For reasons that will become apparent, there are a lot of videos in this month’s blog. It is unlikely that these will either show or be playable through the email you have received with the blog. If this is the case, go to the Liddells website www.liddells.co.uk, click on Blog and the videos will be available in the March post.
27th & 28th February
Some footage from the end of last month.
The pair of red-legged partridge have been exploring and found their way to the Pit Wood.
It is clear that the lame doe, as suspected, has lost her foot, however she continues to be mobile and able to forage.
A pair of hares appear to be almost synchronised.
The rather confusing to and fro movements seen in previous footage of a badger may be explained.
The older buck re-marks the elder branch in the Scrub and then seems to forget the branch is there.
1st March
Another surprise on the trail camera - footage of a wood mouse in the Pit Wood. They are nocturnal so not often seen, although John and Clare have seen one a couple of times in daylight near the bird feeders. Read more about them here.
John made a start on rebuilding the log shed, which will now be re-sited on the hay shed base. As he arrived a heron flew off from the Wetland. Dave took his chain saw to the fallen ash limb. The photograph reveal just how big a scar is left. The ash presumably now also qualifies as a veteran tree.
Clare went to check on the bee food and saw much activity at the hives. She was also treated to views of a goldcrest, a bullfinch and a yellowhammer nearby.
3rd March
A local mole catcher has trapped 16 moles, some of them on the Meadow. As activity seems to have subsided, Clare spent a couple of hours flattening the molehills. She planted some Winter Aconite in the Top Strip (a third attempt to establish the plant, so fingers crossed it will be third time lucky and they will survive). John fixed the first of the uprights for the log shed.
The Red-legged Partridge pair are back in the Scrub. To discover more about the species, click here.
4th March
Second upright for the log shed in place and today John saw the Heron again near the pond and a pair of Mallard in the water.
The Woodcock makes a third appearance in front of the trail camera.
Pole position
Pair of poles
6th March
Clare sowed several envelopes of wildflower seed that she had collected and been given, on the Meadow. Barry had kindly lent a harrow to deal with the many molehills on the Top Grazing. If only he’d gift wrapped it, it would have been a bow and harrow. John did the harrowing after lunch - eaten and harrow. He quite fell for the implement, obviously struck by Cupid’s harrow; it was so much quicker than flattening with a rake, indeed swift as a harrow. John’s route, however, was quite circuitous, so not as straight as a harrow. Clare indulged herself by making up harrow puns while tending to a bonfire.
Tim sent photos from Top Grazing and the hide.
While Clare was at the hide she was delighted to see a Blue Tit make three investigative visits to one of Juno’s bird boxes.
John and Clare saw two deer than another, two hares, and heard a Yellowhammer singing for the first time this year.
Mountainous molehills
A harrowing experience
Not a mountain, not even a molehill left
Marsh tit contemplating food choice. A pair appeared together at times.
House viewing
6th - 9th March
John had attempted to take a photograph of the heron earlier in the month, however the distance proved too great for much clarity, so Clare moved one of the trail cameras to the pond, a move that has proved to be a great success. (Ignore the date and time on the clips, Clare forgot to alter the settings when changing the batteries.)
Spot the heron! (It is in flight.)
The camera took nearly 300 videos over three days, of which a selection follows. There were two sequences of sunset reflecting in the camera lens which brought the image of the Biblical burning bush to Clare’s mind. There is footage of a pair of surprising visitors, the Mallards’ courtship behaviour, a delightful recording of a Dunnock singing, and lots of the heron, although this also provides possible evidence for the absence of frogspawn thus far. Frustratingly the image of the heron’s success is somewhat compromised by the camera logo. The heron is making several visits each day and spending from 10-25 minutes by the pond per visit.
The Mandarin Ducks were a complete surprise. John and Clare are wondering if they will appear again or whether this will be their only appearance. They nest in trees so Liddells offers the right habitat for them.To read more about them, click here.
Below the male Mallard starts a bit of courtship behaviour then very quickly gives up.
The footage of the Heron proves to be almost irresistible. The bird seems to have a natural cartoon quality. Blog readers can be reassured that the novelty will soon wear off and they will not be inundated with pond footage in subsequent posts. The footage reveals there are two different birds - a male and a female. The black neck plume, known as an aigret is much longer in the male. The term ‘aigret’ is from the French for egret, or lesser white heron, and refers to the tufted crest or head-plumes of the egret, fixed in the shape of a plume and used for adorning a headdress. The word may also identify any similar ornament in gems.
A brief clip of both ducks displaying courtship behaviour and then apparent success.
8th March - meanwhile back on dry land
The badger seems particularly interested in the ground below the deer-marked branch and this brings him close to the camera for a good view. The young buck checks the scent marks. The hares are still together.
9th March
As John and Clare arrived on the Top Grazing, a snipe flew off. Clare has frequently seen them in a neighbouring field, however this is a first for Liddells. The RSPB information page about snipe has a short video in which you can hear the characteristic drumming sound of the wings as they fly.
John completed the frame for the new log shed.
10th March
The older buck checks that he doesn’t need to mark again. This clip shows that he is ‘in tatters’ - when the blood supply to the velvet is shutdown and the tissue dies and begins to dry up and fall off. Deer are often seen thrashing their antlers in undergrowth, on bushes and trees in a bid to remove the velvet in a process known as fraying, cleaning or polishing. This is part of the damage deer can do to trees - their action strips the bark, usually from young trees, which compromises growth. About ten hours later the young buck marks again.
11th March
Dave started work on clearing the Silver birch at the top of the Crag, brought down by storm Arwen.
Back at the pond the Mandarins make a further appearance. Both male and female herons are successful in reducing the number of frogs in the pond. The young buck and one of the does are close to the pond, however it is reported that roe do not drink from water sources, satisfying their hydration needs from forage.
12th March
Clare went hunting for frogspawn and found some in both the Roadside and Crag ponds. She had checked the previous day without success so both these were very freshly laid.
More footage of the older buck in tatters - John says the deer has managed to get the points cleaned and polished however the velvet remains on the lower parts of the antlers. The badger rootles near the camera.
13th - 15th March
With careful tread, the male heron moves into position.
Buzzards are often seen above Liddells and occasionally perched in trees however the trail camera offers yet another delight and a buzzard joins the plethora of wildlife at the pond. It appears to bathe, with the heron making what sound like protesting sounds. The heron flies off making its bark-like call.
Having heard Chiffchaffs from the garden at home, Clare went to Liddells to hear if they had arrived and heard several singing in the Scrub and Pit Wood. She also came across a hare feeding on the edge of the Pit Wood - maybe it was listening to the Chiffchaffs as well.
She was also pleased that some frogs are surviving in the Big Pond, at least thus far, and there is a small quantity of frogspawn.
16th March
A hare appears to be all ears in the Scrub.
The doe appears with two kids. The young buck is still in velvet. This time he doesn’t check the scent mark. John says it is not unusual for antlers to grow unevenly.
Two badgers vie for supremacy on the path through the Scrub.
17th - 20th March
John fixed roof beams in the replacement log shed.
The young buck forages on bracken, demonstrating the variety of plants roe deer will eat.
From the hide Clare saw the first Tree Sparrow in many months.
Clare saw frogspawn in the big pond then two days later John called her over to witness about twenty frogs mating there. There was substantially more frogspawn. Clare managed to film for a second or two before the frogs dived for cover so, for readers of a delicate disposition, be aware there is frogsporn in this post. For a more thorough presentation of this phenomenon, click here.
21st - 24th March
Footage from the pond trail camera continues to be of interest. A hare appears in the background; the lame doe is still around; the other doe kid is still squeaking (John thinks the kids may stop squeaking when the doe separates from them when they are about a year old).
The mature buck is again captured marking his territory. He is anointing and also vigorously scraping, depositing scent from glands between his cleaves. Frank Holmes, writing about roe, says that scraping is the only form of territorial marking which is performed in a ferocious manner; he suggests that it results from an immediate threat to the territory. As the young buck is also using this spot, the footage would seem to illustrate Holmes’ point.
The native daffodils in the Top Strip are at last beginning to form clumps.
John finished replumbing the Necessarium. Clare was much amused by gifts from her sister - copies of The Specialist and The Master Builder by Charles Sale. Clare remembers that there was a copy of the former in their childhood home but had forgotten completely about it until Jean reminded her. Both books concern the professional activities of Lem Putt, a specialist in the simpler forms of sanitary engineering. Lem is attentive to both the material and the emotional needs of his clients, for example not using knotty timber in his constructions as knotholes can make spaces for snoopers. Clare likes to think that between them, she and John have been as considerate as Lem.
John also worked on the back panel of the log shed.
25th - 27th March
A stoat is on the alert in the Scrub.
John and Clare had decided to stay in the shepherd’s hut again. They were delighted to have chosen days where the weather was wonderful, the sunsets glorious and the night skies spectacular. Almost as soon as they had arrived, so did a Buff-tailed bumblebee queen, no doubt looking for a nesting spot. The Mallard pair were back on the pond - good to see them in the flesh or they might have been mallard imaginaire (Clare is delighted to make use of the literature component of her French A level). Clare saw a Tree sparrow again from the hide. A pair of curlews flew over on Friday evening. During that night Clare heard a fox barking close by for several minutes.
The next day Clare saw a Comma butterfly near the hives and Coltsfoot in flower in the Pit Wood. Four drakes and a duck flew off the big pond.
Early on Sunday Clare saw a hare go past the back of the shepherd’s hut and the young buck cross in front of it. There was also aTree Creeper and several Bullfinches on trees close by.
Buff-tailed bumblebee queen
Comma
Comma underside
29th - 31st March
And then there was snow. The pond camera continues to record visitors. On the afternoon of the 31st, Clare went to retrieve the camera discs for any last contributions to this post and the snow you see in the footage from that morning had all disappeared, as had every single Coltsfoot flower that Clare had gone to photograph. Coltsfoot leaves are eaten by birds, bees, and the caterpillars of several species of moth. Coltsfoot was known in the Middle Ages by the scientific names ungula caballina (horse hoof) and pes pulli (foal's foot) due to the supposed resemblance of the young leaf to the foot of a horse. The flowers are an excellent source of nectar for bees.
As she was walking past, Clare looked in one of the nest boxes in the Scrub and saw small amounts of moss. Nest-building has begun.