The brush didn’t seem to be decaying.

The single kid appears on its own for several minutes in the morning and in the afternoon, near the Hawthorn in the Scrub.

7th August

Clare and John celebrated nine years of kaitiakitanga of Liddells by getting on with their chosen projects - Clare digging out the roadside pond and John working on the classroom. Mindful of the damage caused by Storm Arwen, he has decided to put shutters on the openings, which can be fixed open if there are weather warnings, thus allowing any storm winds to go through the structure without lifting off the roof.

Clare’s hunch proved to be well founded although the main driving circle proves to be to the right of the Hawthorn. The doe was captured hanging around the circle early in the day. The drive happens in the early evening. John has edited together all the clips from the trail camera and you can see the buck driving the doe for several minutes. There are calls audible throughout the drive. John is unsure whether these are from the buck or the doe. She seems to tire towards the end and then returns on her own, presumably after mating. John says that the buck will mate with the younger does first, hence selecting the doe with only one kid. John is very pleased to have footage of a drive.

8th August

Clare, having unsuccessfully tried to find Purple Hairstreaks on previous days, not realising that they are usually seen in the early evening in sunny, still conditions, rather than earlier in the day, was pleased to see Tim also out to look for them. Tim showed Clare exactly where to look and there indeed were a couple of the butterflies, just visible to the naked eye, however binoculars gave a better view.

9th August

Tom made 30 bales from the hay on the Wildflower Meadow. Clare and John enjoyed seeing the old-fashioned rectangular bales. Clare, finding it hard to know how deep was deep enough, saw the heap of soil she had removed and decided she had added sufficient depth to the roadside pond. She started work on uncovering the edging stones that had become overgrown.

Giant haystack not

11th August

Tim managed to get a photograph of a Purple Hairstreak and has helpfully circled its whereabouts! He pointed out that, rather than purple, the wing colour appears rather reddish.

13th August

Barry told Clare that in the north of England and in Scotland, the process of moving hay out of the fields and storing it in a barn is called ‘leading the hay’. Clare had not heard this before although then synchronously heard John use exactly this phrase later in the day. Barry also demonstrated the use of some rather nifty straps with ratchets to secure the hay on the trailer. Just as he was explaining that if you threaded them the wrong way, they were almost impossible to undo, John provided a visual aid for this problem. John and Barry led the hay to Barry’s barn. John finished untangling the strap by early evening. While investigating the phrase Barry had introduced, Clare discovered a photograph in National Galleries Scotland entitled ‘Leading Hay’. She rather wished she had worn a boater for the Liddells event.

Clare started work on the north side of the pondside road, spotting a Small Copper nearby.

14th August

Clare finished uncovering the stones on the south side of the road, so turned her attentions to the north, remembering that when the large digger had come to further dig out the big pond, it had displaced several of the road edge stones.

15 - 18th August

The classroom building work continues. You can see the first shutter in place.

Clare’s work on the road edge continues.

One of the trail cameras, now returned to the Pit Wood, shows a doe with two kids. There has been no footage showing all three kids since the beginning of the month.

A hen pheasant has a young chick. This is quite late in the season as pheasants typically raise a brood between April and June with the incubation period lasting on average between 22 and 28 days.

With no hare on the blog thus far in the month, here is a hare. John is seeing hares regularly on the Top Grazing while he works on the classroom. The hares may be using the hay bales as shelter from the sun. They seem unperturbed by John’s activities. He has seen five out at the same time.

21st August

A busy day. Jane B had arranged to bring several family members to Liddells. Zoe, who is studying agri-forestry, came early for a tour with Clare. There was plenty of activity on the pond and Zoe managed to capture a shot of a Common Darter at rest. Georgie and Charlie had fun testing their strength pushing bales and in the process found a caterpillar of the White Ermine Moth. The contrast in colouration between caterpillar and moth is striking. A visit to the hide entertained.

Male Common Darter

White Ermine Moth caterpillar

Georgie focussing on the birds

This is what the birds see

Charlie inspecting the results of his pond-dipping

Not a masked invader but Clare in her bee suit

Checking all the struts are there on the Alphabet Bridge

Climbing the hay bales is always fun

John lifted a roofing sheet from a pile on the ground to find two Violet Ground beetles underneath. They quickly scuttled for cover, however Clare managed to photograph one of them.

Clare completed a butterfly transect as Tim and Jane are away. Clare saw 8 different species - Large White 7, Green-veined White 4, Small Skipper 1, Red Admiral 3, Peacock 1, Speckled Wood 5 and Wall Brown 1. The Wall Brown was the first she had seen this year. Here is a photograph of one she saw just six days later while she was on a walk with Pat.

Violet Ground beetle

While Jane et al dipped the pond, Clare inspected her bees and was delighted to discover that the most recent split had worked, and the nucleus hive had frames of capped brood, indicating a successfully mated queen. Clare began the season with two colonies and has increased them to six. This hot, dry summer has offered ideal conditions for new queens to mate, unlike in previous years where cold, wet spells have compromised successful mating.

22nd - 23rd August

Clare was relieved to finish restoring the roadside edges. She then turned her attention back to the big pond and she and John started tackling more of the invasive Branched bur-weed and Hard and Soft rush.

John used surplus roofing sheets bought for the hide at a farmers’ sale three years ago, to create a weed-suppressing sub-floor for the classroom. Perhaps also a Violet Ground beetle hideaway.

24th August

The single kid has appeared on its own several times in the Scrub, however today the doe and kid appear together.

25th August

A doe followed by a single kid walk in front of the trail camera. Clare and John were relieved that the next clips show all three of the triplets. This is the first time they have all been recorded since the dog was seen chasing a kid.

In the evening a pair of hares run through the Scrub.

26th August

Clare and John were delighted to welcome TrogTrogBlog Chris to Liddells. They took a scenic route to the big pond where male and female Emerald damselflies, male and female Common Darters and two male Southern Hawkers kept them entertained. The Southern Hawkers frustrated all attempts to have their photographs taken, however you can see how spectacular they are here. While watching the activity on the pond, Tim and Jane appeared doing a butterfly transect so Clare was able to introduce three members of the Liddells curatorium (‘A group of curators (in various senses), typically acting as an advisory body.’ OED Word of the Day 28.08.22) to each other.

Clare and John, not having heard or seen a Greenfinch on Liddells for months, noticed a pair coming to drink at the pond. John managed to get a photograph of one.

He also took a couple of images that showed autumn on its way.

After Chris had left Clare noticed a dead hare near the log shed. There was no obvious cause of death.

Not long till hedgerow jelly making time

Not for the hedgerow jelly, these are poisonous, however thrushes can feed on the berries, as they are immune to its poisons, and scatter the seeds abroad.

27th August

Clare found, if not a fairy ring, at least a fairy semi-circle, in the Scrub near to the driving circle.

Fairy semi-circle

John moved the hare’s carcass and saw two Common Sexton beetles scuttle away into the grass. A hare would seem to be a bit too big for them to bury, however they may well have been feeding on the corpse. Apparently the beetles can sense rotting flesh at a distance of two miles.

John began flooring the west end of the classroom.

I’m not floored

John and Clare were most surprised to see footage of a Woodcock in the Scrub. Readers may remember that there were clips of Woodcock in the Scrub last winter, however John and Clare had always thought that the birds were migrants rather than resident. You can hear a Tawny Owl calling in the background. Shortly after the Woodcock had left, a stoat appeared.

On their way to the hide, John noticed a frog sitting in the roadside pond Clare wondered if it was optimistic about the prospect of water, in which case it could be a Froghoper.

While John progressed with the classroom, Clare turned her attention to the damp section of the Wildflower Meadow and dug out the mint that was beginning to take over again. She also lifted and split Yellow Iris and Purple Loosestrife to replant round the ponds.

28th August

More activity in the Scrub. A Tawny Owl appears in front of the camera, then about twenty minutes later, the buck comes through. John has always said that after the rut, the bucks seem to vanish, however this one is still around.

A Great Tit flies at the camera. This happens again round about midday. The bird can’t be looking for a nesting site at this time of year.

Meanwhile, John decided to put a trail camera on the Meadow. He and Clare have seen deer on and nearby there quite often. His choice proved successful and a doe appears several times, again challenging the received wisdom that roe are crepuscular. The camera is pointing east.

29th August

Clare worked on the big pond again while John began the doorway for the classroom. They both spotted a new bit of excavation on the path near the hide. Best guess is a vole hole.

While at the hide there was a moment when there was a flurry of alarm calls, all the birds flew for cover and before Clare had finished saying, “Where’s the Sparrowhawk?” a female flew across the feeders. No birds were taken however it was a while before they reappeared, led by two Marsh tits.

Kathryn arrived with a trailer full of hazel seedlings which had germinated in pots in her garden, possibly from nuts buried by squirrels.

Manmade doorway

Mammalmade doorway (the tunnel is about 6-7 centimetres wide)

When Clare checked the trail camera she found several clips of a grey squirrel in the Scrub. There are often clips of grey squirrels and normally she would delete such footage muttering darkly, however, this time the videos raised a grudging smile. The squirrel’s activities lasted for a couple of minutes; John has stitched the videos together. The animal seems to be playing in a way reminiscent of stoats gambolling.

August

Corrections and clarifications:

The bird in the photograph below is not, as declared last month, a juvenile Redpoll, but a juvenile Spotted Flycatcher. With no disrespect to the Redpoll fraternity, this is a bit more exciting! Thanks to Keith and TrogTrogBlog Chris for helping with identification.

1st August

John continued his pursuit of flora, one of the twins pursued an opportunity, the young buck recollected himself.

Fleabane Erigeron bonariensis: ‘Its curious scent, with hints of carbolic soap and chrysanthemum, is an insect repellent. In the past it was kept in houses specifically for the purpose of driving away fleas. Bunches were dried and burned as a fumigant or hung in rooms.

To Gerard it was called Conyza, whilst the Konuza of Dioscorides, drove away midges in addition to fleas. It is in fact a relatively close relative of pyrethrum, which supplies the insecticide.

Other past uses include treatments for unspecified eye ailments and dysentery.

Local names include Camels, Harvest flower (since it blossoms in August and September), Job's tears, Mare's fat and Pig-daisy.’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Yellow Loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris: ‘Lysimachia, the genus name, is in honour of Lysimachus, (c. 360BC - 281BC), a Macedonian general who, as one of the successors to Alexander the Great, became ruler (king, in effect) of a large part of the divided Macedonian Empire that had all been Alexander's realm.

King Lysimachus is reputed to have fed 'loosestrife' plants from this genus to his oxen in order to calm them down whenever they became agitated and difficult to manage. The name Loosestrife means 'lose (or forget about) strife'. No worries, then!

The specific epithet vulgaris means common.

Yellow Loosestrife tied around the necks of oxen was reputed to keep irritating flies away from them. In the distant past these and several other kinds of 'loosestrife' plants were also used to get rid of infestations of flies in houses. The plants were dried and burned indoors, and toxins in the smoke drove out the flies (and no doubt also any human occupants).’ (first-nature.com)

Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria: apparently no relation to Yellow Loosestrife, was ‘[i]ntroduced into North America in the 19th century. Purple-loosestrife is now an invasive weed, forming impenetrable stands that are unsuitable as cover for native animals and shade out native plants.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

However, ‘Purple loosestrife is a beauty. Like the Buddleias growing in railway sidings it's so common people don't notice it. Purple loosestrife flowers around the same time, and it seems to me to be just as a good a plant for pollinators.’ (habitataid.co.uk)

Upright Hedge Parsley Torilis japonica: ‘[I]n Chinese traditional medicine it has been used for treating haemorrhoids, spasm, uterine tumours, fever, and dysentery. Recently, medical studies have shown that Japanese Hedge Parsley may have a potential for combatting cancer. A substance known as torilin can be extracted from the plant and has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of 5 alpha-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT (dihydrotestosterone) Torilin is a compound from the fruits of the plant and has been shown to inhibit the growth of blood vessels in tumour development from benign to malignant and thus has a toxic effect on tumours. It also has been found to inhibit the conversion of testosterone to androgen, which is being studied further in the treatment of prostate cancer and alopecia. (wikipedia.org)

2nd August

John and Clare are very much enjoying the repaired trail camera. It was a treat to see a Jay in the Pit Wood. They are often heard, less often seen. The roe twins are always a delight - in this footage their ears seem particularly active.

3rd - 4th August

Clare had a visit from the Bee Inspector. This was the second time she had been visited and so was less nervous and knew this wasn’t the equivalent of a tax inspection. Although Mathilda likes to think of each individual bee being inspected and emerging with a certificate and mortarboard to throw in the air, the Inspector checks for signs of diseases or pests, provides help and advice on good husbandry and how to tackle any problems he, she or they might find. Clare has always learned from watching other beekeepers and gained from their experience. This time the Inspector noted a few instances of Deformed Wing Virus, which is most often spread by Varroa mites. Autumn is a good time to treat for Varroa although Clare heard an edition of Inside Science two days later which featured research on how honey bees were coping to resist the mites without any chemical control being used.

Clare spent a considerable amount of time pointing out to John the location of a small insect which was clinging to a Marsh thistle stem on he island in the Big Pond. The first task was to find the correct thistle. The island has many thistles. Clare could only see the creature through her binoculars (and what seems like three net curtains - she is waiting for eye surgery), and only realised why John was having such difficulty when, after several fruitless attempts at location description, she looked through his camera lens. She is still unsure of the identification, although it might have been a grasshopper. At one point Clare was tempted to name it a ‘Could-lead-to-divorce’ insect.

John found the mating Common Darters easier to spot. Clare was pleased to see her first Painted Lady of the season on Knapweed in the Meadow.

John took photographs of some of the last plants to flower this season and noticed the prospect of autumn fruitfulness.

It is the time of the Roe deer rut and the trail camera has captured footage which would seem to provide evidence of this on Liddells. In the second clip you can clearly see the scent glands on the buck’s rather crooked hind legs. The squeaking sound in the background could well be one of the kids, and the sound may well have attracted the buck as he would know the doe would be close by.

The trail camera also provided evidence that the big buck is back. John believes there are three bucks around Liddells at the moment - the big old one, the one with the broken antler, and the one with rather crooked hind legs.

Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea: is the foodplant of the black-and-red cinnabar moth: sometimes its black-and yellow-barred caterpillars cover the plant, totally stripping the leaves…Common ragwort is one of the most frequently visited flowers by butterflies in the UK and more than 200 species of invertebrate have been recorded on it.’ (wildlifetrusts.org) Many people know that this plant is poisonous to livestock, however it is not as well known that livestock will not graze on the plant. It is only poisonous if it is chopped up and mixed in hay, when animals eat it not knowing it is there. John and Clare always check the top Grazing and Meadow and remove Ragwort if they find it there, however the plant is left alone in other locations.

Mugwort Artemesia vukgaris: The mugwort plant has been traditionally used for everything from digestive disorders to beer-making, insect repellent, and more…The aerial parts of the mugwort plant are used as an essential oil. The plant is also burned in moxibustion practices.* In addition to its medicinal use, mugwort has been used for smudging, protection, and inducing vivid dreams (when placed underneath a person’s pillow).

Historically, mugwort was used by the Romans, who are said to have planted it by roadsides, so that marching soldiers could put the plant in their shoes. This was done to relieve aching feet. St. John the Baptist was said to have worn a girdle of mugwort.’ (verywellhealth.com)

* Moxibustion is a type of traditional Chinese medicine. It involves burning moxa, a cone or stick made of ground mugwort leaves, on or near your body's meridians and acupuncture points. Practitioners believe that the resulting heat helps stimulate these points and improves the flow of qi (energy) in your body.

Burdock Arctium: ‘Recent studies have shown that the extracted oil from the root of Burdock is rich in essential fatty acids and phytosterols.Burdock was commonly used in cooking in the UK in times past but has long been forgotten about. In Asia Burdock is still used to this day where it is collected commercially and called Gobo. Starting in 1948 George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, created Velcro after walking his dog and noticing the ‘burs’ from Burdock sticking to his dog. If you are lucky to be near some Burdock when it starts to rain the leaves are big enough to make a foraged umbrella!’ (wildfooduk.com)Readers may also remember drinking the very sweet Dandelion and Burdock fizzy drink.

Burdock Arctium: ‘Recent studies have shown that the extracted oil from the root of Burdock is rich in essential fatty acids and phytosterols.

Burdock was commonly used in cooking in the UK in times past but has long been forgotten about. In Asia Burdock is still used to this day where it is collected commercially and called Gobo.
Starting in 1948 George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, created Velcro after walking his dog and noticing the ‘burs’ from Burdock sticking to his dog.
If you are lucky to be near some Burdock when it starts to rain the leaves are big enough to make a foraged umbrella!’ (wildfooduk.com)

Readers may also remember drinking the very sweet Dandelion and Burdock fizzy drink.

Canadian Goldenrod Solidago canadensis: probably originally naturalised from garden stock, now well established as a wild flower and much visited by bees, ‘Three colours of dye, mustard, orange and brown, can be extracted from the whole plant.

It is poisonous containing some pyrrolizidine alkaloids,’ (wildflowerfinder.org.uk)

Nipplewort Lapsana communis: one wildflower recorder proposes that ‘Nipplewort derives its name from the nipples within the spent flower going to seed, a very distinctive feature of Nipplewort. They appear to shine as stars within the dark interior of the 'sepal tube', which is a row of bracts which distinctively has eight 'teeth'. (wildflowerfinder.org.uk)

Young leaves can be harvested and eaten as microgreens or cooked and used like spinach. ‘The plant is said to have an overall calming effect, reportedly helps the kidney function, and can help stop the flow of milk when breastfeeding mums want to wean.’ (wildplantguides.com)

Rosebay Willowherb Chamerion angustifolium: ‘Rosebay Willowherb is able to colonise new areas because of its specially adapted seeds - fitted with tiny, cottony 'parachutes' they are able to disperse across long distances on the slightest breeze. Each plant can produce up to 80,000 seeds and the heat from fires and bonfires can help to germinate them, hence another common name of 'Fireweed'.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Hedge Woundwort Stachys sylvatica: the usp of this plant is its unpleasant and astringent smell, particularly strong when the plant is crushed. Fortunately bees are not deterred by this as they pollinate the plant.

‘[T]his wildflower was used as a herbal remedy to staunch bleeding and heal tissue…

Its Latin name Stachys means 'spike of flowers', and Sylvatica means 'of the forest'.

It is also known as Wood Woundwort, Hedge Nettle, Red Archangel, and Whitespot.

The London based herbalist John Gerard would use Hedge Woundwort to treat injuries received in pub brawls during the 1600' (plantlife.org.uk)

Heather or Ling Calluna vulgaris: ‘Historically, Heather has been used for many purposes, such as fuel, fodder, building materials, thatch, packing and ropes. It was also used to make brooms, which is how it got its Latin name - Callunais derived from the Greek word meaning 'to brush'.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Wild Raspberry aka Hindberry Rubus Idaeus: Clare is fond of collecting berries for her hedgerow jelly. ‘The leaves can also be used to make tea, simply steep them in boiling water for a few minutes. The tea is said to relieve stomach cramps and diarrhea. But care must be taken if you are pregnant.’ (totallywilduk.co.uk)

Bramble Rubus fruticosus: An excellent food source. ‘Bramble flowers are a food source for honey bees and bumblebees and other wild animals. Leaves are eaten by certain caterpillars as well as some grazing mammals, especially deer. Ripe berries are eaten and their seeds dispersed by several mammals such as fox and badger, and small birds.’ (woodlandtrust.org.uk)

John adds that Bramble is a favourite food of the Roe. And when all of those have eaten their fill, any berries left go into the aforementioned hedgerow jelly.

Beech Fagus sylvatica: ‘The ancient Greeks believed that beechnuts or ‘mast’ were the first food eaten by humans. The nuts are edible but should not be eaten in large quantities…[as e}xcessive consumption of the raw nuts may cause poisoning.’ (eatweeds.co.uk)

Beech Fagus sylvatica: ‘The ancient Greeks believed that beechnuts or ‘mast’ were the first food eaten by humans. The nuts are edible but should not be eaten in large quantities…[as e}xcessive consumption of the raw nuts may cause poisoning.’ (eatweeds.co.uk)

6th August

The buck is in pursuit of the doe again.

7th August

The shepherd’s hut offered more insect identification challenges. Both the ladybird and the wasp were on one of the windows looking north.

A limb has broken away from a large Oak in the Orchard. Unfortunately it has damaged the top of the Tawny Owl box however as the box has only been used by squirrels, John and Clare are not too upset about that, although the damage to the tree is upsetting.

Another wildflower for the records and more ingredients for hedgerow jelly.

Clare’s best guess is that this is a Cream-spot ladybird Calvia quattuordecimguttata. By chance the Natural History Society of Northumbria has recently included a feature on ladybirds and this helped.

Another Ichneumenoid, however it has been hard to identify it in its deceased state

Enchanter’s Nightshade Circaea lutetiana

A close-up of the flower. The plant is related to the Willowherb family, not to Deadly Nightshade as might be assumed.

‘The Latin name Circaea relates to Circe, an enchantress sometimes depicted as the Greek goddess of magic, who was known for her knowledge of herbs…Enchanter’s nightshade has been used treat wounds and as a flavouring in Austrian tea. In the Scottish Highlands it was thought to be an aphrodisiac.’ (woodlandtrust.org)

However -

‘Despite its evocative name, there are no known herbal uses or supposed powers attributed to enchanter's nightshade.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Perhaps the discrepancy in understanding is part of how it enchants.

Hawthorn berries - these are plenteous this year so when ripe will provide plenty of food for birds over the winter (and be included in hedgerow jelly).

Rowan berries - jam jars are ready

8th August

One of the bucks is on the trail of something. One of the kids is beginning to forage for herself, and one of the kids is in pursuit of one of the bucks, maybe its father.

9th August

Juno looks ready to create her own enchantments.

Footage from the trail camera is causing John and Clare to think the doe may have had triplets not twins, however it is more likely that there are twins to a young looking doe.

10th August

Clare remembered to take a photograph of one of the last of the year’s wildflowers to appear on the Meadow- Tansy - while John took one of Meadowsweet on the Wetland. Tim sent an image of a ‘stunning creature’ that he thinks is a second generation Speckled Wood.

Tansy Tanacetum vulgare: ‘Tansy leaves were traditionally eaten at Easter to help kill off the worms that the diet of fish at the time caused. They were quite bitter, so were mixed with eggs, milk and flour in a kind of pancake or omelette.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria: also known as Mead wort, Queen of the meadow, Pride of the meadow, Meadow-wort, Meadow queen, Lady of the meadow, Dollof, meadsweet, and Bridewort. ‘The flowers of Meadowsweet are sometimes used in wine, beer and vinegar, or to give jams a subtle almond flavour. In fact, the common name of this plant likely arose as a result of it being used to flavour mead.’ (wildlifetrusts.org). A natural black dye can be obtained from the roots by using a copper mordant. A tea can be made from the flowers and the leaves and drunk to help treat rheumatism, gout, infections, and fever.

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

11th August

Clare spotted a hoverfly waiting its turn to enter a Foxglove flower. Clare’s niece and family visited Liddells for the morning and Julian sent some of her photographs. She has perfectly captured the different qualities of the two boys. Much fun was had pond-dipping.

After the fun, the hard work as John and Clare began prepping the Meadow for cutting, strimming the edges and brashing the Hawthorns.

Marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus: apparently the UK’s most common hoverfly, getting its name from the orange and black bands across its body.

Tristan in serious dipping mode

Bron in less serious identification mode.

Newt

Newt

12th August

More Meadow prep. Clare and John are going to use the Hawthorn brash to provide natural protection from deer fraying for some of the saplings where the tubes need removing.

Tom was able to cut the Meadow this evening.

Small-leaved lime protected from fraying

13th - 23rd August

A most frustrating time - after a couple of warm breezy days when Tom was able to turn the hay and row it up, there followed days of cold and rain. The hay was ruined as a food crop though can be used for bedding. Clare and John are very disappointed and recognise the annual dilemma with the Meadow, which is late -flowering - cut early and lose the benefit of seeds setting and falling; cut late and risk losing the whole crop because of August rains.

Walking past the roadside pond, a female pheasant scuttled away leaving two chicks - a moment of delight to offset the Meadow disappointment.

Before the rain came, the roadside pond had almost dried out, revealing some pond snails. They can feed on algae which is A Good Thing although they can also eat pond plants which is A Bad Thing. Apparently there are over 30 different species of freshwater snail in Britain. Another area for study and learning.

Clare found a grasshopper basking on a warm stone in the boundary wall. It was far easier to see and identify than the creature on the pond island and led to no matrimonial conflict whatsoever.

The trail camera has captured more footage of the deer - a kid showing its inexperience and being unsure what lies ahead, the doe without the kids, and the different behaviour of the two kids, one seemingly more venturesome than the other.

Spot the stripes

Here they are

Common green grasshopper Omocestus viridulus: no stridulation to be heard at this sighting

24th August

Clare, with John’s help, took a super of honey from one of the hives. The other hive is subject to robbing from wasps which have dug a nest in the Meadow. Clare has done what she can to help the bees defend their forage, confusing the wasps with a glass sheet in front of the hive entrance and reducing the entrance to a small hole which the guard bees can more easily defend. The next step will be destroying the wasps’ nest. Clare saw a Wall Brown by the hives and was amused by the idea of a Wall Brown sitting on the fence.

25th August

The deer family are captured altogether and attending to their hygiene.

29th August

Just when Clare had thought that there were no more wildflowers to emerge this year, she saw a plant in front of the hide that she had not seen before. Initially she was alarmed that it was Japanese Knotweed however Mel has provided a more reassuring identification - Pale Persicaria, which is in the Knotweed family though not as troublesome.

Clare set about destroying the wasps’ nest on the Meadow and hoped that this will alleviate the honey bees’ struggles to defend their stores.

One of the roe kids demonstrates how it she is learning behaviour from her mother, while the other can be heard and seen squeaking - watch her abdomen moving.

Pale Persicaria Persicaria lapathifolia: aka Pale Smartweed, Curlytop Knotweed and Willow Weed. The seeds may have arrived in the bird seed mix and dropped from the feeder above.

July - delights, surprises and floribundance

1st July

An exciting start to the month - Clare and John saw Tree Sparrows on the feeders in front of the hide. Their presence on the feeders suggested they were already familiar with the availability of food there, although they seemed very flighty and camera shy. John had made a nesting box suitable for Tree Sparrows and placed it behind the sheds a few years ago and not only was it not used, but the birds were never seen on Liddells, even though it would seem to offer the right kind of habitat for them. The nest box was duly moved home where Tree Sparrows are seen regularly - again, never used. Maybe another move, back up to Liddells, might see it used in the future.

John and Clare worked on preparing the shepherd’s hut for habitation. Sally, hearing of Clare’s wish to furnish the hut in as eco-friendly way as possible, donated a washing-up bowl for which she had no use.

2nd July

Another donation from friends - Gill and Mark offered a set of pans, a corkscrew and a cheese grater for the shepherd’s hut. Clare is amused that her list of essentials began with wine glasses, coffee and Marmite. Her friends are more realistically or more practically minded. John and Clare will be able to stay in fine style.

Kitchen essentials

4th July

John took to his camera as an antidote to hut interior work. He was especially thrilled to see Bullfinches on the hide feeders. While Bullfinches have been seen on many occasions on Liddells, this is the first time they have ever been seen on the feeders. John said that the feeders were particularly busy - this may be because there had been very heavy rain for the previous two to three days and birds were very hungry as a consequence.

Foxglove Digitalis: ‘The origins of the name foxglove are unclear, but can be traced all the way back to the Anglo-Saxon period. It’s thought the ‘glove’ part of the name is simply due to the flowers looking like glove fingers. Less certain is the connection to foxes. One theory is that people believed foxes wore the flowers on their paws to silence their movements when hunting. Another is that the flower is often found growing close to the earths where foxes raise their young… Foxglove contains a chemical called digitalis that can be used to treat heart failure and high blood pressure by raising blood flow and increasing the body’s defence mechanisms. However, the plant is poisonous if consumed directly, and can cause a number of health problems. Other names for foxglove include goblin gloves, witches' gloves and dead men's bells.’ (woodlandtrust.org.uk)

Dog rose Rosa canina: ‘The dog rose is a common symbol in medieval heraldry. It has a less regal connotation in Germany where it is linked to the Devil and its fruits were said to be used by fairies to make themselves invisible…Rose hips are high in vitamin C and were traditionally used to make syrups taken to boost levels. Rose-hip oil is also a popular skincare product. The hairs inside the hips are an irritant and are extracted to make an itching powder.’ (woodlandtrust.org.uk)

Orange hawkweed Pilosella aurantiaca: ‘The name of 'Fox-and-Cubs' refers to the way that many of the as-yet un-opened flower heads hide beneath those that have opened.’ (wildflowerfinder.org)

Hogweed: ‘The hollow stems of hogweed were traditionally used in many children's games as water guns, pea-shooters and swords. Its sap is less toxic than that of giant hogweed (and some other umbellifers), so doesn't cause the same skin irritation.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Ox-eye daisy: ‘The Latin name Leucanthemum is said to have originated from the ancient Greek word ‘leucos’, meaning white.

It was thought to be strongly linked to divination, particularly in France, where it would be used in romantic predictions. These links to divination have filtered down to the modern game of ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ where petals are picked to determine luck in love.’ (woodlandtrust.org.uk)

Red dead-nettle - newly spotted on Liddells, and welcome: ‘Lots of different species of long-tongued insects visit the flowers of red dead-nettle, including the red mason bee and bumblebees. The caterpillars of garden tiger, white ermine and angle shades moths feed on the leaves.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Red dead-nettle - newly spotted on Liddells, and welcome: ‘Lots of different species of long-tongued insects visit the flowers of red dead-nettle, including the red mason bee and bumblebees. The caterpillars of garden tiger, white ermine and angle shades moths feed on the leaves.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Bullfinch pair, male on the left

Female Bullfinch (John was playing with camera settings here and was rather pleased with the painterly quality of this image)

Bullinch and Siskin

Bullinch and Siskin

Finch feeding frenzy

Common carder bee on Marsh thistle Cirsium palustre: wildflowerfinder.org shows several examples of fasciated plants (abnormal fusion and flattening of plant organs due to physical damage or weed-killers, virii, an infection, infestation, or several other causes). Clare read fasciated as fascinated and was appropriately fascinated.

5th July

Clare is enjoying the challenge of fitting whatever is needed into the hut in a way that uses least possible space. The plate rack is an example.

11th July

The shepherd’s hut now has three rooms prepared. John and Clare were delighted to see Tree Sparrows on the feeders by the hut. They may be the same birds as in the Pit Wood, or they could e a second colony.

Dining room

Sitting room

Kitchen

Kitchen

13th July

Another excursion with his camera for John. He particularly enjoyed taking photographs of juvenile birds round the feeders.

Redpoll and juvenile.

Juvenile Redpoll

Juvenile Dunnock waiting for food…

Juvenile Dunnock waiting for food…

…patience rewarded

Juvenile Chaffinch preening

Full house - juvenile Great Tits

Treecreeper (of indeterminate age)

Ringlet

Bugle ajuga reptans: ‘Bugle is much loved by bumblebees. The ‘reptans’ in its Latin name is derived from ‘repto’, meaning ‘creeping, crawling’. It was a popular ingredient in herbal remedies, particularly for stopping bleeding.’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Self-heal Prunella vulgaris: ‘As its common name suggests, selfheal has a long tradition of being used in herbal medicine for everything from stopping bleeding and healing wounds, to treating heart disease and sore throats.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Bittersweet Solanum dulcanara: ‘Despite being a member of the nightshade family, Bittersweet (also known as 'Woody Nightshade') is one of the less toxic plants in this group, althought its berries are still poisonous…The leaves smell of burnt rubber when crushed.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Rowan blossom Sorbus aucuparia: ‘Greek mythology tells of how Hebe, the goddess of youth, dispensed rejuvenating ambrosia to the gods from her magical chalice. When, through carelessness, she lost this cup to demons, the gods sent an eagle to recover the cup. A fight ensued and the eagle shed feathers and drops of blood. These fell to earth where each of them turned into a rowan tree. Hence the rowan derived the shape of its leaves from the eagle’s feathers and the appearance of its berries from the droplets of blood… In the British Isles the rowan has a long and still popular history in folklore as a tree which protects against witchcraft and enchantment... The tree itself was said to afford protection to the dwelling by which it grew, and residents would make sure not to damage them.’ (treesforlife.org.uk)

John and Clare are relieved that the shepherd’s hut will be protected by the nearby Rowans. Also Clare’s rowanberry jelly is delicious with cheese (and a firm favourite with Neil).

15th July

Final touches to the shepherd’s hut - John made a boot rack. He was particularly pleased with his efforts as he had seen a teak version on sale for £165 (in a sale) whereas his, made from oak, cost him £8. Of course that was not taking into account building and equipping the woodworking shed in which it was created, which will have upped the costs somewhat.

16th-17th July

The OED must have known. The Word of the Day for 16th July is ‘staycation’: to holiday at home or in one’s country of residence. John and Clare set out to spend two nights in the shepherd’s hut and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Clare honoured the occasion by putting the flags out. The weather was stunning, the sunset sublime, and the night sky filled with stars. They can’t wait to repeat the experience. While Clare sat in the sun and read, John continued with his efforts to document as much of the flora (and some of the fauna) on Liddells as possible. He was particularly delighted that he finally managed to get a photograph of a Tree Sparrow.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, identifiable from the red spot on the front of the head.

Spot the Pheasant

Juvenile Chiffchaff - this bird has often been seen close to the hide. It doesn’t seem to have learned yet to be wary.

Juvenile Chiffchaff - this bird has often been seen close to the hide. It doesn’t seem to have learned yet to be wary.

And finally - Tree Sparrow. Well worth John’s persistence.

There have been more Common Spotted Orchids this year than ever before on Liddells. The area in front of the hide is particularly orchidaceous.

St John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum: also known as devil chaser, devil's flight, devil's scourge, God's wonder plant, herb John, human blood, Klamath weed, penny John, rosin rose, St Columba's flower and often used to treat mild depression.

There is a small clump on the Wildflower Meadow, however there are a large number on the island in the Big Pond though not round the margins. (gardenia.net)

Agrimony: ‘Some people use agrimony to represent thankfulness or gratitude.Partly due to its astringent qualities, it has many uses in herbal medicine including for ulcers, to stop bleeding and for gallstones. Also for unsettled digestive systems and catarrh.Dioscorides recommends it against snake-bite, dysentery and upsets of the liver.Local names include Aaron's rod, Church-Steeples, Clot-Bur, Fairy's wand, Money-in-both-pockets, Salt-and-pepper and Sweethearts (from the clinging receptacles of the fruit).’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Agrimony: ‘Some people use agrimony to represent thankfulness or gratitude.

Partly due to its astringent qualities, it has many uses in herbal medicine including for ulcers, to stop bleeding and for gallstones. Also for unsettled digestive systems and catarrh.

Dioscorides recommends it against snake-bite, dysentery and upsets of the liver.

Local names include Aaron's rod, Church-Steeples, Clot-Bur, Fairy's wand, Money-in-both-pockets, Salt-and-pepper and Sweethearts (from the clinging receptacles of the fruit).’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Lady’s Bedstraw: ‘Historically, Lady's bedstraw was used to curdle milk in the process of cheese-making - a convenient vegetarian replacement for rennet, which is made from the stomach lining of cows.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Honeysuckle: ‘It was once believed that if honeysuckle grew around a home’s entrance, it would bring good luck and stop any evil spirits from entering. It has also long been considered a symbol of fidelity, and in Victorian times young girls were banned from bringing honeysuckle into the house because it was believed the strong smell would make them have suggestive dreams! Honeysuckle has been used to make beautiful walking sticks which were once popular with Scots music hall performers. They were created as the honeysuckle entwined itself around branches, causing the branches themselves to become twisted.
While the berries are poisonous, the leaves, flowers and seeds have been used for medicinal purposes for a variety of conditions.’ (woodlandtrust.org.uk)

Sitka Spruce cones

Bladder Campion: ‘Bladder campion is one of the foodplants of the attractive red-and-black froghopper - an insect known for wrapping itself in a frothy mass we call 'cuckoo-spit'.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

20th - 23rd July

The good weather persisted and Tom was able to cut the Top Grazing on Tuesday evening. Wednesday and Thursday he turned it and by Friday it was made.* Tom rowed it up and Barry was able to bale it the same day. John and Clare spent an energetic hour and a half raking up before Barry arrived. There were 20 bales, 7 more than last year.

*Clare had always assumed that ‘hay-making’ referred to the process of drying, rowing, baling, stacking, however she now knows that hay is ‘made’ when it is ready to be baled. Clare learned the difference between hay, haylage and silage: ‘There are two main methods of forage conservation: controlled fermentation where the pH is reduced to a level where growth of bacteria ceases, or dehydration, where moisture content is decreased to reduce microbial activity. 

Hay is an example of forage that is conserved using dehydration – the main challenge with preserving forage in this way being that it requires a longer period of dry weather to produce, whereas haylage is an example of grass preserved using controlled fermentation (and so is silage).

As a rule, when considering the digestibility of a forage, the more mature a grass becomes, the higher the potential yield, but the lower the digestibility (as it has higher levels of lignin). While very young grass in a growing state is much more digestible, if hay or haylage were to be harvested at this point, yields would be very low. There is however a point in between these two stages where a balance can be struck between digestibility and yield.‘ (haygain.co.uk)

Barry said that horses can eat hay and haylage, whereas cattle and sheep , and eat hay, haylage and silage.

Rowed up and nearly ready

The rake’s progress

21st July

While on his photography walks, John discovered deep excavations just below the west end of the Crag. There were bumble bees flying around the newly dug out earth, so the likely explanation is a badger in search of a bees’ nest.

22nd July

Clare discovered a pair of ichneumonid wasps inside the shepherd’s hut. It was difficult to photograph them because of their position on the window, however the shot of the underside from outside the hut proved more successful. Apparently they forage on Hogweed which is abundant in the strip behind the hut but not evident inside. Without going through all of the 2,500 UK species, Clare’s best guess is that this is Alomya debellator.

‘Ichneumon wasps are solitary insects which are closely related to bees and ants. Most ichneumons are parasitoids. The females lay their eggs into, or onto, the young of other insects and spiders, and the young which hatch out feed on that host insect. The host is eventually killed and consumed by the larva just before it pupates.’ (uksafari.com)

John and Clare are pleased to have the trail camera back and working. The young buck seen earlier in the summer, is still around although seems to have incurred some damage. John suspects this buck will have been in a fight with the older one. As the older one has not been seen for a while, it would seem that on this occasion youth has triumphed, which gives the lie to John’s father’s belief that, in sport at any rate, ‘a good old ‘un will beat a good young ‘un’.

24th July

John and Clare were delighted to discover that the roe deer have bred successfully. The mother is likely to be the oldest of the three does seen regularly, the two younger would not have been mature for mating until this year. It so happens that this is the time for the roe deer rut, which may account for the young buck’s presence.

25th July

Sally visited Liddells to see the Wildflower Meadow and sent some of her photographs. Her artistic way of seeing always results in beautiful shots. John is pleased she sent images of Valerian as he was finding the whiteness of this flower hard to capture in close-up.

Valerian Valeriana officinalis: ‘Sleeping potions known as Valerian were derived from this plant; they were used not only as a treatment for insomnia but also reputedly by thieves who spiked the drinks of intended victims. Valerian is still used as the source of sedatives for relaxing the central nervous system… The generic botanical name Valeriana comes from the Latin verb valere, meaning 'to be healthy'. In similar vein the specific epithet officinalis, literally meaning official, indicates that this plant was recognised as having valuable pharmaceutical /medicinal properties.’ (firstnature.com)

Hal, Beth, Juno and Juno’s cousins Charlie and Jonny visited today. As well as enjoying the hay bales as an outdoor gym, they amassed quite a collection of feathers for Mathilda’s cat - Buzzard, male and female Pheasant, Rook, Wood pigeon and Greenfinch. Charlie and Jonny’s eagle eyes also spotted a fox making its way across the Crag.

26th July

John set out to record more wildlife before the end of the month. (Clare realised she had forgotten to ask for an image of Yarrow, so took one on her phone. She would not like readers to think that John’s standards had slipped).

Yarrow Achillea millefolium : ‘Centuries ago, Yarrow was used as a charm against bad luck and illness. Although it was also used to stop wounds from bleeding, it was believed to cause nosebleeds if put up the nose.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Sneezewort Achillea ptarmica (also known as Batchelors’ Buttons)‘: The strongly pungent smell is said to induce sneezing, indeed the dried and powdered leaves have been used as a sneezing powder. An essential oil can be extracted which is used medicinally (although your author has yet been unable to track down the chemical ingredients of this oil). Although its bitter tasting leaves have been used in salads, the plant is poisonous to some farm animals like horses and cows, with symptoms slow to develop, which include fever, tachycardia, difficulty breathing, weight loss, drooling, spasms, and convulsions.’ (wildflowerfinder.org)

Betony Stachys officinalis (also known as Common Hedgenettle): ‘Betony is first referred to in a work by the Roman physician Antonius Musa. He claimed it was effective against sorcery.It was one of the great ‘all-heals’ of medieval herbalists.Betony is commonly found in old country churchyards, where it was planted in the past for its medicinal value and in the belief that it had powers that would ward off ghosts, goblins and other unwelcome spirits.’ (plantlife.org.uk)English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, writing in the early 1600s, said that Betony (a Stachys species) '... preserves the liver and bodies of men from the danger of epidemical diseases...' which sounds credible until you read on '... and from witchcraft also.' (first-nature.com)

Betony Stachys officinalis (also known as Common Hedgenettle): ‘Betony is first referred to in a work by the Roman physician Antonius Musa. He claimed it was effective against sorcery.It was one of the great ‘all-heals’ of medieval herbalists.Betony is commonly found in old country churchyards, where it was planted in the past for its medicinal value and in the belief that it had powers that would ward off ghosts, goblins and other unwelcome spirits.’ (plantlife.org.uk)

English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, writing in the early 1600s, said that Betony (a Stachys species) '... preserves the liver and bodies of men from the danger of epidemical diseases...' which sounds credible until you read on '... and from witchcraft also.' (first-nature.com)

Marsh Woundwort Stachys palustris: ‘This wildflower has a long history of use in herbalism, and as its common name implies it was used for dressing cuts and other wounds, and it is reputed to cure aching joints when made into an ointment and to have antispasmodic and sedative properties when taken internally.’ (first-nature.com)

Wild parsnip pastinaca sativa and Bluebottle Calliphora vomitoria

‘Wild parsnip is the progenitor of the cultivated parsnip.

Despite its, to humans, unpleasant habits, feeding largely on decaying meat, rubbish and faeces, the Bluebottle has its uses - ‘females deposit their eggs on rotting corpses, making them important forensic insects, as their eggs and timing of oviposition can be used to estimate time of death.’ (wikipedia.org). This one appears to be a vegetarian.

Great Burnet Sanguisorba officinalis: ‘The crimson heads of Great burnet were once used to make wine in Cumbria, and herbalists used them to stop bleeding.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Common or Black Knapweed Centaurea nigra: ‘Common knapweed is a huge favourite of all kinds of butterflies, including Common blues, Marbled whites and Meadow browns, and is sometimes covered in these species.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

‘In days gone by eligible young women would play a love-divination game by pulling out the rays and putting the plucked knapweed flower in their blouse. When as-yet unopened florets began to bloom it would tell her the man of her dreams was near. This game to foretell the future of love is also played with Broadleaf Plantain Plantago major.

Most of the local names including Bachelor's buttons [see also Sneezewort above , though note the difference in the placement of the apostrophe. Only one bachelor benefitted from Knapweed], Blue bottle and Iron knobs are explained by the hard, knobby heads, the bottle-shaped involucre and the toughness of the plant.

Knapweed was used for ruptures and wounds, bruises, sores, scabs and sore throat, etc.’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Field Scabious Knautia arvensis: ‘Field Scabious has a rough and hairy stem similar in texture to scabby skin. According to the 'Doctrine of Signatures' - where herbalists treated illnesses with plants that resembled the body part associated with illness - this association probably led to it being used as a herb to treat scabies, mange and itches.

The juice of 'scabiosa herba' (from whence its common name derives) was given to alleviate plague sores.

In Belgium a girl would pick Scabious "buttons", give each a lover's name, and then choose her husband by the one that flowered best…

The 'pom-pom' like nature of its flower has also given rise to alternative names such as Lady's pincushion, bachelor's buttons and blue bonnets.’ (plantlife.org.uk)

Bachelors sure had a lot of buttons.

Meadow Brown on Greater Knapweed Centaurea scabiosa

Meadow Brown in full view

Small Tortoiseshell on Marsh thistle

Small Skipper: ‘The Small Skipper almost exclusively uses Yorkshire-fog (Holcus lanatus), although several other grasses have been recorded as foodplants, for example, Timothy (Phleum pratense), Creeping Soft-grass (H.mollis), False Brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), and Cock’s-foot (Dactylis glomerata). (butterfly-conservation.org)

This above information has reinforced Clare’s desire to know more about the different kinds of grasses seen on Liddells. As far as she can tell, this grass is none of the above!

And lest readers think that dragonflies have been forgotten this year - Common Darter

While looking at the ponds…

Upright water millefoil Myriophyllum crispatum

29th July

Mel walked around Liddells this morning and noted 71 plants in flower (Clare walks regularly back from Liddells and often makes a similar count along her route. The highest number she has seen yet this year is 63, so Liddells would seem to be doing well. Mel noticed the Water Figwort that Sue D had donated and planted, and also Enchanters Nightshade Circaea lutetiana, which is another newly seen species on the site. (Photograph to follow)

Spiked water millefoil Myriophyllum spicatum: ‘The closely related Parrot's Feather was introduced into the UK in the 1960s as a garden pond plant, but soon escaped into the countryside, probably as a result of garden waste containing fragments of it. It is now an invasive weed.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

Water figwort Scrophularia auriculata: ‘Many emergent wetland plants, such as Water Figwort, provide resting places for aquatic insects, such as Caddis flies and Alder flies.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)

June - flowering

1st - 6th June

John flailed more paths and in the time saved from strimming, took more photographs. The first dragonflies and damselflies of the year are appearing on the ponds, and the first of the fledglings are appearing at the feeders, Dave tackled strimming the paths that are too narrow for the flail mower. John saw the first swallows of the year flying around the Top Grazing and near the sheds, however as yet they resist the temptation of the new shelf on the shepherd’s hut. John and Clare have decided to install a composting lavatory on site and the splendidly named Little John, made from recycled materials, arrived.

Orange Hawkweed, also known as Fox and Cubs, Grim the Collier and the Devil’s Paintbrush. This perennial was introduced to Britain from Europe in the seventeenth century, so not strictly native however it adds bright spots of colour in the Meadow.

Silverweed

A Coal tit feeding its young

Coal tit juvenile looking remarkably like a Marsh tit, however this is the bird being fed by the adult in the photograph on the left.

Male Broad-bodied chaser

Azure damselfly

Outside lavatory

7th June

The trail camera remains pointing at the Blue tits’ nest. The parent birds are still visiting with the same frequency as last month. Several clips show the adult birds removing either faecal matter or pieces of shell from the nest.

8th June

Clare set about her annual thistle challenge on the Meadow. She pulled out 259, far fewer than in the two previous years. There will be ones she missed that will become apparent as they grow, however it’s an encouraging start. Clare also removed Hogweed and Dock from round the shepherd’s hut. John, not realising what Clare had been doing, was puzzled to find what he thought were deer couches in an unlikely area.

10th June

John and Clare were dismayed to discover that just as they hoped to capture footage of the Blue tits fledging, the trail camera decided to play up and stopped working. Heigh ho. Next year maybe.

13th June

John started work on the shed that will house the Little John.

14th June

More wildflowers are appearing. Yellow Rattle continues its spread across the Meadow and the east end of the Top Grazing. When Clare asked Juno if she remembered the nickname of Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Juno responded with ‘Cheese and Ham’. An intelligent answer and more to her taste.

Meadow Cranesbill

Bird’s Foot Trefoil aka Bacon and Eggs or Cheese and Ham

Yellow Rattle

20th June

The trail camera has abandoned any attempt to take video footage and reverted to still images before giving up altogether. One of the last images was of a young buck in full summer coat in the Pit Wood. This may be the buck that the camera captured in the Scrub last month.

24th June

While Clare was walking through the Pit Wood with Jane B to identify wildflowers, they noticed a large patch of Water mint near the Quadrilateral Bridge that had not been noticed before. In trying to describe its location near the spring stream, Clare decided that said spring stream could be named Bruce.

25th June

A family of six Great Tits and a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker were using the feeders by the shepherd’s hut. John recorded more wildflowers with his camera.

Common Spotted Orchid

Common Sorrel

Common Sorrel

Common Field Speedwell

Ragged Robin

Red Clover is increasing on both the Meadow and the Top Grazing. Alys Fowler in The Guardian wrote recently about the plant and its benefits. ‘Red Clover photosynthesises constantly, which means it is endlessly filling the root zone in the soil with nutrients…[which] increases microbial activity…[it] is famous for fixing atmospheric nitrogen into the soil via its nodules; this in turn increases the nitrogen available for other plants.’

In spite of its damaged wing, this Red Admiral was able to fly.

27th June

John and Clare are planning an inaugural overnight stay in the shepherd’s hut in July. Much planning is going into this.

30th June

More shepherd’s hut work. Liddells is looking particularly ‘orchidaceous’: of, relating to, or characteristic of the family Orchidaceae, comprising the orchids - OED Word of the Day 02.06.21.

Beginnings of a kitchen…

… and overhead storage

… and overhead storage

The first Willow arbour is doing spectacularly well

John says, “Not everything is black and white…”

Oh yes it is, if you don’t turn off the monochrome setting.

August - seven years on

Insect identification update:

Keith (wknean) has come up trumps, though did say I had set him a difficult task. The insect on the Scabious is a Dipteran (a true fly). There are 5500 species in the UK. At least that’s fewer than beetles. Clare wonders what an untrue fly might be; presumably a fly that suffers from impostor syndrome. The creature on the Spear Thistle is a Pine Weevil (congratulations to Barbara for suggesting Weevil), and the insect on the Sneezewort is a Solitary Wasp, possibly a Digger Wasp. According to Keith, Digger Wasps nest in the ground and feed their larvae with paralysed insects -nature yellow in tooth and sting.

1st August

A good start to the Liddells month - John and Clare went to view a second-hand quad bike having decided one would make a significant difference to working on Liddells. A deal was struck. On the way home they called in at Liddells and saw a Spotted Flycatcher on the fence near the big pond. Unfortunately neither Clare nor John had binoculars or camera to hand so decided to return later in the day with the necessary bird-watching and recording equipment. The Flycatcher, inconsiderately in Clare’s view, had not hung around and waited for them, although they could see one from the hide at a great distance high up in an Ash tree. The pursuit of a photograph has begun. Clare also found an addition to the Meadow plants - Agrimony. Clare thinks the name suggests a financial settlement after a particularly hostile divorce, a government subsidy for farmers or the profits from agribusiness.

2nd August

Mysterious holes have appeared in the Pit Wood. Unfortunately setting the trail camera here would result in scores of pictures of waving foliage. The holes look big enough to have been made by a badger. Perhaps an overnight stay in the Pit Wood is called for…

Probably not made by a Digger Wasp

3rd August

While John strimmed to keep paths under control, Clare went round with Mel on his monthly wildflower survey. They found several that had not yet appeared on Mel’s list, bringing the total to 148. Mel has set a challenge to bring the total to 150 before the surveying year is out. Since Mel is determined to identify more of the many grasses on site, he’ll probably get there. Clare learned a new variety of thistle, which she had noticed the day before but wasn’t confident in its difference from a Marsh Thistle. It is a Welted Thistle and clearly an option as a garden plant. Mel confirmed Clare’s identification of the Agrimony, and pointed out differences between Male Fern and Lady Fern. For some of the minute differences between species, a jeweller’s loupe or similar would be needed. Clare has such an object, provided at a conference on wildflower meadows, however she is not sure that she has the patience or the knees for the necessary close examinations. You can see Mel’s survey here.

Another Pit Wood mystery - the trail camera has captured the kid, the doe and…

Is it another kid or the buck?

John thinks the third deer was most likely the buck as another kid hasn’t appeared on any of the other footage. Here the doe is attending to the kid’s hygiene.

4th August

Dave took over strimming duties and worked his way through the Orchard and both paths down to the spring in the Pit Wood. Dave thinks the strimmer and harness make him feel like a rock star -Bruce Springsteen with air strimmer. Meanwhile, Clare and John, both having come a cropper on the muddy dip on the way into the hide, set about making the route safer.

Dave priming the air strimmer - just like a rock star

Assembling the materials

Joining up the pieces

Admiring the result

6th August

Clare’s niece and family came to visit. Tristan was very engaged with pond-dipping and bird-watching, Bron preferred the bridge to the hide. After they had left for Housesteads, John and Clare built the seat for the last Willow Arbour. John tried it out.

Look, there’s a bird

Look, there are baby newts

Look, there’s a bridge

Told you so

Look, here’s a seat

7th August

Stephen has very kindly donated a pair of binoculars to the hide. He was given them for his 21st birthday and they have obviously been treasured.

Tim and Jane had a stroll round Liddells and saw a female Common Darter in the damp part of the Meadow.

John decided to have a day out with his camera. Clare can’t decide whether he was in the pink, in a purple haze or feeling decidedly unwell.

And here’s the male resting on a stone near the big pond

Common Hemp-nettle, also known as Hemp Deadnettle, False Hemp, and because of its popularity with bees, Bee Nettle

Marsh Woundwort ‘has a long history of use in herbalism, and as its common name implies it was used for dressing cuts and other wounds, and it is reputed to cure aching joints when made into an ointment and to have antispasmodic and sedative properties when taken internally…Marsh Woundwort has only a slight smell; nevertheless bees and many other kinds of insects are attracted to the flowers, from which they obtain nectar.’

Herb Robert - traditionally used as an antiseptic, as well as to treat stomach upset and nosebleeds. Its leaves are edible and used by some to make tea. They have also been used crushed and rubbed on the skin as an insect repellent.

Ragged Robin was used in the belief that it would alleviate jaundice and more common illnesses such as headaches and toothaches. The roots and petals were also used, boiled, to wash clothes and hair.

Knapweed was historically used to treat flesh wounds, sore throats, bleeding gums and catarrh. Some physicians mixed it with other herbs to create antidotes for snake bites. The flower head is edible and when taken with pepper, it's said to be a way of restoring lost appetite.

Purple Loosestrife ‘got its name for its similar insect-repelling actions to that of yellow loosestrife. Farmers used to hang the plants around the yokes of their oxen and workhorses to keep biting insects from agitating their animals. Traditionally, the leaves were used as a vulnerary to stop active bleeding either as a poultice or taken as a tea.’ (There is a monograph on this plant from which the quotation is taken.)

Self Heal has a long tradition of being used in herbal medicine for everything from stopping bleeding and healing wounds, to treating heart disease and sore throats; the young leaves and stems can be eaten raw in salads; the plant in whole can be boiled and eaten as a potherb; and the aerial parts of the plant can be powdered and brewed in a cold infusion to make a beverage.

Marsh Thistle - perhaps surprisingly eaves and young shoots an be eaten raw or cooked; the stems also, raw or cooked like asparagus or rhubarb. The flower stalks are peeled and eaten raw or cooked. The seed fluff is used as a tinder. The seed of all species of thistles yields a good oil by expression.

Meadow Cranesbill has stringent, styptic and antiseptic medical properties, Meadow Cranesbill and its close relatives were used to relieve a range of diseases including cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery; to treat nosebleeds, ulcers and haemorrhoids and to staunch bleeding wounds.

Teasel - the root is most known for its use in treating Lyme Disease. It is also used as a stomach aid, an analgesic for pain relief, an anti-inflamatory, and a stimulant for the nervous system.

Foxglove - ‘The Foxglove was employed by the old herbalists for various purposes in medicine, most of them wholly without reference to those valuable properties which render it useful as a remedy in the hands of modern physicians. Gerard recommends it to those 'who have fallen from high places,' and Parkinson speaks highly of the bruised herb or of its expressed juice for scrofulous swellings, when applied outwardly in the form of an ointment, and the bruised leaves for cleansing for old sores and ulcers. Dodoens (1554) prescribed it boiled in wine as an expectorant, and it seems to have been in frequent use in cases in which the practitioners of the present day would consider it highly dangerous. Culpepper says it is of: 'a gentle, cleansing nature and withal very friendly to nature. The Herb is familiarly and frequently used by the Italians to heal any fresh or green wound, the leaves being but bruised and bound thereon and the juice thereof is also used in old sores, to cleanse, dry and heal them. It has been found by experience to be available for the King's evil, the herb bruised and applied, or an ointment made with the juice thereof, and so used.... I am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.' Strangely enough, the Foxglove, so handsome and striking in our landscape, is not mentioned by Shakespeare, or by any of the old English poets. The earliest known descriptions of it are those given about the middle of the sixteenth century by Fuchs and Tragus in their Herbals. According to an old manuscript, the Welsh physicians of the thirteenth century appear to have frequently made use of it in the preparation of external medicines. Gerard and Parkinson advocate its use for a number of complaints, and later Salmon, in the New London Dispensatory, praised the plant. It was introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia in 1650, though it did not come into frequent use until a century later, and was first brought prominently under the notice of the medical profession by Dr. W. Withering, who in his Acount of the Foxglove, 1785, gave details of upwards of 200 cases, chiefly dropsical, in which it was used.’

Bittersweet or Bittersweet Nightshade - the stem is used to make medicine. The leaves and berries are poisonous. People take bittersweet nightshade for skin conditions including eczema, itchy skin, acne, boils, broken skin, and warts. They also take it for joint pain (rheumatism), other types of pain, and fluid retention; and as a calming agent (sedative).

This juvenile wren proved to be irresistible to the photographer. Medicinal uses undocumented but considered to be excellent for mental health

And the Robin is working on his colouration to be ready in time for Christmas

Further fliers - a pair of Emerald Damselflies mating

A sextet of Emerald Damselflies!

Green-veined whites looking rather Art Deco in their mating

10th August

Clare invited Juno to have a look at the bees with her. Juno accepted and was astonishingly calm during their visit. Clare opened one hive to show Juno a frame of brood. They had both been looking at grass seeds in the Wetland earlier so describing the eggs as like looking like grass seed (a commonly used analogy) made perfect sense. Clare was both delighted and a bit envious at how easily Juno saw the seeds! The rewards of bee-keeping are, of course, a taste of honey.

The best use of a hive tool

12th August

Exciting news - while John and friend Mike were out in a patch of woodland less than a mile from Liddells, Mike saw a red squirrel.

Clare added another plant to Mel’s list - Bittersweet is in flower in a Hawthorn in front of the hide.

14th August

Juno has been very keen for her cousins Charlie and Jonny to visit Liddells and today was the day. Juno helped initiate them into the art of bird pizza making.

Pizza triumph

15th - 21st August

Work in progress - strimming the sides of the Top Strip path, high pruning in the Pit Wood, bramble removal from south wall, weeding round tree planting in the Top Strip and the commencement of weed eradication (with Dave’s help) in the ponds. Work progress interruption - John learned that he will have to rethink the stove siting and installation in the shepherd’s hut. Further news when upset subsides. Clare has noticed some of the fungi appearing on the land and that this year the field mushrooms had migrated from the Top Grazing to inside the shelter.

Strimming in progress - please note creative repurposing of John’s homemade marquee for his and Clare’s wedding

Work completed

Stinkhorn or ‘Witch’s Egg’ (Phallus impudicus) ‘edible but not recommended’!

John has generously added his boot to this photograph to reveal just what a large specimen of Meadow Waxcap (Hygrocybe pratensis) this is

You can see the Waxcap gills here

Fly Agaric (Amanita musaria) - its common name is associated with its earlier use as a fly killer; the toadstool of illustrations to fairytales, probably because of its hallucinogenic properties. This one reminded Clare of the poisoned apple given to Sleeping Beauty

Slippery Jack Suillus luteus, apparently edible although ‘with no distinctive smell or taste’ - not a description that stimulates the appetite

22nd August

Dave’s digging has proved to be instantly effective. John and Clare went to see the results of his work and were treated to the sight of a Grey Wagtail feeding in the mud. This is a first for Liddells. Unfortunately John had decided only minutes before, to leave his camera in the car as the weather was poor. It was there again the next day but flew off the minute it saw John’s camera.

Pond waiting for water and Grey Wagtail

27th August

Mel arrived plus waders and set about the unwanted weed in the big pond. He pulled out several sackfuls of weed, including Bulrush and Branched Burr Weed, neither of which have been planted but simply arrived,

Mel contemplating the enormity of the task

Branched Bur-weed

Mel, as ever, has worked phenomenally hard and the pond is transformed

28th-30th August

While John reinstated the broken rainwater collection system, Clare made progress on her chosen task of tackling the bramble through the roadside wall, making a path inside the wall at the same time. It is hard going with opposition from brambles and gorse, however she has completed about thirty metres so far although there will be some wall repair to carry out - not as a result of her efforts. Eating the ripe blackberries helps as she works. She has found a Robin’s nest, a creative repurposing of a Soda Stream bottle, and an example of inosculation - two branches of a tree rub against each other so that their bark is worn away and they unite in a natural graft. The word derives from Latin osculari: to kiss.

Ready for the rain again

Inosculation in a Hawthorn

Should this be included in the social history of Liddells

Clare has down-tooled and left her gloves as an eerie reminder of her presence

Looking east, the path has nearly reached the Medieval cross base

29th August

John and Clare discovered the answer to the question posed by trail camera footage on 3rd August. The doe has had twins. After seeing the following footage, John lowered the camera in the hope of better footage with which to end the blog. Needless to say, the deer went nowhere near the camera. Maybe they will reappear for next month.

31st August

A Bank Holiday visit revealed that John is not the only person to enjoy his new motorised helper. Juno gets to grips with her new swing.

July - the young ones

First a further note re the trail camera videos. If you read the blog posts in the monthly email you receive, it is unlikely you will be able to see video footage as most email networks omit this since it takes up too much space. If you would like to watch the videos, can we suggest you use the email as a prompt to catch up with the blog on the Liddells website: www.liddells.co.uk This month the footage from 27th and 28th is particularly endearing.

4th July

Thanks to Hal and Beth and their social bubble, Clare and John were able to host a mini Forest School session. Six families arrived with enthusiasm and picnics. Hal and Juno acted as chief guides. Clare had left individual pots of honey in the dead letter box for each of the children, which, according to Hal, ‘went down a storm’. Even the child who professed he didn’t like honey proclaimed it delicious. Elora decided to set off on a hunt and found a Gruffalo house. Juno demonstrated her learning and did her best to instil quiet in the hide, however excited chatter won out. A good day was had by all.

The Gruffalo was out when they called

A keen group of pond dippers

Early stages of ornithology

6th July

Juno had another investigative day at Liddells.

Small Tortoiseshell under scrutiny

Baby newts from the big pond. They are too small to tell at this stage whether they are Smooth, Great Crested or Palmate

Juno absorbed by something in her hand. History does not relate what it was however it was clearly interesting

7th July

Mel completed his monthly wildflower survey (see the Surveys page of the website) and is confident that not only are there more flowers present on Liddells than when he first surveyed the flora in 2014, but there are more species in evidence. John and Clare are much encouraged by this.

8th - 15th July

Further evidence of newt presence. John helpfully turned this adult newt over so that you can clearly see the bright orange underside with black blotches which identifies this as a Great Crested Newt.

Topside

Underside

Clare has been looking for different species of insect on flowering plants. Some are proving hard to identify.

This may be a Soldier Beetle and it may not

Possibly Heath bumblebee smothered in pollen on Spear Thistle

Red-tailed bumble bee on Spear Thistle

This is possibly one of the 4000 British beetle species. Clare will try and narrow this identification down

This shot is included simply to use John’s caption - Two bees or not two bees

Extra pollinator food - the roses in the hedge by the bee hives have come into flower for the first year

Is it a bee (4000 UK species),or is s it a wasp (9000 UK species)? Clare continues to work her way through identification guides

Whatever it is, it’s on Sneezewort, this much Clare knows

Let’s not forget the Common Wasp, Vespula Vulgaris, on Hogweed here. At least it’s identifiable

Let’s not forget the Common Wasp, Vespula Vulgaris, on Hogweed here. At least it’s identifiable

Common Red Soldier Beetles doing what they have to do a lot because they have such a short life; this activity has led to their other name - Hogweed Bonking Beetle

On the 12th Juno introduced yet another of her friends to Liddells and is clearly supremely confident now in the art of marshmallow toasting, leaving Hal to initiate Mia.

15th and 19th July

The wildlife on Liddells seems to have been secretly watching and learning from Juno’s stump jumping games. Unless the camera has captured early signs of a pending election with candidates choosing suitable sites for their stump speech. The doe seems to be shaking her head at the idea. John and Clare’s money is on a Parliament of Owls.

While digging out pondweed, Clare spotted a Great Diving Beetle, a ‘large and voracious predator’, in the roadside pond, which obligingly stayed near the surface long enough for John to take a photograph. Clare also saw a creature she didn’t recognise and called on Keith (HWKNEAN) for help. The next day Clare witnessed the GDB driving the creature round in circles before eating it. Keith guessed that when alive it had been an unusually pale Notonecta glauca in its flying phase. After some pond dipping, John was able to photograph another of these backswimmers that has, thus far, survived.

The culprit…

…the victim…

…and the escapee

This female Ruddy Darter stopped darting for long enough for a photograph

As did this Small Skipper - you can see how it it is holding it’s forewings half open, typical of Skippers. Clare thinks it resembles an origami creation

19th - 26th July

Alongside all of this observation, John, Clare and Mel have been continuing with Liddells Routine Maintenance. John has felled a couple of trees and done some high pruning in the Top Strip, strimmed paths in the Scrub and Pit Wood and done some clearing in the North-East Strip; Clare has attacked the weeds in the Top Strip path, sickled the growth either side of the path and cut the flowering heads of the Hogweed, which has been slowly taking over; Mel has tackled the Mint on the Meadow which has threatened a land grab. Clare has also set about her annual Yellow Rattle seed collecting - this year the seeds are going to friends with land near Sandhoe, Hallbankgate and Codlaw as well as going back onto Liddells at the west end of the Top Grazing and round the Shepherd’s Hut.

Clare called on Bee Buddy Barry’s help to go through her hives again and managed to do so this time without being stung. There are two strong colonies and a third that is building more slowly. The fourth, as suspected, had a queen that had not mated successfully, so Clare has added a frame of eggs from one of the thriving hives and left it in purdah for a month in the hope there will be time enough for the bees to make another queen and for her to mate and start building a colony.

John has manufactured the most splendid pond rake and he and Clare are slowly extracting some of the algae that has built up in the two larger ponds. The rake is proving its worth and the water quality in both ponds seems already much improved. Clare is using the shorter pond dipping net to skim off some of the surface algae, and finding more creatures in the process. As well as innumerable young newts, she found an, as yet, unidentified insect. Froglets are also emerging, though thus far too quickly to be photographed. John and Clare have added plants to the roadside pond (last year’s plants were compromised by the digger activity in the autumn and plants ordered earlier this year got caught up in lockdown so were not in the best state when they arrived). Clare and John have realised they need many, many more plants than they had ordered for the size of the ponds - more to add to the learning curve as well as to the ponds.

Angle iron head with tines of long bolts

On the 19th John noticed a flower in the Scrub that he hadn’t seen before. Clare thought it was a Nettle-leaved Bellflower and asked Mel for confirmation. Apparently Mel was doubtful as it is unusual to find the plant north of the Humber, however on close examination he agreed with Clare. Clare has sent Mel to look at what she thinks are more of the same plant about half a mile from home, although they might be Giant Bellflower, which is more commonly found locally.

Campanula trachelium

Clare and John received an offer they chose not to refuse - a local Longhorn Cattle breeder offered them beef for haylage. Tom, who has cut the Wildflower Meadow in the past, arrived on 21st and cut the Top Grazing, although Clare and John decided to keep the area round the new tree planting and a section at the west end uncut to preserve forage for pollinators. The next day it rained however Tom was able to return and do the rowing up ready for local farmer Barry to bale and wrap on 25th.

Cutting

On 24th Tim was pleased to see more butterflies than recently on his weekly transect survey, particularly as these included Common Blue and Small Copper on the Meadow. He and Mel have both encountered the Tawny Owl on their walks round Liddells - presumably the owl is canvassing.

Common Blue (topside) on Fleabane …

…and underside

Small Copper on Greater Knapweed

Meanwhile at the hide…

…juveniles are using the feeders and emptying them daily.

Seeing red

In the pink

Goldfinch not yet red in the face

This juvenile Blue Tit has yet to learn that toe-nail picking in public is to be discouraged

Coal Tit buffing up

The RSPB bird guide says that the juvenile Siskin resembles a ‘greyer washed-out female’. Clare thinks this is a rather sexist comment. The Chaffinch is saying nothing.

Nuthatch colouring up

While on the Top Grazing…

Of course hay bales are not only good for fodder…

The approach…

…the preparation…

27th July

John and Clare were delighted to see this footage on the trail camera.

John thinks that the mother is the doe kid seen on Liddells last year - young mothers usually only have one kid rather than twins. John also thinks she has had her kid late in the season. As you will see in the following clips, the buck is showing interest in her (it is the time of the rut) while the doe doesn’t yet seem receptive. When the buck appears, the kid gets quickly out of the way.

June - out of gear

1st June

Disaster has struck, the strimmer gear box has broken and needs replacing. Fortunately the service centre reopened in Hexham today so John could take the wounded machinery straight down; unfortunately there are seventy jobs in the queue before this one. A turn in the weather is bringing lots of rain and the paths will grow furiously. John is furious.

2nd June

John has painted the tiles for the woodburner stand in the shepherd’s hut. The blackbirds in the shed nest have hatched and are hungry.

3rd June

Mel set about the June Wildflower survey and discovered that there are different Avens in the Pit Wood - Water and Wood Avens have hybridised. You can read his report here or on the Surveys page.

Wooter Avens? Watood Avens? Unseasoned Avens?

6th June

The trail camera has captured footage of a doe in the Pit Wood. John says she looks like a youngster - her legs are quite spindly and her neck is very thin. She is possibly the one that was raised on Liddells last year.

7th June

John is channelling his strimmer frustration into more camera action. The trail camera is capturing much blackbird foraging in the Pit Wood and some competition.

“I smell a rat”

“I smell a Chaffinch”

Acrobatic Siskin

“I told him not to show off”

Juvenile Woodpecker (rusty red patch on the top of the head) learning to play Hide and Seek

16th June

The bad weather has eased and Juno visited Liddells again for pond-dipping, Foxglove fittings and gate-climbing.

Water Boatman

This is a newt larva. It is very hard to determine at this stage of development whether it is of a Palmate or Great Crested Newt. John discovered a source of information in the Amphibian and Reptile Groups website

They fit!

Learning to climb at the hinge end of the gate

With an easing in lockdown rules, Kathryn, who leads Tynedale Community Choir, suggested that a Tiny Choir might meet and sing together at an appropriate distance. Clare offered Liddells for this experiment and six singers enjoyed reconnecting to the experience of singing with each other at the Point of View rather than on Zoom. Photos from Jane B and Clare.

17th June

The weather confounded the forecast and Tim was able to conduct a butterfly transect. Butterflies have been notable for their absence over the last two weeks or more so it was good to hear that Tim had seen ‘not many butterflies but a few less common ones’ - a Small Copper, a Small Heath and two Large Skippers. This is his photo of a Large Skipper on a Marsh Thistle.

Clare also grabbed the chance to have a look at the bees. One nucleus colony was full to bursting so she moved it into a full size brood box; the other nucleus has an older queen and was not so full and needed stores; Clare then looked in one of the hives that has been in purdah and discovered three frames of capped brood which indicates that a new queen has emerged and successfully mated. Clare did not spend time looking for the queen since she might still be a bit flighty. After disrobing Clare had a look back at the apiary and noticed that the brood box she had put in place was not properly on its supports and was leaning; she also realised that rather than feeding syrup to the hungry colony, she could take a frame of ready-to-eat stores from the hive with plenty of stores. Clare put her bee suit back on and then made A Bad Mistake. She thought that as these would be fairly quick procedures, she wouldn’t bother putting her wellies back on but would tuck her bee suit trousers into her walking socks and boots. The tilted hive was easily remedied, however having only recently been disturbed, taking a frame of food from the other hive evoked a mass protest, round about ankle height. Clare has understood and now feels, the error of her ways. Wellies from now on.

21st- 28th June

John has discovered that the strimmer is no longer the seventy-first job in line at the repair shop, because the new gear box has to be shipped from Sweden and may take Some Time. Meanwhile Clare has taken her sickle to some of the paths to help keep them nettle and thistle free. She is getting into the swing of things. Clare also looked at the last of her hives this week, only to have her fears confirmed that the new queen will have become ready for mating in the recent cold, wet weather and has clearly not been able to mate successfully and start laying. The bees might raise another queen from eggs taken from another hive.

The trail camera has captured a roe deer, a doe, apparently rubbing a sapling. John is puzzled by this behaviour since it doesn’t seem to fit any known pattern. John will investigate further - watch this Blog space. At the end of the clip the deer jumps. John thinks it might have seen a squirrel. The next clip is of a squirrel jumping…

John spotted a very large Tawny Owl pellet (80 cmm long, 30 mm diameter at its widest; Tawny owl pellets are usually greyer and more obviously ‘furry’ than those of the barn owl. They are medium sized pellets (20-50 mm long) with a bumpy surface. The shape is long and narrow, but irregular and they tend to taper at one end.) on the top of the Dirty Dancing Bridge - Clare can not recall similar behaviour on the part of either Johnny or Baby. Still she’s enjoying imagining a Tawny Owl spreading its wings as it remembers that ‘the most important thing is balance’. Clare has decided that another owl pellet dissection is unnecessary.

John has been photographing more juveniles from the hide.

Robin - black eye, mottled brown body. This one is too young to be showing the red blotches which will start to appear soon

Dunnock - brown eye, uneven grey and brown streaking below, line of pale spots across wings (hidden by the twig, readers will have to take John’s word for it)

John was talking to a local historian who told him a tale about a ghost rider who appears on misty mornings in November. She is a young woman on a runaway white horse, travelling east from Liddells in the direction of Doctor’s Wood. If readers wish to visit the area on such a morning, John and Clare wish it to be known that ghost-hunters do this at their own risk.

29th June

Just as John had decided to hire a strimmer (Clare wonders if there is a Strimmaholics Anonymous group he might be persuaded to join), John called in at the repair shop only to discover his very own strimmer, resplendent with a new gear box, was ready for collection and immediate use. Clare thinks John had been subjected to the air sucked in through the teeth/head shaking in doubt/slight amusement that anyone could imagine a job could be done quickly/”It’s not going to cheap”/eyes raised to the heavens response, and fell for it. The upshot is paths were strimmed today and will be tomorrow and probably several days after that.

October - screenings

2nd - 3rd October

Clare began the tough task of clearing mint from the wet patch on the Meadow, where it was threatening to smother other plants. If anyone has grown mint, you will know the task she is facing. John was frustrated by a strimmer failure while trying to clear a patch for a willow screen. The screen will offer some cover for bird-watching.. John took the strimmer in for repair only to discover a small leaf was blocking the fuel flow. Hmm, Conan Doyle had a point: ‘the little things are infinitely the most important.’ Strimmer restored, Clare and John cleared the area for the screen and put weed-restricting membrane down. Although the official weekly butterfly survey season has closed, there are still butterflies around.

Speckled Wood on speckled stone

Pre-screen shot

Small Tortoiseshell on Creeping Thistle

5th October

Clare and John set about creating the willow screen, largely by trial and error. They are quite pleased with this first go and are grateful to their neighbour Sylvia who needed her garden willow pollarded and donated the cuttings to Liddells.

You put your left canes in…

…you put your right canes in…

…in, out, in, out, weave them all about

7th October

The trail camera is back in the Pit Wood. The deer seem to sense its presence and often stop right next to it and groom. The doe clearly has no need for osteopathy.

Every now and again the camera captures the unexpected. A month or so ago a complete stranger appeared in the footage, carrying a dog lead. We assumed he had lost his dog while walking along the road. Maybe this is the missing dog. Maybe the joker in the pack. Or ahead of the pack. There seems to have been no pack drill.

The doe and kid are still frequently seen together. Here you can see that they are now fully in their chocolatey-brown winter coats. The next clip shows two white patches on the doe’s neck and chest. They are known as gorget patches.

11th October

John turned his attention back to the shepherd’s hut, adding fireproof board behind where the wood burner will go and a thin layer of wood over the floor which should even out any lumpiness under the lino.

In their absence, it has quickly become apparent just how much the ponies ate. A local farmer has loaned John and Clare sixty-two sheep to eat off the Top Grazing.

15th October

Clare is committed to providing photographic evidence of life on Liddells, however she wondered exactly what message John was sending when he suggested the blog could include a link to this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition winners. While she ponders on this, here is the link:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/october/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2019-winning-images.html

19th October

Clare has recently had a Big Number Birthday. She expressed a wish to mark this event by creating a bird-feeding station and watching screen on Liddells, having seen a similar arrangement at a local nature reserve. Thanks to the generosity of those who knew about the idea, she is getting under way with the scheme. There is an ideal site in the Pit Wood which provides plenty of cover for the birds to retreat to if necessary. Clare is currently drawing up designs and shopping lists. Synchronously, the RSPB has feeders on offer at a good discount, so purchases will be made.

There are plenty of birds to watch on Liddells at this time of year - the Fieldfares and Redwings are back, and the Scandinavian blackbirds are likely to arrive soon.

The feeding station site.

Possible bird-watching screen design. Possible bird-watcher.

Another screen shot.

22nd October

Mel joined John and Clare for a walk round Liddells with his ‘consultation lunch’ hat on and added to our list of valuable ideas for the future. They saw a Tawny Owl and the roe doe in the Pit Wood. Mel also suggested a way of improving the willow screen by weaving the end whips back into the main structure.

23rd October

One of John’s pool-playing companions, Phil, his wife Sarah and Sarah’s nephew Lucas visited Liddells. Phil has a wealth of geological knowledge and was able to answer the question that many have asked - are the quarry and crag on Liddells outcrops of the Whinsill. Apparently not. Phil could see that the rock on Liddells is sandstone, while the Whinsill is hard black dolerite. Lucas, from London, quickly got over his initial shock at the quantity of sheep ordure and entered into the spirit of things, politely tolerating Clare morphing into nature teacher mode. He contributed hugely to the bug hotel, spotted a ladybird on the thistle, waded up the stream to the spring and did an excellent job of algae clearing in the big pond. He also helped top up the hives with sugar syrup.

Creating a luxury suite for passing insects

The algae that didn’t get away

25th October

Mel advised that some of the guard tubes could be removed to prevent the trees becoming too spindly, although they still need protection from deer fraying. John worked on six larches in the Verge.

30th October

Clare mused on the turn her life has taken. John arrived home announcing he had a gift for her and it was outside. A new car? A water feature for the garden? A gardener? Wrong. A slice of tree trunk. It will make a perfect top for a bird table at the feeding station and Clare was absolutely delighted.

Not quite as old as Clare but perhaps more weathered

31st October

John and Clare may as yet have made no plans for approaching seasonal festivities however they are ahead of the game when it comes to swallows returning next year - John put up two clay swallow nests on the shelves in the sheds in the hope that next year the swallows will see them and be inspired to either use them, or enter into competitive nest-building mode.

And finally, the PONDS page is up on the website at last!

August - an open invitation, shut and reopened

1st - 8th August

John and Clare decided to celebrate Liddells’ sixth anniversary with an Open Day on August 10th. This turned John and Clare into preppers (OED 4th August: A person who or thing which prepares or readies something; a preparer). John set about strimming heroically to create paths round the site, Clare devised activities to keep visitors entertained, copious lists and notices were created, tables and chairs were imported, the sheds were smartened up and the shepherd’s hut was fitted with its very first furnishings - two book racks. So much more important than beds or heating. There was even a bit of MacGyvering : To construct, fix, or modify (something) in an improvised or inventive way, typically by making use of whatever items are at hand; to adapt expediently or ingeniously.(OED Word of the Day 08.08.19) - see photos below. There had been considerable rain over these few days however Clare and John remained optimistic and dedicated to prepping. The last task was to put up signs and make maps. This all occupied most of their time, however there were still opportunities to enjoy Liddells’ delights. Tim had managed to glimpse a Purple Hairstreak butterfly (first seen on Liddells last year) at the end of last month, on a roadside oak, and told John and Clare that if present, the butterflies were likely to be seen at around five in the afternoon on a sunny day at the very top of oak trees. In spite of several attempts and much cricking of necks, Tim and Jane are as yet the only ones to spot the butterfly. Good to know it seems to have returned though. Tim is also on the lookout for White Letter Hairstreaks which feed at the top elms which we have in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood. More neck-cricking involved. New dragon and damselfly species have arrived on the ponds, including Blue-tailed and Emerald damselflies and Common Hawkers.

Priorities

Final shed path weeded and chipped

Common Red Soldier Beetle (PG: only read on if you have permission from an adult) also apparently known as the Hogweed Bonking Beetle

“You’re turning violet, Violet!” This Violet Ground Beetle was trying to evade Clare’s weeding activities

Small Copper on Ragwort. John and Clare remove Ragwort from the Top Grazing and Meadow. Although animals naturally avoid eating it, if it ends up in hay they have no knowledge of its presence and that’s when there is a risk of poisoning. This small patch of the plant is on the Wetland and has been given a stay of execution because it is attracting so many butterflies.

Male Common Darter - even though these dragonflies bask for a few seconds, it is very hard to get a clear photographic image with a phone camera. This is probably the best of several taken.

Here is the female. One wildlife photographer commented that he reckoned to take 250 photographs to get 1 good one, and that’s with state of the art equipment.

Hotel under construction - no planning permission needed. Please note recycled pallets…

…carpet…

…and turves. All ecologically sound…

…and well signposted

This honey bee appeared to be foraging on the tow rope. It spent some time there. Maybe the fibres were similar to stamens…

This is a male Emerald damselfly

9th August

The rain began in the night and continued ceaselessly; the forecast for Saturday was atrocious - thundery storms and heavy rainfall. Clare received an email offering an inflatable kayak and discretion being the better part of most things, John and Clare regretfully cancelled the Open Day. They had lovely messages of support in response including Jane K who was relieved not to have to aquaplane to the event.

10th August

The forecast was right - heavy rain through the night and up till mid-morning then again through the afternoon and all the next day.

12th August

Tim and Jane managed a butterfly transect today and great excitement - a new butterfly for Liddells. Tim said the Dark Green Fritillary was a bit bedraggled. Apparently the caterpillars of this species eat dog violets, of which Liddells has plenty. Jane also found an exceptionally well camouflaged young frog near the Crag pond.

Dark Green Fritillary …

…and the underside

Even with Jane’s guidance, the frog is hard to see

Still hard to see in close up

13th August

John and Clare visited Liddells for the first time since all the rain, expecting to see a lot of standing water where none had stood before. Surprisingly there wasn’t that much, although the spring was running with great force and water was emerging from the original site of the spring and from a different site close by - neither of these have run with water in the last six years. John and Clare spent a long time by the big pond hoping for dragon and damselflies to settle, in particular the Common Hawkers that were around. Frustratingly this particular species seems to the the swift of the dragonfly world and never settles, so we can offer no photographs. Instead there are good images here. There were also Emerald damselflies, several of which were mating. There was a new insect on thistles on the Top Grazing that prompted an enquiry to the Royal Entomological Society; an enquiry that met with another prompt response from Professor Jim Hardie.

Brown-lipped snail on Hogweed

Another of the same, demonstrating how they may vary in colour

According to Professor Jim Hardie, this is a female Great Pied Hoverfly. Apparently they are widespread in the Uk and good pollinators.

A Comma on Creeping Thistle

This is the first time all but one of the stepping stones in the Crag pond have been submerged

John found this owl pellet on a fence post. You can see fragments of shiny beetle cases and at the top, the distinctive colour of a Violet Ground Beetle. Clare is hoping it was not the one she disturbed

Fungi are starting to appear and here is, if not a fairy ring, at least a fairy semi-circle

The trail camera has captured evidence that the roe buck and doe are still around, however there is no footage of the kid during the last three days. Let’s hope it is somewhere dry.

Taking a less explored route through the Pit Wood, John was particularly excited to find evidence of a roe ring. Roe rings provide evidence of repeated chases, the buck chasing the doe, around tree trunks or broken stumps, chases that leave a circle or figure-of-eight of bare earth liberally sprinkled with slots and often remnants of hair. In this instance, there was a figure of eight around two Norway Spruces. Unfortunately the ring would not show up well on a photograph.

17th - 18th August

John and Clare decided to tackle one of the projects that has been on the Liddells to-do list for quite a while - creating a series of steps over a large spoil heap in the Top Strip. It’s a clichéd task - taking flight one step at a time, the only way is up, until of course what goes up must come down while in the meantime trying not to get the hump.

Chips with everything

John at work having just freed the enormous boulder that is in the foreground. It will be incorporated into a cairn nearby

Things are looking up

This is the downside

19th August

Followers of this blog will know that photographs of rainbows have featured before. Here is another. Rainbows help compensate for all the rain and Liddells has good rainbows. This is one of Tim’s pictures and he adds that his kids used to call the road bend between his house and Liddells Rainbow Corner because that was the name of the owners of the house near the bend and because there are often rainbows there.

Tim’s caption - somewhere over the rainbow

20th August

The trail camera has captured evidence that the kid is still around. John thinks it is a buck.

21st August

While watching the big pond for dragonflies, Clare managed to identify another new species - a Brown Hawker (also seen recently in the Pit Wood) and in checking it out on the British Dragonfly Society’s website, realised she had wrongly labelled a photo in the June blog post. The subject in question was a Four-spotted Chaser, not the female Broad-bodied Chaser. This means that to date the ponds have attracted nine species of dragon and damselflies.

24th August - OPEN DAY!

The forecast for today had looked good for a while so John and Clare decided to go ahead with the Open Day and make best use of all John’s path strimming. The shepherd’s hut became a Liddells Information Office for the day with lists of the wildlife recorded thus far and some illustrations; visitors were provided with a map and list of suggested activities and an invitation to discover their inner child. Much fun appeared to be had by all. John and Clare were delighted to let everyone else do the work. Keith identified an additional dragonfly ovipositing- a Southern Hawker - which brings our species total up to ten. Thank you to all photographers for their contributions.

Also on offer was ‘Build a cairn’ to make use of some of the rocks excavated during the step making

Pat and Kate undertaking the challenge. Pat later suggested the provision of a swing for adults as well as children; Kate told a story about ‘a little soggy doggy with a very waggy tale’ - this might have had something to do with Maggie the cocker spaniel who joined in the day

Sabre wasp enjoying the view from inside the hut

Follow the sign…

…and this is part of what you can see

Making seat and orientation board now added to to-do list

Gloves thoughtfully provided

Does anyone use them…

…no

Are they looking for the pond or the pond-dipping equipment?

Here it is

John has found the pond and is looking for dragonflies

Juno and Hal get to have a go a couple of days later

Jane and Gill seem to be looking for the way through the woods

Here’s one…

…and here’s another

Maggie found some textbook examples of Grey Coral Fungus

Kate started to build herself a shelter

Neil and Lesley this Painted Lady on Knapweed in the Meadow

Jane E found another Wolf Spider with egg sac

Follow the sign…

are you sitting comfortably…

…then Mark will begin

Bug hotel building materials…

…building site…

…and instructions

Nathan decorating one of the rooms…

…and within minutes he had spotted our first guest. It’s a Four-banded Longhorn Beetle. We are hoping it gives a good review on TwigAdvisor (thank you Mark!)

It wasn’t all work!

There had been a large number of flying ants around the shepherd’s hut during the day however everyone politely ignored them. Later Kathryn sent a message to say that it had been Flying Ant Day. That wasn’t on either the biodiversity or Open Day plan yet seems wholly appropriate that they shared the celebration.

25th August

After all the enchantments and delights of the Open Day, Clare made her own discoveries. Enchanting? Delightful? All part of nature’s rich pattern.

These are both examples of the slime mould Fuligo Septica, also known as Scrambled Egg Slime Mould…

…and less appealingly as Dog’s Vomit Slime Mould

However she was also able to take a slightly better picture of a Common Darter than previously.

31st August

Clare started the process of removing honey from the bees yesterday. This involves adding a clearer board in the evening. (The board has a rhombus shaped escape insert which has two "tunnels" leading to each end and a centre chamber in which the bees gather when initially leaving the super) The board is positioned between the brood box and the honey super . The bees will naturally cluster in the brood box overnight and if the super is removed early the next morning, they haven’t had a chance to work out how to get back up to the honey. This morning only three bees had to be persuaded to abandon their honey which made the collection quite easy. There’s not as much honey this year as last as the bees needed it during the cold and wet spells when they couldn’t get out to forage. While Clare and John enjoy honey on their toast, they hope the bees will be satisfied with their sugar syrup substitute.

April - we're no fools

1st April

John started the anti-algae campaign today. He added a net of barley straw to the water. Our thanks to local farmers Barry and Sheila for the straw. He also started to fish the algae out using a small fishing net - by small we mean the kind you buy for pond-dipping with children. We had it to remove leaves from the water trough. John’s first attempt to lengthen the handle with a bit of tree and gaffer tape was not up to the task, so he recycled the two canes that had arrived with Juno’s Aspen to make a longer handle. Even so he was faced with a somewhat Herculean task. We are also investigating native aquatic plants which will help starve the algae.

Further water works - the path from the spoil heaps down to the Orchard has a very wet patch crossing it. John has dug this out and found a small spring and he’s diverting this with a drainage pipe.

John and Clare started clearing logs out of the North-east Strip and gathering up piles of brash ready for the first Green Gym Day later this month.

Handle version 1

Gone fishing - with handle version 2

Diverting the spring - digging a ditch and lining it with gravel…

…adding a pipe…

…covering it back over

2nd April

The Sweet Chestnuts planted at home are beginning to show shoots, as are two of the three Horse Chestnuts that Juno planted.

Marsh Marigolds in flower in the Pit Wood

Barley straw in the pond

4th April

Clare split the clump of Marsh Marigolds and transplanted some to the stream feeding the big pond. Then she did repair work on fencing, replacing missing fixings - Theresa May would no doubt love that it is all strong and stapled now. Mel came to help today and once again proved to be worth more than his weight in gold. He and John worked on clearing the northern boundary and while so doing, John took off his ear defenders which sucked out one of his hearing aids, which then flew off into the undergrowth. This was one of the very, very recently replaced hearing aids following John losing both on Liddells few weeks ago (don’t ask Clare about this as she has high blood pressure) and requiring a claim on the insurance. It was only after John and Mel had hunted on hands and knees in vain for quite a while that John dared to ring Clare, confess what had happened and ask for help. The three of them performed a fingertip search through leaf litter, moss and twigs, looking for an object that is about half the size of a shrimp and a similar colour. Eventually Mel, who deserves to beat John at pool for evermore, found it in an area that all three had, allegedly, already scoured. Clare hopes that John might learn from this experience.

Clare discovered that her bees were benefitting from the water diversion and were drinking from the damp earth next to it. Double whammy.

5th April

The tracks by both of the two larger ponds have become very muddy and lost their grass so John and Clare have decided to add some seed to help regrowth. They started that process today. Fishing algae out of the ponds (the second largest one has developed it too) has become a daily task. Stopping it taking over completely is a daunting challenge.

6th April

A while ago John and Clare were offered three Oak trees by David Oliver. Not just any old Oaks though - David had grown these from acorns from the Leper Oak on Hexham Golf Course. You can read the full story of the Leper Oak here. Clare and John prepared the sites for these Oaks on the western edge of the Pit Wood today.

Eilidh is busy growing a baby and therefore less available to help with the ponies for a while. Today Lucy, a friend’s daughter, came to see if she might like to help out. Both ponies were instantly at ease with her which augurs well.

Clare started recycling stones from the Crag to make the pathway round the pond at the bottom more walker friendly.

John the postie

This involved many trips up and down the Crag, carrying stones

7th April

When John saw the deer scrape in the North-east Strip, it seemed a good place to leave the trail camera. Sure enough the camera picked up the roe buck using his interdigital glands on the scrape and his frontal glands on the sapling beside it.

Seeding the first of the two stretches of roadway was finished today and some Yellow Iris moved from the wet area on the Meadow to the banks of Pond No 2.

The Great British Sowing J

and some fell on stony ground

9th April

David Oliver came to plant his Oaks. Clare forgot to pick up her phone and David left his camera in the car so there is no record of this event. Clare had also made labels for David and his son and daughters to fix to the tree cages when the family all came up together to see the trees on site. She forgot to hand them over. Ah well, such is ageing. The Oliver Oaks look very fine and knots have been tied in handkerchiefs to help remember to take photographs when the labels are ceremoniously attached.

10th April

John and Clare have decided to be a bit belt and braces regarding the algae and have dosed the two larger ponds with barley straw extract. Apparently new ponds are particularly susceptible to algae as are ponds with little shade and spells of hot weather. That’s 3 out of 3 then. Keith-who-knows-everything-about-nature is convinced it will all sort itself out in time, which is reassuring. If it doesn’t, John and Clare will be having words with him.

11th April

John and Clare spent time preparing for the next Green Gym Day, hauling brash, spreading tarpaulins ready to receive chip, and making a supply of baked goods.

Clare added more stones to the path at the bottom of the Crag. John is concerned that she might be planning to crazy-pave the Wetland.

12th April - The first Green Gym Day of this year

It must have been the lure of marmalade cake and shortbread. Seven stalwart friends arrived with bucketloads of goodwill and staggering reserves of energy and worked their way through five piles of brash until every twig was chipped. This involved a lot of hauling, lifting and hurling. Jane E planted Ragged Robin seedlings around the big pond - appropriately so since she had collected and sown the seeds last autumn and generously given Clare a large number to pot up and grow on. It was universally claimed that a good time had been had. John and Clare think they were probably not alone in choosing to do very little the next day. They remain hugely appreciative of all the help.

Tim decided the first and most urgent task was to protect the fritillaries on the meadow. He nobly sacrificed his boots to the cause

Jane pausing her planting to pose …

…and then turning her hand to algae fishing

To make chip, Forst hire a chipper …

…then gather up the brash…

…stack in piles to await the chipping team…

…then feed the machine…

…which is a noisy beast…

…et voila

Clare was clearly worried there wasn’t sufficient brash so set about making more - or she could have been clearing a space for the LandRover to back up closer to the brash. She is delighted to have some rare evidence of her working - not that it is rare for her to work

This photo does not do justice to the time it took to rehitch the chipper. Barry acting as foreman here

Breaks were allowed but only to test the sitting area in front of the shepherd’s hut

John sees no ships

16th April

Clare heard and saw the first Willow Warbler of the year on Liddells. She was particularly pleased that she saw it make its way from a Silver Birch to a Willow. Bird lovers will know that Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs are similar in appearance, however their songs are very different. If you fancy knowing more, click here. While tracking down the Willow Warbler, Clare came across a clump of Wood Sorrell. Not so unusual until you see where it was growing.

17th April

All is not lost to the algae - there are tadpoles in the big pond. Although it dived too quickly for a photograph, a Great Diving Beetle had arrived there too.

19th April - Good Friday

It was indeed a good Friday for Clare - it was warm enough to open the hives. Both colonies are doing well and are expanding in the brood boxes. Clare added supers (shallower boxes placed on top of the brood box with a grid that is too narrow for the queen. The bees use the frames for their stores leaving the queen more space for egg laying below). Lack of space is one of the factors prompting the bees to create a new queen and swarm. The bees are benefitting from early flowering oil seed rape in a neighbouring field this year, as well as from all the gorse on Liddells, so there is plenty of forage nearby.

Clare heard several Blackcaps singing for the first time this year, managed to see one, and so began her annual challenge to distinguish their song from that of the Garden Warbler. Not as easy as it sounds.

We have eggs in the box in the Orchard - probably a Blue Tit.

20th April

John finished the bridge on the Wetland and has named it the Alphabet Bridge.

Alphabet Bridge - so called because…?

21st April

Pond life is on the increase. There are tadpoles in the second biggest pond; Lesser Water Boatmen on one of the smaller ponds; and Pond Skippers (also known as Water Striders, Water Skeeters, Water Bugs, Pond Skaters, Water Skippers, or Jesus Bugs) are visible on all the ponds. The latter seem to be camera shy as each time Clare tried to film them, they ceased all movement. Patience was rewarded however, as yours will be if you stick with the video. There also seem to be a monster that surfaces briefly from the deep. Feel free to submit suggestions as to its identity. It is neither Clare nor John. The bird singing in the background is a Willow Warbler.

On our return home John and Clare learned that David Oliver had taken his family to label the oaks. They are waiting to see if his knotted handkerchief reminded him to take photos. They may appear in next month’s blog post.

25th April

The first Bluebells are out and Clare spotted three more small patches of them in places where she had not planted any. It’s good to know that Liddells has had its own Bluebells all along. They are all English Bluebells, which is excellent news. John added more seats to the story-telling circle. All it needs now is a seat for the story-teller. The Bird Cherry has produced lots of blossom this year, which is just emerging.

27th April

No sooner said than done. All that is needed now is a story-teller…

28th April

Clare saw a female mallard taking off from the big pond and three swallows flying low over it. John and Clare are rather hoping that the swallows make the link between the food supply on the pond and the excellent housing potential of the hay shed. Many butterflies around today including a Speckled Wood that settled obligingly still enough in the Pit Wood to photograph. Sadly the eggs in the nesting box in the Orchard have disappeared, however there is a Great Tit sitting on eight eggs in a box in the Pit Wood.

Speckled Wood

29th April

A high maintenance day - Clare weeded about half of the path in the Top Strip accompanied the whole time by birdsong, including that of a Garden Warbler, which Clare managed to glimpse so reassuring herself that it wasn’t a Blackcap. She also saw that there are now at least thirteen patches of English Bluebells established at the east end of the Top Strip from the very first ones Clare and John planted there before Liddells officially became theirs, thanks to Mike’s generosity. John strimmed large patches of rush on the Wetland, hoping to reduce its impact and thus allow other growth to come through. He also tightened and refixed fencing all along the Verge and around the arena - ‘arena’ sounds grander than it is, which is an area dedicated to schooling the ponies.

30th April

With the butterfly season well underway and Tim and Jane walking round regularly recording sightings, John strimmed the path they (Tim and Jane, not the butterflies) use through the Top Strip. John also started work on fixing gutters to the hay shed and part of the log shed in order to collect rain water for the bowser. Last year the rain water collection trough proved insufficient for the ponies needs through the long dry spell.

A final thought - the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Day Wild begins on 1st June. You may like to start thinking about how you could have your own wild 30 days.

March - Beware the Ides

We begin with an apology if this month’s blog is briefer and/or less illustrated than usual - on 15th, after a period of intermittent failures and resurrections, Clare’s computer died. Conclusively. She then had a bit of a wait for a new one to arrive and a further period of gathering the necessary courage to set it up on her own and discover what might, or might not have been lost photos-wise in the period between the last backup and the computer’s demise.

Here is some trail camera footage from the end of last month which we retrieved after we had published February’s blogpost. The Barn Owl that was captured by the trail camera last month has been frequenting Liddells ever since. It seems to favour hunting over the Wetland and also flies through the Pit Wood. Sadly no bats were captured on the trail camera we’d put near the bat box; we’d put it up just before Storm Gareth arrived and consequently we had several clips of howling wind and madly waving branches. We’ll try again later in the year.

1st March

John cut the logs necessary for the bridge treads; he and Robbie finished brashing the trees north of the story-telling circle. Sadly for us, Robbie leaves on Monday for a period of travelling. We wish him well on his ventures and we’ll miss the superb help he gives us.

4th March

John started work on the bridge treads. We were thrilled to find that the biggest pond has a large amount of frogspawn. The frogs have adapted to the change in the depth of the water and laid at the southern edge where the water is shallowest. Bright things frogs. Perhaps we could say that they have transcended the change in their environment in which case we could call them Frogpondians. (Clare has been saving that ever since it was the OED Word of the Day on January 19th.)

John surveying his handiwork. The treads will eventually span the whole bridge and be secured in place. In case you were wondering.

7th March

John has been keen to return to strimming and started today by creating a new path within the Pit Wood. While he was working he heard a clunk that didn’t sound like wood or stone and when he hunted around found a roe antler. In all his decades of stalking, this is the first he has ever found.

We rather like the three videos of movement in the Pit Wood.

The new path going downhill from the south side of the Pit Wood towards the north side

The new path on the north side of the Pit Wood, heading back towards the Orchard

8th March

It’s not often the trail camera captures footage of small birds however we are delighted to have this visual evidence of a Thrush in the Pit Wood. We have been hearing them singing and from the Scrub as well.

10th March

The bees in one of Clare’s hives had finished their box of fondant and had started building comb in the empty space. Clare removed it because if they had continued, and filled the box, it would have been very difficult to remove the crown board when the time comes to inspect the bees. On her way down to the bees she heard starlings singing and chattering away in the oak tree nearby. She has no idea what was so exciting them, other than that it was a beautifully sunny day and worth singing about. Our molecatcher has had more success. He reckons he has caught the principal offenders now so has flattened all the molehills ready for the wildflower season. We have decided to replace the tapes that were supposed to keep the ponies away from the bees and out of the Pit Wood. We had stopped running a current through the tapes since the ponies had learnt not to touch them, however we hadn’t realised that Paul and William had obviously worked out that the current was off, and they had been lifting the top tape with their heads and holding the bottom tape down with their feet, and making their way through. We wondered how come the bottom tape was so dirty. We have decided to replace the tapes with wires. John started work on this today.

There is some nectar in the cells so the bees are starting to build their own stores

They look as if they’ve been hung out to dry

11th - 17th March

John has continued working on the new fencing. On the 14th he noticed a Heron flying away from the largest pond. No doubt there is slightly less frogspawn in there now. We have seen the Barn Owl several times. Yet more videos of a hare on the trail camera. We have included one because we love the way its ears twitch, apparently just when a Great Tit starts calling.

New fence nearly finished. The wires need a final tightening and the staples hammered home

The new fence looking towards the bottom gate

21st March

The day after the first day of Spring, and Clare and Sally had a walk around to see what flowers might be out and to listen for newly arrived migrant birds. They found Dandelion, Common Daisy, Native Daffodils, White Violet, Primrose and some very small, low-growing white flowers which could be Whitlow Grass (we’ll need to take advice) but heard no migrants. They did however see and hear a Woodpecker (Great Spotted) drumming on the dead top boughs of an oak, which seemed to attract a Mistle Thrush which flew in and joined it. Probably not the companion for which the Woodpecker was hoping. Clare and Sally, though largely Sally, spotted frogspawn in the three other ponds. Clare noticed that one of the newer Willows on the Wetland was bearing catkins.

23rd March

We moved one of the open-fronted nesting boxes to a tree in the Pit Wood which has plenty of ivy as cover. Fingers crossed our newly acquired understanding of the likely users and their needs will pay off. The trail camera captured a buck and a doe moving through the Top Strip.

Newly sited box, offering lots of cover

25th March

Clare heard a Chiffchaff singing in the Scrub. Apparently Wheatears are usually the first to arrive (although we have never seen these birds on Liddells, we have seen them on crags a few hundred yards away), followed by Chiffchaffs. We hope to see and hear Willow Warblers nearer the end of next month.

28th March

We are dismayed to have discovered that the big pond has developed an algae infestation. Sadly, left unaddressed, this will kill off any aquatic life; indeed it may already have done for the frogspawn. We are investigating treatments - so far barley straw seems to be the least invasive.

On a happier note, Clare has now seen and heard several Chiffchaffs, mainly in the Scrub and the Pit Wood.

29th March

John extended the new path in the Pit Wood. Clare spotted a Peacock butterfly on a Willow that is in flower at the top of the Scrub, and when she got closer to photograph it, saw and heard that the tree was covered in honey bees also collecting the pollen. By a happy accident she took a very short video of this rather than a still photograph. She also discovered that there is new moss in some of the bird boxes.

The nest builder

30th March

John added the last post to the new fence. Hooray - a tick on the to-do list and a job that shouldn’t have to be done again, unlike the path maintenance that requires regular sessions every year. Clare has made a start in the Top Strip.

31st March

Clearing up in the North-east Strip - moving logs and making brash heaps ready for the chipper. This was the very first area we worked on at Liddells and we’ve done nothing since until recently when John and Robbie did some felling and brashing. John identified a patch of ground that he thinks is a deer bed. It has scrape marks and is the right shape and size.

Deer bed

September - the earth moves for John and Clare

1st September

John was rather taken with the sight of a large patch of Creeping Thistle that had gone to seed. Clare enjoyed them too as they were outside the Meadow. This patch is a favourite one for butterflies. More fungi are appearing as autumn gets closer. Clare has heard that all fungi are edible, but some of them only once. John has made a new gate to give access through the mud barricades, which are now finished.

Thistledown

Please feel free to contribute identification info

4th September

Clare helped John raise the first roof panel for the shepherd’s hut to see how it will look. He realised the main supporting beam needs to be slightly raised. Clare continued her fungi discoveries.

The Turin Shroud fungus (this is not a real type of fungus, however Clare was taken by the face she could see), or possibly Larch Bolete…

…which appears to have a smiley face on the underside

6th September

Barry kindly lent us his ATV so that we could collect logs from the Wetland and the Pit Wood, while Paul recovers his confidence with hauling. To this end, Eilidh and John managed to persuade him to wear his collar again and walk round with it on.

And the film title is?

8th September

Robbie cut logs and started felling conifers in the Pit Wood; he also removed the two trees that were inside the story-telling circle. Robert helped to haul dumpies of logs out to where we can load them into the trailer.

9th September

We borrowed some sheep again to graze off the meadow. Having brought the logs home, we filled the second shed, with a little help.

Yan tan tethera pethera pimp…no we haven’t lost our mind, just trying to count the sheep. This old method may still be used by some shepherds. After a dispute because of fidgety sheep, we settled on twenty-five, which is figgot (20) and pimp

10th September

We returned the Groundhog. Clare spotted a trio of tree stumps on the Wetland, each of which was sporting a crop of fungi.

Possibly Honey Fungus

11th September

John raised the roof beam on the shepherd’s hut and managed to cut his finger rather badly.

12th September

More fungi

There is a particularly fine crop of Fly Agaric in the Scrub

We think this might be The Blusher

This looks likely to be Turkey Tail or Coriolus Versicolor

Anyone recognise this one?

14th September

The trail camera caught a fox in the Orchard by the bonfire.

One of the bee colonies has been much beset by robber bees. Clare has followed all the advice available - blocking the entrance so only one bee can get in at a time (the guard bees have more time to deal with invaders), putting a glass sheet in front of the entrance (presumably the robbing bees bash their heads against it while the resident bees can reroute around it), sticking leafy branches in front of the hive (to confuse the robbers - “This doesn’t look like Kansas anymore”), covering the whole hive with a wet sheet for a couple of days (the robbers then think the hive has disappeared or become ghostly and give up); all of these were to no avail. What worked? Would you believe smearing the hive liberally with Vicks Vaporub. The robbers gave up. They can, however, breathe more easily. As of course can the bees who are no longer under threat.

15th September

We are planning to dig out a couple of ponds on the Wetland, so we spent some time marking them out. We are going to use two areas that are already wet, remove some of the rush and dam one edge of each.

One of the Spindle Trees is looking particularly autumnal.

Yet more fungi.

The underside would suggest this is a waxcap of some kind

16th September

Mike arrived to help John fix the first of the roof panels on the shepherd’s hut. Both were pleased with the result. Clare is in awe of what John is doing - he hates heights. The proliferation of fungi this year extended to the inside of one of the sheds.

Panel 1

Panel 2 on the way up…

…and being fixed in place

Ready for panel 3

Inside the shed. Possibly a Tawny Grisette

Inside the shed. Possibly a Tawny Grisette

17th September

Clare helped with the fixing of the last three roof panels with a certain amount of lifting and a lot of encouraging.

18th September

All the panels are now firmly fixed in place. We moved the ponies to the Meadow for 48 hours so that their hooves would chop up the sward a bit, in preparation for sowing wildflower seeds. We started stacking logs in the log shed at Liddells which we had emptied over last winter.

Chop, chop!

We won the panel game

Clare is concerned that John might have misunderstood her request for steps to get into the hut

20th September - Green Gym Day

We were delighted to welcome eight volunteers today, including three new recruits. Many thanks to Mark and Gill, John W, Tim, Barry, Sally, Jane E and Pat, and apologies to all for the paucity of photographs recording all the stupendous effort that went into the day. Clare was engrossed in seed sowing and rather forgot her role as recorder. By 3pm we had ticked all our tasks off the list - wall repair, adjusting the tubing to trees in the Top Strip, felling and logging after some of the damage in the wake of Storm Aileen, path weeding, clearing brambles and ivy out of the roadside wall and sowing wildflower seeds on the Meadow. Within seconds of tidying away at the end, the rain set in.

John, John and Sally seem to have an opinion about Barry’s lunch

The discerning amongst you might spot that the stakes are now secured outside the tubes rather than inside as we had done mistakenly before

The painstaking work of making small holes in the meadow and inserting pinches of seed

Weed free path

While we were all working, these ladybirds were indulging in their own choice of exercise. This gave rise to a question in the group as to the collective noun for ladybirds. Barry came up with ‘a Bangkok’! **

Bramble and ivy free wall, and this only shows a small section of the whole length that was cleared

A limb off the oak near the Wetland

A large limb off a dead tree in the Pit Wood. It’s good to leave dead trees as a habitat for insects and birds

This is the Ash from which it fell

** If you don’t get Barry’s joke, try saying the name of the insect with a Bronx accent

21st September

Eilidh began to prepare William for receiving a bit - she coated a stick with molasses. Once William realised he liked the taste, Eilidh managed to position the stick in his mouth to replicate how the bit will be. Both ended up very sticky.

Yum

A sticky bit!

There are still butterflies around. This Comma is on Purple Loosestrife in the Meadow

22nd - 26th September

John has been working on the panels that will fill the spaces below the roof on the shepherd’s hut. John and Clare finished sowing the last of the seeds on the Meadow; this included introducing our own Yellow Rattle seeds to the top quarter where the plant has yet to get established.

27th September

The first day of a week’s machinery hire. John is creating his own version of two radical movements from the Civil War and seeking to make an even platform for the hut. The first job was to make a drain behind where the hut will go.

The Digger in action

The beginning of a drain

The Leveller in action

Clare spotted this Red Admiral enjoying the late summer sun while she was on her way to reposition the trail camera

Our very own version of the Lambton Worm

Not quite a red carpet for the ponies, however we added the final touch to the extended mud barricades

28/29th September

Clare had spotted a lot of acorns in the Pit Wood and set the trail camera hoping to catch either a badger and/or a jay collecting or eating them. The camera picked up lots of activity, sadly most of it by grey squirrels although the very first capture was of a badger, even if you don’t get to see much of it. The sound is quite striking! We think the bird darting behind the tree in the fourth video, is a Jay.

29th September

Robbie arrived to dig out the first of the ponds. On the way he dug a trench for a new land drain near the spoil heaps by the Meadow. He also cleared some of the grips leading in to the pond to help with the water flow. John cut down and logged a couple of trees at the top of the Pit Wood.

The axeman cometh

30th September

Robbie finished the larger of the two ponds, adding an island with a Heron perching stone. He then moved on to work on the second pond, excavating this, creating another small island with Heron perch and establishing a roadway at the dammed end and had this all finished by early afternoon. And this from someone who was out carousing the night before - pretty impressive! John cut down more trees at the top of the Pit Wood to let light and space in for the younger planting. He also finished the drain Robbie had dug yesterday, making a French drain that is filled with gravel.

Looking north; Heron island left of centre

Looking south with opened up grips allowing for easier water flow

The spindly looking trees will not need to put on so much growth to reach the light

Robbie in a hole of his own making

The smaller pond with Heron perch and opened grip

Finished! This shows the new roadway with the Meadow in the distance. Delightfully for us, Robbie is as excited about the new ponds as we are. All we need now is quite a lot of rain.

August - a productive month

Last few days of July

Just to prove we did what we said we would do - 

We rather wish we had taken a 'before' photo so you could see just what an improvement this is.

And we made preparations for winter

Not-on-your-Nellie pants

HMS Pinafore

Hedgehog harem

Several swans a-swimming skirt

2nd August

We've put the trail camera back in the Scrub and clearly found a busy site, or perhaps the animals we captured on film were all off to Clare's sister's birthday celebrations. John says you can tell the doe is young because she has a baby face, a thin neck and her anal tush is not fully developed. Add that to your Liddells learning account.

4th August

John finished strimming huge lengths of path to enable our anniversary celebration guests to walk around Liddells and for them to sense what we have been up to in the last five years.

5th August

Robbie came and helped with logging. John repaired the fencing round the wet area in the Meadow. Tim sent us an identification challenge.

It's a Purple Hairstreak and a first for LIddells. Since these butterflies like to hang around the tops of oak trees, all credit to Tim for a) spotting it b) getting a photograph and also credit to Clare who guessed correctly

8th August

With the well-being of our guests and health and safety considerations in mind, John fixed the wobbly stile near the Pit Wood. Clare noted that her well-being had not prompted this repair before the party.

9th August

Several years ago John and Clare set up Rat Arts - regular meetings at their local pub, The Rat, which prioritise the human voice. Anyone is free to come and read, sing, recite, tell a story and/or listen. It's informal, great fun and well-supported. We have themes, which are open to individual interpretation, suggested by our regulars and the one for this day was Space. This was John's contribution:

The Available Space

The available space measures 11 feet 4 inches long by exactly 6 feet wide, and with a height of 7 feet 3 inches. This offers a cubic capacity of 492.95 cubic feet.

Given that an average adult, when resting, inhales and exhales about 7 to 8 litres of air per minute or 11,000 litres per day, this means that a person needs about 388 cubic feet of oxygen per day. So if a human was to take up residence in this available space they would be OK for about a day and a half, if not carrying out any strenuous exercise – which can be bad for a person at the best of times.  

However, the available space is not sealed like an air lock. It has no roof and five, at present, unglazed windows and a door which will let in drafts, so a person could theoretically survive there indefinitely given that another person was to provide food and water – and ideally alcohol.

If the occupying person became bored with the available space – which might be a period of hours, days, weeks, months or years depending upon the psychological make up of the person – the space could be put to other uses.

For example, one Mini classic motor car could fit in quite easily and two could be squeezed in if the wheels were taken off both and the second rested on the roof of the first. If each mini was filled to record capacity with 28 females (see the Guinness Book of Records for details) this would mean an occupation of 56 human females. No estimates are available as to how long such a gathering might survive in the available space despite, as already advised, the availability of unlimited oxygen owing to the lack of roof, five unglazed windows and a door which lets in drafts.

If the available space were to be given over to non human occupation, it would suffice for one three-quarter grown African bull elephant or a fully grown female.  In the absence of a step ladder the height of the elephant could easily be ascertained by measuring the length of its rear footprint, and in the case of the male multiplying by 5.8, and in the case of the female by 5.5.  Having established that the creature would fit in terms of its height, it would need to craned into the available space as the door which lets in drafts is too narrow to allow entrance by that route. The elephant, whether male or female, would not enjoy the available space because although it would be able to amuse itself for a while waving its trunk through one of the five unglazed windows or above its head because of the lack of roof, it would be unable to turn round and to try the four remaining unglazed windows and the alternative views they offer.  In any case an elephant is a stupid idea as they are probably the world’s most sociable creatures and keeping one, alone, in the available space would be cruel.  

The same could be said for giraffes, although the lack of roof and the availability of foliage provided by the nearby trees to the south would offer some sustenance for a while. But a diet of sycamore leaves would prove alien to a creature used to a variety of tropical vegetation.

Given the difficulties of keeping such large animals in the available space it seems wise to consider smaller options. The floor area is big enough to  accommodate fifteen National or Darlington beehives, both of which have a footprints of 292 square inches.  However this would prevent the beekeeper from managing the apiary as there would be no room left to move around, so the ideal number of hives would be seven and a half, but since there are no half hives, the eventual number would be seven. The problem of having an apiary surrounded by walls would not necessarily be problematic as the bees would soon learn to navigate by using the five unglazed windows and the open roof space.  Those of a particularly tenacious temperament might even try the door which lets in drafts so it might well let in bees also.

Those beekeepers addicted to the use of the Dadant and Langstroth Jumbo combination hives are advised to look elsewhere as they are just silly beehives and only used by those with gigantic beards who drive large 4x4’s with names like Wrangler, Renegade and  Invincible.

Seven sensible National hives in the available space, each with a population of approximately 50,000 bees, would mean a home for 350,000 of these tiny but highly intelligent and important pollinators, without which it is argued the human race would soon perish – though Trump does not believe this evidence, calling it fake news.

If the available space were seeking record status in providing accommodation, it might consider ants.  A single colony of wood ants can be 500,000 strong, but you wouldn’t go for wood ants as they have two bad habits.  They can spray formic acid 12 times their own length, the equivalent of being tasered by an angry copper, and they have very poor diversity figures - namely a life expectancy for males of only a few weeks, whilst queens (females that is) can live fifteen years and spend nine hours a day sleeping.  Also all wood ants are right-footed so the possibility of having a strong left midfield or a pacy left winger are nil.

The available space has thought long and hard about what might prove its best option in the long term and puts forward the following wish list: five glazed windows, a roof, a door which does not let in the drafts and a sign above which says Shepherds Hut – basic accommodation to let for two adults and a grand daughter.

11th August

The party - see separate blog post

12th August

Eilidh came to help with William and managed to pick out all four of his hooves. Next stop the foot trimmer. Eilidh also spent time leaning over William with as much weight as possible and tickling his sides where stirrups will hang - all to familiarise him with the sensations he will experience when he is ridden. As he passed all these tests with flying colours, Eilidh introduced him to the concept of trotting, which is a gait he has to learn. Rattling food in a bucket helped.

First move...

...a bit further...

...and a bit more...

...and all the way over...

...and William says "Enough," and starts to walk off

13th August

Today was a Green Gym Day however several of our stalwarts were busy so John and Clare went up and John felled a tree and Clare started clearing brambles and ivy out of the roadside wall. Then the rain came in so they went home thereby missing the two volunteers who arrived a short time afterwards. Whoops! We will be better organised for next month's session.

14-18th August

John felled more trees in the Top Strip. He is planning a third pre-emptive strike on the winter's mud that tends to surround the sheds and results in the need for antigropelos. (We really hope we have converted all of you to OED Word of the Day fans.) We have plotted the first two strikes on our learning curve. John will make posts from the felled trees and eventually fence off a much larger area. Of course the felling produced more brash ready for the next time we hire the chipper. Clare and John repaired the roadside wall in the North-east Strip. 

"Timber!"

Trimming

Future path coverage

Future fence posts

19th August

Robbie came again to help with logging. The Top Grazing offered us more forage.

Robbie would like us to point out that the photo was taken before he put on his helmet. So would John.

A breakfast's worth of field mushrooms

20-21st August

As Clare's walking is compromised this year (a hip replacement by Christmas with luck) John has undertaken the forage/jelly challenge. Clare spent a very sticky time with her honey. This is the first year she has had a good harvest and there is still a super - the box where the bees store the honey, and which sits above the brood box - to empty. A full super can yield between 35 to 40 lbs. The super Clare cleared was only half full. 

He even insisted on buying new jars...

...unlike Clare, who made do with what she could find!

21st August

Today was pony pedicure day. We are pleased to report that this time, only William's second with us, Stephen managed to trim all four of William's hooves. Many pieces of carrot were involved so he will be able to see excellently when he wanders round Liddells at night.

After this John turned to some hauling with Paul. Unfortunately just after Paul had started pulling the second bag of logs, he took fright and ran off, the bag trailing after him. We have no idea what spooked him. It was frightening for him and for us. He will need a period of recovery and we need to think deeply about where we go from here.

Clare has seen a Small Copper butterfly basking near the bee hives on several occasions lately. Tim said, "That's a fine photograph,"  - a photograph that was not easy to take while wearing a bee suit and rubber gloves - praise indeed!

 

 

William checking out what is involved

Very trim and neat

Small Copper 

23rd August

With Robert's (molecatcher) help, John continued with the anti-trench warfare project round the sheds. 

25th - 28th August

Postal work continues. Clare completed this week's butterfly transect survey while Tim is away. En route she found fungi in abundance. Another opportunity to ascend the learning curve. Any of you out there with knowledge to contribute, feel free.

IMG_2953.JPG

Could be Slippery Jack - 'edible rather than excellent'!

and underside

Russula aurora (possibly)

and underside

Bolbitius titubans (possibly)

and underside

June - 'I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June' L.M. Montgomery

1st June

We planted a bag full of English Bluebells donated by a friend with woodland. We planted them in the north-east area of the Pit Wood. Clare finished pulling out the last of the Sycamore seedlings from the Wildflower Meadow and found two thistles that had escaped her gaze. Thistles now removed.

2nd June

Shepherd hut progress - making crucial decisions on the design of the window frames. Our friend Stephen had read last month's blog and had been concerned about where we were going to find the necessary shepherd. First find your sheep. Keith, on the other hand, told us about wooden boxes, about the size of a chest freezer, that he had seen in Romania, that are for shepherds to sleep in overnight. A bit minimalist for us, however it would have been less work.

3rd June

Having put Paul's make-up on because he has had a louse infection (the same product that was recommended for infant eczema) we went for a stroll over the site. The first discovery was a fallen Rowan on the Wetland, a casualty of very strong winds. Water Avens and Aconite were out in the Pit Wood.

Slugs come in many colours. 

Paul tolerating make-up

Rotten to the core

Water Avens - they remind Clare of the Flower Fairy books she read as a child

Aconite

You can see why Aconite is also called Monkshood

Hide hiding

3rd, 4th, 5th June - three days at Number 11

What follows is a selection from over 400 videos taken over three days. We apologise for failing to provide a Springwatch-like analysis of frequency of visits, division of labour between male and female, items on menu, and completed customer satisfaction forms.

10th June

Pony Pedicure Day. Steven made one of his regular visits. Paul nailed it and William (this was a first for him with us) helped with pony treats, emerged with trimmed fore hooves, but not yet four hooves. John started to grapple with the shepherd's hut door.

Pick your feet up Paul

Nice muzzle nuzzle

Just a trim please

Caption competition - answers to liddellsreserve@gmail.com

I'm not in the least unhinged

Common Spotted Orchids on the Wildflower Meadow

Ragged Robin (one of Clare's favourites) on the Wetland

Great Tit chicks in their nestling down or neossoptiles (we hope you love the OED Word of the Day as much as we do)

11th June

Trail camera revelations - ballet pigeon and tod. John remembers one of his aunts reading Aesop's tale The Fox and the Crow to him in French

14th June - Green Gym Day

Having had to cancel a Green Gym Day last month, we were pleased this one went ahead. So clearly were our loyal supporters, one of whom, when told about the day, replied "Yippee!!!" The photos below would suggest Clare & John did no work at all. 

 

15th-20th June

John goes strimming crazy on paths in the Pit Wood, Orchard and Top Strip.

21st June

Mel and John trailered all the chip from beside the Wildflower Meadow to the Top Strip and topped up the path at the east end before retiring to the pub for a pint and a game of pool (as is their wont).

Clare inspected her bees before going away for a week (Clare not the bees) and discovered one colony had hatched a new queen who had mated successfully and was laying new brood. The other had failed to follow this fine example and had developed laying workers. The colony cannot be saved. Their honey can. 

Tim went to see the Solstice sunset from Liddells.

26th June

Tim issues a Peacock butterfly caterpillar alert

June 2016 - moving day for the bees

3rd June

Green Gym: Mel, Barry and Sally helped: chipper hired - all chip in Top Strip dealt with and pile west of Meadow. More thistles removed from Meadow. 

5th June

Tim saw a Small Heath butterfly on Liddells - a first.

7th June

Bees moved to apiary; Paul second and much improved lunging session; fox seen on Meadow; Paul walked down through Scrub on newly opened up path and back and then escaped back along this path through unclosed gate!

8th June

Grey squirrel on west wall; 2 deer on Top Grazing; Paul long-reined down path through Scrub and back. 

9th June

Clare completed thistle removal on Meadow and environs - 40 bags filled!

8th - 10th June

Much potting on of wildflower seedlings for planting out 2017. 

10th June

Paul has a saddle!

21st June

Paul long-reined to Codlaw for a week's assessment re exercise and training needs. 

22nd June

Keith came to conduct our third bird survey:  family of redstarts in the orchard!

24th June

2 Common Blue butterflies on spoil heaps west of Meadow; meadow pipit seen on Meadow!

June 2014 - more planting in the meadow

21st June

Restrimming path in Top Strip; path creation in Top Strip. 

26th June

Yellow Rattle seeds grubbed into wildflower meadow; work on high seat in NE Strip. 

27th June

John and I went round with Mel on a wildflower survey. 2 cuckoos heard nearby. 2 very large clusters of peacock butterfly caterpillars in Top Strip. 

30th June

More Yellow Rattle seeds grubbed into western section of wildflower meadow. Pair of bullfinches on Meadow seen from high seat. 

Honeysuckle on the Wetland

Common Spotted Orchid in the Pit Wood

Ragged Robin on the Wetland

Peacock butterfly caterpillars on nettles

May 2014 - the bird boxes prove popular; more planting and surveying

2nd May

Pair of willow warblers in larger of two large willows in Scrub. Herb Robert near neighbour's piglets; Daisies in Wildflower Meadow; Violets, Cowslips and Wood Sorrel in Pit Wood; transplanted Wild Garlic in Pit Wood now in bud; Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock) in verge west of Pit Wood; Self Heal, Water Avens, Violets and Sweet Woodruff in NW corner of Pit Wood; small pond found behind Oak adjacent to west wall in verge. 

14 nest boxes mapped:

  • Box 2 - 2 eggs
  • Box 12 - moss/hair
  • Box 8 - moss/feathers
  • Box 11 - 4 eggs
  • Box 9 - 3 eggs

All others empty. 

Blackcap heard in Pit Wood. Unidentified fungus on fallen branch in Pit Wood east of Nest Box 7 (photographed however photograph very poor; let's hope we can find it again). 

4th May

Remaining 6 bird boxes mapped - no activity; work started on high seat west of North-east Strip; Cowslips by spoil heap; peacock butterflies and small tortoiseshell, 2 unidentified whites; more work to clear SW boundary fence. 

5th May

More work on high seat and W boundary fence; Primroses on N facing slope of Pit Wood near spring; Stitchwort in Pit Wood; Marsh Marigold planted on S facing edge of spring run off pipe. 

15th May

Mel's wildflower survey - over 30 species recorded. 

16th May

We arrived early to meet Keith for a bird survey, and found mist sitting in the valley over the Pit Wood. We recorded 20 bird species seen and/or heard; highlights were garden warblers and tawny owl roosting on a Sycamoor in Pit Wood. Nest building in Box 12; blue tit sitting on 9 eggs in Box 8. 20 Setanta seed potatoes planted in Top Strip. We found our first Bluebells coming up in the Top Strip.

20th May

Second bumblebee survey. Hare on top grazing - it ran from its form as we approached down the verge. 

23rd May

Eggs hatched in Box 8; blue tit chicks in Box 11; tawny owl flew out of hawthorn at east-most point of orchard (7.45am). 

Herb Robert

Wild Garlic

Sweet Woodruff

Bugle

Violets

Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock)

Stitchwort

Clearing on the SW boundary

Marsh Marigold planting

Water Avens

Bluebells

Mist in the valley