| 2024 | 2025 |
| << April 2025 | May 2025 | June 2025 >> |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1st: Greenfinches Greenfinches have been making more of an appearance at the bird feeders recently, which has been lovely. This is a fab clip of a single male alongside a male GSW having the place to themselves for a quiet teatime feed!! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2nd: Our fox A nice clip of the fox from the early hours of this morning - when we capture one on the trail cams (which is most nights), they are usually aware of the noise as the video clicks on and will turn to look as this one does. We are not sure if this is the same fox every night, we suspect it is - we have only ever seen two at once on one occasion. In other news today we saw our first Large White butterfly and yesterday our first Red Admiral. We also spied mating swallows on the telephone wire and dared to hope a pair may nest in our barn again!! And in plant news, we have a Yellow Archangel flowering on the drive raised bank - we haven't seem this one before!! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3rd: What a cheery sight The buttercups are on fire this year - what a fabulous sight they make    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
4th: Naturalised saplings Each day we are spotting more and more naturalised trees/ bushes coming up on the land. To date the list is as follows: Oak, Ash, Blackthorn, Beech and Willow. We are not sure how much longer we will be around but imagining our land in 10, 20, 30 years is an exciting prospect!! And we hope we find more! Beech and Grey Willow   Blackthorn and Oak   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5th: Nettle tap moth Last year we saw oodles of Nettle Tap months throughout the summer and autumn and now, as spring takes hold, we are seeing zillions of these guys - the Nettle tap caterpillar, all neatly wrapped up in sticky webs inside folded leaves of the nettle plant!! It's a great way to be successful - to have just one offspring per nettle leaf, spread all over the land. We look forward to seeing the resulting moths soon! And the bottom photos show our rather sorry looking perennial plug plants that we hope will recover after their three days in transit, and one of our many, many, many naturalised oak saplings!!    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
6th: We very much need rain John's and Stonechat Ponds   Spider and Wagtail Ponds   Nick's and Nick Junior Ponds   Yellowhammer and 07 Ponds   08 and Mipit Ponds   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th: Stock doves and scrapping hedgehogs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
8th: Birds Opposite ends of the land: a blackbird and chaffinch at the bird feeding station and a stonechat and linnet on the wires above Oak field. And chuffed to say that yesterday, we saw yellowhammers in the ash trees above Yeti's gate - the first for a while!     |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
9th: A first time visitor to the bird feeding station Not sure the other birds were impressed. Meanwhile, we continue to delight at our male blackbird and his skilled mealworm collecting and we were rather delighted to get a shot of a Willow warbler today, not the best but it's a record shot at least!!   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
10th: More birds Another lovely day behind the zoom lens, this time capturing our first Blackcap and Swallow       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
11th: The world of Macro A fabulous day with the macro lens today, firstly by the ponds and then with the contents of last night's moth trap. Spotted Cranefly and baby Pond Skater   Water Measurer and Froglet   Maybugs May bugs fascinate me and made me shudder in equal measures. They are the clumsiest flyers and knowing that at any second they could simply close their wings and fall to the ground (or down my neck) makes me want to run a mile... 🤣 Set the moth trap last night and caught THIRTEEN!!! If you let then crawl on your hand, those legs are like super-charged Velcro, they just don't want to let go. And they really buzz. Whilst the adult beetle only lives for around six weeks, the larvae spend between three and five years growing underground. If you look closely enough, I think that's a smile on the left hand photo - maybe they are kinda of cute too?? And those fan-like antennae are fab!!   Poplar Hawk moth   Foxglove and Common Pug moths   Narrow-winged Pug and Scalloped Hazel moths   Green Carpet and Flame Shoulder moths   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
12th: Views around the land The dry weather (our last significant rain was the back end of March) has not put off the grasses, buttercups, thistles, sorrel, thistles, cuckoo flowers, plantains etc. The land is looking delightfully wild. 
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13th: Early Bumble Bee  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
14th: Pond Dipping with Chulmleigh Guides What a totally stunning pond dipping session with Chulmleigh Guides today - what a totally amazing group of young people they were. We dipped in our established garden pond and in one of our new bigger ponds (dug just last September) and discovered LOADS (full list coming soon) including whopping Great Diving Beetle larva, and zillions of froglets and newts. Huge thanks to Amy Roberts, Claire Withers and Julie Yeo from Sus Chulm. So much chatter and engagement and learning going on. These youngsters were a credit to their Guide group. Thanks to Mandy and her helpers for bringing them over. We are looking forward to another session with them all in June!! PS - today we also saw our first dragonfly (a blue Chaser) and damselfly (red) of the year, both flying over John's pond! 
 
 
 
 
   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
15th: Yellow It's all very yellow everywhere just now. Totally love it!!! (as does the wildlife). And form yesterday, a colouful visitor to the Bird Feeding Station!    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
16th: Hedgehog on a mission by Cadbury Pond! 🥰😅 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
17th: Butterflies and Veg This week we have seen Green-Veined White and Painted Lady butterflies, the later being rather pale (think our total is now eight species so far) 'and' a Demoiselle - the later at the bottom of Oak, where we have also seen more Chasers. There is no doubt we are seeing more insects this year than last and we can only hope this trend continues. We have also been busy on the garden front, sorting the middle garden path and getting our veg seedlings into their pots in the greenhouse and cold frames. AND after dismantling the 'grape' greenhouse last month, we have now got the grapevine in a pot and by the kitchen tressling. Finally we weeded the strawberry bed and were very chuffed to see just how many strawberries are already growing!!        |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
18th: Broad-bodied Chaser Since spotting our first Chaser on 14th, we are now seeing them every day over John's pond as well as in both Goat and Oak fields around the ponds there too. We are seeing more males than females but did see one female laying her eggs in Yellowhammer pond - exciting. The males are really territorial and today we watched three chasing each other with such speed. At one point there was a mid-air collision, possibly intended by the aggressor and we actually heard a sound as they crashed!! Beautiful creatures.  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
19th: The Newt in Somerset A stunning visit to The Newt in Somerset today with Rebekah Rose. This was our 'spring' visit, having done 'autumn-ish' in early November last year. Today was a totally difference experience as we visited the new (2024) Four Seasons Garden and explored more of the woods and ponds. It was nice to see the 'wilded' amongst the formal - there really is a delightful mixture as one minute you find yourselves watching a moorhen pair with their chicks, and the next you are marveling at the stunning symmetry of a laburnum tunnel. The innovation and magic to be found here is awe-inspiring.  
   
  
  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
20th: Demanding 'teenagers'!! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
21st: Firefly adores drinking from and 'bathing' in the ponds    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
22nd: A fair few firsts Saw our first grasshopper of the year today in the Gathering area - we are not sure if this is a Green or a Meadow Grasshopper - when more appear, we may be able to work out. We have also been looking at the banks in Fruit and Swallow fields, looking for new plants that may only now be showing due to the lack of grazing and the fact we disturbed the ground so much. We were delighted to spot this: Common fumitory, a plant known to frequent wastelands and to often appear on dry and disturbed soils - something we have an abundance of just now. WE also today, had the joy of watching swallows skim over the ponds, hopefully enjoying a morsel or two as they do. For the second year running, there is no sign of them nesting on our land although some have been flying in and out of the stables and we are definitely seeing more around generally. Fingers crossed for next year maybe?   |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
23rd: More firsts Today we spotted two different sets of eggs on the surface of John's Pond (and then later some were spied on several of the others). Thanks to NHM UK Biodiversity we identified them as Chaoborus eggs (Chaoborus being a midge with transparent larvae known as glassworms) and, perhaps more excitingly, eggs from the Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly. In yet more excitement, a female Chaser then decided to lay right in front of us - dipping her abdomen in the water slightly faster than once a second. The eggs are covered in a jelly which we are guessing swells as the eggs absorb the water. We have popped some eggs in a bucket to watch the hatching process - after which we will return them all to the ponds. In other spots, our first Ox-eyed daisies are out, we finally have a name for the tiny beetle that was the first to inhabit the new ponds (a type of Helophoris), we spied a second type of groundhopper, this one the Slender Groundhopper and we had great views of a common long jawed orbweb spider that had built its web between Iris leaves in Wagtail Pond. These spiders favour 'damp' habitats apparently and judging by the number of dead insects on the surface of the pond, this spider has chosen wisely!! Finally, this Red tailed Bumble Bee was thoroughly enjoying the Marsh thistles this morning - the flowers are just emerging and the bee was smothered in pollen.        |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
24th: Using the zoom as a macro When we cannot get close enough to a small subject as it might fly away, sometimes using the zoom really can work. The moth is another new species for us and the EIGHTH carpet moth so far seen on our land. This one is the Silver-ground Carpet and was spotted fluttering around the bottom hedge in Oak field. Carpets aren't day time flyers but are easily disturbed during the day as they hide in low vegetation. The flower is a Field Rose and the first we have seen in flower this year.     |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
25th: More delightful shots from the bird feeders Goldfinches and sparrows continue to be the dominant species but also regularly visiting are: both the male and female greater spotted woodpeckers (eating huge amount of the fat balls and suet pellets to feed their young by the looks of it); siskins; greenfinches; chaffinches; nuthatches; blackbirds; coal, blue and great tits (although all in small numbers): wood pigeons, stock doves and collared doves; as well as our friend the grey squirrel.     |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
26th: Stunning Insect life Yesterday we spotted a Beautiful Demoiselle at the bottom of Oak field. We had thought we may have seen one a couple of weeks ago and this sighting seemed to confirm it. Today it was there again and posing so well, we were able to get a few decent shots of it. The colours really are as impressive as they look. And then amazingly as we walked along the top of Swallow field, we came across this fabulous Emperor Dragonfly resting in the grass. It seemed possible it had not long emerged and was drying out!! It stayed still for yonks! This now brings to three, the number of dragonfly species we have seen. Hopefully as the ponds get more established, this number may grow! And finally another bee shot - just love how covered in pollen they get!! They really are master pollinators!    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
27th: A Hare!! When we first moved here back in 2016, hares were spotted in what is now Fruit field in our first week. Sadly, the dogs' smell and our introduction of livestock will have put them off. We have over the years, continued to see them on the local roads mind you so we know that we must have a reasonably successful population around here. Catching one on the trail cam at a quarter to eight this morning though, is rather special!!! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
28th: All very yellow and green- and a bit of red     |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
29th: Mothing Another great night with the Moth Trap: 34 moths, 14 species of which 6 are new plus 2 May Bugs White Ermine  Poplar Hawk and Scorched Wing moths 
Marbled Brown and Shoulder-striped Wainscot moths 
Lesser Cream Wave and Middle-barred Minor 
Sebaceous Hebrew Character and Grey Pine Carpet 
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
30th: Early risers It wasn't even 6am and the trail cam caught so much activity at the Bird Feeding Station this morning. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
31st: Moth Party Fabulous mothing party with Maddy, Dorette, Claire and Nick at the weekend - we caught 22 moths and identified and photographed 11 species. We then rewarded ourselves with sausages, beans and hash browns cooked on a charcoal fire in the woods. Just perfect. Thanks to Nick for all the 'people' photos - I was too busy playing with the macro. The Buff Tip was a huge highlight - the moth that looks like a twig!!! See more here       |