August - an open invitation, shut and reopened

1st - 8th August

John and Clare decided to celebrate Liddells’ sixth anniversary with an Open Day on August 10th. This turned John and Clare into preppers (OED 4th August: A person who or thing which prepares or readies something; a preparer). John set about strimming heroically to create paths round the site, Clare devised activities to keep visitors entertained, copious lists and notices were created, tables and chairs were imported, the sheds were smartened up and the shepherd’s hut was fitted with its very first furnishings - two book racks. So much more important than beds or heating. There was even a bit of MacGyvering : To construct, fix, or modify (something) in an improvised or inventive way, typically by making use of whatever items are at hand; to adapt expediently or ingeniously.(OED Word of the Day 08.08.19) - see photos below. There had been considerable rain over these few days however Clare and John remained optimistic and dedicated to prepping. The last task was to put up signs and make maps. This all occupied most of their time, however there were still opportunities to enjoy Liddells’ delights. Tim had managed to glimpse a Purple Hairstreak butterfly (first seen on Liddells last year) at the end of last month, on a roadside oak, and told John and Clare that if present, the butterflies were likely to be seen at around five in the afternoon on a sunny day at the very top of oak trees. In spite of several attempts and much cricking of necks, Tim and Jane are as yet the only ones to spot the butterfly. Good to know it seems to have returned though. Tim is also on the lookout for White Letter Hairstreaks which feed at the top elms which we have in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood. More neck-cricking involved. New dragon and damselfly species have arrived on the ponds, including Blue-tailed and Emerald damselflies and Common Hawkers.

Small Copper on Ragwort. John and Clare remove Ragwort from the Top Grazing and Meadow. Although animals naturally avoid eating it, if it ends up in hay they have no knowledge of its presence and that’s when there is a risk of poisoning. This small … — Small Copper on Ragwort. John and Clare remove Ragwort from the Top Grazing and Meadow. Although animals naturally avoid eating it, if it ends up in hay they have no knowledge of its presence and that’s when there is a risk of poisoning. This small patch of the plant is on the Wetland and has been given a stay of execution because it is attracting so many butterflies.

9th August

The rain began in the night and continued ceaselessly; the forecast for Saturday was atrocious - thundery storms and heavy rainfall. Clare received an email offering an inflatable kayak and discretion being the better part of most things, John and Clare regretfully cancelled the Open Day. They had lovely messages of support in response including Jane K who was relieved not to have to aquaplane to the event.

10th August

The forecast was right - heavy rain through the night and up till mid-morning then again through the afternoon and all the next day.

12th August

Tim and Jane managed a butterfly transect today and great excitement - a new butterfly for Liddells. Tim said the Dark Green Fritillary was a bit bedraggled. Apparently the caterpillars of this species eat dog violets, of which Liddells has plenty. Jane also found an exceptionally well camouflaged young frog near the Crag pond.

13th August

John and Clare visited Liddells for the first time since all the rain, expecting to see a lot of standing water where none had stood before. Surprisingly there wasn’t that much, although the spring was running with great force and water was emerging from the original site of the spring and from a different site close by - neither of these have run with water in the last six years. John and Clare spent a long time by the big pond hoping for dragon and damselflies to settle, in particular the Common Hawkers that were around. Frustratingly this particular species seems to the the swift of the dragonfly world and never settles, so we can offer no photographs. Instead there are good images here. There were also Emerald damselflies, several of which were mating. There was a new insect on thistles on the Top Grazing that prompted an enquiry to the Royal Entomological Society; an enquiry that met with another prompt response from Professor Jim Hardie.

The trail camera has captured evidence that the roe buck and doe are still around, however there is no footage of the kid during the last three days. Let’s hope it is somewhere dry.

Taking a less explored route through the Pit Wood, John was particularly excited to find evidence of a roe ring. Roe rings provide evidence of repeated chases, the buck chasing the doe, around tree trunks or broken stumps, chases that leave a circle or figure-of-eight of bare earth liberally sprinkled with slots and often remnants of hair. In this instance, there was a figure of eight around two Norway Spruces. Unfortunately the ring would not show up well on a photograph.

17th - 18th August

John and Clare decided to tackle one of the projects that has been on the Liddells to-do list for quite a while - creating a series of steps over a large spoil heap in the Top Strip. It’s a clichéd task - taking flight one step at a time, the only way is up, until of course what goes up must come down while in the meantime trying not to get the hump.

19th August

Followers of this blog will know that photographs of rainbows have featured before. Here is another. Rainbows help compensate for all the rain and Liddells has good rainbows. This is one of Tim’s pictures and he adds that his kids used to call the road bend between his house and Liddells Rainbow Corner because that was the name of the owners of the house near the bend and because there are often rainbows there.

Tim’s caption - somewhere over the rainbow

20th August

The trail camera has captured evidence that the kid is still around. John thinks it is a buck.

21st August

While watching the big pond for dragonflies, Clare managed to identify another new species - a Brown Hawker (also seen recently in the Pit Wood) and in checking it out on the British Dragonfly Society’s website, realised she had wrongly labelled a photo in the June blog post. The subject in question was a Four-spotted Chaser, not the female Broad-bodied Chaser. This means that to date the ponds have attracted nine species of dragon and damselflies.

24th August - OPEN DAY!

The forecast for today had looked good for a while so John and Clare decided to go ahead with the Open Day and make best use of all John’s path strimming. The shepherd’s hut became a Liddells Information Office for the day with lists of the wildlife recorded thus far and some illustrations; visitors were provided with a map and list of suggested activities and an invitation to discover their inner child. Much fun appeared to be had by all. John and Clare were delighted to let everyone else do the work. Keith identified an additional dragonfly ovipositing- a Southern Hawker - which brings our species total up to ten. Thank you to all photographers for their contributions.

Juno and Hal get to have a go a couple of days later

It wasn’t all work!

There had been a large number of flying ants around the shepherd’s hut during the day however everyone politely ignored them. Later Kathryn sent a message to say that it had been Flying Ant Day. That wasn’t on either the biodiversity or Open Day plan yet seems wholly appropriate that they shared the celebration.

25th August

After all the enchantments and delights of the Open Day, Clare made her own discoveries. Enchanting? Delightful? All part of nature’s rich pattern.

However she was also able to take a slightly better picture of a Common Darter than previously.

31st August

Clare started the process of removing honey from the bees yesterday. This involves adding a clearer board in the evening. (The board has a rhombus shaped escape insert which has two "tunnels" leading to each end and a centre chamber in which the bees gather when initially leaving the super) The board is positioned between the brood box and the honey super . The bees will naturally cluster in the brood box overnight and if the super is removed early the next morning, they haven’t had a chance to work out how to get back up to the honey. This morning only three bees had to be persuaded to abandon their honey which made the collection quite easy. There’s not as much honey this year as last as the bees needed it during the cold and wet spells when they couldn’t get out to forage. While Clare and John enjoy honey on their toast, they hope the bees will be satisfied with their sugar syrup substitute.