1st-2nd February
John and Clare carried out bird box cleaning and maintenance ready for Spring. They also moved some that had never been used, and lowered some that were out of Clare’s reach, even with a ladder. Clare now has plans to make sure there are steps added to stiles that have been built for persons under six foot tall. Clare was delighted to put up the new box that David O had made for her birthday last year. No 25 remains missing and presumably has fallen into the Liddells equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.
Strong winds had ripped some of the sheeting for the rainwater collection so that needs further repair.
The first snowdrops of the year have appeared in the Top Strip.
5th-6th February
The trail camera is back in the Pit Wood and caught a hare, a vixen and the sound of a Tawny Owl calling and then flying off. The vixen appears to be scent marking.
7th February
John and Clare are delighted that this year Sue Dunne, a local ceramicist, and Linda France, a local poet, are going to be making monthly visits to Liddells. Linda has recently been announced as Climate Writer in Residence by Newcastle University and New Writing North.
Sue made her first visit of the year today and filled a bag with things that had caught her eye. As Neil was on the land planting nine trees he had grown at home, Sue did not escape work detail. Neil has added Limes, Horse Chestnuts, Maples and Ash to the Top Grazing.
Sue and Clare spent some time in the hide and both were delighted to see a female Siskin on the nyjer seed - another first for Liddells.
Gorse out in time for Valentine’s Day
8th February
John and Sue W visited with grandchildren William and Annabelle who had to find and learn about animal homes for their homework. Liddells provided plenty to discover - squirrel dreys, a buzzard’s nest, mouse and vole holes, the bee hives, the bug hotel and more besides.
William looking every inch the experienced birder
Negotiating the Dirty Dancing Bridge en route to the squirrel dreys
Annabelle in charge of note-taking
10th February
John and Clare learned that Storm Ciara had taken its toll - a stretch of wall on the north boundary had collapsed - annoyingly it included the patch John and Mel had repaired only a week ago.
11th February
John had help from Dave G to start the wall repair - they started with sorting and organising the fallen stones before tackling the base layers.
Juno inspecting the damage
Day 1’s repair work
12th February
With the stormy cold weather, the birds are getting through the food in the feeders very quickly. John and Clare went up to replenish them and were happy to see a Siskin make several visits. It would seem to be one of last year’s juveniles that is now developing its male colouring.
14th February
Today marks the start of National Nesting Box Week and while Clare was at the hide, she saw a Blue tit investigating Box 8 which can be seen from the hide. It was as if he knew.
16th February
George C came to visit Liddells with a view to taking down the overhanging branches on the north boundary. Clare enjoyed the contrast in woodland working garb.
John and Clare have seen the hare in daylight several times recently. The trail camera has too.
George will be seen clearly while John will merge into the landscape
18th February
Neil and Lesley make the most of half term with family and take some of them to the bird hide. Clare gave Juno, who shares this birthday with Lesley (and Pat) her first pair of binoculars.
Bird watchers with intent
Juno bird-watching at home. History does not relate what she saw
20th February
Nikki and Megan, two teachers from a local First School, came to visit with a view to a Forest School day. Clare and John are crossing all available digits.
The trail camera has captured the hare again, this time ruffled by the storm.
21st February
Storms, wind and bouts of what Clare’s sister refers to as ‘there’s-a-lot-of-it-about’ has meant little activity on Liddells this month, however John has been given permission to collect some Broom regeneration from a local woodland and today he and Clare planted 11 small Broom plants on the Crag.
New brooms, too young to sweep
22nd February
John is pursuing his photography challenge and has mastered the art of enlarging and cropping, so here are some of his results.
Bank vole banking on scattered bird food
Tree creeper showing clearly that it is not the short-toed variety
The RSPB says:
Accentors are small, inconspicuous, streaked birds, with sharp, pointed bills and a slightly robin-like, pot-bellied shape. They live mostly close to the ground, with a quick, shuffling and hopping action when feeding.
Dunnocks are often overlooked, not only are they small, brown and grey with a slender beak, they also like to creep around under bushes in a mouse-like way.
Keith points out the vermiculation, a quality he particularly enjoys in avian plumage.
Male siskin
Goldfinch and Siskin feeding together - often the Siskins will fight the Goldfinches off
This might be a juvenile male coming in to adulthood - an immature male will have a dark bill; this one’s bill seems to be turning yellow
Marsh tit
Coal tit showing some of the differences from the Marsh tit - the colouring on the cheeks and the white streak on the back of the head
Male chaffinch withstanding storm Dennis
Female chaffinch looking much calmer
Great tit looking great
25th February
Finally wind, rain and viruses had abated sufficiently for John and Mel to tackle the partly rebuilt wall. Clare and John habitually use excellent thick leather gloves for work on Liddells and between them, have got through several pairs, however when the gloves get wet, they can leech warmth from hands. John transformed his working experience today by discovering some heavy duty waterproof gloves in a local store and wore these over fleece liners. The gloves were so efficient that John probably worked longer than was wise and now has a sore back. Maybe there are advantages in having wet, cold hands. However, much more importantly, the wall now stands.
Mel at work in the remains of Monday’s snow
Through stones, ‘through’ in this context is pronounced locally as ‘thruff’
Through Mel, pronounced locally as Mel
Finishing touches
Repair complete
26th February
Clare went to change the disc in the trail camera and was amazed to see a lot of water bubbling out of the original site of the Pit Wood spring; there was also considerable water running into this stream from the path under the Dirty Dancing bridge.
Clare found clear evidence of a badger’s presence very near to the camera, however it seems to have evaded the camera’s gaze.
A quick visit to the hide to top up the feeders and Clare saw four Redwings that seemed to be investigating the feeding station but were not quite bold enough to partake. Another species for John to photograph and they bring the total number of bird species seen from the hide to 26.
Maybe footprint casts have to go on the to-do list
27th February
John and Clare decided it was time to finish the half-made drainage ditch leading away from the new pond. They are making a french drain so first Clare gathered up the rubble left from the wall repair to repurpose as a bed for the drainage pipes, then she and John set about excavating more of the ditch. It was very muddy however neither managed to fall over although there was a fair amount of mud slinging. The ditch is now fully dug however needs more rubble in which to bed the pipes.
The two side pipes will feed into the central ditch which currently awaits its gravel and pipe
Peppa Pig is not the only one who likes muddy puddles