November 30, 2024

November - a visit from a royal beast

November 30, 2024

Below are two more ‘What’s that bird?’ challenges (answers at the end of this post). You will have to go to the Blog page of the website www.liddells.co.uk to see the videos in the blogpost as they will not be included in the email.

1st November

The sheep left last evening, presumably to trick or treat somewhere else, maybe that is what the fox is doing too.

The trail camera footage from the Crag features mostly a single mouse running around, however on this clip there are two mice; this seemed worthy of inclusion.

4th November

A hare decides that right in front of the camera is a good place for a wash and brush-up. It’s cleaning routine lasts 6 minutes in all.

5th November

Here a doe and a kid show how they are now in their chocolatey-brown winter coats.

6th November

Stoats have been seen on Liddells several times, most often in the Scrub. There has never been one seen on the Crag before. Maybe it is after the meeces.

8th November

Last year, footage from the Scrub trail camera revealed that Woodcock had a presence there throughout the year, whereas John and Clare had thought the birds were only winter visitors. Some, however do arrive for the winter. The British Trust for Ornithology says, ‘In winter there is a strong arrival of Woodcock from the Continent, thought to increase numbers in Britain & Ireland five-fold. Recent ringing and tracking studies have shown that some individuals originate from quite far east. Areas of highest abundance in winter are in North Ireland and north-west Scotland.’

The pair of birds in the two video below look as if they might have just arrived, slightly dazed and uncertain. Or maybe that’s just how Woodcock look. Countryside folklore suggested that Woodcock arrive on the first full moon in November. These two are a week ahead of the next full moon on 15th November.

9th November

In the video below you can see how the hair on roe deer’s caudal patch is erect when the animal is alarmed, creating a much larger and whiter patch. It is more apparent here in the larger doe than in the buck kid. Deer are woodland animals and John says that the large white patch acts as a flag to other deer as it can be seen through trees and Scrub.

11th November

Dismayingly, it seems as though a fox has taken one of the Woodcock. The video is not clear, however the beak length of the captured bird suggests it is a Woodcock. The fox has clearly not read ‘the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981’ where the Woodcock ‘is listed as a Red species under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds’.

This video is showing more false rutting behaviour. As with the clip last month, you can see the vigour with which the buck treats the sapling. Although at this distance it is not possible to be certain, this looks like the middle-sized buck who first appeared on Liddells recently.

15th November

Rachel P, a friend who works for the Woodland Trust, visited Liddells today and was generous with her thoughts and ideas about Liddells, as well as with the offer of some trees, tree guards and stakes. People have often asked if the Crag is part of the Whin Sill. The Whin Sill is one of the special geological features of the North Pennines and forms some of the area’s most dramatic landscapes. Read more about it here. The Crag is sandstone and not part of the Whin Sill, however Rachel showed John and Clare part of a geology map that revealed that the Whin Sill is part of Liddells and crosses diagonally in the north-west corner. It is not apparent overground, however John and Clare are pleased to finally know that this iconic landscape feature is part of Liddells after all.

Rachel alerted Clare and John to how Beech regeneration, particularly with Ash dieback, could lead to a monoculture. Attractive though Beech is, very little will grow below it. There is already substantial Beech regeneration in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood and at the top of the Scrub. John and Clare will need to reduce this.

Rachel confirmed that four of the plant species that appear on Liddells, Wood Sorrel, Hard Fern, Golden Saxifrage and Wood Rush are all Ancient Woodland Indicators, suggesting that woodland on Liddells is older than John and Clare have previously thought.

Rachel spotted some Common Puffballs on the path in the Top Strip. They ‘are typically found in broad-leaved woodlands but may also occur with conifers’; both types of tree are in the Top Strip. While the puffballs are at the end of their life, the Hazels are busy producing catkins for the Spring.

18th November

A surprise appearance in the Scrub - a unicorn pauses in front of the camera!

John identified this as the murder buck and it has shed one of its antlers. Roe deer shed their antlers late November - December and start regrowing them immediately. (The ‘unicorn’ appears again on camera in the Pit Wood on 28th with the remaining antler intact.)

23rd November

Clare and John awoke to snow lying and falling quite heavily, however it all quickly turned to rain. By the time they reached Liddells there wasn’t enough for a Christmas card image. Clare was amused by the handful left in the pond net, by a snow-capped camera and by evidence that a pheasant had tried skating on thin ice.

25th November

A buzzard catches something in the Pit Wood, though it is not clear what.

26th November

Two avian oddities: a Woodcock behaves strangely in the Scrub. It looks as though it is displaying, however it is the wrong time of year for that. It may be threatening and attempting to take on an animal such as a stoat. John and Clare are pleased to see that one Woodcock has survived thus far though of course it would be better to have a pair.

Then a leucistic Pheasant appears in the Pit Wood. Leucisim is a genetic mutation that causes loss of pigment in feathers so the bird looks washed out. Of course it may feel washed out. The words ‘leucism’ and ‘leucistic’ are derived from the stem leuc- + -ism/-istic, from Latin leuco- in turn derived from Greek leukos meaning white.

28th November

The doe and triplets still appear together as a family group even though they also go their separate ways at times.

What’s that bird? The first video features a Blackbird and a Robin, the second a Willow tit (the rather nasal sound).

Clare and John

June 30, 2024

June - juvenilia

Clare and John

June 30, 2024

Welcome to June’s Blog post, no doubt readers will have been having 30 wild days this month.

Please remember to go to the Blog page of the website - www.liddells.co.uk - to see the trail camera footage. There are a lot of videos this month, all except a couple are only 15 seconds long.

Ist June

Mel sent in the results for his May wildflower survey and had 88 flowering plants on his list. He is undertaking the Herculean task of identifying grasses and sedges (Clare bows down in respect), and has added Cocksfoot Grass, Perennial Rye Grass, Sweet Vernal Grass, Curled Dock, Glaucous Sedge, Guelder Rose and Water Figwort to his running list. His final list of the year will be added to the Surveys page of the website when his surveys are complete.

Ruth reported on her second session with Martin ringing birds in nesting boxes yesterday. She ringed one adult Blue Tit and four Great Tits. The nestlings she found were too small for ringing and some birds were still sitting on eggs.

Ruth arrived today for her nest session with the mist nets. It proved to be a quiet morning and she ringed the fewest birds so far, with several already ringed Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the nets. Her particular pleasure was finding and ringing a Linnet.

Clare set about working on the Meadow, removing Creeping Thistles (fewer than 130 this year, the numbers are going down), Dock (not too good if there’s a lot in hay) and Hogweed (a thug if ever there was one). All these species are left to grow in other areas of the site.

Phil Gates’ wrote last year about umbellifers, including Hogweed, in his Country Diary in the Guardian. He says, ‘Umbellifers, members of the carrot family, offer pollinators with short tongues easy access to nectar, which is secreted in tiny drops on each of the many florets…there are Bluebottles, Greenbottles, Marmalade Hoverflies and Red Soldier Beetles. The male beetles take advantage of the females’ preoccupation with nectar, coupling with them, clinging on tenaciously while their mates feed.’ You can read the full article here.

There was plenty of Ragged Robin out, and Orange Hawkweed and Common Spotted Orchids were opening on the Meadow.

As Clare set off to walk home, she passed a large Cotoneaster outside the local farm and it was covered in bees, including a great number of honey bees. Clare was sure she recognised them.

Ragged Robin and photo-bombing Damselfly

John and Clare had set up a trail camera on one of the nest boxes in the hope of capturing images of the nestlings fledging - this is an annual project that thus far John and Clare have failed to complete. The batteries run out, the discs are full, unknown forces intervene, etc.. Today Clare retrieved a disc only to find 429 short videos, which became shorter as the batteries ran out. When she looked in the box, the birds had fledged. Failed again. However here is footage of one of the adult birds emerging. Clare wonders if it is gauging the weather prospects before flying off. Clare moved the camera to a different box situated in the Scrub and crossed all available digits.

2nd June

More Hogweed removal - this could go on a long time.

Clare and John had a lunch break in the hide and were pleased to see 4 Tree Sparrows making frequent visits. This is double the number of this species seen recently so they may have bred although none of the birds look particularly young or are being fed. Either one Great Spotted Woodpecker made two appearances or two made one each. Another species not seen from the hide for a long time.

4th June

Clare and John are hoping to see footage of this year’s new roe kids any day now, however one of the does appeared on the Scrub camera and she still looked pregnant.

7th June

John mowed all the paths with the flail mower and recognised yet again what a time saver it is.

8th-9th June

Clare arrived to pursue her assault on the Hogweed and heard a Whitethroat singing in the Scrub. It continued to sing for most of the day. Ruth had asked only a few days ago about the presence of Whitethroats on Liddells and Clare had assumed they had given the site a miss this year as Clare had heard several while walking home but none, thus far, on Liddells.

The repositioned nest box camera has offered 849 new videos for Clare to sort through. Both birds are involved in foraging, feeding and housework (removing fecal matter) and work throughout the day and evening, often with as few as a couple of minutes between visits. As Clare labelled some of the clips, the Hokey-Cokey came to mind. A doe makes a couple of appearances and one of these clips has a delightful quality as the deer is caught in the sunlight. Maybe the doe is also keen to observe the fledging. A couple of other birds use the box as a perch - a juvenile Robin and a Chaffinch.

11th June

Ruth conducted another ringing session and sounded delighted: ‘We have babies!’ She had netted about 34 birds of which half were juveniles; the Coal tit pictured below was one she had ringed in one of the nest boxes.

12th June

After uprooting another bagful of Hogweeds - the roots are usually longer than the depth of the spit she is using, which evokes much metaphorical spitting - Clare had a wander round. She found that the half dozen Dame’s Violets that Sally had planted several years ago in the Pit Wood, have spread into a sizeable group. The plant is also known as Sweet Rocket and the RHS website records that it ‘is named in Gilbert White's History of Selborne, 1768-1793 'June 3 1792' among other plants flowering on that day. It was also said to have been 'cultivated by dames of baronial castles' and 'called castle gillyflower'.

Clare was also amused to find an instance of plants’ resourcefulness - a Herb Robert rooted in the moss on the fallen tree that is the Dirty Dancing Bridge. ‘Herb-Robert was traditionally used as an antiseptic, as well as to treat stomach upset and nosebleeds…Its leaves are edible and used by some to make tea. They have also been used crushed and rubbed on the skin as an insect repellent…Herb-Robert was traditionally carried to bring good luck and for fertility…Herb-Robert is thought to have gained its name from an ancient association with Robin Goodfellow, a house goblin from English folklore also known as Puck. That said, some think it was named after an 11th-century monk who cured many people using the plant.’ (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/)

Catching up with the trail camera discs Clare discovered that later this evening there had been a new arrival.

The doe then spends at least 5 minutes cleaning the kid before they move on. John thinks this kid had been born only shortly before the footage - the kid is a little unsteady on its feet and the extensive cleaning would fit with a very recent birth. The doe is on high alert all the time.

All this footage is of course a delight, however it also served to offset Clare’s disappointment that the curse of the fledglings had struck again. Clare had realised that while the trail camera would capture the fledglings leaving the box, it wouldn’t record what happened next, so she took another camera to focus on the branches near the box. After setting it up she thought it would be sensible to check that the nestlings were still there. They weren’t. ‘Ah well,’ she thought, ‘At least there will be footage of them leaving the nest.’ How wrong she was. When she put the disc in her laptop she discovered that the locking tab was in the ‘Lock’ position and nothing had been recorded at all.

13th June

Clare took out some of her frustration on the Meadow Hogweed, however she was pleased to have some respite when Sally arrived to see the Dame’s Violets and have a walk around. Sally discovered an ants’ nest under one of the corrugated iron sheets that are left as potential shelter for amphibians. The sheets are too basic to merit the name ‘hibernacula’ however they have the same function. The ants, under threat, began moving the eggs underground at great speed.

Clare and Sally watched juvenile Blue tits coming to one of the peanut feeders. You can see one being fed by a parent while another two feed themselves.

Sally sent photos from her wander around. It is always a pleasure to see Liddells through Sally’s artistic gaze.

The doe is watchful before her kid comes out from cover.

Further deer delights - what Clare and John assume is the older doe (she has had triplets the last two years), has had twins this year.

At about the time Clare and Sally were walking around the Pit Wood, the camera records two does rushing away. With the wisdom of hindsight, John and Clare assume both does have left their kids lying low in undergrowth. The kids have no scent so they are relatively safe from predators.

14th June

John had lunch in the hide after working on removing a rotten strainer post near the Roadside pond. He heard a loud knocking sound and couldn’t work out what it was and then noticed a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker fly onto one of the feeder posts and start pecking at it. He then saw marks inside the hide on one of the posts. John had been sitting very still on squirrel watch and as juveniles haven’t always learned to be wary it is possible the bird and John had shared the space.

He photographed a pair of juvenile Tree Sparrows and a Siskin, which may be a juvenile.

Clare’s daughter Mathilda follows a bird-watching podcast, ‘Rock ‘N Roll Birder’ and sent Clare a link to a recent social media post in which the podcaster refers to juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers as ‘taplets’. He had called the adults coming to his feeders Tappy and Mrs Tappy and has adopted the name ‘taplets’ from ‘someone’s’ suggestion in comments on the post. Mathilda is so proud - she is that ‘someone’.

Mel carried out his June wildflower survey and added 14 plants to his original list - he is mystified as to how or why he omitted Oak and Beech from his first surveys 10 years ago.

15th June

The roe kids are proving as irresistibly charming as in previous years. The footage below shows a mini pronk, the kids discovering a pheasant - their reaction suggests this is for the first time, and learning what to forage.

16th June

The hares are less visible on Liddells with the grass now high; here is an entertaining clip showing that they are still around.

The singleton kid follows its mother out of the undergrowth. Both does and their kids often use this route into undergrowth in the Pit Wood and Clare saw a lot of couches there when she investigated.

In the third clip below you can hear the doe making a high pitched squeak - John says it can be called a ‘feep’ - which does make to communicate with their young.

17th June

A rarity - a sunny morning. Clare noticed huge amounts of activity round the hives, as if every foraging bee had taken the opportunity to get out and find food. There were many damselflies at both the Roadside and Big ponds and much mating of Common Blues and Large Reds. Two Broad-bodied Chasers were engaging in dogfights while a female oviposited in the Roadside pond.

The doe with twins had left them on the Meadow and they were disturbed when Tim went round on his butterfly survey. They seemed to settle down and Clare carried on with her Hogweed battle.

Tim has seen very few butterflies this season so was relieved to spot a Large Skipper near the Alphabet Bridge.

John had bought a double set of harrows in the local farm sale and he and Clare spent a merry time untangling them and working out which way they attached to the tow bar. John sensibly hung them up before they could knit themselves together again.

John and Clare both worked on the remains of the strainer post, however thus far it is resisting all attempts towards its removal although the hole around it is getting bigger.

The trail camera in the Pit Wood captured a badger going through - not seen on the cameras for a while.

A young buck follows a doe out of the undergrowth, however the rut doesn’t begin until mid-July. The old buck is still around and John is interested that the old buck seems to tolerate the youngster in the same territory.

18th June

Followers of this Blog will have read several references to roe deer barking. Today’s camera footage from the Scrub reveals all. John will no doubt use this in one of his talks on roe deer.

19th June

Hares are maintaining their presence in the Scrub as well as in the Pit Wood.

The singleton roe kid is subject to substantial grooming and then starts grooming the doe.

20th June

Ruth conducted her next ringing session (she does this every 6-10 days in the breeding season). She recorded 34 birds in total, including a baby Great tit she had ringed in the box, seven juvenile Robins and the first juvenile Garden Warbler, however the highlights were discovering breeding Redstarts this year (they are included on the Amber List of species with unfavourable conservation status in Europe where they are declining), and a Tawny Owl. Ruth saw two Tawnies as she set up her nets so there may well be owlets. Ruth said that owls go sleepy and limp during the bagging and ringing process, though this one woke up to fly off.

Juvenile Redstart - the bird is in the Robin family and the juveniles look quite similar

While they were in the hide, John and Clare saw two adult and a juvenile Goldfinch. The adults were feeding avidly on the nyjer seeds and seeming to ignore the young bird which remained tucked into the Hawthorn. Eventually it darted out onto the feeder though didn’t stay for long. Presumably the adult birds were leading by example. Neither John nor Clare had seen a juvenile here before - there is no red mask on the face - and of course this was a day when the camera was at home. Clare’s phone camera at least shows the absence of the red mask.

The singleton kid dashes to and fro. It is hard to think other than that it is running about out of sheer exuberance.

22nd June

With apologies for the old jokes - it is less usual though nonetheless welcome, to see a stoat in the Pit Wood.

24th June

Tim and Jane are away so Clare carried out the butterfly transect. Several Speckled Woods put in an appearance however there were precious few butterflies around. There have been several reports of what a disastrous year it is for insects. A Common Blue brightened up the Wetland and there were a couple of Meadow Browns and Ringlets on the Meadow.

25th June

After assaulting some of the Hogweed and the embedded fence strainer, John collected the camera discs. What a surprise - the Scrub camera shows a doe with triplets! It is probable that the oldest doe has had the triplets, as she did the last two years, with the singleton and the twins being born to younger does.

29th June

An end of the month camera disc round up. One video (not included) shows the older buck might be less tolerant of the presence of one of the younger bucks, and chases him. There seems to be a new doe on site; she might have been drawn in with the rut coming up. It is hard accurately to identify the animals, however the following three clips show distinctly different anal tushes. (When Clare retired she never thought that she would be writing things like this!)

30th June

Ruth had a really quiet ringing session this morning, only 17 birds, and very few warblers. She wondered whether some might have already started their journeys south.

John finished setting the new fence post in and he and Clare continued their assault on the Meadow Hogweed. Clare reckons there are only about 30 plants left. She did muse on the 30 Days Wild challenge and thought about 30 things that drove her wild. Hogweed would be one. Readers are invited to make their own lists…

Clare and John

October 31, 2022

October - nature red in beak and talon, and under the wing

Clare and John

October 31, 2022

A reminder to access this Blog through the website - liddells.co.uk where you will find all the videos. They will be unlikely to play though your email, and may not even show up at all. There are some crackers this month.

Thanks to Jane E and Barbara for their suggestions for a collective noun for pond snails - ‘preponderance’ and ‘snuggle’.

1st October

Local farmer John brought 45 ewes to eat down the grass on the Top Grazing. Clare noticed two more wildflowers still in bloom that she hadn’t included last month: Field Scabious and Red Campion.

More rain has left the Big Pond within a few centimetres of being full. Water is flowing freely through the channel Clare cleared under the Alphabet Bridge.

Clare spotted a Common Puffball and an Orange Birch Bolete near the pond, and more Turkeytail fungus, this time on the trunk in front of the hide.

A badger goes through the Scrub

2nd October

A male Southern Hawker and a male Common Darter are still flying around the Big Pond and the pond level has gone up another couple of centimetres.

The trail camera shows a hare nibbling at a sapling. Hares and rabbits can damage young trees although there is often more publicity given to damage attributed to deer.

3rd October

John is interested in the varied diet of roe deer and was pleased to see a kid grazing on fungi.

Less than an hour after the kid’s browsing, a Sparrowhawk (TrogTrogBlog Chris thinks it is a juvenile), catches what looks like a Blackbird. The Sparrowhawk is mantling its prey. Mantling is hunching, crouching, or arching shoulders and spreading wings over a recent kill to conceal it from other birds and predators just as a mantle cloaks a person. In heraldry the mantling is the drapery or piece of cloth tied to the helmet above the shield in a coat of arms. In the video the sounds are coming from the captured bird. There is a ten minute gap in the footage so it is possible that the Sparrowhawk took its prey off, as Chris so vividly described, to eat it to death. A doe and kid wander through the scene of the crime and show how far their winter coats have developed. As if all the Sparrowhawk footage wasn’t striking enough, a Buzzard comes in to pick over the spoils. You can see just how much larger it is than a Sparrowhawk and it is exciting to have caught this bird on camera as well. A doe kid (who seems to end up with a feather on its nose), a hare and then a rabbit all seem to be investigating the odiferous interruption to their familiar route through the Scrub. Clare and John only saw the footage on their return on 10th October (see below) so Clare went up to see if any evidence remained. The feathers confirm the victim was indeed a Blackbird.

4th October

A stoat runs through the Scrub.

5th - 9th October

Clare and John spent a few days away visiting the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss. Clare has had Bearded Tits, or as they are more properly called Bearded Reedlings, on her bird bucket list for some time and hoped that on her fourth visit to this reserve, she would be lucky and see them. The birds did not disappoint. Carl Linnaeus classified the birds in the genus Parus with the tits, however they were subsequently removed from this category and placed with the Parrotbills only to be recognised recently as a unique songbird with no other close relations, and placed in the monotypic family Panuridae (from the Greek panu, "exceedingly", and ουρά, "tail"). The male sports moustaches rather than a beard. Clare and John had other treats - a Great White Egret, a Bittern in flight, a Marsh Harrier hunting over and in the reeds, an otter and lots more besides. Clare decided that the time away might have been what some people call a ‘holiday’; she found the word between ‘hogwash’ and ‘holistic’ in her dictionary. Interesting concept. A selection of ‘holiday’ photography is included for Blog biodiversity.

Male Bearded Reedling on a grit tray. The birds spend the summer months feasting on insects. However, to avoid having to migrate south like the swallows and warblers, the Bearded Reedlings change their diet to reed seeds in winter. The seeds are extremely tough so the birds eat grit to make the seeds easy to digest.

10th October

The Big Pond is up to its overflow. The roadside pond is filling slowly although the shallow and deep ends have yet to join up.

A dog fox marks his territory in the Scrub.

12th October

John completed the exterior of the west wing of what he and Clare have decided to rename the Meeting Room. The new name embraces the broader use for the space that John and Clare hope will happen.

13th October

A sunny autumn day and there were several butterflies on the Michaelmas Daisies in the Meadow - a Peacock, two Commas, a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood. The Speckled Wood proved too flighty to photograph. The flowers were also humming with bees foraging. Clare was pleased to see many honey bees adding to their stores for winter.

A large female Sparrowhawk perched briefly in an Ash tree in front of the hide before flying off. No birds were caught this time.

Clare has been waiting for the opportunity to include another crossword clue in the Blog. This time the clue was in the Guardian’s August Bank Holiday puzzle, a double-grid alphabetical crossword with no numbered lights; answers had to be filled in where they would fit. Maskarade, the setter, added a theme of given names: one of each pair of answers for a letter of the alphabet was a name, and the names beginning A-M went into one grid, and the names beginning N-Z went into the other grid. Fiendish. The clue in question is: ‘Oak’s sudden flourish mentioned by American and British Composer, Edmund, half-heartedly’ (7,5) The answer lies in the photograph (and at the end of this Blog post).

A roe doe and her kid show their gorget patches. Not all deer develop these white areas on their throat however when they do develop on an individual deer, they are most easily seen when they’re in their winter coat. ‘A gorget was originally a piece of material wrapped around a woman’s neck, during the period of time immediately after the fall of the Roman Empire. After that, it was used to describe the pieces of armour placed around the throat of a soldier, to protect them from injury during battle. Subsequently, as their effectiveness as protective amour waned, they were used as a badge to distinguish rank in the army. I’m not sure what the gorget’s functionality is on a roe deer. Unless, of course, the white patches to help with their protective camouflage, by breaking up the outline of the neck in heavy cover.’ (aboutdeer.com)

15th October

Today’s offering in Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year is all about Spindle Trees. Happily Clare had photographed the berries earlier in the week having not been wholly taken up with her house-keeping.

‘…the spindle is quite Japanese in its contortions; the boughs, with their twisted grey-green bark, seem positively to writhe, and the leaves and berries are sprinkled so sparsely that they seem to decorate rather than clothe its antiquity…the flame-coloured leaves and pink and orange berries of the spindle-wood glow like clusters of some strange exotic flower…there is something strangely unfamiliar about these berries of the spindle-wood - berries which open out into dull pink segments, like petals, and expose a bright orange centre, which is really a seed…There was a time, not so many generations ago, when even a woman who knew nothing of trees in general, and cared less, being wholly taken up with her housekeeping, would have recognised the spindle-wood at a glance. In those days when the spinning wheel flashed beside every hearth, and everything possible was made at home, the tough close-grained wood of the tree was in constant demand, and many a pair of lovers must have come to such a tree as this to choose branch and cut it, to make a spindle for the lady’s use.’

From The Peverel Papers, Flora Thompson

Today was meant to be a Green Gym day to plant trees, however it was raining substantially in the early morning so John and Clare cancelled. Then of course, the rain stopped. John and Clare decided to go up and plant some trees anyway. They planted 10 Oaks and decided on sites for more of the saplings they have waiting for the next Green Gym day in a week’s time. Clare protected the saplings with gorse, tied round the plants with Brambles.

More vulpine marking in the Scrub.

15th October

The Pit Wood camera recorded the first Fieldfares and Redwings of the winter foraging on the ground.

16th October

Clare and John saw Fieldfares flying over the Scrub and the Pit Wood.

Neighbour Chris brought his hydraulic log-splitter to Liddells and he and John worked their way through all the logs that John and Dave had brought from felling around the site. Clare indulged in one of her favourite activities, stacking the logs. Yes, she has read Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way, although she doesn’t aspire to such aesthetically pleasing log piles as the Scandinavians.

The roadside pond is filling slowly.

17th October

More Fieldfare sightings and Clare startled a Woodcock in the Scrub.

The doe with triplets spends time grooming one of the doe kids; the buck arrives, tries unsuccessfully to suckle and is subjected to a more intimate grooming.

18th - 19th October

A Tawny owl downs its prey in one and flies off; twenty minutes later it flies past the camera right to left (video not included); a minute after that the bird is on the ground again and eating something it as caught; in the early hours of the next morning it has yet again hunted successfully. The Scrub is clearly a place for small mammals. Or perhaps not, depending on whether you are an owl or a small mammal. The Barn Owl Trust has an information page about Tawny Owls. If you want to know more about their diet, click here.

21st October

Green Gym Day and the weather was on the side of planting and neighbouring farmer John had moved the sheep from the Top Grazing to the Wildflower Meadow. John and Clare were joined by six stalwart friends, one of whom brought additional trees he had grown at home, and they all set about planting 55 trees. An Apple and two Damson trees went into the Orchard, a Hazel and two Aspens were added to the Pit Wood and all the rest - Oaks, Beeches, Elm, Horse Chestnut, Willows - were planted at the east end of the Top Grazing. Each tree was given a protective circle of Gorse or Hawthorn secured round the sapling with bramble twine. Clare has devised this method after reading about how Gorse and Hawthorn scrub make perfect areas for trees to regenerate.

Walking through the Pit Wood Clare, John and Barry discovered a large area of Fly Agaric which was largely uneaten, unlike the ones in the Scrub.

The shallow and newly deep areas of the Roadside Pond have finally joined up.

After watching many hours of deer going through the Scrub, the sight of one of Texels came as a bit of a shock. Apparently it had gone awol on the trip down from the Top Grazing. It seems to have benefitted from the grazing.

22nd October

The old buck makes his way through the Pit Wood. You will see that tip of one side of his antlers has broken off.

Meanwhile in the Scrub, and much earlier than it has been seen before, the Tawny owl flies up on to a perch.

24th October

A hare and a kid browse together in the Pit Wood. Within seconds a stoat runs offstage then returns. The hare is eating apples Clare had put down in front of the camera in the hope of attracting Fieldfares and Redwings, however there are still plenty of berries on the trees for them to eat.

Later that same evening an owl is captured waiting for prey.

25th October

The Tawny Owl appears yet again in the Scrub, hunting successfully in the early hours of the morning and later in the evening.

Between the owl’s two appearances the camera captures two hares, a Jay and a high speed stoat, while in the Pit Wood a single Redwing is seen foraging in the leaf litter. Although the red under its wing is faint, the pale stripe over its eye is very clear.

30th October
Clare saw her first Goldcrest of the winter in a Hawthorn near the bee hives.

Crossword answer: Quercus rubra: Querc sounds like “quirk” = “sudden flourish” + US = “American” + RUB[b]RA = British composer Edmund.
Definition: “Oak” – the Northern Red Oak.

Clare and John

September 30, 2022

September - it all goes to show

Clare and John

September 30, 2022

For new readers - when you receive the Blog email, use it as a prompt to read the Blog on the Liddells website: www.liddells.co.uk The videos won’t be available through the email.

August Post Script

It appears that grey squirrels can eat fly agaric mushrooms, so the animated antics featured in last month’s blog may be due to the fungus’ hallucinogenic effect. Videos from 30th August show a stoat behaving similarly, however stoats are carnivores so maybe this one was naturally exuberant.

1st September

The sub-heading for this month in Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year is ‘Airy Spheres of Thistledown.’ The phrase comes from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

Farmer Barry took the hay off the Top Grazing.

2nd September

Clare had a friend over from Weardale and they sowed Yellow Rattle seeds on the Top Grazing. They encountered a frog near the feeders. Clare continued her work on the big pond.

The two does and their kids are obviously sharing the same space. They all go through the Scrub regularly though a single kid is now frequently seen there on its own and not all the triplets appear together each time they are caught on camera.

3rd - 4th September

More work for John on the classroom floor and for Clare on the big pond, where she saw another frog. The herons clearly haven’t eaten them all.

Clare made a note of all the recordings on the trail camera over a 24 hour period:

5.29 Eyes at hare height in the mist

6.11 Doe + large moth moving north to south in the mist

6.32 Rabbit in the half-light

7.25 Hare going east then turning south

9.29 Doe travelling west

10.17 Hare going east

12.18 Blue tit attacking the camera

12.34 Sound of camera attack and fluttering wings

15.25 Lone kid moving east

16.47 Doe foraging behind the hawthorn

20.06 Hare paused in half-light

20.07 Hare still there

20.08 Hare runs off east

20.12 Nearly dark, doe going east; blackbird alarm calls

12.15 Doe and one kid

20.15 Doe and kid eating

20.18 One kid joined by another; much scratching

20.18 Both kids foraging

20.23 Hare running through going east, several moths

22.02 Fox approaches from east, changes direction and leaves south

5th - 7th September

Clare knew two bee colonies needed feeding with sugar syrup as they had eaten all their stored honey. It was first necessary to remove the super (box with frames for honey), so Clare added a clearer board. This has a slightly complicated route for the bees to find their way through and down into the brood box, however the smell of the queen is an enticement for them to work it out. It is harder for the bees to find their way back up. Clare returned early the next morning only to find a lot of bees still in the super. This was unusual as the board had worked well on several previous occasions. Clare brushed the bees off and managed to add a syrup feeder without getting stung though did pause when she had to retrieve a crown board (the board that sits on top of the boxes and under the roof) from the shed. The penny eventually dropped - she had put the clearer board on top of the super instead of underneath. Clare then put the clearer board in the correct place under the super of the second colony and went to continue her work on the big pond feeling ever so slightly foolish. A sparrowhawk swooped through the feeding station, though again no birds were taken.

John finished using up all the boards salvaged from the storm damaged sheds last November.

Finally there is substantial rain. The island in the big pond is once more an island.

Footage of one of the kids shows how the spots on its coat are fading.

Further videos of the doe and triplets. You can see mutual grooming in the second clip.

10th September

The day began with an auspicious sign for John. The Guardian cryptic crossword featured the following clue: ‘Fishy food reportedly expensive, one ruminates’ (3,4) Answer at the end of this blog post.

Clare and John joined in with the local Village Show. Clare was thrilled to win a First Prize for her fruit scones and Second Prizes for cheese scones, rock buns and shortbread biscuits. John, however, completely swept the photographic board with photos he had taken on Liddells. So well did he do that he came home with a trophy. The label for the long-tailed tit doesn’t really do justice to John’s achievement.

Meanwhile the stoat appears in the Scrub again.

Clare declared the restoration of the big pond’s wall complete.

Footage of the kids in the evening shows they can be distinguished as two does and a buck.

11th September

John started working on the east wing of the classroom.

The deer are seen very frequently on the Scrub camera. A doe runs away and you can see how the white hair on her rump goes erect when the animal is alarmed, making a much larger white patch (target) visible. One kid appears on its own and its squeaking is audible. The triplets all try to suckle. When kids are very young is it almost impossible to distinguish what sex they are; here you can see the differentiation on their rump markings in daylight, to show that there are two does and a buck. Later the buck kid tries again to suckle, however the doe is clearly trying to deter him.

On her walk home, Clare saw an exquisite seed head lying on the path. There were no wildflowers nearby except Creeping Thistle and Yarrow and it is not from either of them.. Any identification help would be gratefully received.

12th September

Clare was delighted to show a group from the local National Women’s Register round Liddells. She had been concerned that it was a bit late in the season to see much of interest and was pleased to be proved very wrong when she did a wildflower survey the day before the group arrived. Initially she found over 30 species still in flower and this number increased to 38 by the end of the visit. Particularly striking were the violets out on the west verge of the Pit Wood. There were also Red Admiral, Large White and Speckled Wood butterflies, Southern Hawker and Common Darter Dragonflies and Emerald Damselflies, and a variety of birds on the feeders. The group made a very generous donation by way of a thank you - Clare and John have bought two Aspen saplings to join and talk to Juno’s tree, and they will buy wildflower plugs in the Spring.

After the visit Clare started digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge leading in to the big pond. She noticed a large number of tiny pond snails on a rock in the pond.

John completed the door to the classroom. He considers it to be the best door he has yet made. He has made a lot of doors.

Proliferation of pond snails - any suggestions for an appropriate collective noun will be welcome

13th September

Clare dug out more of the pond channel. There have been numerous male Common Darters around but very few females. This female obligingly paused on a fence post for long enough for Clare to get her phone camera out. The male Southern Hawkers that have been around don’t rest like the darters, though they will come teasingly close, however they move so fast it is very difficult to photograph them. Clare managed to get one in a shot with her phone camera. If you would like to see really splendid photographs of dragonflies, visit trogtrogblog.blogspot.com

Every autumn Clare determines to learn to identify more fungi and then remembers how difficult it is to be sure of the identification. She thinks the bracket fungus featured below might be Turkeytail.

14th - 19th September

John had his trail camera on the Meadow. He enjoyed the footage of the hare so much, it was only on the third viewing that he noticed the deer in the background.

Two hares appear in the Scrub again. A kid appears to be on Robinwatch.

Two clips of a stoat in the Scrub. In one it appears to be going round in circles; in the second it is chasing a hare, which is considerably larger than the stoat.

Clare finished digging out the channel under the Alphabet Bridge. All that is needed now is the water to run through it into the pond. She saw the remains of a hare near the roadside pond - maybe the stoat had been successful in its hunting.

A rabbit is at cross purposes with a hare.

In the Pit Wood, the doe with a single kid (identified as another doe), are foraging on fallen leaves.

There is a fast and furious chase sequence involving birds, a hare and a fox.

John makes substantial progress on the east end of the classroom.

21st September

John raised the roof on the east end of the classroom. Clare saw three hares while walking round.

24th September

A successful fox hunt. It is not clear what the fox has caught.

25th September

Footage of one of the does shows her losing her summer coat.

26th September

The east end of the classroom is nearly fully boarded out. Shutters and flooring remain on the to-do list.

While smearing the stump in front of the hide with her highly popular (with the birds) peanut butter paste mix, Clare noticed a significant flourish of Sulphur Tuft fungus.

The ‘Murder Buck’ appeared again in the Pit Wood. (For any new subscribers, this is a mature buck that has antlers devoid of any tines. That is to say the antlers will resemble two long spikes, without the traditional brow and rear antler tines. The reason that this type of beast is called a 'Murder Buck' comes from the damage that this type of buck can cause to an opponent when sparring.

29th September

John and Mel planted nearly 40 hazel saplings in the stump circle and on the verge of the Pit Wood. Many thanks to Kathryn R for donating the plants.

Finally for lagophilic readers, a hare, which is somewhat startled by a blackbird, to end this post. On a whim, Clare searched to see if there were any relevant fables. She found a print instead.

30th September

For the botanists among readers, the wildflowers still out on 11th/12th September were: Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Bush Vetch, Buttercup, Chickweed, Common Cat’s Ear, Clover (Red), Clover (White), Common Daisy, Dandelion, Eyebright, Foxglove, Goldenrod, Groundsel, Hawkbit, Heather, Hedge Woundwort, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Meadow Vetchling, Michaelmas Daisy, Nipplewort, Ragged Robin, Ragwort, Red Campion, Red Hemp Nettle, Ribwort Plantain, Self Heal, Sow Thistle (Prickly), Thistle (Creeping), Thistle (Marsh), Thistle (Spear), Tormentil, Tufted Vetch, Water Mint, Wild Carrot, Willowherb (Broad-leaved), Willowherb (Rosebay), Violet, Yarrow

The answer to the crossword clue is ‘roe deer’.

Clare and John

December 31, 2021

December - clearing up and a mystery visitor

Clare and John

December 31, 2021

2nd December

John and Dave worked on clearing debris from the sheds. John and Clare set about replacing stakes for saplings that had been blown over by storm Arwen. One of the Alders planted in the Wetland has produced its first catkins. Inspired by the photograph of the Suffolk sheep on Liddells, Barbara sent a needle-felted version she had made.

There seems to be a consensus amongst the Blog’s readership about the appeal of hares. The trail camera in the Scrub records hares on an almost daily basis, sometimes capturing footage of them several times in a short period.

Felted Suffolk in the Shepherd’s hut - what better place for it

5th December

Repairs to trees continues. John saw the lame doe kid near the Crag, so it is managing to survive however the other deer were not with it.

The Redwings seem to find plenty to eat in the Scrub and regularly visit the patch of ground near the camera. The area is also a frequent haunt of a Jay, however for the first time the camera has captured two in the same footage.

6/7th December

A stoat darts through the Scrub and a Jay appears to be successful in retrieving buried acorns. History does not relate whether or not these were buried by this bird, by another or by squirrels.

10th December

John and Dave did more clearing up at the sheds site and then started tackling the huge Oak limb that had fallen in the Orchard some time ago, sorting brash and logs.

12th December

Beth asked if she could celebrate her birthday with friends and their children at Liddells. Hal brought a picnic and birthday cake, a fire was lit and marshmallows toasted. Clare and John were particularly delighted as they had found a variety of Pear tree called ‘Beth’ and had hoped that Beth would be able to plant it in the Orchard on her birthday. Juno is now excited that she will be able to harvest pears - a bit of patience may be required.

15th December

John arrived on Liddells this morning to discover a considerable number of large ungulate prints mainly on the path leading down from the bottom gate. On further examination the prints appeared to begin on the Wildflower Meadow up by the road wall. They left the Meadow and reappeared on the other side of the fence, went on towards the Big Pond after a diversion round the first Willow arbour; there were also some on the slope going down to the Orchard and some on the Top Grazing near the top of the Scrub. Apart from the fact that there are no cows around locally at the moment, a cow could not have made the leaps over wall and fence, so the conclusion John and Clare have arrived at is that a Red Deer had paid a visit. Unfortunately it did not have the sense to cross in front of either of the trail cameras, so the identity of the ungulate remains a matter of speculation. There have been reports of the occasional Red Deer being spotted in the area.

The foot on the right is not of an ungulate, however does give a sense of the size of the print

21st December

The doe appears to have registered the changed position of the trail camera in the Scrub then seems to be investigating a scent mark on the broken end of a branch.

22nd December

A fox has an early morning outing in the Scrub.

John and Dave pressed on with work on the Oak limb in the Orchard, presumably not wanting to be called ‘Yule-shards’ (anyone ‘who leaves work unfinished before Christmas or the New Year, but which has the curious double meaning of ‘someone who has no new piece of apparel to celebrate the season’.’ Word Perfect). Clare will add ‘apparel’ to John’s Christmas present. She will leave Dave to attend to his own wardrobe.

With the debris cleared, the damage to the tree is clearer. The remains of the Tawny Owl box have been removed

25th December

Christmas Day, and in the absence of Liddells Christmas cards, here are two creatures who habitually appear on seasonal cards.

26th December

While Clare has yet to see a hare boxing on Liddells, this year she didn’t even see a hare on Boxing Day. The early morning snow might have deterred the animals. Of course a comment about how unusual it has been to see two Jays on the trail camera was inviting contradiction - here are two Jays braving the weather - one seemingly more than the other.

31st December

John and Clare checked the cameras today in the hope of some exciting end of the year footage - no such luck, however friends saw two hares running up the Crag this afternoon.

Thank you to all readers for your support .

Best wishes for 2022.

John and Clare

Clare and John

December 31, 2020

December -

Clare and John

December 31, 2020

1st December

George and Gavin returned to Liddells to work in the Top Strip. They cleared a one metre strip along the inside of the road wall, thus reducing Clare’s five year plan to a possibly more manageable two. They completed all of this by 4pm. The work will certainly make pulling brambles out of, and repairing the wall considerably easier. They created windrows with the cut material that was too small for logs. The windrows add additional habitat.

Chain saw sharpening for the last stretch

2nd December

The path from the bottom gate appears to be a roe deer highway.

Dave arrived ready to play fast and loose with the rest of the earthfasts. He removed four more boulders.

Rob continues his efforts to subdue the mole population on the Top Grazing. He has caught six moles to date. Wetter weather makes his job more difficult as the moles dig deeper. When the moles surface after this the molehills compete in size with the boulders.

John saw the first Woodcock of the year in the Pit Wood.

Hal and Beth arrived for a foraging session.

Clare threw down the gauntlet and Dave accepted the challenge

This earthloose enabled a new small pond to fill up

10th December

Clare set about a project she had been putting off for a long while and tackled the large bag of wax she had collected over four years left over from honey spinning and frame replacement. The wax first has to melted and filtered. An old pair of stockings proved to be ideal although the photo does make the process appear more sinister than it is. After no more wax can be squeezed out, the bundles are removed; the wax cools and sets on the surface of the water and can be lifted off. It then needs to be reheated and filtered a second time. The clean wax can be used for cosmetics, polish or, Clare’s choice this time, waxed food wrappers. The residue is called ‘slumgum’ (a sure candidate for an OED Word of the Day), and can be used to make fir cone fire lighters.

17th December

Rachel and Adele returned to the hide for some music making and treated the birds to a carol concert.

21st December

John has been continuing his work on the interior of the shepherd’s hut and made a foldaway table.

Mel arrived to help John free some of the Junipers from their tubes and create alternative protection. This should help the shrubs grow to their natural form which is bushier at the base than the tubes allow.

22nd December

Several blog readers have commented on the absence of John’s photographs recently. Spurred on by this and by his attempts to address his NRS (Non Relaxation Syndrome), John spent a happy few hours wandering around Liddells with his camera.

27th December

Dave brought what he likes to call ‘his beheading axe’ to some of the wood George had taken out of the Top Strip. The log shed is the beneficiary.

30th December

The last footage of the year from the trail camera which is back in the Pit Wood. Two roe does seem to be playing Follow My Leader and a hare is perhaps trying to catch up with a tortoise.

John and Clare wish all Blog readers a less complex New Year!

24th December

John did a wintery walk.

Clare and John

April 29, 2015

April 2015 - lots of planting and more Green Gym days

Clare and John

April 29, 2015

Ongoing work to flatten the Meadow.

2nd April

Forget-me-not, Wood Anemone and Primrose planted in the Top Strip.

6th April

(Easter Monday). Wood Cranesbill planted in Top Strip.

7th April

White Violets planted in Top Strip. Ponies collected and taken to Geltsdale. Campion planted on grassy bank in SW corner, Alchemilla and Wild Strawberry planted on Crag. Bendy Larch in NE Strip felled; stile built at western end of Top Strip.

8th April

Purple Violets planted in top strip; Larch felled in NE plantation. Pied wagtails on top grazing.

10th April

Green Gym: Pat freed more trees in Pit Wood; Tim planted Teazel and Honesty on spoil heaps west of Meadow; Sally planted Leopard's Bane, Monkshood and Dame's Violet in Pit Wood near the spring; John made a stile into the Pit Wood; Clare did more Meadow flattening!

11th April

Green Gym: Mel and John felled the second bendy Larch in the NE plantation; Sally planted Bladder Campion, Solidago and Yellow Loosestrife on spoil heaps in the Top Strip; Clare and Sally started the Ramsons Ramble at the far end of the Top Strip path; Clare continued to hone her mattock management skills on the Meadow. Mel and John planted one Rowan and one Birch from Sally. Stoat hunting at east end of the Crag base.

13th April

John rotovated the eastern quarter of the Wildflower Meadow and 2 paths from the gate to the stiles in the north fence. More work on these paths and banking up the edges of the wet areas in the Meadow. More mattocking.

Seed mix (Sweet Cicely, Garlic Mustard, Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip and Weld) scattered in Scrub, on Top Grazing and along eastern edge of Meadow.

17th April

We decided to distribute the plug plants around the Meadow by delineating several circles laid out with string and apportioning the plants between them.; Foxglove and Hedge Woundwort planted under Hawthorn stands on Meadow; Wood Sorrel planted in Top Strip and more Geranium Sylvaticum. Brash on paths.

18th April

More path brash in Meadow; 3 circles planted, one by entrance; Plantains to ward off serpents and serpent-like thoughts planted in quincunx and triangle either site of gate; tray of Sweet Cicely seedlings planted on north edge of Scrub; discovered bank of Cowslips on spoil heap west of Meadow.

19th April

Trip to Egglestone Hall Gardens to buy 3 Spindle Trees, 1 Wild Cherry, 1 Damson and 1 Rowan.

20th April

1 more circle planted; Wild Cherry, Damson, Rowan planted. (NB we were to discover later that planting specimen trees on a meadow is Not a Good Thing, so we had to move them!)

22nd April

Bird box survey.

23rd April

Eastern quarter of Meadow seeded.

24th April

2 more circles and 3 Spindle Trees planted.

25th April

Spoilheap planting.

27th and 28th April

Digger for roadway from lower entrance and ponds on Meadow.

29th April

Bonfire prep.

Bramble helping Tim plant on the spoil heaps

Ganymede and Anonymous awaiting departure

Clare and John

September 30, 2014

September 2014 - first stoat sighting!

Clare and John

September 30, 2014

6th September

Open Day for friends' work - Neil did more damming and sourced spring below Crag; Jane E and Sally did more brashing in Top Strip; John and Robbie put in 4 fence posts for Meadow; Clare worked on cleaning ivy off top wall and opening space in Top Strip; Pat freed more trees in the Pit Wood.

Week beginning 8th September

4 panels and trough painted for rain water collection on Top Grazing; all bags of chip now in Top Strip; John saw a stoat (Top Grazing) and deer coming from Pit Wood into Scrub; the blackberries are in abundance and excellent; more ivy cleared off top wall; more Black Medic seeds sown and Wild Carrot and Wild Parsnip.

14th September

Last 2 posts in for Meadow fencing; more clearing in Top Strip, painting completed for rainwater collection.

16th September

We met Ian Everard (Forestry Commission) - advised on thinning.