1st January
To experience the Blog in all its video glory, go to liddells.co.uk and click on Blog.
Clare began her year delighted to be able to return to some bird-watching. It was as if a rainbow had come out. After a lot more rain the roadside pond seems to be holding its level.
The Pit Wood trail camera captures the old buck - you can see this year’s antlers forming and how thickly covered they are with velvet. John says the older bucks grow their antlers before the younger ones and growth begins as soon as they shed the old ones, which can be any time in November and December.
2nd January
John lit the first fire of the year in the shepherd’s hut. A stoat and two hares keep warm with activity in the Scrub.
3rd January
A hare looks contemplative in the Pit Wood and a young doe noses around.
4th - 5th January
John started work on the benches for the Meeting Room, recycling upstands from benches he made for Hal and Beth several years ago.
John provided his own caption - ‘John has been elevated to the bench’
5th - 7th January
John planted more Willows, started work on a second bench and saw fives hares as he was walking around.
The Pit Wood trail camera captured a pair of hares that looked as if they might start boxing.
In the Scrub, the doe and triplets go round in circles, disturbed by nearby shooting.
9th January
John did more work on the second bench for the meeting room and plugged some of the leaks from the recycled and storm damaged roofing sheets with a bitumen sealant. He is hoping this will work.
Clare began putting netting on the shepherd’s hut steps which are very slippery when wet.
10th - 14th January
John did some stone-walling repair work on the north boundary, worked on the second bench, added more sealant to the roof (his work two days ago seems to have been effective), and added a drip cover to one of the windows.
The first fox of the year is captured on camera in the Pit Wood. It pauses to look at the camera light.
The young buck’s antlers continue to grow.
A kid’s squeak is very clearly heard in Pit Wood footage.
The Pit Wood camera captures four roe deer and very clearly shows the difference in rump pattern between the three does and the buck.
Either one badger goes through the Scrub twice ot two badgers go through about 40 minutes apart.
15th January
The second bench is nearly complete so John started on the frame for one of the tables. Then demonstrated how they might be used.
Clare is adopting a one-step-at-a-time approach.
16th January
Snow! While John was walking round with his camera, he saw five deer moving from the Scrub, up and along the Crag, across the Top Grazing and into the Top Strip. He only managed to get four of them on camera. He said they were most likely the old buck, older doe and her three triplets.
17th January
For reasons best known to itself, the Scrub trail camera has decided to stop taking video footage in favour of stills, however it has captured a stoat with prey and a Woodcock.
19th January
Chris B met John and Clare to talk about bringing up some hard core to fill in the muddy ruts on the Top Grazing near the gate. Clare heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming nearby. It continued to drum on and off throughout the morning’s visit. John and Clare filled the feeders and sat in the hide and were rewarded by a Bullfinch feeding on bramble seeds in front of the hide. Neither John nor Clare dared move to reach for a camera. Bullfinches are resident on Liddells and often seen in the trees, however they seldom venture near the feeders so this was a particular delight.
20th January
Taking best advantage of the hard, frosty ground, Chris sent a team up to make the roadway less muddy. John was impressed not only by the speed and efficiency of the work, but by skilful digger manipulation and trailer reversal.
The result
21st - 22nd January
A Jay digs for acorns in the snow.
John made a start on a second table, using timber from the small and now outgrown bed he made for Juno.
Ice on the roadway pond looks to be in Art Deco style as it begins to thaw. The water below is draining away slightly so the ice surface is sloping.
Catkins have appeared on hazels and alders in the Pit Wood. The catkins on the old hazel tree are far more abundant though less developed than on the more recently planted trees.
23rd - 30th January
John continued his work on the table tops and started the third bench. He has sanded, varnished and planed the edges.
A badger demonstrates the meaning of rootling.
Signs of Spring activity to come are appearing - one hare is clearly interested in another; two different badgers (one larger than the other) an hour or so apart mark their territory on opposite sides of the path in the Pit Wood; a fox marks his territory in the same area; a pair of male pheasants confront each other.
The family of four roe deer are still being seen together, although the smaller of the two young does is often captured several minutes behind the others. The single doe and kid haven’t been seen on film for some time now so have probably moved on to find their own territory.
Clare noticed several deposits of a white opaque jelly round the edges and on the island of the big pond. On closer inspection these were attached to what looked like eggs. Keith thinks they are snail eggs, most likely of the water snails.
John noticed that something has been nibbling away at the trunk of one of the trees in the Orchard - possibly hares or rabbits during the cold spell.
31st January
Final benchmarks and a rainbow for the end of the month.
John wishes it to be known that he realises that the bench position in the next photograph is preferable to the arrangement above.