April - we're no fools

1st April

John started the anti-algae campaign today. He added a net of barley straw to the water. Our thanks to local farmers Barry and Sheila for the straw. He also started to fish the algae out using a small fishing net - by small we mean the kind you buy for pond-dipping with children. We had it to remove leaves from the water trough. John’s first attempt to lengthen the handle with a bit of tree and gaffer tape was not up to the task, so he recycled the two canes that had arrived with Juno’s Aspen to make a longer handle. Even so he was faced with a somewhat Herculean task. We are also investigating native aquatic plants which will help starve the algae.

Further water works - the path from the spoil heaps down to the Orchard has a very wet patch crossing it. John has dug this out and found a small spring and he’s diverting this with a drainage pipe.

John and Clare started clearing logs out of the North-east Strip and gathering up piles of brash ready for the first Green Gym Day later this month.

2nd April

The Sweet Chestnuts planted at home are beginning to show shoots, as are two of the three Horse Chestnuts that Juno planted.

4th April

Clare split the clump of Marsh Marigolds and transplanted some to the stream feeding the big pond. Then she did repair work on fencing, replacing missing fixings - Theresa May would no doubt love that it is all strong and stapled now. Mel came to help today and once again proved to be worth more than his weight in gold. He and John worked on clearing the northern boundary and while so doing, John took off his ear defenders which sucked out one of his hearing aids, which then flew off into the undergrowth. This was one of the very, very recently replaced hearing aids following John losing both on Liddells few weeks ago (don’t ask Clare about this as she has high blood pressure) and requiring a claim on the insurance. It was only after John and Mel had hunted on hands and knees in vain for quite a while that John dared to ring Clare, confess what had happened and ask for help. The three of them performed a fingertip search through leaf litter, moss and twigs, looking for an object that is about half the size of a shrimp and a similar colour. Eventually Mel, who deserves to beat John at pool for evermore, found it in an area that all three had, allegedly, already scoured. Clare hopes that John might learn from this experience.

Clare discovered that her bees were benefitting from the water diversion and were drinking from the damp earth next to it. Double whammy.

5th April

The tracks by both of the two larger ponds have become very muddy and lost their grass so John and Clare have decided to add some seed to help regrowth. They started that process today. Fishing algae out of the ponds (the second largest one has developed it too) has become a daily task. Stopping it taking over completely is a daunting challenge.

6th April

A while ago John and Clare were offered three Oak trees by David Oliver. Not just any old Oaks though - David had grown these from acorns from the Leper Oak on Hexham Golf Course. You can read the full story of the Leper Oak here. Clare and John prepared the sites for these Oaks on the western edge of the Pit Wood today.

Eilidh is busy growing a baby and therefore less available to help with the ponies for a while. Today Lucy, a friend’s daughter, came to see if she might like to help out. Both ponies were instantly at ease with her which augurs well.

Clare started recycling stones from the Crag to make the pathway round the pond at the bottom more walker friendly.

7th April

When John saw the deer scrape in the North-east Strip, it seemed a good place to leave the trail camera. Sure enough the camera picked up the roe buck using his interdigital glands on the scrape and his frontal glands on the sapling beside it.

Seeding the first of the two stretches of roadway was finished today and some Yellow Iris moved from the wet area on the Meadow to the banks of Pond No 2.

9th April

David Oliver came to plant his Oaks. Clare forgot to pick up her phone and David left his camera in the car so there is no record of this event. Clare had also made labels for David and his son and daughters to fix to the tree cages when the family all came up together to see the trees on site. She forgot to hand them over. Ah well, such is ageing. The Oliver Oaks look very fine and knots have been tied in handkerchiefs to help remember to take photographs when the labels are ceremoniously attached.

10th April

John and Clare have decided to be a bit belt and braces regarding the algae and have dosed the two larger ponds with barley straw extract. Apparently new ponds are particularly susceptible to algae as are ponds with little shade and spells of hot weather. That’s 3 out of 3 then. Keith-who-knows-everything-about-nature is convinced it will all sort itself out in time, which is reassuring. If it doesn’t, John and Clare will be having words with him.

11th April

John and Clare spent time preparing for the next Green Gym Day, hauling brash, spreading tarpaulins ready to receive chip, and making a supply of baked goods.

Clare added more stones to the path at the bottom of the Crag. John is concerned that she might be planning to crazy-pave the Wetland.

12th April - The first Green Gym Day of this year

It must have been the lure of marmalade cake and shortbread. Seven stalwart friends arrived with bucketloads of goodwill and staggering reserves of energy and worked their way through five piles of brash until every twig was chipped. This involved a lot of hauling, lifting and hurling. Jane E planted Ragged Robin seedlings around the big pond - appropriately so since she had collected and sown the seeds last autumn and generously given Clare a large number to pot up and grow on. It was universally claimed that a good time had been had. John and Clare think they were probably not alone in choosing to do very little the next day. They remain hugely appreciative of all the help.

16th April

Clare heard and saw the first Willow Warbler of the year on Liddells. She was particularly pleased that she saw it make its way from a Silver Birch to a Willow. Bird lovers will know that Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs are similar in appearance, however their songs are very different. If you fancy knowing more, click here. While tracking down the Willow Warbler, Clare came across a clump of Wood Sorrell. Not so unusual until you see where it was growing.

17th April

All is not lost to the algae - there are tadpoles in the big pond. Although it dived too quickly for a photograph, a Great Diving Beetle had arrived there too.

19th April - Good Friday

It was indeed a good Friday for Clare - it was warm enough to open the hives. Both colonies are doing well and are expanding in the brood boxes. Clare added supers (shallower boxes placed on top of the brood box with a grid that is too narrow for the queen. The bees use the frames for their stores leaving the queen more space for egg laying below). Lack of space is one of the factors prompting the bees to create a new queen and swarm. The bees are benefitting from early flowering oil seed rape in a neighbouring field this year, as well as from all the gorse on Liddells, so there is plenty of forage nearby.

Clare heard several Blackcaps singing for the first time this year, managed to see one, and so began her annual challenge to distinguish their song from that of the Garden Warbler. Not as easy as it sounds.

We have eggs in the box in the Orchard - probably a Blue Tit.

20th April

John finished the bridge on the Wetland and has named it the Alphabet Bridge.

21st April

Pond life is on the increase. There are tadpoles in the second biggest pond; Lesser Water Boatmen on one of the smaller ponds; and Pond Skippers (also known as Water Striders, Water Skeeters, Water Bugs, Pond Skaters, Water Skippers, or Jesus Bugs) are visible on all the ponds. The latter seem to be camera shy as each time Clare tried to film them, they ceased all movement. Patience was rewarded however, as yours will be if you stick with the video. There also seem to be a monster that surfaces briefly from the deep. Feel free to submit suggestions as to its identity. It is neither Clare nor John. The bird singing in the background is a Willow Warbler.

On our return home John and Clare learned that David Oliver had taken his family to label the oaks. They are waiting to see if his knotted handkerchief reminded him to take photos. They may appear in next month’s blog post.

25th April

The first Bluebells are out and Clare spotted three more small patches of them in places where she had not planted any. It’s good to know that Liddells has had its own Bluebells all along. They are all English Bluebells, which is excellent news. John added more seats to the story-telling circle. All it needs now is a seat for the story-teller. The Bird Cherry has produced lots of blossom this year, which is just emerging.

27th April

No sooner said than done. All that is needed now is a story-teller…

28th April

Clare saw a female mallard taking off from the big pond and three swallows flying low over it. John and Clare are rather hoping that the swallows make the link between the food supply on the pond and the excellent housing potential of the hay shed. Many butterflies around today including a Speckled Wood that settled obligingly still enough in the Pit Wood to photograph. Sadly the eggs in the nesting box in the Orchard have disappeared, however there is a Great Tit sitting on eight eggs in a box in the Pit Wood.

29th April

A high maintenance day - Clare weeded about half of the path in the Top Strip accompanied the whole time by birdsong, including that of a Garden Warbler, which Clare managed to glimpse so reassuring herself that it wasn’t a Blackcap. She also saw that there are now at least thirteen patches of English Bluebells established at the east end of the Top Strip from the very first ones Clare and John planted there before Liddells officially became theirs, thanks to Mike’s generosity. John strimmed large patches of rush on the Wetland, hoping to reduce its impact and thus allow other growth to come through. He also tightened and refixed fencing all along the Verge and around the arena - ‘arena’ sounds grander than it is, which is an area dedicated to schooling the ponies.

30th April

With the butterfly season well underway and Tim and Jane walking round regularly recording sightings, John strimmed the path they (Tim and Jane, not the butterflies) use through the Top Strip. John also started work on fixing gutters to the hay shed and part of the log shed in order to collect rain water for the bowser. Last year the rain water collection trough proved insufficient for the ponies needs through the long dry spell.

A final thought - the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Day Wild begins on 1st June. You may like to start thinking about how you could have your own wild 30 days.