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
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.
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.