Happy New Year to all Blog Readers - thank you for your support. We hope you continue to enjoy progress reports from Liddells. To see the Blog in all its glory, ie with trail camera footage included, click here and then click on Blog.
2nd December
John planted about 40 willow whips from neighbour Sylvia’s tree.
It is always heartening to see that there are hares thriving on Liddells. Here two rush through the Scrub.
3rd December
Clare made sure her bees were ready for the winter before she went in for her hip op. (The surgeon is also a beekeeper, so understood how the timing of the operation suited a beekeeper’s calendar. There is very little to do over winter except check the bees have plenty of food available.) Clare hefted the hives to assess the state of the stores and added boxes of fondant over holes in the crown board above the colony - the bees’ metabolism is slowed right down so they need to eat sugar directly without needing to process it, as they have to with syrup. Clare also added pillowcases stuffed with old sweaters under the roofs to provide some insulation and help absorb any damp.
John set about revamping a temporary log shelter near the bug hotel and worked on clearing a pine in the Pit Wood that had fallen during Storm Arwen, brashing the trunk ready for logging.
He brought home photographic evidence of how cold it was at Liddells.
5th - 6th December
John has moved his trail camera to the north-west corner of the Pit Wood as he recognises it is one of the deer’s favourite places. First on the scene was a pair of hares, then sure enough, the camera captured a doe couching and the young buck standing , then they reverse positions.
10th December
The cold brought a dense mist to Liddells that was slow to clear. Through the murk the camera in the Scrub has recorded the family of four roe; it is a while since they have all been seen together.
12th December
While Clare recovered in the warm at home, John’s car recorded that it was -5º while he worked at Liddells.
14th December
John is doing preparatory work prior to getting logs from the northern boundary under shelter. It remains cold.
Path past the roadside pond
Frosted rush
Path to orchard
16th December
John cleared an old gate and other debris from the north-west corner of the Pit Wood. He noticed how much less frosted the evergreens are than other growth.
20th -21st December
The Scrub camera captures the young buck on his own. The doe will have been encouraging him to go it alone. A Jay appears to be listening for its buried acorns.
22nd December
John wandered round Liddells with his camera instead of being there to work. Although he has included a couple of images of recent work, going up to play has sent him into reflective mode, if not a bit barking.
Refurbished log shelter
Enlarged Trapezium Bridge (for the log trailer)
The Big Pond,
the Roadside Pond…
and the Crag Pond
Dead Elm with regeneration
Orange Willows by the roadside pond - these are some of the very first Willow whips John and Clare planted, and were donated by Wenda and Matthew several years ago
Bark of a young Silver Birch…
and of an old one, probably past its canoe usefulness
The outflow from the spring, looking upstream. It is on the banks here that Primroses are abundant in the Spring
25th/26th December
A little bit of festive footage. A pair of Jays on Christmas Day and a single one pleasingly close to the camera on Boxing Day; also on Boxing Day a doe, a buck and another doe (probably one of the younger ones) are startled by nearby pheasant shooting and run through the Scrub.
John had to do some repairs to the meeting room roof to stop some leaks.
28th - 30th December
John set about various tasks - more work on widening the Trapezium Bridge, stone-walling on the northern boundary, adding a pallet to the temporary log shelter, clearing logs round the log shed, and making voice notes for tasks in the New Year with which, fingers crossed, Clare will be able to help. John saw three roe making their way out of the Scrub, across the Meadow and into the NE Strip. The roadside pond is filling up again with recent rain.
31st December
Three trail camera clips to end the year, a doe, a hare and the young buck - you can see the buttons developing on his head.