Adventures of an Amateur Naturalist

The swallows are slowly coming back, the swans are pairing up, the cow parsley is out in flower - spring is here.  The weather has warmed considerably. Following the rain, rain and more rain that began the year we've had glorious sunshine which has dried the ground and made walking much easier. Dried mud The roe deer have been around recently. There's a group of three that are often found around a clump of trees north of the North Drove in the mornings. Roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ) Life in the streams is also getting more visible. Tadpoles, minnows, pond skaters and diving beetles are common and I've even seen a water cricket! Minnow ( Phoxinus phoxinus ) The plant life is busting, the cow parsley is abundant and looks so beautiful with their lacy white flowers, delicate foliage and straight red stems. It's easy to think that cow parsley is the only plant in flower right now but it's not. I'm spotting species that I've not se...

I haven't been out as much recently due to a combination of ill health on my part, ill health in my dog, fields with lambs, and storms. Lots of storms. We have had three storms in February - Ciara, Dennis and Jorge - that brought a lot of wind and even more rain. This has resulted in lots of flooding... Flooded gateway Flooded island Flooded field ... and lots of mud Muddy gate What we haven't had much of is cold weather so plants are growing. Spring is definitely here. The dead nettles are flowering - the white dead nettles started before the red but both are now providing early nectar. The lesser celandine is also out in abundance, its bright yellow flowers only open fully in the sun and are a lovely sight. Adding some welcome colour are the much-maligned dandelion. There have been the odd one or two out since the beginning of the year but they are getting much more numerous as things warm up. The yellow flag irises are shooting up, it doesn't...

I've been very lax in posting for which I apologise. In my defence, it's winter and very little is going on. There's mud. There's rain. There's more mud. We've had a few days of frost but mostly it's been rain. Creating mud. (Have I mentioned the mud?) One new animal has appeared in the last couple of weeks - sheep. We have sheep in several fields now and some very cute lambs. It's lovely to see them frolicking around.  Sheep A benefit, if you can call it that, of the winter vegetation die-back is revealing the rubbish that has been left along the rhynes and ditch banks. So on my morning dog walks I've started taking a bag to pick up this rubbish. The things I've found has been quite incredible. A few highlights include an old phone, a "Diverted Traffic" sign, two tyres, two kid's bikes, and (my favourite) a home-made bong! Rubbish including an old phone Though not part of the SSSI I've also been collect...

It's been a quiet week with little to report. There has been lots of overnight rain, raising the Parish Brook and leaving the water full of silt. The gateways are getting even more treacherous - the soil has a lot of clay which means that when it gets wet it gets slippery. Very slippery. And as people look for alternative paths the grass gets worn away and the area of mud expands. In places the fields are completely waterlogged, and you slosh as you walk across the grass. Basically, it's wet. Muddy gateway between fields 124 and 125 It's also rather mild. So mild that there are plants in flower. The white dead nettle hasn't stopped flowering, I just forgot to mention it in my last post. It normally flowers until December but here it is, still going strong in January. It's around in several places but the largest flowering clump is on the North Drive between the turn-off for the Middle Drove and the barn. White dead nettle in flower More surprisin...

Welcome to 2020! The walks so far this year have been characterised by mud, lots of it. The gateways to access the fields along the parish brook are well-used and have turned into mires that suck at your wellies and leave them caked in thick, sticky mud. This is an annual problem, usually eased by frosts that turn the earth as proverbially 'hard as iron' yet this winter has been notably lacking in frosts so far. The rain, on the other hand, has been abundant and boggy areas abound in response.  The island (in field 160, just by the drove off West End Lane) has been flooded for at least a couple of months now, though the water appears to be (at least temporarily) subsiding. It was very deep before Christmas with the footpath completely invisible beneath the water. The flooded island on 13/12/2019 Unsurprisingly for the middle of winter the flora is largely dormant. The trees are bare, the hedgerows are bare, the waterways are largely clear, and the fields are doin...