Fungi

December - preparing for new growth

1st - 14th December

There has been very little activity seen on the trail cameras thus far in the month, however John (farmer) has now moved his sheep off the land which could make a difference.

15th - 17th December

After little evidence of activity in the Pit Wood the camera there has recorded some. This does seem to chime with the removal of the sheep even though the sheep were not in the Pit Wood. First you see the two buck kids from this year, then the younger doe with her single doe kid, a buck sporting the beginnings of his antlers (this is probably a buck born last year), a pair of hares, a very wary doe (her ears are working nonstop) and four deer all foraging in the same area.

17th December

John and Clare began preparation to plant eight new fruit trees in the Orchard - maybe a kind of nominative determinism. This area of Liddells had a very large patch of wild raspberries in the early days of John and Clare’s guardianship which gave rise to the name. Subsequently John and Clare planted a few fruit trees, none of which fruited particularly well; the new planting is based on advice about improving the chances of pollination.

As there is little to illustrate this Blog post thus far, here is a riveting picture of holes in the ground ready for the trees and one of sticky buds which are already apparent on the Horse Chestnuts.

19th December

Clare and John planted the first five of the new fruit trees. They met with Ruth again who showed them the areas she thought would be good sites for mist nets and bird-ringing.

21st December

With no joy from the trail camera focussed on the big pond, Clare moved the camera to the north-west corner of Liddells where she had noticed some deer slots. The move proved fruitful with footage of a doe, then of that doe with one of her two buck kids and the younger of the two mature bucks. Back in the Pit Wood the camera there recorded a badger going through. It seems as though the wildlife is back in residence.

22nd December

John and Clare planted the remaining fruit trees. They have planted 2 x apples, 2 x pears, 2 x damsons and 2 x plums.

23rd - 25th December

John has spent time hauling out brash from last month’s tree felling.

Returning from replacing a disc in the NW corner camera, Clare noticed evidence of much digging in the Pit Wood at the point where two paths converge. She suspected a badger and moved one of the cameras. Her detective instincts were proved right.

The camera is also positioned on a deer path to and from Liddells and a neighbouring field and has offered several clips of the deer. The most mature buck appears on Christmas Day and you can see how much bigger his antlers are than on the younger buck.

Clare had foraged some berries and foliage from Liddells to make a garland for the door at home. While sorting through the greenery she found a Bronze Shieldbug Troilus luridus. This is the fourth shieldbug species Clare has found this year. The Wildlife trusts website says:

‘Perhaps one of the more difficult species to spot, the bronze shieldbug lives amongst both broadleaf and coniferous trees and is most likely to be found in woodland habitats. Although it feeds on tree sap during its early stages of life, the bronze shieldbug is normally predatory and uses its long proboscis (straw like mouth parts) to feed on a variety of other insects such as caterpillars.

Shieldbugs go through several stages of growth, with the younger stages known as nymphs. Bronze shieldbugs normally reach their adult stage during July, overwinter as adults, then mate the following spring. There is only one generation a year…

A study on bronze shieldbugs discovered that males vibrate to create pulses of low-frequency sound, which is believed to be a call to attract nearby females. After the signal was given, the female approached the male and began to feel him with her antennae.’

Good, good, good, good vibrations.

26th December

Ruth and her son set up the first of the mist nets and reported that they had had some success - they caught a handful of birds including, ‘three goldcrest. Also a blue tit and a great tit both ringed … in 2018 and are therefore 5 years old!’ Ringing attempts in the next few days look to be thwarted by the weather. Ruth has sent a couple of photos to show the nets in place in the main path going through the Scrub.

28th December

More footage of deer in the Pit Wood. The following two clips show the difference in size between the mature buck and the buck from last year and the difference in size of their antlers.

30th December

A pair of hares seem to be playing ‘Here we go round the Hawthorn bush’ in the Pit Wood.

31st December

Since the sheep were taken off, the moles have been having a Hayfield day. There are molehills everywhere.

John and Clare finished hauling out the brash from the Top Strip. On her way back Clare noticed this attractive fungi on the end of a birch log. It could be Crimped Gill Plicaturopsis crispa.

Liddells is very wet after recent rain; as John said, “‘tis the season to be plodging". Tra la la la la.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Liddells this year - your encouragement and feedback is most appreciated. We wish you all the very best for 2024.

John and Clare

October - rock stars

As always, if you wish to see the video footage included in this post, which is unlikely to be included through the email link, go to the Liddells website at www.liddells.co.uk and click on the Blog page. The videos will be there.

Corrections and clarifications: TrogTrogBlog Chris, a continuing source of support and encouragement as well as being a mine of information, pointed out that the dragonfly basking on the tree trunk in the photo below in last month’s Blog post, was not a male Southern Hawker but a male Common Hawker. Significantly Common Hawkers are not that common, so this proved to be a bit exciting. Chris said the Common Hawker, ‘has paired dots on the terminal segments (fused in southern), long shoulder stripes (short in migrant hawker) and a characteristic pattern on S2.  It doesn’t show well in your photo but the costa (leading edge of the wings) is yellow - it is brown in migrant hawker.  Common hawkers are said to prefer acidic standing water.’ Clare has bought a water testing kit…

1st October

A late afternoon walk round Liddells and as John and Clare came up to the top of the Crag, John spotted two deer and three hares all grazing near each other on the Hayfield. Getting too close would have disturbed them so here is one of each.

Clare managed to identify another fungus thanks to the wildfooduk website. The fungus is an Orange Grisette and you can read more about it here.

2nd October

Excitement for Clare as Ian delivered the colony of bees for which she has been waiting. It seems to be quite a strong colony. Before opening the entrance Clare put a bundle of leafy branches in front of it so any emerging bees would realise they weren’t in Kansas any more and would reorientate. As soon as the entrance plug was removed Clare and Ian could see that happening as the emerging bees went off for short flights before returning to the brood box presumably to communicate this new information.

4th October

Clare put a clearer board on the new colony to remove the bees from the super above so that could be taken away leaving all the bees in the brood box for the winter. The clearer board stays on overnight - and is designed in such a way that the bees in the super go down to the brood nest for the night then can’t get back up into the super next morning.

Clare noticed fungi on a Birch tree in the Pit Wood; the growths looked like footholds for climbing. The fungus is, appropriately, Birch polypore. The birch polypore is also known as the 'Razorstrop fungus' because its rubbery, leather-like surface was once used to sharpen knives and razors. Probably a bit of a stretch to sharpen a chain saw.

5th - 19th October

Clare had noticed recent signs of excavation near a large boulder on one of the paths down the Crag. The boulder has cavities below although it isn’t possible to know how big these are. John set up a trail camera and he and Clare awaited results.

October 5th

The buck kid makes an appearance. You can just see the start of buttons appearing where his antlers will grow next year. He is also in full winter coat.

The big buck goes past eight minutes later, past offering a close-up of his fine head and gorget patches.

There was quite a lot of footage of a grey squirrel. John and Clare usually delete such footage (and grey squirrels), however since the footage provides evidence of all the wildlife in this small area, and of some of the excavation, here is one clip which shows the squirrel burying what is probably an acorn.

A hare also appears to be curious about what may lie under the rock.

October 6th

The first of several clips of a badger. The animal has a look down the hole and then appears to be curious about the red light on the camera.

A male pheasant walks past the camera. Pheasants are more usually seen in the woodland patches or the Scrub.

10th October

As a record of all the wildlife associated with this large rock, the slug also needs to be acknowledged. This one takes two minutes to cover a distance of about six inches. This perseverance merits the second clip although it is hardly going at a clip. Of course it might be for a slug. It doesn’t appear again in the footage so may have gone into a crevice or a Slough of Despond. You never can tell with slugs.

14th October

There were a few videos of field or wood mice (different names, same creature). This one gives the clearest view. It is possible that the mouse is storing berries and seeds under the rock.

A buck kid appears and is joined by another kid. As the first kid moves away there is a clear view of the caudal patch. A female would have an anal tush. The caudal patch is more prominent in winter and when the deer is alarmed the erectile hairs make the patch look bigger.

15th October

One of many video clips of rabbits. Here are two rabbits for the price of one.

16th October

A rabbit in a hole, although whether or not it is in a difficult situation is unknowable. It does go on to do some digging, adding to the evidence bag for the excavations. John and Clare thought readers might not need this particular piece of evidence.

With the damp weather have come an abundance of midges and mosquitoes. The camera has captured them in front of the rock.

19th October

There have been several badger visits, however this is the first in which a badger completely disappears into the hole beneath the rock. Four hours later two badgers investigate. Although badgers have frequently appeared in trail camera footage, John and Clare have never found a sett on Liddells. This footage might suggest these badgers are looking to set up a sett. Setting a precedent.

With more of her attention focussed on this area of the Crag than usual, Clare noticed a patch of moss or lichen that caught her attention. She has been unable thus far to identify it. Any ideas, please email.

There has been far more wildlife in this small area than either Clare or John had imagined. They have moved the camera now, however may well position it back in front of the rock at a later date.

Meanwhile back on the rest of Liddells:

7th October

Barry delivered a new colony of bees for Clare. The colony’s queen was raised from a frame of eggs from one of Clare’s colonies last year. After several weeks Barry had thought this had been unsuccessful and had left the bees to their own devices. After quite a while he thought he would check on them, expecting to find most of them dead, and was met with a thriving colony. As Clare was without bees at the time, he very generously offered them to her. While he and Clare were talking by the bottom gate a stoat made its way across the Meadow and stood up on its hind legs very close to the gate, displaying its creamy underside. It was one of those times when getting a camera out would have alarmed the creature so there is no photographic evidence of the moment.

14th October

The Spindle trees are resplendent in their pink berries. The berries have bright orange seeds and although they are poisonous to humans, they are food for mice and birds.

17th October

John saw six deer on Liddells today, four on the Hayfield and two along the top of the Crag.

18th October

The hay has been collected at last. John and Clare were concerned about it deteriorating in the wet weather.

This evening John gave the first in a series of six talks offered to raise funds for Liddells. This is all thanks to Keith, who a while ago had offered four of his talks to raise money for Liddells. John’s talk was one he had given locally a few weeks ago. He is now booked with several local WI groups. The evening represents how John and Clare are thinking about making Liddells more widely known and available to interested groups.

19th October

Clare heard and saw large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings while she walked round today. She also spotted three Goldcrests and noticed lot of Blackbirds - the winter visitors from Scandinavia are arriving.

22nd October

As Clare and John approached the top gate they saw about four and twenty black birds (irresistible) on the Oak at the top of the Crag; they were Rooks eating acorns. This is not behaviour either John or Clare have seen before.

John and Clare walked round in welcome sunshine to see if there was much damage from storm Babet. A couple of limbs had come off trees, the largest being from the Oak at the bottom of the Crag. The spring overflow was gushing water down the stream and water was coming up from the previous site of the spring a few yards east of where it is capped. This has only happened a couple of times before in the last ten years. As Clare captioned the photograph ‘Torrents’, she recalled a song by Elgar she had learned at choir, ‘As Torrents in Summer’ and wondered if there was an autumn version.

Large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings were eating hawthorn berries in the Pit Wood.

A male Southern Hawker was flying around near the Big Pond and a lot of bluebottles were basking on a couple of tree trunks nearby. The flies on one of the trunks appeared to be making use of a vertical groove in the trunk.

Clare noticed the advancing rot in one of the trees left to decay in the Pit Wood. Rotting wood adds to habitat diversity on the site as well as looking rather sculptural.

30th October

Rain has prevented much play on Liddells for a few days, however John has made the Hayfield secure for the sheep which will be arriving shortly. The Meadow road wall also needs attention before the sheep go on there - now on the list for the next dry spell.

John saw a Woodcock - this may be resident or one that has flown in. Regular Blog readers may recall that folklore has it that these birds arrive with the first full moon in November. This isn’t due until 27th November this year, so maybe this bird took advantage of the Hunter’s Moon on 28th October.

31st October

The stream down from the spring is fuller than it has ever been.

As the month ends, here are two images that speak of time to come. Two nascent trees, an Oak with a well placed understory of Holly growing in the Scrub and some lichen that could provide nourishment in a harsh winter. Clare’s friend Gillian reminded her that lichen only grows in areas of low/no air pollution which is a comforting thought about Liddells. This particular lichen is Ramalina farinacea. The trail cameras have captured roe deer eating it on Liddells in snowy conditions. The lichen is packed with carbohydrates (more pound for pound than potatoes), contains usnic acid which has anti-biotic properties against pneumonia, streptococcus and tuberculosis bacteria, and has anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and preservative qualities. If this winter proves to be particularly harsh, John and Clare might use it themselves.

September - time to rest

As usual, video footage can be accessed through the Blog page of the website: www.liddells.co.uk

2nd September

John and Clare have decided that the next ten years will involve less hard work, accordingly they had a stroll to begin the new month. Clare found a Harvestman occupying the Necessarium, Purple Loosestrife offering late forage for pollinators and the first fir cones on one of the young Scots Pines.

3rd September

Enough rest - Clare did some preparatory work for a small wall repair on the west boundary while John repaired fencing on the Hayfield in readiness for the sheep to come later in the year.

Clare found a Violet already in flower on the edge of the Pit Wood.

Clare was delighted to see a Spotted Flycatcher from the hide. These birds haven’t been seen since early in the season. This one may have been feeding up en route south or it may have been around the whole time.

A hare in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood demonstrates the art of stretching.

4th - 5th September

John and Clare completed the wall repair then John extracted an unused hurdle from long grass while Clare used a crowbar to dig up some buried coping stones on the Hayfield. Unfortunately the crowbar slipped. As Clare takes most of the photos, not many of her appear in the Blog - good to swing the balance a bit; it would have been better not to swing the crowbar.

There has not been much activity on the roadside pond this season so Clare was delighted to spot this female Southern Hawker ovipositing near the edge.

9th September

Always good to see later flowering plants for the pollinators. Here a bee forages on Michaelmas daisies in the Meadow.

It was the local Village Show this morning and John won a first prize for his photo of a Spotted Flycatcher taken earlier in the summer, and Clare won a second prize for the Red Admiral photograph from last month’s blog post.

A kid shows off its pronking skills in the Pit Wood.

11th - 12th September

Another new insect discovery, this time a Sun fly Helophilus pendulus. It is a hoverfly and its scientific name means ‘dangling marsh-lover.’ It was neither dangling nor on a marsh. While Clare was giving some syrup to the bees, she noticed a beetle had fallen into one of the wasp traps. She fished it out and wrapped it in a tissue to bring home to check the identification. It was a Smooth Ground beetle and as you can see from the photograph, appeared pretty much dead, however the next day Clare was surprised to see it climbing out of the compost bucket where she’d put it. Another dramatic drowning insect rescue and revival.

In the gloom a badger marks territory on the edge of the Pit Wood.

13th September

John and Clare were delighted to welcome Linda F back to walk round Liddells with a view to some creative writing activity in the future. While Linda and Clare were exploring they saw a male Southern Hawker basking on a tree trunk and a female Common Darter basking on a stone, both by the Big Pond. They also noticed a group of Puffballs that had released their spores.

After Linda had left, Clare went foraging for this year’s Hedgerow Jelly and foraged quite a few creatures with the fruit - two different shield bugs and two species of spider. None of them will go into the jelly. Clare also videoed a Speckled Wood foraging on the blackberries. The butterfly seems to prefer the fruits that have gone over slightly.

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Birch Shield Bug - this is about the size of a ladybird

Eurasian armoured long-jawed orb-weaver Metellina segmentata

Clubiona comta

14th September

The doe with twins sets about grooming them.

22nd September

Clare discovered that as well as the familiar Bluebottle fly, there is a Greenbottle - here is one on Michaelmas daisies.

23rd September

Catching Covid has left John and Clare unable to do little more than gentle strolls on Liddells, however today Clare enjoyed sixteen sightings of hares - of course several were probably the same hare or hares, however the views certainly helped lift the spirits. There were five at one time on the Hayfield.

25th September

Yet another recuperative stroll and watching a hare run away on the edge of the Pit Wood alerted Clare to an Elm tree she had never noticed before. It’s quite small and much higher up the bank than the ones already identified. Liddells continues to surprise.

26th September

One of the does shows how much her coat is changing to winter colours. She also shows gorget patches. John has read some commentators who think that these are more prominent in winter.

28th September

John may not be working much, however Clare discovered that he had invested in a new toolbox dedicated to spanner activity. It takes all sorts. Clare was amused by the double sense of this and decided to see if there are any spanner jokes available. Of course there are. Once again Liddells proves to be a route to consciousness raising.

29th September

Michaelmas Day - the day that marks the end of harvest, the start of winter and the beginning of shorter days. Oak leaves are on the turn.

The doe with twins is quite clear with them that milk is off the menu. Maybe she too needs a rest. It looks at this stage as if both kids might be bucks.

Hares seem to be playing Hide and Seek.

August - Hay nonny nonny nonny yes

Video footage can be seen through the website: www.liddells.co.uk

1st August

The heather on the Crag is starting to come into flower and offers late summer forage for many insects although Clare has never seen a honey bee taking advantage of the on-site nectar. Clare and John are still hoping for some dry, warm days when the grass can be cut, however the rain persists.

3rd August

There haven’t been many hares on the Blog of late, mainly because they mostly just run past the cameras, so to make up for their absence, here is a two-for-one offer.

5th - 20th August: the rut - these dates are not precise, however they do give an idea of the period involved. John has been watching out for signs of the rut for a while; the trail cameras have provided some evidence. (* denotes footage below, PW = Pit Wood, SCR = Scrub). John thinks the height of the rut this year was on the 13th, thereafter the activity declined, the bucks’ movements are less intense and the kids start to reappear. The footage demonstrates that over a short period of time there have been three bucks, one doe with one kid and one doe with two kids (probably the remaining two of original triplets) sharing the same territory.

5th PW 05.21, 05.49, 07.19, 08.31, 11.08, 11.11, 13.20, 14.51 and 17.53 (big buck, the younger buck at this point seems to have got the message from the older one and left)

6th PW 01.11 (buck), 06.20 (buck), 07.03 (buck), 10.15 (doe), 10.16 (buck), 10.18* (a buck chasing a doe, however John spotted that this is a different and younger buck. The antlers are shorter and the tip of one looks as though it might be broken. The coronet at the base and the pearls are pronounced. It could be one that was around last year drawn back by the prospect of mating), 10.39 (big buck), 13.31 (doe)

7th PW 6.02, 11.55, 14.52, 16.54, 20.48 and 22.41 (big buck)

7th SCR 05.10, 10.44, 14.00, 17.35, 17.36 and 23.49 (big buck)

8th PW 00.15 (big buck), 06.35 (doe), 08.27 (big buck), 08.28* (big buck driving a doe), 11.39 (big buck), 11.54 (doe), 12.07 (doe), 14.15 (big buck), 22.22 (big buck)

9th PW 05.38 (doe), 05.52 (doe), 12.30 (big buck), 23.27 (doe), 23.51 (big buck)

10th PW 08.35 (doe)

11th PW 11.48 (doe), 12.54 (big buck), 12.58 (big buck

12th PW 18.55* (two bucks)

13th PW 04.26 (big buck), SCR 05.45 (‘broken antler’ buck), PW 09.02* (‘murder’ buck has returned and is seen chasing off a kid, another deer maybe the doe in the background), PW 09.18 (two deer, one definitely a buck), PW 09.24 (big buck), SCR 10.37 (buck ? broken antler), PW 12.01, 13.08, 16.06 (broken antler), 19.38, 19.44 (doe) 19.55 (broken antler buck and doe)

14th SCR 06.18 (deer ? sex), PW 06.42, 06.46 (doe), 07.05* (‘murder’ buck driving doe), 07.21 (broken antler), 08.24 (2 kids), 08.25 (doe),08.46, 08.55 (broken antler buck), 16.29 (doe) 19.05* (doe and kid; this shows the rain on hayfield cutting day)

15th SCR 04.54 (doe), 06.19* (doe and two kids), PW 07.58 (deer ? sex), 09.35 (doe), 09.36 (doe), 09.39 (doe and kid)

16th PW 05.57 (doe)

17th SCR (doe + two kids), PW 18.08 (doe and kid); 23.30 (doe)

18th PW 06.05 (big buck), 07.14 (doe), 17.29 (big buck)

19th PW 17.54* (big buck), 19.10 (big buck)

20th PW 16.05* (kid - possibly a buck), 16.07* (second kid), SCR 19.59 (doe), 20.00 (kid).

Meanwhile:

6th August

There is a tiny bit of footage, too brief to include, from the Scrub (the camera’s batteries were failing) showing the kid with the doe. The kid hasn’t been seen for a while on either camera. The remaining battery life allowed for a glimpse of a stoat.

An insect feeding on Ragwort caught Clare’s eye. It is an Eriothrix rufomaculatus, described in Wikipedia’s somewhat disparaging tone as ‘a rather common fly,’ which inhabits hedges, grasslands, fields, meadows. Surprisingly for a common insect, it only has a Latin name.

John’s car offered a perch for this Willow Beauty moth Peribatodes rhomboidaria. Apparently ‘the adults can be found by day at rest on tree trunks’. And Land Rovers.

Chris arrived with his log-splitter which made short work of the timber John had brought up to the shed. Clare went into stacking mode.

A hen pheasant shepherds her two chicks in the Pit Wood.

8th August

Clare is pleased to see insects taking advantage of the last of the flowering plants on the Meadow. In the foreground, on Knapweed, is a Buff-tailed bumblebee. (The bee in the background may be the same however the focus is not good enough to be sure.)

9th August

A hare has a change of mind in the Pit Wood and footage from the Scrub reveals the reason for the Blackbird’s alarm calls.

11th - 12th August

Walking around after stacking logs, Clare noticed a Yellow-sided sawfly Tenthredo notha, and acorns developing on one of the Oak trees. Tim reported that he had seen Purple Hairstreak butterflies at the top of an Ash next to the Oak where they were seen last year.

Although in two different video clips, footage shows the kid still with the doe. It would seem that this kid is a buck. Footage in daylight shows that it has pretty much lost its spots.

13th August

John and Clare had planned a barbecue to celebrate looking after Liddells for 10 years. Fortunately the rain held off and it was all good fun. The barbecue John built worked splendidly as did the barbecuer. Mathilda, Hal, Beth and Juno had brought thoughtfully chosen gifts and their continuing support. Clare had devised a Nature Charades game which induced much hilarity. The day ended with an unplanned bit of log rolling. Mathilda and Clare saw Common Darters on the Big Pond. The Shepherd’s Hut is proving to be a magnet for moths, usually Large Yellow Underwings Noctus pronuba, however on Saturday there was also a Dark Arches moth Apamea monoglypha. There were several butterflies on the thistles on the Hayfield and Clare was appropriately proud of her photograph of a Peacock. The Village Show is not far off; maybe Clare will challenge John for a photography prize this year. Clare and John had a walk around after the others had left and found (what Clare thinks is, but didn’t want to get too close to and disturb), a Southern Hawker perched on a willow whip. Clare and John decided they might just take a well-earned break and do non-Liddells things for a week. This proved wise as the weather continued to be wet and it would have been too disheartening to keep seeing the hay not being made.

The cake was made (not by John or Clare) using honey from Clare’s bees, foraged blackberries and edible flowers

You might notice that only three people are putting in any effort. There are two supervisors

14th August

Tom had been unable to cut the Hayfield and Meadow on Sunday so came this morning instead. It was drizzling but not too bad, however the rain developed with the day and turned into probably the wettest day of the summer thus far. Heigh ho, or rather hay no.

15th August

Better weather and the hay showed signs of drying out. All digits are crossed for the weather to hold until the hay is baled. Clare has begun her annual attempt to learn more about fungi. She also rescued a Hawthorn fly from the roadside pond.

Rufus milkcap

Rufus milkcap showing gills

Sulphur tuft

Meadow waxcap

and gills

Imperilled Hawthorn fly

Drier Hawthorn fly - no CPR required

17th August

An example from the Scrub of how different species can be indifferent to each other; although at first the doe appears to notice the hare and the hare to pause when it confronts the doe, both animals carry on with whatever they are busy doing.

22nd August

The hay is still on the ground - it keeps getting nearly dry and then the rain starts again. All very dispiriting, however today two families visited with young children and they lifted spirits with their enthusiasm. Both families enjoyed pond-dipping and found baby newts, water spiders, water boatmen and lots more besides. Sharp ears detected a Common Field Grasshopper and sharp eyes a Harelquin ladybird. Jane noticed Purple Brittlegill fungus. The afternoon group asked for a story in the story-telling circle and Clare began a dramatised version of Goldilocks. At the point where Goldilocks tries Baby Bear’s chair and breaks it, Clare sat on one of the benches and it broke! Her commitment to the theatrical arts is second to none. No one was hurt during the performance.

The Guelder rose plants in the Orchard are looking very autumnal.


She sat in the small chair. “This chair is just right,” she sighed. Just as Goldilocks settled down into the chair to rest, it broke into pieces!

One of the does is showing clear signs of beginning to lose her summer coat.

One of the kids looks as if it might be a buck and the other a doe, however it is still too soon to be absolutely sure.

23rd August

Barry was able to get up to Liddells and bale the hay at last. Sixteen and a half bales this year. The meadow has to wait a bit longer for Tom to be free with his square baler.

Proof of baling

26th August

John decided to start picking rowan berries for this year’s rowan berry jelly. Back at home he called Clare over to see a Hawthorn Shieldbug on the kitchen table that had probably hitched a ride with the rowan berries. The photo is included in the Blog as the bug came from Liddells.

29th August

Just when the rut seemed to be over, the new buck on the block chases a doe through the Scrub.

30th August

Tom has rowed up the hay on the Meadow ready for baling. With good luck and the proverbial following wind, there may be bales by the end of the month.

Leaving Liddells today, Clare noticed how many plants are making their way through the rubble roadway. She identified Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Dwarf Spurge, Fat Hen, Groundsel, Greater Plantain, Rosebay Willowherb, Mousear, Marsh Thistle, Forget-me-not, Creeping Thistle and Creeping Buttercup - it will soon be a green road.

Row, row, row your hay

Two more moths perched for long enough for Clare to take quick photographs. The first is a Pale Straw Pearl, which Clare thinks sounds like a colour in the Whites section of a paint chart. It is a frequently seen tiny white moth, barely over two centimetres in length. The second is medium sized - a Shaded broad-bar. Clare found another fungus new to her. It is a Blushing Bracket fungus Daedaleopsis confragosa; Clare wondered how Daedalus had become involved in the name and thought the smaller piece resembled a moth. Honeysuckle is still in flower - always good to see forage for pollinators late in the season.

Pale Straw Pearl moth

Shaded Broad-bar moth

Blushing bracket fungus

31st August

Squeaking, or rather chirruping into the Blog at the last minute, a Common Green Grasshopper appeared almost exactly where the Common Field Grasshopper had been seen a few days ago. Hard to get a photo, however you can see that it is green.

STOP PRESS! The meadow hay was baled this afternoon. Phew!

November - fog, fog blog

For those of you who had difficulty loading the last post, there are fewer videos this month, so it should be easier. As ever, go to the website: www.liddells.co.uk and access the Blog from there to see all the video footage.

October’s Blog was posted before John and Clare saw the Halloween activities in the Pit Wood. One hare is joined by another, but can you see the deer as well?

Although the footage is in black and white, the small birds in the Pit Wood can be identified as Bullfinches - you can see the white rump of the one flying off to the left.

An owl makes a Halloween sortie and its movements suggest it was successful.

2nd November

A fox makes its way through the Pit Wood.

3rd November

Footage of a hare nibbling shows its markings very clearly.

5th November

A fox in the Pit Wood again; it’s hard to know whether or not it is the same fox as a few days earlier, however this one seems to have a kink at the end of its tail that is not so evident in the other one.

More footage of a Jay in the Scrub and as it flies off there is a brilliant flash of the blue in its wing feathers. Jays often appear here in the Scrub as do grey squirrels. It’s possible they are raiding each other’s stashes.

6th November

John fixed catches to the shutters and a handle to the door of the meeting room. The choice of handle is particularly satisfying as it is a recycling of a fixture from the old pony shelter.

Clare found a fungus she had not seen before. It resembles tiny ghostly trees. Thus far she has been unable to identify it. Any suggestions welcome.

Footage from the Pit Wood shows the backs of two hares as they run past the camera, however the source of the squeaking is a mystery. Clare wondered if it was a roe kid, however John thinks this is unlikely given the maturity of the kids now. Any ideas?

9th November

John finished varnishing the meeting room floor.

10th November

More owl footage. A Tawny Owl again finds prey in the Pit Wood.

12th November

Clare brashed a path to the group of Aspens (two newly planted and Juno’s tree) in the Pit Wood and managed to punch herself in the nose with the long loppers. Memo: never tug towards the face. She felt very foolish and very sore and with a black eye as a momento. The path looks nice though.

13th - 16th November

Clare began the annual cleaning of the nest boxes ready for next year. She found the remains of a wasp nest in one, the vacated nest of tree bumblebees in another and lots of woodlice in several.

John worked on logging and moving the remains of the fallen oak branch in the Orchard.

The doe with two of the triplets, the buck and one of the does, forage in the Pit Wood.

The next day one of the kids appears limping. This is similar to last year although there is no obvious injury to the kid. Clare wonders whether with triplets, one might become slightly more vulnerable if it is always last in the queue for food or attention. This year the cameras have shown that one of the three kids, a doe, is habitually slightly behind and more separate from the others. Meanwhile the single kid and the other doe have been seen together and are apparently healthy. John says that in deer world generally, survival rates are thought to be in the region of 30%. In the case of roe deer the figure may well be higher.

18th November

After considerable rain yesterday, Clare was delighted to see the roadside pond fuller than it has been in months and water coming out of the overflow pipe.

19th November

The Hexham Village Band came to plant an Oak tree for one of their members who has died. It was a very touching ceremony. After the planting the band became the first users of the meeting room. They managed to squeeze in 20 players even though one end of the space was full of wood ready to be made into tables and benches. You will note the creative use of the window.

20th November

Sadly Clare and John saw first the carcass of a hare on the path below the Scrub, then Woodcock feathers a bit further on. A Sparrowhawk is probably responsible for the Woodcock. Hares continue to turn up on the trail cameras, so there are still some around.

23rd November

Mel came to help John with tree maintenance, mostly replacing stakes and tubes on the Wetland and in the Pit Wood.

26th November

John completed cleaning out the nesting boxes, which meant climbing up the the three Clare couldn’t reach.

27th November

The Scrub trail camera captures a lone doe kid with a very slight limp and what looks as if it might have been a wound near her front right shoulder. If this is so then it seems as if the kid is getting better, though separated from the family.

29th November

Clare had found a lovely passage in November’s section of Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year, and sent John off with his camera to produce some illustrations. He was somewhat hampered by the dense fog that covered the land, however he managed to augment the writing with his creative eyes and with other treats from Liddells bosky areas.

‘A Leafy November

On some of the oaks the inner leaves were still greenish, while those on the outer boughs were brown, and the mingling of the two tints seen at a little distance under the sunshine produced a remarkable and pleasing colour. Other oak trees had assumed so red a brown as to approach a copper colour…Between the dark Scotch firs the foliage of the beeches seemed warm red. The branches of the larch had a fluffy appearance, caused by the yellow needles which had partly separated but had not yet fallen…Birches, too, except just at the corners of the copses or in isolated positions, were not yet bare…while whole hedgerows full of maple bushes glowed with orange. The sun shone brilliantly day after day, lighting up the varied hues of the trees and hedges and filling the woodlands with beauty.’

From Chronicles of the Hedges, 1879, Richard Jeffries (1848-1887)

Hawthorns on the Meadow

Oak

Scots pine

Beech

Larch

Birch

Maple

Sycamore

Guelder rose

?

Hazel

Juniper

Alder

Wild cherry

Corsican pine

Clare was amused to see that today’s OED Word of the Day is bockety: ‘of a person: unable to walk without difficulty; infirm, lame. Also of a body part: injured, impaired’. The dictionary word chooser seems to know that Clare is due for a hip replacement next week. She looks forward to being less bockety in the New Year.

Thanks to Mathilda for this month’s blog post title; the month seems to be ending in typical November weather; ‘Dark November brings the fog/ Should not do it to a dog.’ (Flanders and Swan)

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.










September - it all goes to show

For new readers - when you receive the Blog email, use it as a prompt to read the Blog on the Liddells website: www.liddells.co.uk The videos won’t be available through the email.

August Post Script

It appears that grey squirrels can eat fly agaric mushrooms, so the animated antics featured in last month’s blog may be due to the fungus’ hallucinogenic effect. Videos from 30th August show a stoat behaving similarly, however stoats are carnivores so maybe this one was naturally exuberant.

1st September

The sub-heading for this month in Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year is ‘Airy Spheres of Thistledown.’ The phrase comes from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

Farmer Barry took the hay off the Top Grazing.

2nd September

Clare had a friend over from Weardale and they sowed Yellow Rattle seeds on the Top Grazing. They encountered a frog near the feeders. Clare continued her work on the big pond.

The two does and their kids are obviously sharing the same space. They all go through the Scrub regularly though a single kid is now frequently seen there on its own and not all the triplets appear together each time they are caught on camera.

3rd - 4th September

More work for John on the classroom floor and for Clare on the big pond, where she saw another frog. The herons clearly haven’t eaten them all.

Clare made a note of all the recordings on the trail camera over a 24 hour period:

5.29 Eyes at hare height in the mist

6.11 Doe + large moth moving north to south in the mist

6.32 Rabbit in the half-light

7.25 Hare going east then turning south

9.29 Doe travelling west

10.17 Hare going east

12.18 Blue tit attacking the camera

12.34 Sound of camera attack and fluttering wings

15.25 Lone kid moving east

16.47 Doe foraging behind the hawthorn

20.06 Hare paused in half-light

20.07 Hare still there

20.08 Hare runs off east

20.12 Nearly dark, doe going east; blackbird alarm calls

12.15 Doe and one kid

20.15 Doe and kid eating

20.18 One kid joined by another; much scratching

20.18 Both kids foraging

20.23 Hare running through going east, several moths

22.02 Fox approaches from east, changes direction and leaves south

5th - 7th September

Clare knew two bee colonies needed feeding with sugar syrup as they had eaten all their stored honey. It was first necessary to remove the super (box with frames for honey), so Clare added a clearer board. This has a slightly complicated route for the bees to find their way through and down into the brood box, however the smell of the queen is an enticement for them to work it out. It is harder for the bees to find their way back up. Clare returned early the next morning only to find a lot of bees still in the super. This was unusual as the board had worked well on several previous occasions. Clare brushed the bees off and managed to add a syrup feeder without getting stung though did pause when she had to retrieve a crown board (the board that sits on top of the boxes and under the roof) from the shed. The penny eventually dropped - she had put the clearer board on top of the super instead of underneath. Clare then put the clearer board in the correct place under the super of the second colony and went to continue her work on the big pond feeling ever so slightly foolish. A sparrowhawk swooped through the feeding station, though again no birds were taken.

John finished using up all the boards salvaged from the storm damaged sheds last November.

Finally there is substantial rain. The island in the big pond is once more an island.

Footage of one of the kids shows how the spots on its coat are fading.

Further videos of the doe and triplets. You can see mutual grooming in the second clip.

10th September

The day began with an auspicious sign for John. The Guardian cryptic crossword featured the following clue: ‘Fishy food reportedly expensive, one ruminates’ (3,4) Answer at the end of this blog post.

Clare and John joined in with the local Village Show. Clare was thrilled to win a First Prize for her fruit scones and Second Prizes for cheese scones, rock buns and shortbread biscuits. John, however, completely swept the photographic board with photos he had taken on Liddells. So well did he do that he came home with a trophy. The label for the long-tailed tit doesn’t really do justice to John’s achievement.

Meanwhile the stoat appears in the Scrub again.

Clare declared the restoration of the big pond’s wall complete.

Footage of the kids in the evening shows they can be distinguished as two does and a buck.

11th September

John started working on the east wing of the classroom.

The deer are seen very frequently on the Scrub camera. A doe runs away and you can see how the white hair on her rump goes erect when the animal is alarmed, making a much larger white patch (target) visible. One kid appears on its own and its squeaking is audible. The triplets all try to suckle. When kids are very young is it almost impossible to distinguish what sex they are; here you can see the differentiation on their rump markings in daylight, to show that there are two does and a buck. Later the buck kid tries again to suckle, however the doe is clearly trying to deter him.

On her walk home, Clare saw an exquisite seed head lying on the path. There were no wildflowers nearby except Creeping Thistle and Yarrow and it is not from either of them.. Any identification help would be gratefully received.

12th September

Clare was delighted to show a group from the local National Women’s Register round Liddells. She had been concerned that it was a bit late in the season to see much of interest and was pleased to be proved very wrong when she did a wildflower survey the day before the group arrived. Initially she found over 30 species still in flower and this number increased to 38 by the end of the visit. Particularly striking were the violets out on the west verge of the Pit Wood. There were also Red Admiral, Large White and Speckled Wood butterflies, Southern Hawker and Common Darter Dragonflies and Emerald Damselflies, and a variety of birds on the feeders. The group made a very generous donation by way of a thank you - Clare and John have bought two Aspen saplings to join and talk to Juno’s tree, and they will buy wildflower plugs in the Spring.

After the visit Clare started digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge leading in to the big pond. She noticed a large number of tiny pond snails on a rock in the pond.

John completed the door to the classroom. He considers it to be the best door he has yet made. He has made a lot of doors.

Violet

Common Carder bee on Red Clover

Proliferation of pond snails - any suggestions for an appropriate collective noun will be welcome

John admiring his door

13th September

Clare dug out more of the pond channel. There have been numerous male Common Darters around but very few females. This female obligingly paused on a fence post for long enough for Clare to get her phone camera out. The male Southern Hawkers that have been around don’t rest like the darters, though they will come teasingly close, however they move so fast it is very difficult to photograph them. Clare managed to get one in a shot with her phone camera. If you would like to see really splendid photographs of dragonflies, visit trogtrogblog.blogspot.com

Every autumn Clare determines to learn to identify more fungi and then remembers how difficult it is to be sure of the identification. She thinks the bracket fungus featured below might be Turkeytail.

Female Common Darter

Male Southern Hawker

14th - 19th September

John had his trail camera on the Meadow. He enjoyed the footage of the hare so much, it was only on the third viewing that he noticed the deer in the background.

Two hares appear in the Scrub again. A kid appears to be on Robinwatch.

Two clips of a stoat in the Scrub. In one it appears to be going round in circles; in the second it is chasing a hare, which is considerably larger than the stoat.

Clare finished digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge. All that is needed now is the water to run through it into the pond. She saw the remains of a hare near the roadside pond - maybe the stoat had been successful in its hunting.

A rabbit is at cross purposes with a hare.

In the Pit Wood, the doe with a single kid (identified as another doe), are foraging on fallen leaves.

There is a fast and furious chase sequence involving birds, a hare and a fox.

John makes substantial progress on the east end of the classroom.

21st September

John raised the roof on the east end of the classroom. Clare saw three hares while walking round.

24th September

A successful fox hunt. It is not clear what the fox has caught.

25th September

Footage of one of the does shows her losing her summer coat.

26th September

The east end of the classroom is nearly fully boarded out. Shutters and flooring remain on the to-do list.

While smearing the stump in front of the hide with her highly popular (with the birds) peanut butter paste mix, Clare noticed a significant flourish of Sulphur Tuft fungus.

The ‘Murder Buck’ appeared again in the Pit Wood. (For any new subscribers, this is a mature buck that has antlers devoid of any tines. That is to say the antlers will resemble two long spikes, without the traditional brow and rear antler tines. The reason that this type of beast is called a 'Murder Buck' comes from the damage that this type of buck can cause to an opponent when sparring.

29th September

John and Mel planted nearly 40 hazel saplings in the stump circle and on the verge of the Pit Wood. Many thanks to Kathryn R for donating the plants.

Finally for lagophilic readers, a hare, which is somewhat startled by a blackbird, to end this post. On a whim, Clare searched to see if there were any relevant fables. She found a print instead.

30th September

For the botanists among readers, the wildflowers still out on 11th/12th September were: Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Bush Vetch, Buttercup, Chickweed, Common Cat’s Ear, Clover (Red), Clover (White), Common Daisy, Dandelion, Eyebright, Foxglove, Goldenrod, Groundsel, Hawkbit, Heather, Hedge Woundwort, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Meadow Vetchling, Michaelmas Daisy, Nipplewort, Ragged Robin, Ragwort, Red Campion, Red Hemp Nettle, Ribwort Plantain, Self Heal, Sow Thistle (Prickly), Thistle (Creeping), Thistle (Marsh), Thistle (Spear), Tormentil, Tufted Vetch, Water Mint, Wild Carrot, Willowherb (Broad-leaved), Willowherb (Rosebay), Violet, Yarrow

The answer to the crossword clue is ‘roe deer’.

January 2022 - You must remember this, an osculation is still an osculation

1st January

In the absence of a bonfire to mark the end of 2021, Clare found fiery looking fungus and liked the idea of it growing on decaying matter - new life from old. She also found a different fungus and sticky buds.

Yellow brain fungus - also known as Witch’s Butter

Jelly ear fungus - so called for obvious reasons. This is on elder.

Sticky buds on Horse Chestnut

2nd January

The trail camera in its new position on the west edge of the Pit Wood is capturing many images of hares. Here is the first of the year.

3rd January

Janet and Peter came to plant a Hornbeam that Janet had chosen. She chose a site near the two Hornbeams Clare had been given two years ago, in the hope that they will communicate with each other. This is not a fanciful idea: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/ Clare has noticed that the first Field Maple that Mel had donated stayed in a relatively dormant state until a second one was planted next to it, two years later. The first seemed to suddenly put on more growth and now both saplings are about 50 cm high, even though one is older that the other.

Planting…

…and protecting

4th - 6th January

The trail camera captures the young buck (his buttons are visible on his head), and hares in the snow, one of which is foraging on rush as it pokes above the snow.

7th January - 15th January

John continues to work away at clearing shed debris and preparing a new base for the tool shed.

Footage from one of the cameras shows a buck in velvet - the antlers appear soft and rounded-looking in their protective cover.

A fox strides through the Pit Wood.

A badger’s attention is caught near the camera in the Pit Wood - this is where the hares frequent so it may be their scent that the badger investigates.

The older and younger doe are seen together in the Pit Wood.

Back to base-ics

16th January

John saw all four members of the deer family on the Top Grazing this morning. It was the first time the limping doe had been seen with the others for a while although she has appeared on her own on the trail camera in the Scrub.

John completed the subframe for the tool shed.

The hares show a turn of speed.

17th January

This was the first of several days John and Clare had set aside for tree maintenance, specifically checking tubes and stakes on all the planting. They completed the task in the Orchard and half the Wetland, where pruning some of the leggy Willows provided more whips to plant.

Clare and John planted three more fruit trees in the Orchard to join Beth’s pear - a Conference Pear, a Damson and an Egremont Russet (this last kindly donated by Stephen to help offset some of the trees lost to Storm Arwen).

On the way through the Pit Wood John and Clare noticed an Elder that had been slightly blown over by the storm and was now obstructing the path, however the change of position revealed wonderful examples of inosculation. The Elder can now be recognised as a ‘gemel’.

Catkins have appeared on the old Hazel at the corner of the Orchard and the Pit Wood.

18th January

Ever since 18th December, when ‘brume’ appeared in Word Perfect, Clare has been hoping for the conditions that would allow her to use it. Today was the day. The Scrub camera captured the mist earlier in the day.

'Brume,’ a winter mist, might follow ‘the intensity of a ‘heller’: a bitterly cold winter’s day named after the dwelling of the dead…[it is] the perfect word for the low-lying vapour that shrouds the land on a frosty morning; its roots lie in the Romans’ word brumalis - ‘belonging to the winter’…Robert McFarlane also reminds us of the ‘myst-hakel’ from Middle English, literally a ‘mist’cape’ - a fog or mist that mantles and cloaks the earth’.

John and Clare continued moving logs that had fallen, with the storm, onto the back of the log shed and finally cleared it ready for the rebuild.

Tree maintenance completed in the Top Strip.

Brume

And while talking of all things osculatory…

19th January

The Scrub camera frequently captures footage of hares. Clare noted that in a 24 hour period, there were 14 such videos, and on 5 of these a hare ran down the path away from the camera, only to return within 1-2 minutes. Clare imagines it like the White Rabbit in Alice, muttering, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Though for what, will remain a mystery.

Nick O, a landscape historian, came to advise on how to undertake tree mapping on Liddells. He is going to make a start and then hand over to John and Clare. While walking round Nick told how the idea of veteran trees encompasses trees that are not just ancient, but trees that may have developed signs that would feature on ancient trees. With this in mind, the damaged Oak in the Orchard would qualify, as the scar from the broken limb will provide more habitat for wildlife.

20th January

A blackbird forages away in the Scrub, apparently oblivious both to adages about early birds catching worms, and to the Pheasants’ warring subplot in the background.

John completed the new floor for the tool shed. Previously the shed sat directly on the ground so this is an improvement and should stop both mole hills appearing round the inner edges of the shed and some of the internal dampness.

Blog followers may remember the tabby cat that occasionally makes its way through the Pit Wood. Today a different cat appears. John and Clare hope it will not prove to be a herald of misfortune.

22nd January

Encouraged by her first foray into tree planting, Janet returned with another Hornbeam and two Small-leaved Limes. They were duly planted near others of the same species.

Clare planted a Periwinkle near the north boundary below the bee hives. It is a plant that captured her imagination as a child after reading Rosemary Sutcliffe’s Brother Dusty Feet, set in Shakespearean England, in which the hero Hugh escapes an unhappy home, accompanied by his faithful dog Argos, and carrying a pot of periwinkle. Hugh meets with and joins a troupe of travelling players, and finds his fortune. Irresistible.

23rd January

A pair of lagomorphs in the Scrub. Both appear to be scenting.

The lame doe appeared on the camera in the Pit Wood. She spent about ten minutes foraging, couched for twelve minutes and then set off. She appears to be not as thin as previously.

24th January

John and Clare planted five Whitebeam near the bug hotel. Although more commonly found in the south, this planting is following advice from an advisor from the Forestry Commission who suggested choosing species with climate change in mind. Other trees that fall into this category are Sweet Chestnut and Small-leaved Lime. Clare removed tubes from the very small Scots Pines, having discovered that they do not do well with this protection. Instead Clare fashioned individual crowns of thorns from Hawthorn and Bramble to deter nibbling by hares and deer.

Crown of thorns

25th January

The pair of hares demonstrate mating behaviour.

The deer family all appear in the Pit Wood. The young buck seems to be trying out being a buck with his sister, then appears on alert followed by what John describes as a kind of adolescent playfulness. The four videos were taken within a seven minute period.

27th January

Mel and John tackled the huge Ash beam that had fallen across the path near the spring and over the Aconites in the Pit Wood.

The old buck goes through the Scrub. John says it is a magnificent animal and has a ‘competition standard head’. The velvet over the antlers is very clear to see.

Mel creating a brash pile aka bug hotel

29th January

Having mentioned the tabby cat a few days before, it then appeared. It has been coming through Liddells for over eight years now.

30th January

Good dramas are full of reversals, however John was dismayed this morning to discover this particular one, which was probably due more to Storm Malik than to the black cat’s presence a few days ago.

The shed was whipped back over onto its roof during the night.

John had asked several sturdy friends to come and help turn the tool shed onto its new base. Their first task now was to turn it back onto its back. Clare was present as documentary maker though had wondered if she would witness something like this.

Almost.

Shed back in place. Drama over. Of course Storm Corrie is on its way…

This next clip technically belongs before all the ones about the shed, however in service to more drama, here is a different ending. The trail camera in the Pit Wood recorded another first for Liddells.

The otter would most likely be passing through rather than resident as there will be little food on Liddells for it. There is a large pond with fish about a quarter of a mile away and the otter may have come from there and be en route for the river, possibly via the stream that flows from the spring.

September - Harvest-Month, Gerstmonath (Anglo-Saxon meaning Barley Month)

The French Revolutionary calendar also acknowledged the fruitfulness of this time of year. 1st September fell into Fructidor - summer - and was named Truite (trout), to be followed by Lemon, Teasel, Buckthorn, Mexican Marigold, Harvesting Basket, Wild Rose, Hazelnut, Hops, Sorghum, Crayfish, Bitter Orange, Golden Rod, Maize, Sweet Chestnut and Pack Basket. Then the season changes to Vendémiaire (Autumn) with Grape, Saffron Chestnut, Autumn Crocus, Horse, Impatiens, Carrot, Amaranth and Parsnip. 1st to 30th seem easier to remember but not as imaginative.

First some trail camera footage from the end of last month. The doe appears to be in conversation with a robin; the kids continue to enchant particularly in the ear department; the doe’s grey colouring round her muzzle show that she is no longer a youngster; the spots on the kids are beginning to fade; squeaking continues - the labelling for this clip does not indicate that the kids have been named, it is simply a way of distinguishing the footage; hare and fox can be seen on evening outings.

1st September

With sheep arriving on the Top Grazing later this month, John fixed sheep-proof netting to the new gate into the Top Strip.

The hare paid a late afternoon visit to the Scrub.

2nd September

Another example of OED Word of the Day synchronicity - Clare found at least thirty large Fly Agaric in the Scrub; today the OED offered ‘mycophilia: Enthusiasm for fungi, esp. edible ones; fondness for eating mushrooms’. Neither Clare nor John will be eating these specimens, although they clearly appeal to something’s taste.

Good to see a badger is still making the rounds.

3rd September

John took the flail mower over all the paths, delighting in how much time the machine is saving. Clare embarked on autumn maintenance on the Top Strip path noting that there is no time saving route for this task.

Two hares appeared on the trail camera. If two constitutes a group, then, according to Word Perfect, this is a flick of hares. Susie Dent explains that most collective nouns ‘sprang from the medieval imagination Created by the elite for the elite, they were written down in books of etiquette aimed at instructing the nobility on how not to embarrass themselves while out hunting, hawking, or fishing…[The} primary source for such terms is the fifteenth-century Book of St Albans, a three-part compendium on aristocratic pursuits. Its authorship is attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, Prioress of the Sopwell nunnery in Hertfordshire. Not only did her work contain over a hundred and sixty group names for beasts of the chase and characters on the medieval stage, but it also boasted the first images to be printed in colour in England. It was an instant hit, reprinted and reissued many times both by William Caxton and the (superbly named) Wynkyn de Words. Its popularity extended far beyond the nobles for whom it was originally intended.’

4th September

The trail camera shows one of the kids trying to suckle whereas the doe looks as if she’s wanting to wean the youngster. One of the kids is seen foraging on fungi - maybe this is what is eating the Fly Agaric. Maybe there will be footage of a hallucinating kid.

7th September

John and Clare restarted work on the shed for the composting lavatory. Clare fixed membrane under the structure and John added a floor.

Floor trimmed to size

8th September

Clare started a routine check on her bees only, she thinks, to knock her finger on the corner of a hive roof. She can’t remember what happened exactly, however she suddenly experienced a lot of pain in the middle finger of her right hand. Not one of the better documented hazards of bee-keeping.

12th September

The OED Word of the Day strikes again. While work continues on housing the Little John, today’s word is ‘necessarium’ A privy, esp in a monastery. In recent use also: a toilet, lavatory. Well that’s the name for the new shed chosen then.

14-18th September

With Clare out of action (and very frustrated and fed up), John has had to pursue shed construction without help. He has made good progress, adding side, door and back. Next come the plumbing arrangements. The shed uses the tool shed as one of its sides; the back of the construction is lower than the front. Clare thinks that John can claim he has executed a short back and sides.

Taking a break from construction work, John saw a large hare on the Meadow and a Tawny Owl fly from the North-east Strip into the Scrub.

In the absence of a photograph of the owl, here is a poem by Paul Batchelor from his collection The Love Darg.

19th September

John and Clare are trying out a new trail camera. Although they have yet to discover the optimum settings, they were interested to note the footage of roe deer foraging in the Scrub. The clips showed a doe and one of her kids eating near the camera on four separate occasions through one night. The deer spent about ten minutes browsing each time before moving off and returning to almost the same spot between two and three hours later. In between these episodes, a lone kid came through the Scrub from the direction in which the others had left. John says there are competing theories about how frequently roe browse, with one camp opting for every two hours and another citing four hour intervals.

27th September

Some footage from the original trail camera set up in the Pit Wood. A fox with a particularly bushy tail makes its way through. The doe, having spent time scenting, decides one of her kids needs a thorough wash. The kid attempts to suckle however the doe is more intent on weaning and cleaning. Clare noted that the cleaning could be a substitute contact between doe and kid - a comfort wash. Though without fabric conditioner. A second kid arrives and is easily sexed. Then a third arrives and is also deterred from suckling and offered compensatory washing. This is the first time doe and triplets have been captured together. John says that while it is not unusual for a doe to have triplets, it does suggest the doe is in prime condition and that the habitat is providing all she needs. The family leave together, the rumps showing there are two doe kids and a buck. At last John can stop questioning how many kids and of what sex. The last video for this day shows a deer browsing on fallen Ash leaves. John says there is evidence to show that our native European roe deer eat 160 different plant species. The Siberian roe, a cousin of our roe, eat 300 plant species.

John added a roof to the Necessarium.

A stoat has caught a Jay and carries it off.

28th September

Plumbing in begins.

The doe and one of the kids show how they are losing their summer coats to reveal the darker winter coat below.

March - Liddells-lew and hide-lew

1st March

Clare and John wish to begin with an apology. On 22nd February you will have read that John ‘has mastered the art of enlarging and cropping’ his photographs. Missing from this sentence was ‘thanks to teaching from his patient and forbearing step-daughter’. OK now Mathilda?

Here is further evidence of the excellence of Mathilda’s tuition.

Clare has long had a wish to see hare’s boxing and when she saw the next bit of trail camera footage she became really exited that she might see this phenomenon on Liddells.

Then another first ever trail camera capture.

3rd March

Today a thrush was singing in the Scrub, Clare saw a Yellowhammer from the hide, two Mallards flew off the big pond and there were bees flying around three of the hives.

4th March

John enlisted help from Dave G (and Wilf) again. Together they cut logs for seats and cleared much of the quarry area in the NE Strip.

Giant Jenga?

Wilf assisting with quarry clearance

5th March

A Woodpecker was drumming in the Pit Wood - Watts that you ask? Was it by the light of the Moon? What a Starr!

Clare has noticed that on much of the trail camera footage, animals seem to prefer a west-east route through, sometimes appearing more than once in the same evening, going in the same direction, but not coming back the other way. Either there are several different animals or their routes are circular.

Clare learned today from the excellent book she is reading The Overstory by Richard Powers, that seeing the face in the beech tree (December blog post) is due to pareidolia - an adaptation that makes people see people in all things. Clare prefers her explanation that she has a tree guardian.

6th March

Thanks to both Mathilda and Sue B, Clare has enjoyed reading Uncommon Ground by Dominick Tyler, a visual glossary of the British landscape. Among several words and phrases stored away for future use, Clare found two with immediate relevance.

Witches’ brooms…

…and Witches’ knickers

7th March

8th March

Just days after John said no rats had been seen on Liddells, the trail camera proved otherwise.

9th March

A long overdue task, dealing with overhanging branches on the northern boundary, was on today’s to-do list. Fortunately Clare and John found George Clouston, tree surgeon and arborist, the perfect person to tackle this, and watched him work in awe of his skills. As did Juno. George so obviously loves his work and is especially attentive to how he can protect and enhance habitat for wildlife. He’s also a mighty fine tree climber. Clare and John found it slightly alarming to note that his risk assessment noted ‘helicopter landing options are extensive’. George said that one of the worst risks was not amputation but encountering a wild bees’ nest. They don’t take to chainsaws.

Clip art

Hanging around

Hanging around

In suspense

“I can see him!”

Helping to entertain Maggie

George made coronet cuts (see below) and specific bore holes after he had cut branches, to create habitat.

‘When trees are damaged in nature it’s usually due to some catastrophic event (i.e. severe wind storm). Branches damaged in this way have wood fibres break and tear, while bark is pulled away from limbs and jagged stubs are left behind. In the aftermath all manner of fungi and arthropods make a home in the tattered remains.  Fungi feed on the newly exposed wood, insects eat the fungi, birds eat the insects, and so on.

In landscapes, trees eventually mature to where their risk of failure reaches a threshold that some mitigating action must take place.  For conservation arborists, this is where retrenchment pruning comes in.  By using coronet cuts to mimic naturally damaged limbs after reduction pruning, conservation arborists invite the natural order of things to take place.’ 

Wood for next year’s burning

10th March

This cat has appeared on the trail camera before. This time it made the same trip at 21.06, 22.07 and 03.27. Was it going round in circles.

14th March

John and Clare were delighted that growth from Liddells contributed to another wedding.

Heather and Kris’s wedding design team transformed these…

…into these

15th March

The first frogspawn has appeared although some has already gone brown and sunk which is possibly because it has been laid too early and suffered from the cold.

This patch appears to be fine

Pheasant strutting his stuff

16th March

Today’s OED Word of the Day is house-lew: shelter of a home. Enough said.

After quite a while with no sightings, a roe doe has been caught on the trail camera. It might be last year’s kid. While working in the Pit Wood, John found a particularly charming patch of Scarlet Elf Cap Fungus. Perhaps the trail camera will capture images of a scarlet elf.

17th March

Clare and John set about making fewer mountains out of the molehills on the Top Grazing, top of the Crag and the Meadow. They had thought there would be between one and two hundred. There were slightly more than that, to say nothing of the ones elsewhere on the land that remain unconquered. Small ones were included in the count as it seemed only right and proper to make mountains out of some molehills. Here’s a challenge to our readers - including the ones John and Clare found over the next four days that they’d missed, guess how many there were. The answer is at the end of this blogpost together with a further guesstimate challenge.

A small mountain range

John hoe-hoe-hoeing

A plateau is created

After John had finished with his hoe/got bored/decided Clare was winning in the molehill demolition stakes/was suffering from strimmer withdrawal symptoms, he went off to start strimming a path down which a quad bike could go with a trailer to extract all the timber George had felled. Imagine Clare’s surprise when she went to help John later and found him apparently praying to the woodland floor. With sinking heart she knew what had happened. We suspect regular readers will too and will know why, which John appeared to have forgotten. No need to scroll to the end of the blog post. The answer is, of course (Clare typed through gritted teeth), that he had lost one of his hearing aids. Again. A third time (teeth gritting harder as telling the story retraumatises the typist). Thankfully for Clare’s sanity and John’s survival (there was an idle strimmer lying close by), John found the very small and surprisingly faded leaflike in colour, object. Clare is considering her response: confiscating the strimmer; putting the strimmer on Ebay; putting John on Ebay.

Fortunately Clare’s spirits were lifted by hearing the first Chiffchaffs of the year and by seeing the first Celandine in flower.

There is a way through the woods, with apologies to Kipling. Clare is getting ready for World Poetry Day.

‘‘Tis the little Celandine”

18th-21st March

The first of the Daffodils are out in the Top Strip. On 20th Clare tackled the Liddells equivalent of painting the Forth Road Bridge by starting to weed the path in the Top Strip. She started at the east end and made it all the way to the flat length at the start of the west end. Watch out for reports on progress. On 21st, after a particularly buttercuppy stretch, which slowed progress, Clare went for a wander, wondering whether there would be Primroses out in the Pit Wood. She was not disappointed.

Daffodils

23rd March

John and Clare both woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so went for, if not a dawn chorus visit, at least a pre-breakfast one. On the way Clare asked John what was keeping him awake and he made an ornithological slip of the unconscious, ‘CORVID anxiety’, he claimed. Unless of course the crows are after him. It was frosty at Liddells so too cold for much bird-singing, however Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Great tit, Blue tit, Coal tit, Long-tailed tit, Rook, Goldfinch, Wood pigeon (making display flights) and Chiffchaff were all audible. Clare was particularly pleased to hear several Chiffchaffs as, after hearing them last week, they had been decidedly silent.

24th March

Another 12 metres of path in the Top Strip are now weed free. Clare saw a first Peacock Butterfly near the big pond. John made a bench for one of the willow arbours. John and Clare tend to take lunch up to Liddells to eat in the hide while bird-watching. They have noticed that one of the several male pheasants who have learned that food appears on the ground shortly after the picnickers arrive, has a habit of talking with his mouth full. None of the others do this. The trail camera captured a pair of male pheasants vying for territory.

25th March

Another few weed free metres in the Top Strip - Clare is regretting her habit of starting at the easier east end. Since there is always something else more appealing than weeding, the west end often doesn’t quite get the same attention and consequently is much weedier. Clare keeps telling herself that the sense of achievement will be worth the effort. John did preparation work for more benches and saw a Small Tortoiseshell on his way. The weather was so warm Clare decided to open the hives for the first time this year. As she suspected, one of the hives had not survived. It had been a small colony going into the winter and this is probably the reason since there was no evidence of disease. Two of the colonies are thriving; these queens must have started laying a while ago as there is capped brood (after 3 days eggs hatch into larvae, after 6 more days the cells are capped and the larvae become pupae and 12 days later the new bee emerges). Clare is uncertain about the fourth colony - there were very few bees and she couldn’t see a queen. The bees were good-tempered, which suggests there might a queen. There could have been a few eggs however Clare wasn’t entirely sure - sometimes the sun can produce a glint in the bottom of a polished cell which can then look like an egg. She’ll have another look in a week or so. Her records show that this is nearly a month earlier than she has ever opened hives before.

26th March

The recent hurricanes managed to dislodge one of Juno’s swing supports so John and Clare repaired it today, or rather John did the repair while Clare footed the ladder and handed him things. They then had lunch in the hide (does this habit mean they are hidebound), and watched a Blue tit going in and out of the nesting box nearby. It spent about 5-10 seconds inside each time and made dozens of visits in the time it took to eat a sandwich or two. Clare had a quick peep in and there was a substantial amount of nesting material in place. Unfortunately the trail camera, carefully placed to record this activity, ran out of batteries before the bird began. New batteries will be inserted asap. Clare spotted the first daisies out on Liddells today. and noticed that lots of the wild garlic Sue R donated last year is coming up in the Pit Wood. She also weeded another ten metres of path in the Top Strip and reckons there are just under forty metres left.

Walking home Clare heard the first skylarks of the year singing.

27th March

John and Clare stayed away from Liddells today so that Hal, Beth and Juno could have their daily ‘park’ exercise there. Clare set an i-spy challenge in which Juno was entirely successful, finding frogspawn, feather and fir cone. She helped top up the feeders, making sure the bird food was tasty, entertained Hal and Beth with the story of Goldiblocks (sic), enjoyed the newly repaired swing and began rehearsals for an iconic movie scene with co-star Beth, direction and cinematography Hal.

28th - 30th April

Clare decided that she wanted to get the path-weeding finished by the end of this month’s blog. With this endeavour in mind, and after only a short stretch completed on 28th, the next day she worked till cockshut: twilight (OED Word of the Day 29th March) achieving a wondrous nineteen metres. On Monday, in a push for the end, she finished, however was so engrossed in measuring her achievement (140 metres), she forgot to provide photographic evidence. During the pacing she noticed that sycamore seedlings were sprouting in the refreshed seed bed she had inadvertently provided. Heigh-ho. Back to the east end.

While John was getting materials ready to build more seats, he watched a pair of Tree creepers on an oak near the Orchard, and saw a Chiffchaff close by. Clare heard the first Blackcap of the year singing.

There is nesting material in at least two of the bird boxes, however the trail camera has failed to capture any of this activity. More adjustments needed. To the camera not the birds or boxes.

31st March

Hal and Juno had another Liddells day today. Mathilda came up with the excellent idea, having seen ‘Little Women’, that Juno, Clare and John could have a box on Liddells where they could leave messages. For today, Clare left bug hotel building instructions, some straws and string. Hal and Juno undertook the activity with some speed and considerable effectiveness. While Clare was typing up the answer to the molehill challenge (see below), Juno, at Liddells at the time, and apparently through some telepathic communication system, announced that there are no moles on Liddells because they are shopping for peas. Well that explains it.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it…

Juno sees no ships

Mission accomplished

This is Hal’s last photo of the day. Clare and John are wondering what he saw…

And the answer to the molehill count - 1343!

Next question - how many moles does it take to create 1343 molehills? (John and Clare do not have the answer to this one.)

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.

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

April - more here than we anticipated

1st April

As you can see, we have mastered the instructions for the new trail camera and it is proving its worth. Here you will see different beneficiaries of the nuts on the squirrel traps.

Investigation

Theft under cover of darkness

The camera has also captured deer eating near the gate into the Orchard, and you can see them nibbling at lichen and bark on the Hawthorns, and as a bonus, it has caught the arrival of the chiffchaffs on April 1st - or maybe it was a Starling indulging in some mimicry and an April Fool. Listen carefully to the second video. Some of you may remember the hospital comedy Green Wing, in which case you may remember this scene. For viewers of a sensitive disposition, the latter part of the scene could also be about birds. Spot the inquisitive deer!

April 4th

John has started filling the large holes left from the removal of Ash saplings in the Orchard.  

April 6th

6 notches on John's squirrel belt. More work filling Ash Tree holes and tidying/bonfire building in the Orchard. John met Monica today and apparently since we found the dead Barn Owl, she has not been seeing any Barn Owls on her regular walks. John saw one hunting in the daytime today about a quarter of a mile away near the Military Road. It's possible that 'our' owl has moved away to new territory.

7th April

I hope you spotted the fox in the last video. Today was a great day for spotting and spots - we saw a Goldcrest, a Treecreeper, a Nuthatch on one of the squirrel traps and after much pursuing of its call, a Green Woodpecker. We'd heard a Green Woodpecker on the land before, however this was the first time we'd seen one, and unusually we saw it in a tree rather than on the ground. Technically the tree is on our neighbour's land, however the branch on which the woodpecker chose to perch was overhanging Liddells, so we think it counts as on our land. At one point the Green Woodpecker flew off to be replaced immediately by a Great Spotted Woodpecker which, in its turn, flew off as soon as the Green returned. Several Chiffchaffs heard and one seen calling from the top of a Silver Birch in the Scrub. We were also pleased to see our home grown Horse Chestnuts had produces sticky buds. Bank voles, a favoured food for owls, are making holes everywhere. We found Scarlet Elf Cap fungus, also called Scarlet Elf Cup, Moss Cup and Fairies' Baths - a guess it all depends on how fanciful you are.

Scarlet Elf Cap fungus

Sticky buds

Vole hole

Hare today

8th April

Two days ago the trail camera recorded an animal running through the Pit Wood at night. John was convinced it was a rabbit, Clare, seeing the dark tips to its ears, believed it was a hare. I think the above suggests Clare might have been right. John has destroyed the evidence (not the hare) which Clare thinks proves conclusively that he knew he was wrong.

11th April

John saw two deer on the Wetland. 

12th April

We had thought there would be a two week holiday gap in the blog at this point, however we had to cancel the holiday and so there are rather more entries for the next two weeks than we had expected.

14th April

The camera caught a cock fight. We have seen Primroses, Dandelions, Celandines, Marsh Marigold, Daffodils all flowering and the Wild Garlic is spreading in the Top Strip. Clare happily anticipates making even more Wild Garlic, Rocket/Nettle and Walnut Pesto than usual next year.

We'd love to show the bank of Primroses however it's very hard to get a good photograph

Wild Daffodils are beginning to take

All this Wild Garlic from a couple of bulbs two years ago

15th April

A new position for the trail camera overlooking the Verge shows a doe walking away. We expect you all to have remembered your deer anatomy and know the names for the large white patch on her backside and the white dangly bit. Clare saw another Goldcrest and saw and heard the first Willow Warbler and Blackcap of the returning migrants.

Typical male posturing says John

16th April

A first ever on Liddells, Clare heard then saw a Marsh Tit.

A quincunx of Wild Strawberries

Kissing? Yes!

A septunx of Celandines!

19th April

We planted several Martagon Lilies in the Pit Wood from bulbs we'd been given and managed to grow on. Technically they are an introduced species, however they are so lovely we decided to give them a place. We also planted two more Brooms on the Crag that have emerged from seeds sown at home. It was so sunny we had our first picnic lunch on the Wildflower Meadow and Clare found a spot in the Pit Wood to set up the pop-up bird-watching hide John had given her for Christmas. Apart from seeing three grey squirrels, she loved it and saw a Tawny Owl, Blackcap and Willow Warblers.

Hiding. Seen this way, it does look a bit like a sculpture of a helmet - hmm, maybe an art trail some time in the future....

21st April

The trail camera is back observing one of the squirrel feeders. One welcome recipient and one unwelcome. The second video shows a buck fraying the velvet from his antlers. Fraying is the major way deer cause damage in woodland. 

Nuthatch finding nuts
Fraying in the dark
Why won't in go in the trap?

21st April

Finally we have managed to plant more of the Willows that survived over winter in the pond. Clare opened all three of her hives and all are doing well. One so well that she added a super (a shallower box than a brood box, filled with frames that the bees can use for honey storage, leaving more space in the lower box for the queen to lay. A queen excluder goes between the two which is a grid that allows the smaller worker bees through but not the queen). John filmed the bees bringing in pollen. The yellow pollen is from Gorse, the more orange pollen from Willows.

22nd April

The last of the Willows are in. Clare heard and saw a Marsh Tit in the Scrub so all digits crossed that there is more than one and that they will breed. At last there is nesting material appearing in some of the nest boxes. The second video below demonstrates how the frogspawn is developing - two sounds to note, Willow Warblers singing and John breathing heavily with cameraman's concentration. Ash - first to leave and last to arrive - is coming in to leaf. 

Bees bringing in pollen

And here is where the pollen ends up

Teeming tadpoles

Ash emerging and looking rather like broccoli

23rd April

The Top Grazing had a harrowing experience today - harrowing levels the ground, distributes the manure and encourages the grass to grow. We find even more evidence of why we are not catching many squirrels in the traps. Clare, who is wondering about moving permanently into her hide as she is loving it so much, watched a Blue Tit making at least 30 visits to a nest box with moss - a visit every 30 - 45 seconds and about 20 seconds spent arranging the materials inside. She saw a Marsh Tit again, seeming to investigate a bit of stone wall and then, oh joy, that bird was joined by another and the two of them spent a long time picking insects from one of the brash piles/bug hotels. Maybe they were on a first date at a restaurant. According to the RSPB Marsh Tits will nest in an existing hole in a tree or wall. 

No wonder we are failing to trap squirrels!

25th April

John decided to challenge William. It was a first move and he seemed not to mind at all (William not John).

Look what I've been saddled with

26th April

More wildflowers are coming in to flower. There are lots of Dandelions on the Meadow providing pollen for the bees. 

Wooden enemies

Wood Sorrel in the Quarry

29th April

More nest boxes have nesting material. A Blue Tit has laid 3 eggs so far in Box 15. Clare's son planted a Hazel in the Pit Wood in memory of a good friend. 

Feathering the nest

October 2014 - planting for spring, planning for a spring

4th-5th October

Work on rainwater collection system. Neil/Lesley and Sally and family chose their Christmas trees.

8th October

Our mains water supply ceased. 

13th October

Met with Robert Charlton to discuss possibilities of using spring overflow. Treecreeper in Hawthorn on Wildflower Meadow. Robbie has completed top barbed wire and most of fence posts for Meadow. 

18th October

John worked on hurdle for Meadow; Clare planted 120 English bluebells and 100 snowdrop bulbs in Top Strip. 

26th October

All chippings bagged; general tidy on Meadow area. 

28th October

Dave H and John did more felling in Top Strip.

30th October

Mel and John did more thinning and brashing in Top Strip. 

Rainwater collection system

Fungi - we really must learn to identify them

The meadow hurdle completed

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

February 2014 - birdboxes and snowdrops to mark Valentine's day

2nd February

Scarlet Elf-cap fungus identified. 

6th February

Brashing complete in NE Strip.

7th February

Brashings removed; Snowdrops seen at last!

9th February

John made a stile into the NE Strip.

10th February

North East plantation boundary fence repaired. 

14th February

We hang bird box number 1 for St Valentine's day and see the first of the Snowdrops we had planted last year.

19th February

Wild flower survey number 2. 

20th February

Clare saw a treecreeper, female bullfinch and heard a song thrush in the NE Strip; snowdrops on the road verge either side of the entrance gate. 

Scarlet Elf Cap Fungus

Snowdrops in the North-east Strip 

Our Valentine's Day bird box

January 2014 - blogging about logging

2nd January

More clearing and logging. 

3rd January

John started to clear SW corner of NE Strip for a high seat; clearing and logging. 

5th January

Neil came and started repairs on the wall by the hunt jump; clearing and logging.

10th January

Mel completes the first of the wildflower surveys. 

13th January

Fungus photos. 

13th - 31st January

3 days per week working in the North East Strip

Taking stock of the problem

Rebuilding

Spot the join

Yellow Brain Fungus

Jelly Ear

Can anyone help identify this one?

Or this?