To view the video footage in this Blog post go to www.liddells.co.uk and click on Blog.
1st July
John and Clare are keen to see how the three does and the six kids they have between them share the space on Liddells. Here the doe and singleton make their way through the Scrub.
2nd July
Clare reckoned she had removed all the Hogweed from the Meadow. Whether she has or not will be seen in due course. She completed a second butterfly transect; Meadow Browns and Ringlets were in evidence but not in great numbers. Following Tim’s route up to the Meadow from the north, Clare noticed a patch of Monkey Flower Erythranthe guttata which she had never seen on Liddells before. The plant is typically found growing in water margins and wetlands so it is not in its usual habitat, however it is very welcome, as is the Spot-winged Drone Fly foraging on Marsh Valerian.
The doe with twins is captured on the north edge Pit Wood and the singleton shows its growing independence in the centre of the Pit Wood.
3rd July
It is always a treat to see the deer and their kids in video footage, however it is also good to see evidence of other wild animals on Liddells. A fox and a badger put in an appearance in the Scrub.
5th July
Meadow Browns are around most dry days now.
A hare provides evidence that it is not just roe deer that are a threat to tree growth, however it is good to see the hares in the trail camera footage as at this time of year they are hidden in the long grass for much of the time.
7th July
Clare set about collecting Yellow Rattle seeds from this year’s growth. she bagged over 100gms which is quite a lot of seed. John mowed the path at the west end of the Top Strip for the first time since abandoning weeding as the form of maintenance - the mowing worked well so Clare can strike ‘maintain Top Strip path’ off her to-do list for evermore.
In this year’s dearth of butterflies Clare was pleased to see a Large Skipper on the Greater Knapweed.
8th July
The proximity of the rut is evidenced by the older buck chasing a doe through the Pit Wood and something has disturbed the doe and twins in the same location.
9th July
The twins forage independently in the Scrub and a bit over an hour later are with the doe in the rain in the Pit Wood.
10th July
In the Pit Wood the doe and her single kid provide a charming example of learning by copying.
Later the same day the Scrub camera, albeit with some obstruction on the lens, captures the doe with her triplets.
11th July
The triplets are the last of the kids to demonstrate their independence, caught on camera in the Scrub.
Shortly later the twins bound through the same area.
Ruth completed another ringing session. Her previous session had been very quiet so she was very pleased this time to end up with her highest number of birds yet - 50. She ringed several juvenile Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, a juvenile Linnet and a pair of Yellowhammers. A good day!
Juvenile Linnet - Ruth said it ‘looked very fresh (wings and tail still growing)’
A Robin ‘starting to look like a Robin’!
Juvenile Yellowhammer 1…
and 2
16th July
Although the new gate on the Meadow has been at cost to a patch of Field Scabious Knautia arvensis, Clare is delighted that a different patch is thriving. Apparently species of scabious were used to treat scabies and many other afflictions of the skin including sores caused by the bubonic plague. The word scabies comes from the Latin scabere 'to scratch'. The plant is also called gipsy rose.The genus Knautia is named after a 17th-century German botanist, Christian Knaut.
Juveniles are often present on the feeders and John was able to photograph a young Goldfinch.
18th July
John decided to reposition one of the cameras on the Hayfield as there was evidence of the deer using the long grass for couching. No deer appeared however there is an amusing clip of a Pheasant staring into the lens. Clare took a photo of the camera so readers can work out where the bird perched. She also remembered that there is a wildflower called Pheasant’s Eye. If readers click on the link, you can decide whether the flower is well named.
19th July
As in previous years the Willow Tits have disappeared through the breeding season, which leaves John and Clare anxious. They were both relieved to see one of the adults at the feeders today. John will take his camera up in the hope of further sightings.
21st July
As the day warmed up Clare noticed quite a few bumblebees around. Here is a Garden Bumblebee making the most of the forage on a Spear Thistle, a honey bee on Creeping Thistle, a pair of Red Soldier Beetles illustrating their nickname (Hogweed Bonking Beetles) and some Ragwort from the Wetland. Many people have heard that Ragwort is poisonous and a threat to horses and cattle and then assiduously pull it up from verges and the like. Horses and cattle will not eat Ragwort in a field; the plant is only poisonous if it is cut into a hay crop and fed to beasts. The plant is a valuable food source for a wide range of insects, in particular the cinnabar moth. John and Clare pull out any they find on the Hayfiled and Meadow, however they leave it in other places.
Clare enjoys seeing honey bees foraging on Liddells and always assumes they are from the Liddells apiary
Bonkers!
The much maligned Ragwort.
23rd - 24th July
An update on the deer. The triplets and the twins have been captured by the Scrub camera. After last month’s first ever (for John) footage of a deer barking, here is another. Expect the third any day…
Tom and Barry had planned to start cutting and making the hay earlier this week then the weather defied the forecast, however today it and the prospect over the next few days was better so Tom cut the Hayfield. Clare is unsure whether it is more stressful not knowing whether the grass can be cut at all or, when it is cut, whether the rain will hold off until the hay is made.
Recently the fat ball feeders in front of the hide have been opened and the fat balls eaten in spite of the feeders allegedly being squirrel proof. John and Clare have tried several methods of securing the lids none of which has proved to be effective for longer than a day or two. Clare set up a camera to see what happened.
25th July
John and Clare are spending a lot of time preparing Liddells for an Open Weekend next month, so while one man (Tom) went to mow, one man (John) took to his strimmer and one woman (Clare) set to work with her sickle and her scythe. John and Clare are making sure the paths are clear ready for visitors. While Clare was walking up through the Scrub she noticed the single Nettle-leaved Bellflower (there has never been more than one) is in flower.
25th - 28th July
It took the squirrel a couple of days to get the lid off. In the process it investigated the nyjer seed feeder as well. The squirrel made four visits/attempts on the first day, four on the second and cracked it on its second visit on the third day. Thereafter it made four further visits that day and two on the next before Clare retrieved the disc. The feeder is now secured with a cable tie - probably easily chewable. The videos below show something of the process and how almost the instant the squirrel is successful and leaves with his trophy, the birds come to the nyjer seed feeder (one of the Willow Tits appears; they seem to vanish during the breeding season so Clare & John are especially pleased to have evidence they are still around). A Wood Pigeon looks bemused by how to get a fat ball even though the top of the feeder is off but then Pigeons seem bemused at the best of times. Clare was told that a way of recognising their call was to hear ‘I don’t know, I don’t’. A juvenile Woodpecker shows its head as it starts to climb the pole.
Later that night in the Scrub the camera catches the height of the rut. The old buck drives the oldest and largest of the does round in a circle through hawthorns. There were three videos. In the first the pair make three circuits; there is a five second gap while the camera regroups and then captures another two circuits and the sounds of a third before the clip finishes. In the third video, five seconds later and not included here, you can hear the doe squeaking then all goes silent. Readers can use their imaginations for what happened next. John says he has read a buck will mate with the youngest does first, so he deduces that this buck will already have mated with the other two does who have Liddells as their home patch. If there is no buck on the home patch, the doe will go and find one and draw it in. Clare commented that there must be different driving circles on Liddells as the Scrub camera has been working and has not recorded any other driving. The rut is propelled by the does, who are monoestrus, coming into oestrus from mid-July. There is thinking that this happens as daylight hours begin to shorten. Apparently the word ‘rut’ is ‘late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin rugitus, from rugire ‘to roar.’’ Red deer stags do indeed roar, however as readers of this Blog know, roe deer bark.
29th July
With no fat balls left, the squirrel has to picnic on pine cones.
Clearing inside a caged Scots Pine, Clare saw a female Nursery Web Spider carrying her egg sac in her fangs.
While John and Clare feed a pile of brash through a chipper, Tom takes a spinning class.
Tom will probably row up the hay tomorrow. It smells gorgeous
The Point of View steps looking chipper after a top up
After John and Clare had left, a juvenile Greater Spotted Woodpecker visited the feeders.
30th July
As expected the squirrel had chewed through the cable tie so there are now carabiner clips on the fat ball feeders. Ha!
Ruth had a personal best with 62 birds in her nets this morning. She said that the warblers were arriving in the nets in small flocks. She listed the juveniles - 9 Chiffchaffs, 9 Siskins, 6 Willow Warblers, 6 Robins, 5 Blackcaps, 4 Bullfinch, 3 Goldfinch, 3 Blackbirds, 2 Wrens, 2 Blue Tits, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Dunnock and 1 Great Tit. It sounds like an alternative version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Yesterday Clare had found a Broad-leaved Helleborine where she had not found one before however she had forgotten to take a photograph. Today she went looking for more and found only about a half dozen plants in total, far fewer than when she and Mel first discovered the plants on Liddells two years ago. (Mel will probably complete a wildflower survey any day so watch next month’s Blog post for a numbers update.) On the way Clare noticed a Red Admiral and a Comma both with folded wings and blending into the bark, high on an Oak. Her attempts to take a photo of them together came to a full stop when the Comma flew off. It was the only Comma Clare has seen this year.
She also looked for the Betony in the Pit Wood and found a colony of about twenty plants still thriving; the Bittersweet nearby them was also increasing in its spread.
Betony Stachyis officinalis commonly known as Common Hedgenettle, Purple Betony, Wood Betony, Bishopwort, or Bishop’s wort. Historically, it was planted in churchyards to prevent activity by ghosts.
In dyeing the plant makes chartreuse on wool with alum mordant.
Betony was also an ingredient of “Pistoja powder,” an old herbal medicine remedy for arthritis, gout, and tension headaches. It was also claimed to be effective against snake and dog bites, and was believed to be a cure for drunkenness.
Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara also known as Woody Nightshade. The berries are toxic; the leaves smell of burnt rubber when crushed.
At the Big Pond Clare watched Common Blue and Emerald Damselflies, a male Common Darter and the impressive blue helicopter that is the male Common Hawker. Clare apologises for the poor quality of the photos, at the time she was more concerned with not falling into the pond than with sharp focus; also she didn’t have her glasses; and dragon and damselflies won’t keep still for long! She had more success filming a Raft spider weaving its web above the surface of the pond. ‘The chocolate-brown raft spider inhabits bogs and ponds. It can be spotted sitting near the water, its legs touching the surface. When it feels the vibrations of potential prey, it rushes out to catch it, floating like a raft…Raft spiders will also swim underwater, often diving beneath the surface when threatened.’ According to the Wildlife Trust website, these spiders are ‘widespread but scarce.’ (wildlifetrusts.org)
On her way up to the Hayfield Clare saw what she first thought were ladybirds on one or two of the Willows in Sylvia’s Avenue, however on closer inspection they proved to be galls. Identification, even with the help of the British Plant Gall Society (who knew?) still proved difficult, however they are possibly Aceria iteina a mite that causes galls on Salix species.
The Scrub camera recorded the singleton kid with a dragonfly in the foreground - a reminder that dragonflies often use trees for shelter.
31st July
Tom rowed up the hay this morning. This afternoon, while Clare was working on path clearing, she heard the welcome sound of a tractor. The month has ended balefully. Ten bales this year, fewer than before however John and Clare are very relieved to have the work completed. Huge votes of gratitude to Tom and Barry for making time to help us.
Hip, hip, hoo hay!!