| 2024 | 2025 |
| << March 2025 | April 2025 | May 2025 >> |
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1st: Great footage of siskins ...and our new gate that now actually opens  |
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2nd: A few firsts As well as seeing the first Cuckoo Flower in flower, today we also saw the first linnets we have seen for a while on our land, possibly several years. One perched beautifully a dead tree in John's Pond and then we saw a few further down in Oak field. A great spot!! It's also great seeing Greater Stitchwort, bright yellow dandelions - which this year seem huge - and masses of flowering ground ivy. All these plants are really creeping pit from the hedgerows now we no longer have grazing stock. And then there are the yellowhammers - so frequent around the land and so bright. We are thrilled we have so many of these!      |
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3rd: Finches and Sparrows There is no doubt that the amount of bird feed being consumed each day is going down but whilst we now see less tits, the numbers of goldfinches, chaffinches and sparrows seem to be on a huge upwards trend. And we got some great footage of a pair of greenfinches feeding at the bottom of the bird feeding station today. |
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4th: Belstone A wonderful day walking along the river and then across the moor to Belstone with Lynda. On the way we saw dippers, toadspawn, a toad and a few newts, peacock butterflies, fabulous fungi, wild garlic, saxifrage, wood anemone, dog violet and some bathing jackdaws. And HUGE excitement, whilst I was away, David had the total joy of seeing a red kite as it flew over our decking and garden an d into John's field.... 
 
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5th: Handsome fellow |
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6th: Birds and Butterflies Today we saw the first Speckled Woods of the year so that's two species spotted so far, the other being the Peacock last month. Here's hoping it is a better year for our butterflies. Meanwhile, love this shot of a Pied Wagtail on the barn roof, alongside the Chaffinch shot which highlights the amazing blue head and pink breast of the male. Finally, the blackthorn is definitely in full bloom now    |
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7th: Birds We had great views of a pair of song thrushes today - they have been a tad absent all winter but we hope to start seeing them a little more now. Meanwhile we managed to get this not brilliant shot of a male stonechat and a rook in John's field (although quite what is was finding to eat, who knows). And yet more cuckoo flowers - expect more - we love this plant - and the first flowering Red Campion of the year - expect more photos of this too!!!     |
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8th: Great footage of two female Greater Spotted Woodpeckers |
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9th: Light!! Today we added Brimstone and Orange Tip butterflies to our species list, that's four now spotted so far this year. All too fast to photograph yet though. Flowers and sunshine on the other hand, don't move quite so quickly (although the wind tries to help at times)!!      |
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10th: Tree Planting Stunning afternoon with The Amber Foundation, planting the last of our trees here at Cadbury Cottage (now to be known as The Relaxed Sanctuary). Despite the lack of rain, the ground was still damp once we got the spades in (although that was hard work at times 😅). We now have around 1400 on the land - so looking forward to seeing how they grow over the next few years. HUGE thank you to the residents who came - loved our tea and biscuits in the barn afterwards discussing whether it was jam or cream first and how to mix up butter and marmalade and 'then' spread it on your hot toast!! 😍. Yum Yum...     |
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11th: Bowling Green and Goosemoor RSPB reserve Fabulous visit with Rebekah Rose yesterday to Bowling Green and Goosemoor RSPB reserve near Topsham. Had amazing views of a heron and this delightful pair of Spoonbills. The photos also show black swans, teal, shelduck, coots and canada geese. 
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12th: Raising a smile It was a joy to spot half a dozen pond skaters in the smaller half of Wagtail pond. The water here is very brown still (as you can see) - our theory being this is due to the lack of straw in it!! The surface was littered with dead flies etc so a perfect food larder for them. And then as we walked back through the garden we spotted this rather flat headed robin at the bird feeding station. Not quite sure what is causing the lack of feathers but it looks bright eyes and bushy tailed enough. In other news, we spied our first Hornet today, feeding on the emerging euphorbia in the top garden. We also noticed some very tiny spiders in similar looking webs on old dock stalks in Oak field. Are these the Gorse Orb Weaver males? They are near to our female, although she seems to have moved out now! Has she laid her eggs in the cocoon of web she left, or has she deserted to find a mate? Not sure.   |
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13th: Large Whites Last summer we raised a whole load of Large White caterpillars in a butterfly net and in September over 30 hatched out. We had actually expected all of the pupa to over winter and it turns out that in fact, we had one that did as yesterday, we spotted this lone female flapping in the net and most definitely asking to come out. We released her in the greenhouse and managed to get her to pose beautifully on all these gone-to-seed salad leaves. This bed has over wintered and will once again be used as a sacrifice bed for all the caterpillars that no doubt will hatch when we start to grow our own seedlings again. We were also chuffed to see out first Hornet today, having a good feast on some euphorbia in the garden.  |
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14th: Stunning for footage We were seriously thrilled to capture some daytime wandering from this fox. The trailcam picks up movement most nights but being able to see this chap(ess) in the light, is a real treat!! We haven't put out feed for a while as visits had become quite sporadic but we may well do so now. Back in the garden, we finally got our gooseberry whip and seed potatoes planted plus we put some 'free' bluebells in our decking border and covered the whole lot with woodchip. As we were doing all this, it tried to rain - but nowhere nearly enough!!    |
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15th: Oaks It's great to see the oak saplings starting to unfurl - they are one of the last trees to show out of our 25 or so newly planted whips - but obviously worth the wait! We had great views of a pair of Stonechats today, They were by the allotment which is where we often see them, It would be fab to know where they may be nesting, or about to nest! We also saw our first Grass moth and many, many bumble bees. They are loving the privet on the garden especially a sit is just coming into flower.  |
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16th: Rain!!! After weeks of dry, we have finally had rain, and lots of it!! It rained for a lot of yesterday and all last night. The ponds have filled up hugely and no doubt the plant life will rejoice!! And so today we spread a load of wild flower seed all over the banks in Swallow and Fruit knowing that the soil is now (hopefully) damp enough to kick start germination.. It was also great to see today's TrailCam footage: two male and one female mallard happily swimming in John's Pond this afternoon. We haven't seen them for a while so it is nice to know they are still popping in. John's and Stonechat Ponds   Spider and Wagtail Ponds   Nick's and Nick Junior Ponds   Yellowhammer and 07 Ponds   Ponds 08 and Mipit     |
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17th: Where has all the water gone? Rather shockingly, Wagtail Pond drained overnight. What a contrast to yesterday, We can only hope that over time, the leak or leaks will plug themselves. Fingers crossed. BUT the joy of having lots of ponds is that some will be doing ok and so this morning, we delighted at the sight of lots of pond skaters on John's pond, darting backwards and forwards between the open water and the security of the branches from the dead tree we put put in the water. We are also regularly seeing beetles in here now too, and the occasional ones in some of the other ponds as well. Plus today we say our first cranefly, right by the water's edge when we knelt down to look at al those pond skaters. Lady's smock continues to pop up everywhere - it is literally all over the land in every field, paddock and even the garden    |
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18th: Waiting for treats All in one shot. All looking at us. And no, of course we didn't have any treats in our hands!!! L to R: Dragonfly 9, Sparrow 4, Redwing 1, Roxy 7, Otter 3, Firefly 9 and Kite 1. We love sharing our lives with these crazy woofs... Aren't we lucky? And despite the damp start, the sunny afternoon brought out the butterflies as we saw a Peacock, Orange Tips, Speckled Wood and a Large White  |
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19th: Seeds and bees Finally got the veg seeds planted in the greenhouse: courgette, pumpkin. tomato, cucumber and squash - think we were this late last year too but we still had fab crops. We also put a freshly drilled log on our huge log pile in the garden with the hope of encouraging a few solitary bees to make it their home. Fingers crossed. AND, huge excitement - today we saw our first swallow of the year - we wonder if they might nest in the barn this years. Last year was the first year since we moved here that they didn't. The bumble bees continue to be very numerous each day - the privet is their absolute favourite at the moment and we managed to capture some great footage of what we think is a Common Carder bee    |
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20th: Our tree and hedging whips are all starting to look amazing
     
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21st: Birds Fabulous views of the Stonechats today - shame I didn't have the right lens with me. Underneath the bird feeders is quiet just now - this is a lovely 30 seconds of a female blackbird, marsh tit and robin all coming in, one at a time, to feed and then taking off again! On the actual feeders, goldfinches and sparrows are too numerous to count; blue, coal and great tits are much reduced whilst both the male and female woodpeckers are frequent and long-staying. Chaffinches abound, the nuthatch is still popping in a lot, robins and blackbirds pop in and out and siskins and greenfinches are on and off! |
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22nd: It's not native but we love our sycamore sapling in the Green Lane |
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23rd: Sunset - taken just half an hour apart.  |
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24th: Invertebrates Pond skaters are really numerous just now and we are seeing them on most ponds. Water is of course a death trap for some invertebrates and as such, there are rich pickings for the water skater and its equally ferocious pal, the water measurer. And as for non-ferocious, another capture of the Common Carder bee which continue to be busy and numerous all over the garden. We also spotted a fair few tadpoles in John's Pond - and there are HUGE!! Lots of rich pickings under the surface too, obviously.   |
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25th: First moth trap of the year Our first moth trap of the year last night caught five individual moths and each one a different species. What's more, all are new to us. We didn't begin trapping until the summer last year so this set are all the early April/ May flyers. We will have another go in a week or so and see what we get then. Need to add to the website and get a total for the land so far - think it's over 60 now!!! Brindled Beauty and Hebrew Character   Common Quaker and Scalloped Hazel   Streamer  |
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26th: Plant Hunt prep Getting ready for our second Sustainable Chulmleigh Plant Hunt tomorrow - Green Lane with a strimmed path; barn all set up for people and refreshments, garden mown in places and left wild in others.... Today we were very excited to see a natural beech sapling in Fruit field, lots of Small white butterflies (the first of the year) and Orange tips and a fabulous patch of emerging bog chickweed, right in the 'bog' down from the well. The land really is starting to come alive.       |
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27th: Our 2nd Sustainable Chulmleigh Plant Hunt Fabulous Plant Hunt here at Cadbury Cottage this afternoon - huge thanks to Amy Roberts, Lynda Pons and Dorette Eli for all their help and support as well as plant and cake contributions. Fran (from the Wren Choir that some of us belong to) turned out to be a bit of an expert botanist. She found EIGHTY species in an hour and a half - which is almost HALF of the total species I found on my Plant A Day mission last year - lots are ones I haven't found so I now need to find them and get them photographed, recorded and added to website The weather was perfect, everyone was relaxed, some fabulous new friends were made AND we took just under £100 for Sustainable Chulmleigh which will enable us to put on more events over the coming months. And if you missed it, we will be holding another one later in the year. Keep an eye on the Sustainable Chulmleigh website for news of this and all the other events we have planned. 
 
 
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28th: Walking on water It is utterly fascinating watching animals walk across the water. The surface tension provides a very strong base and for animals with lots of long thin legs, their weight is wonderfully distributed evenly. This Spotted wolf spider was just as relaxed scurrying across the surface as this mating pair of pond skaters. And back on dry land, yesterday we saw our first Green shieldbug of the year on a euphorbia in the garden and then we spotted what we think is a young alder totally smothered in what we believe to be Alder leaf beetles. They had made short work of so many of the leaves, although apparently if even if the almost defoliate a young tree, they won't necessarily kill it!!     |