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1st August
Clare and John visited the Knepp Estate in Sussex. This is where Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree have abandoned intensive farming in favour of a pioneering rewilding project. The Maori use the word kaitiakitanga, for ‘Guardianship or management, esp. of the natural resources of a place or area; environmental stewardship considered as a duty and responsibility of the inhabitants of an area’ (OED Word of the Day 04.07.22). The undertaking is inspiring, based as it is in respect for and trust of nature, and those qualities were apparent throughout. Although not the best time of year to see some of the more exciting species that have returned there, Clare and John each saw a Turtle Dove in fight, many White Storks and were astonished that a pair of red deer stags grazed within ten yards of the hut where they were staying. There were numerous Gatekeeper butterflies which Clare had not knowingly seen before; Clare noticed a Common Field Grasshopper had landed on her jacket, a short distance from its usual habitat of unimproved grassland, which was there in abundance.
Meanwhile, back on Liddells, the trail camera in the Scrub captured footage of a neighbour’s dog chasing one of the roe triplets. The doe and other two kids appear, following the scent and much alarmed. Clare and John are now waiting for any footage that shows the kid has been reunited with its family.
2nd August
Tim and Jane thought they had seen a Purple Hairstreak butterfly on the large oak on the Wetland last evening, so set off again this evening to try their luck. They were successful and saw a couple on a tree that overhangs the north boundary near the bee hives, although photographing the butterflies proved hard.
4-5th August
Clare has learned a lot about roe deer from John and was therefore excited to discover what she believed could be a driving circle in the Scrub, a clearly trampled circle round a Hawthorn. In the rut, a buck, sensing a doe coming into oestrus, will quite literally, drive her round in circles or a figure of eight until she is receptive. This may happen over several days. The buck appeared early in the day of the 5th. John came to look at the circle and agreed with Clare’s speculation so Clare moved the Scrub camera to focus on the central Hawthorn. Later that day the doe appeared, the buck is seen in pursuit, and a single kid follows on its own.
Clare worked some more on digging out the roadside pond while it remains dry.
6th August
Clare found a Ground Beetle cloaked in a spider’s web on the brush in the Necessarium. Ground Beetles are often found under the bark of decaying wood, so perhaps the sawdust was the attraction. The brush didn’t seem to be decaying.
The single kid appears on its own for several minutes in the morning and in the afternoon, near the Hawthorn in the Scrub.
7th August
Clare and John celebrated nine years of kaitiakitanga of Liddells by getting on with their chosen projects - Clare digging out the roadside pond and John working on the classroom. Mindful of the damage caused by Storm Arwen, he has decided to put shutters on the openings, which can be fixed open if there are weather warnings, thus allowing any storm winds to go through the structure without lifting off the roof.
Clare’s hunch proved to be well founded although the main driving circle proves to be to the right of the Hawthorn. The doe was captured hanging around the circle early in the day. The drive happens in the early evening. John has edited together all the clips from the trail camera and you can see the buck driving the doe for several minutes. There are calls audible throughout the drive. John is unsure whether these are from the buck or the doe. She seems to tire towards the end and then returns on her own, presumably after mating. John says that the buck will mate with the younger does first, hence selecting the doe with only one kid. John is very pleased to have footage of a drive.
8th August
Clare, having unsuccessfully tried to find Purple Hairstreaks on previous days, not realising that they are usually seen in the early evening in sunny, still conditions, rather than earlier in the day, was pleased to see Tim also out to look for them. Tim showed Clare exactly where to look and there indeed were a couple of the butterflies, just visible to the naked eye, however binoculars gave a better view.
9th August
Tom made 30 bales from the hay on the Wildflower Meadow. Clare and John enjoyed seeing the old-fashioned rectangular bales. Clare, finding it hard to know how deep was deep enough, saw the heap of soil she had removed and decided she had added sufficient depth to the roadside pond. She started work on uncovering the edging stones that had become overgrown.
Giant haystack not
11th August
Tim managed to get a photograph of a Purple Hairstreak and has helpfully circled its whereabouts! He pointed out that, rather than purple, the wing colour appears rather reddish.
13th August
Barry told Clare that in the north of England and in Scotland, the process of moving hay out of the fields and storing it in a barn is called ‘leading the hay’. Clare had not heard this before although then synchronously heard John use exactly this phrase later in the day. Barry also demonstrated the use of some rather nifty straps with ratchets to secure the hay on the trailer. Just as he was explaining that if you threaded them the wrong way, they were almost impossible to undo, John provided a visual aid for this problem. John and Barry led the hay to Barry’s barn. John finished untangling the strap by early evening. While investigating the phrase Barry had introduced, Clare discovered a photograph in National Galleries Scotland entitled ‘Leading Hay’. She rather wished she had worn a boater for the Liddells event.
Clare started work on the north side of the pondside road, spotting a Small Copper nearby.
14th August
Clare finished uncovering the stones on the south side of the road, so turned her attentions to the north, remembering that when the large digger had come to further dig out the big pond, it had displaced several of the road edge stones.
15 - 18th August
The classroom building work continues. You can see the first shutter in place.
Clare’s work on the road edge continues.
One of the trail cameras, now returned to the Pit Wood, shows a doe with two kids. There has been no footage showing all three kids since the beginning of the month.
A hen pheasant has a young chick. This is quite late in the season as pheasants typically raise a brood between April and June with the incubation period lasting on average between 22 and 28 days.
With no hare on the blog thus far in the month, here is a hare. John is seeing hares regularly on the Top Grazing while he works on the classroom. The hares may be using the hay bales as shelter from the sun. They seem unperturbed by John’s activities. He has seen five out at the same time.
21st August
A busy day. Jane B had arranged to bring several family members to Liddells. Zoe, who is studying agri-forestry, came early for a tour with Clare. There was plenty of activity on the pond and Zoe managed to capture a shot of a Common Darter at rest. Georgie and Charlie had fun testing their strength pushing bales and in the process found a caterpillar of the White Ermine Moth. The contrast in colouration between caterpillar and moth is striking. A visit to the hide entertained.
Male Common Darter
White Ermine Moth caterpillar
Georgie focussing on the birds
This is what the birds see
Charlie inspecting the results of his pond-dipping
Not a masked invader but Clare in her bee suit
Checking all the struts are there on the Alphabet Bridge
Climbing the hay bales is always fun
John lifted a roofing sheet from a pile on the ground to find two Violet Ground beetles underneath. They quickly scuttled for cover, however Clare managed to photograph one of them.
Clare completed a butterfly transect as Tim and Jane are away. Clare saw 8 different species - Large White 7, Green-veined White 4, Small Skipper 1, Red Admiral 3, Peacock 1, Speckled Wood 5 and Wall Brown 1. The Wall Brown was the first she had seen this year. Here is a photograph of one she saw just six days later while she was on a walk with Pat.
Violet Ground beetle
While Jane et al dipped the pond, Clare inspected her bees and was delighted to discover that the most recent split had worked, and the nucleus hive had frames of capped brood, indicating a successfully mated queen. Clare began the season with two colonies and has increased them to six. This hot, dry summer has offered ideal conditions for new queens to mate, unlike in previous years where cold, wet spells have compromised successful mating.
22nd - 23rd August
Clare was relieved to finish restoring the roadside edges. She then turned her attention back to the big pond and she and John started tackling more of the invasive Branched bur-weed and Hard and Soft rush.
John used surplus roofing sheets bought for the hide at a farmers’ sale three years ago, to create a weed-suppressing sub-floor for the classroom. Perhaps also a Violet Ground beetle hideaway.
24th August
The single kid has appeared on its own several times in the Scrub, however today the doe and kid appear together.
25th August
A doe followed by a single kid walk in front of the trail camera. Clare and John were relieved that the next clips show all three of the triplets. This is the first time they have all been recorded since the dog was seen chasing a kid.
In the evening a pair of hares run through the Scrub.
26th August
Clare and John were delighted to welcome TrogTrogBlog Chris to Liddells. They took a scenic route to the big pond where male and female Emerald damselflies, male and female Common Darters and two male Southern Hawkers kept them entertained. The Southern Hawkers frustrated all attempts to have their photographs taken, however you can see how spectacular they are here. While watching the activity on the pond, Tim and Jane appeared doing a butterfly transect so Clare was able to introduce three members of the Liddells curatorium (‘A group of curators (in various senses), typically acting as an advisory body.’ OED Word of the Day 28.08.22) to each other.
Clare and John, not having heard or seen a Greenfinch on Liddells for months, noticed a pair coming to drink at the pond. John managed to get a photograph of one.
He also took a couple of images that showed autumn on its way.
After Chris had left Clare noticed a dead hare near the log shed. There was no obvious cause of death.
Not long till hedgerow jelly making time
Not for the hedgerow jelly, these are poisonous, however thrushes can feed on the berries, as they are immune to its poisons, and scatter the seeds abroad.
27th August
Clare found, if not a fairy ring, at least a fairy semi-circle, in the Scrub near to the driving circle.
Fairy semi-circle
John moved the hare’s carcass and saw two Common Sexton beetles scuttle away into the grass. A hare would seem to be a bit too big for them to bury, however they may well have been feeding on the corpse. Apparently the beetles can sense rotting flesh at a distance of two miles.
John began flooring the west end of the classroom.
I’m not floored
John and Clare were most surprised to see footage of a Woodcock in the Scrub. Readers may remember that there were clips of Woodcock in the Scrub last winter, however John and Clare had always thought that the birds were migrants rather than resident. You can hear a Tawny Owl calling in the background. Shortly after the Woodcock had left, a stoat appeared.
On their way to the hide, John noticed a frog sitting in the roadside pond Clare wondered if it was optimistic about the prospect of water, in which case it could be a Froghoper.
While John progressed with the classroom, Clare turned her attention to the damp section of the Wildflower Meadow and dug out the mint that was beginning to take over again. She also lifted and split Yellow Iris and Purple Loosestrife to replant round the ponds.
28th August
More activity in the Scrub. A Tawny Owl appears in front of the camera, then about twenty minutes later, the buck comes through. John has always said that after the rut, the bucks seem to vanish, however this one is still around.
A Great Tit flies at the camera. This happens again round about midday. The bird can’t be looking for a nesting site at this time of year.
Meanwhile, John decided to put a trail camera on the Meadow. He and Clare have seen deer on and nearby there quite often. His choice proved successful and a doe appears several times, again challenging the received wisdom that roe are crepuscular. The camera is pointing east.
29th August
Clare worked on the big pond again while John began the doorway for the classroom. They both spotted a new bit of excavation on the path near the hide. Best guess is a vole hole.
While at the hide there was a moment when there was a flurry of alarm calls, all the birds flew for cover and before Clare had finished saying, “Where’s the Sparrowhawk?” a female flew across the feeders. No birds were taken however it was a while before they reappeared, led by two Marsh tits.
Kathryn arrived with a trailer full of hazel seedlings which had germinated in pots in her garden, possibly from nuts buried by squirrels.
Manmade doorway
Mammalmade doorway (the tunnel is about 6-7 centimetres wide)
When Clare checked the trail camera she found several clips of a grey squirrel in the Scrub. There are often clips of grey squirrels and normally she would delete such footage muttering darkly, however, this time the videos raised a grudging smile. The squirrel’s activities lasted for a couple of minutes; John has stitched the videos together. The animal seems to be playing in a way reminiscent of stoats gambolling.