Trees

November - a visit from a royal beast

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).

October - What’s that bird?

A surprise visitor (no, not Tim and Jane waving at a camera this time), and another bird heard on trail camera footage and not previously seen or heard on Liddells, prompted an idea for this and the next few blog posts. The trail camera clips often feature bird song. Below are two such clips. Your challenge is to identify the bird. Answers at the end of this post. As always, you will need to access the clips through the website. Go to www.liddells.co.uk and click on Blog to bring up the post.

3rd October

The Big Pond is a temporary resting place for all the Willow whips John pruned from a neighbour’s tree. Clare spotted a hoverfly nearby. She identified it as a Sun fly Helophilus pendulus; the scientific name means ‘dangling marsh lover’, while the ‘Sun’ is quite possibly from a misreading of '‘Helo-’ as ‘Helio-’. The insect’s stripy thorax has led to an alternative name ‘The Footballer’ although Clare has been unable to identify from which team; she thinks the black and yellow stripes look like a Regency waistcoat but then she is not a fan of football. (Stop Press: John says Borussia Dortmund play in black and yellow stripes.)

5th October

John mowed the paths for the final time this year.

6th October

John replaced the leaking roof sheet on the hide. He and Clare watched Long-tailed tits, Chiffchaff and Tree sparrows on or around the feeders and then saw Redwings and Fieldfares fly over the Wetland.

Clare wondered about beginning her annual attempt to learn more about fungi and was fairly confident she had found some Boletes near the Big Pond however, although believing she was correct in this instance, the following paragraph on wildfooduk.com has dampened her already moist enthusiasm. ‘A common and easy to identify family of mushrooms, the Boletus family is a large genus of mushrooms which until recently was split into a few smaller families, the main three being; Boletus, Leccinum, and Suillus. With the genome of mushrooms now being sequenced the family has been split much more with the scientific names changing regularly, this can lead to confusion with identification so for the purposes of foraging we consider any mushroom with a stem and pores instead of gills a Bolete.’

Fly agaric, however, are always attractive to look at although not to eat unless you are a roe deer. The trail camera on the Crag captured the doe and triplets having a Fly agaric picnic. (The sharp-eyed amongst you may query the date on the clip - the date needed altering after battery replacement.) There were several clips over a few days, of the deer returning as more of the fungi emerged.

Footage from the Scrub shows two of the kids, one couching while the other forages. While John and Clare often find places where the deer have obviously been couching, it is unusual to see them doing so. The posture and word ‘couching’ echoe the heraldic use of ‘couchant’ to describe an animal represented as lying on its stomach with its hind legs and forelegs pointed forward.

8th October

John has stitched together a delightful sequence of the doe with a singleton engaged in mutual grooming. It is tempting to attach interpretations to this behaviour: cleaning, building relationship, teaching, because it is pleasurable, etc.. The truth is we don’t know why the animals do it, however they do it quite frequently.

9th October

Farmer John negotiated with John to put 55 Suffolk cross lambs onto the Hayfield to graze it down. John H failed to find out what they are cross about.

The wall collapse last month proved a job too far for John and Clare, however Farmer John recommended his waller Gavin, who tackled the breach in the Liddells wall today and made a beautiful job of the repair.

No kye in the corn, however this is a bonny morning photograph. For readers left bewildered by this last sentence, click here.

Before.

After. We think you will agree that this is an excellent repair.

10th October

Clare decided to face the stickiness and process the honey from the frames. The first task is to slice off the cappings (the wax covers sealing the honey in the cells). At this point the honey begins to drip out, so positioning the frames in the spinner quickly is important. Clare’s spinner takes three frames at a time; the frames need reversing after the first bout of spinning so that the honey is released from each side of the frame. After all the spinning the tap on the spinner is opened, the honey drips through a double sieve and into a bucket.

11th October

A jay captured on camera in the Scrub provides a glorious flash of its blue feathers as it flies off. Clare has a fondness for Radio 4 quiz programmes and was delighted that the most recent episode of Brain of Britain, which she listened to before working on this blog post, included the information that the Jay’s scientific name, Garrulus glandarius, means ‘talkative acorn eater’.

12th October

Footage from the Scrub camera shows one of the two older bucks (neither John nor Clare can be sure whether this is the oldest buck or the recently arrived mature buck), engaged in territorial defence. You can see the damage that can be wrought on young trees by this activity. John is pleased to have the footage as this period in October can be referred to as the ‘false rut’, which is believed to be due to the presence of doe kids. Bucks will mark their territory by scraping and rubbing their antlers and front hooves on vegetation and the ground to spread their scent. Later the same day, the murder buck investigates the site.

A close-up of a hare on the Crag shows how well it is camouflaged against grasses in autumn.

13th October

Hares always seem to bring a smile so here are two; they seem to synchronise as they go through the Scrub.

John and Clare have an ongoing task choosing and preparing planting sites ready for the new trees when they are delivered later this autumn. After putting in posts for 10 Alders not far from the hide, they decided to have a break watching the birds. There was quite a lot of bird song so Clare used Merlin for help. The first bird Merlin identified was a Bullfinch, which was in sight however Clare knew there was another call not attributable to the Bullfinch. Merlin offered some more identifications of which the first three fitted with the birds in sight, and then ‘Yellow-browed warbler'. Just as Clare said ‘I don’t think so!” she saw it. There was indeed a Yellow-browed warbler in the hawthorns in front of the hide. Clare immediately sent messages to Ruth the ringer, who said she would come up next morning, and to Keith, who said that these birds mostly turned up on the east coast on their migration from the Siberia taiga forests to south-east Asia. This RSPB webpage suggests the same.

14th October

Against all expectations, Ruth netted and ringed the warbler! She had put a short net up by the feeders. She was busier than she had expected to be, catching the first Chaffinch she had had on Liddells, two new Tree creepers, a couple of Chiffchaffs, several Blackbirds and some titmice.

The Yellow-browed warbler in all its tiny glory. It is similar in size to a Goldcresr.

Clare saw the warbler again each of the next three days before there was no further sight or sound of it around.

Meanwhile on the Crag a mouse moves at astonishing speed, then a badger ambles slowly past, apparently sniffing where the mouse has been.

18th October

A Sparrowhawk flies up onto a perch in the Scrub.

19th - 21st October

Some autumnal delights: a 7-spot ladybird rests on a stile post, a Bullfinch pauses while eating Hawthorn berries, a Red Admiral basks in the sun, the glory of one of the beeches on the Crag, the seeds of a Yellow flag iris show their autumnal beauty, and lichen.

Clare and John visited the John More Museum in Tewkesbury recently. John Moore (1907-1967) was a British author and naturalist who wrote about the English countryside and campaigned for its preservation. In one of his books, The Seasons of the Year, he wrote that October is the ‘hangover season in the countryside: no new flowers, and old ones already drooping, the bents brown along the hedgerows and no birds singing’. John and Clare are pleased to have provided evidence that there is some bird song in October and that in spite of the absence of new flowers, there is still colour to be seen.

23rd October

Going through the camera discs Clare heard a bird that she hadn’t heard before or seen on Liddells. She called on Merlin and a couple of other human listeners for confirmation and all agreed it is a Reed Bunting. Clare recognises this bird by thinking of it as an old-fashioned bailiff with black bowler hat, white collar and tweed jacket. See what you think. Ruth said the species is one she was expecting might be around. It is present in the UK all year.

26th - 28th October

John prepared more sites for new trees. Farmer John moved the sheep onto the Wildflower Meadow. He reckoned they would only take five days to graze it.

More mouse activity on the Crag - mountaineering this time.

30th October

As the young buck kid turns sideways in the clip below, you can see the ‘buttons,’ which are the start of antlers growing.

The answers to the bird quiz: in the first clip you can hear a Goldfinch, in the second a Magpie is chattering before a Carrion Crow calls at the end of the clip.

September - a quieter month

The usual reminder - to see the videos in all their glory, visit www.liddells.co.uk and click on Blog

2nd - 3rd September

John started making a new and wider gate and gateway for the North-east Strip. Should hay need to be moved into this area in future years, the new gate will accommodate a trailer, making the task a little easier.

Clare spent some time by the Big Pond and watched a female Common Darter ovipositing. The male Darter is clutching her while she does so. Then Clare noticed that there were five male Common Hawkers vying for the airspace over the pond and one was continually returning to a particular patch of Water Forget-me-nots; she heard a rustling and realised there was a female Common Hawker also ovipositing. Taking a video risked disturbing her, however Clare managed a photo. There were also scores of Emerald Damselflies around.

Clare noticed that the Water Figwort Scrophularia auriculata, is in flower. The flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp, although there have been far fewer wasps around this year. Clare was intrigued by the ‘Scrophulus’ part of the plant’s name. ‘Scrofulous’ is defined as meaning either, in a literal sense, relating to scrofula (tuberculosis (or TB like bacteria) of the lymph nodes, particularly of the neck); or, figuratively, morally contaminated and corrupt. Clare then discovered that the name "figwort" comes from the plant's early use to treat haemorrhoids, which were once known as "figs." Every Blog day a learning day.

John has sited a trail camera on the Hayfield as he has noticed the deer here quite often. The first video was a surprise.

The next video demonstrates why we have the phrase ‘haring about’.

4th September

Unusually, Clare’s annual attempts to photograph Hawkers on the wing using her phone camera proved successful. Only one shot, however the photo shows two male Common Hawkers - the equivalent of BOGOF in the dragonfly world.

You may be surprised, as were Clare and John, to learn that stoats will take a hare, a creature several times bigger than itself. The stoat will chase its prey and then pounce, delivering a powerful bite to the back of the neck. The camera seems to have captured part of the chase; the hare is in no doubt about the jeopardy.

The camera on the Hayfield does record some deer activity - a doe and two kids; you can hear the twang of the fence as the deer jump out off camera.

8th September

The sex of the triplets is much clearer now. Here they are in the Scrub. Looking from left to right you can see two doe kids, the mother doe and then the buck kid.

John was particularly interested to see the next clip and several like it - he says the received wisdom has been that deer do not like rain and are seldom seen out in it. The trail camera gives the lie to that particular understanding.

9th September

One of the two young bucks from last year has unbranched antlers - regular readers of this Blog will know bucks like this are called ‘murder bucks’ - is around in the Scrub. Then the camera reveals a new buck. This one has better developed antlers, although it is still smaller than the old buck which is still around. This new buck may have been drawn in because of the does in the territory.

10th September

John has long been interested in the number of different plants that deer will eat. Below is one of four clips that each show kids choosing Ash leaves over all the other forage in their path. The leaves look as if they are freshly fallen.

11th September

The doe with triplets is reluctant to let the buck kid suckle. She has probably conceived what will be next year’s kids in the rut, and even though delayed implantation means they are far off being born, she will be keen for this year’s kids to become more independent.

12th September

A sunny day, and it brought the pollinators out. The Michaelmas daisies on the Wildflower Meadow were covered in insects, including a couple of Speckled Wood butterflies. The activity demonstrates the value of late flowering forage plants.

The sunshine also brought out the dragonflies. Clare spotted a female Common Darter ovipositing, then noticed a pair of Common Hawkers flying past clamped together. They landed on the sunny waterside of a Hawthorn overhanging the Big Pond, however Clare managed to get close enough for a photograph. She is rather pleased with the result.

13th September

Early morning in the Scrub and a doe can be heard and seen (watch her flanks move) squeaking. (While John uses the word ‘feeping’ for the kids, he usually refers to the does’ calls as squeaking. They sound the same to Clare.) The old buck suddenly erupts from off stage and chases the doe away. He pauses in front of the camera and you can see why John considers this animal to be a magnificent specimen. You can also see signs of ageing round his face (the buck’s not John’s).

Another image of which Clare was pleased - this time Common Darters mating. Clare then noticed a couple of what she thinks are Southern Hawkers, had joined the Common Hawkers over the pond. Although not a wonderful photograph, Clare managed, with her phone camera, to capture another dragonfly in flight.

14th September

Although the videos are not included here (regular readers of this Blog will have seen more than enough footage of badgers’ backsides), Clare noticed that the Scrub trail camera had recorded several clips of a badger going past in the same direction. Two of these clips were only ten seconds apart, so there must be at least two badgers using the path. (The same phenomenon occurred two nights later, with only three seconds between the clips.)

15th September

John and Clare have been delighted that all the talks (John, Keith and Clare), the two Open Days and donations from supporters, have resulted in enough money to buy a lot more trees, hedging whips and wildflower plugs. Today they spent a happy morning putting in an order. The wildflower plants will arrive first although cannot be planted until the sheep have been and gone. The trees and hedging will arrive in the winter months as it is best to move and plant them while they are dormant.

16th September

Motivated by the tree and wildflower order, Clare and John set about sowing all the wildflower seeds Clare has been collecting at every available opportunity. There are seventeen different varieties in the trays. Any that take can be pinched out into small pots and sown as plugs either next autumn or potted on for planting out in spring 2026.

18th September

John noticed that there has been a substantial collapse of part of the south boundary wall. Fortunately there is no risk of local stock getting in or out at that point, however repairs will have to be made. There had been no bulging in the wall, which indicates a weak point, just here; possibly the increase in much heavier farm machinery may have caused sufficient vibration to bring about the collapse.

The old buck again, however Clare has chosen this video because you can clearly hear at least one Chiffchaff in the background. The birds are yet to leave for their wintering grounds. It looks as though the buck is listening too. Later in the morning this same buck is in the Pit Wood and you can see how he is losing his summer coat.

19th - 20th September

John completed one of his least favourite tasks - he has retensioned the wires that are fixed to the new gatepost. He has also finished the new and wider gate into the North-east Strip.

Clare had been disheartened to discover a little while ago that the two new honey bee queens had failed to mate properly and were laying drones. The third colony, however, which Clare was given as a very small colony last year, has gone from strength to strength. The bees did not swarm, however they did build up and put a lot of effort into foraging. Clare was able to take the fullest super of honey she has ever had off these bees. Clare has given the bees sugar syrup - a small compensation for their loss.

Note the sheep-proofing. John R’s sheep are due to arrive soon

Much sticky spinning activity will follow

22nd September

It has been a while since a fox has shown up on the trail cameras. This one is making its way through the Scrub.

24th September

Clare spent some time in the hide today and was pleased to hear Willow Tits, although they didn’t appear on the feeders. They can be noticeable by their absence in the autumn/winter months, so it is good to be reassured they are still around.

John has cut Willow whips from neighbour Sylvia’s tree again. They now need planting. Fly agaric in the Scrub and berries on the Spindle trees are indications that autumn in well under way.

25th September

Chiffchaffs still audible on the trail camera footage today.

26th September

One of the does reveals the extent to which she is losing her summer coat.

30th September

John and Clare visited to collect the camera discs for a last update on this month’s Blogpost. Clare heard a Chiffchaff still present in the Scrub. John saw five hares on the Hayfield and Clare saw one in the Pit Wood - a delightful ending to the month.

August - season finale

Apparently August is known as ‘sere month’. Although Clare knew the word ‘sere’ meaning dry or withered (see Macbeth: ‘My way of life Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf’), she first came across the phrase ‘sere month’ through the solution to a cryptic crossword clue. John said that he did not know the answer ‘sere’ and when Clare looked up the definition to show him, the phrase ‘sere month’ was included. The clue was ‘Issue drinks, perhaps not very dry,’

If you are new to the Blog, go to www.liddells.co.uk and click on the Blog page to see all the video footage from this month. It is most unlikely to be included in your email.

First some left over videos from the end of July. The first two clips from the camera near the Dirty Dancing Bridge have helped to distinguish between two of the does. The first doe has a much thinner caudal patch than the second, which is a far more distinct kidney shape. The third video shows the rut continuing in the Scrub with the old buck driving a doe. You can hear her squeaking.

1st August

With the relief of the hay-making behind them, John and Clare continued their preparations for the Open Weekend, working on paths, weeding inside tree cages and devising signs to help visitors navigate and enjoy the site.

Meanwhile the trail cameras have captured a fox in the Scrub and the doe with her triplets near the Dirty Dancing Bridge.

2nd August

John started building a platform for the bench David O had made for the Point of View.

Good to consider all angles in any point of view

3rd August

The bench is complete and a fine place to sit.

Providing a platform for a point of view

A Small Tortoiseshell basking on a stone nearby - thankfully a few more butterflies are beginning to emerge

Always important to consider contrary points of view

Clare has withdrawn injured and frustrated. Weeding, scything, sickling, carrying stones and chip have proved too much for her back. She is forbidden strenuous activity so is at home making signage for the coming weekend and catching up with the camera discs.

One of the cameras records the best footage of bats yet - some compensation.

5th August

A badger makes slow, investigative progress through the Scrub just after midnight and a doe suckles her twins in the early morning.

John photographed one of the juvenile robins near the hide. It has become a Robin Redbreast.

7th August

The triplets move in and out of sync in the Scrub.

8th - 9th August

A couple of clips demonstrating a kid feeping. In the second you can see the abdomen moving to make the sound.

There was also evidence of more rutting activity near the Dirty Dancing Bridge, however the footage wasn’t brilliant, so it is not included here.

Clare was back on light duties. She was struck by the autumnal colour palette in this young Chaffinch’s plumage.

10th - 11th August

The weather gods were kind and the sun shone for the Open Days. John and Clare welcomed nearly 70 visitors, all of whom seemed to enjoy themselves. Many partook in the activities on offer (some illustrated below), most wandered around at their own pace and some simply enjoyed the scenery and company. Everyone came with great generosity of spirit and of purse and talked of how lovely it was to be able to be in, and to engage with, nature. There were sightings of deer, a hare, more butterflies in a day than have been seen thus far this year, dragonflies and damselflies, and although not as many birds as usual (the birds would have been sheltering from the heat and also there was more disturbance than usual at the hide), Susie W saw a Spotted Flycatcher on one of the Hawthorns in front of the hide. Clare was particularly pleased to hear this as she hadn’t noticed any this year. Susie also heard a Redstart calling.

John’s woodworking skills on display

Clare’s beeswax and forage produce

As she walked around at the end of Sunday, Clare noticed one of the Alders on the Wetland has begun to produce next year’s catkins.

John and Clare decided to extend the delights of the weekend with a stay in the shepherd’s hut. The sunset was a rich reward.

12th August

A glorious start to the Glorious Twelfth - John and Clare had a gentle early morning stroll round Liddells. They noticed small flocks of Willow Warblers and Goldfinches, Guelder Rose berries and Branched Burr-reed that they had been too busy to see before, and two male Common Hawkers on the Big Pond, however more delights awaited at the hide. Two Bank voles were scurrying around all the time John and Clare were there and just as Clare decided that the Spotted Flycatchers weren’t going to show, two turned up. On the way back to the Hayfield John and Clare saw Wrens, a pair of Bullfinches, Siskins, more Goldfinches and Willow Warblers; then, as they walked up and out of the Scrub, three or four more Spotted Flycatchers put in an appearance. Cherries on top of the icing on the cake.

Trail camera footage shows a kid pausing as if to listen to the Willow Warbler that is still around and singing. This kid shows how much it has grown and that it still has its spots. Later the same day that one of the kids seems to be developing an anal tush, marking her out as a doe.

13th August

Tom cut the Wildflower meadow today. Unfortunately he no longer has access to a small square baler so the hay will have to be raked up and disposed of in some way.

14th August

Ruth conducted her penultimate ringing session of the season. She reported a good session with a total of 42 birds. The highlights were an adult Spotted Flycatcher and a juvenile Whitethroat. (Clare learned recently that there are many country names for the Whitethroat, ranging from Nettle Creeper to Beardie and Hay Jack. though in this instance Net Creeper might be a more fitting name.) Ruth also recaught the Willow Tit she had ringed in the winter. There were plenty of Blackbirds, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers too. Ruth said that it is hard to know whether all the birds have bred on site this year, however ‘after fledging a lot of birds tend to flock and become quite mobile, they’ll go where there is good feeding. And the warblers will be gearing up for migration, it’s possible some of the Willow Warblers are moving down gradually from the north.’ Ruth once again demonstrates what an asset she is to Liddells and to Clare’s and John’s ongoing education.

The hares are enjoying the shade from the bales on the Hayfield.

18th August

John’s turn for some impromptu shepherding. When John and Clare arrived today they could see two sheep near the bottom gate. The sheep had jumped the wall to get in.

There are several Common Hawkers around the Big Pond. Common Darters are more obliging by keeping still for a a short while. Here is a male basking on one of the treads in the Alphabet Bridge.

Clare and John discovered that defeated by the wires now securing the lids to the seed feeders, the squirrels are going straight to the source of the food. Clare and John were greeted by the following sights when they went to the hide today.

Their frustration was, however, offset by some delightful sights.

Later in the day the oldest doe goes through the Scrub, closely followed by her feeping triplets. Kids are appearing fairly regularly on the trail camera footage however it isn’t always possible to know whether they are the singleton, the twins or the triplets as they are all becoming more independent.

19th August

Juno learned the word ‘dendrologist’, and set about investigating one of the slices of wood in the log shed. Clare and John indulged in a bit of child labour exploitation and managed to fill a dumpy with hay that they will be able to give to Barry for his goats.

20th August

John had his camera with him at the hide and managed to capture footage of a Spotted Flycatcher and of a squirrel. Clare thinks the squirrel looks decidedly smug. In retrospect she thinks it was planning its bungee jump.

21st August - 26th August

Barry R took the hay off the Hayfield on 21st. Happily, the hares that habitually use the bales as shelter have not abandoned the area and Clare and Juno saw five when they arrived. Here are a pair John photographed.

Clare noticed a patch of Harebells under the roadside beech trees. The plant thrives on dry undisturbed soil and the beeches provide exactly that. Clare has tried to establish this species from seed in the past though with no success. There have been a couple of flowers in previous years, however it seems as though they have increased in number this year. In Scotland, the harebell is sometimes known as the 'bluebell'; elsewhere, it has picked up various local names, including 'witches' thimbles' and 'fairy bells', alluding to magical associations - people believed that witches used juices squeezed from this flower to transform themselves into hares. The more prosaic reason for the flower’s name is that it grows in places frequented by hares.

The squirrels had inevitably made short shrift of one of the bungees on the feed bins. Smugness will be short lived. Metal chains are on the shopping list.

John continued working on the new fence post and strainers. The work will involve rerouting the old fence so the job keeps growing. Meanwhile Clare set about raking more meadow hay into rows ready for disposal. She filled another dumpy, however the rest was thrown in the North-East Strip into one of the old pits. It seems a shame to waste the hay, however leaving it on the ground would ultimately enrich the soil, the very opposite of what is needed for a wildflower meadow. It is hard for the photos to give a sense of the depth of the pit and Clare lost count of the number of trailer loads after the thirteenth. It was a lot.

As Clare and John worked over the Bank Holiday weekend, they decided that while most people have high days and holidays, they have hay days and no holidays. They took breaks in the hide and were pleased to see two and occasionally three bank voles feeding from spilt bird seed. On the Monday John and Clare noticed there were no voles in view. Clare decided it was because it was a Monday Bank Vole Holiday. They were both pleased to see and hear Willow Tits, which were particularly vocal. They completed the hay task, creating an inverted haystack, stackhay? in the pit.

Two plant species still in flower are Marsh and Hedge Woundwort. Both have an unpleasant astringent smell, however both were used to promote the healing of wounds.

Marsh Woundwort

Hedge Woundwort

25th August - 27th August

Trail camera clips. The triplets reveal themselves to be two does and a buck. For new readers of the Blog, sexing roe deer is from the caudal patch - the creamy coloured kidney shaped patch on the rear. Does have a downward pointing anal tush of hairs at the lower edge of this.

An unusual sight - two does and one kid. The kid is probably the singleton born to the youngest doe. This doe is often captured on camera grooming her kid.

A young buck pursues the triplets and the old buck seems to be evidencing late rutting behaviour in the Scrub. Note the difference in antler conformation between the two bucks.

28th August

Ruth ended her ringing season ‘with a bang not a whimper’ - she had 82 birds and a squirrel in her nets (no damage done to net or squirrel). Her report: ‘Highlights - several mixed flocks of tits and warblers (hence the high numbers). Lots of coal tits, sadly no willow! Two young nuthatch (first for site), two young greenfinch, LOTS of young bullfinch. And…a tree pipit, which is the first I’ve ever ringed.’ Ruth added later that the tree pipit was very fat, clearly feeding up for migration. She added that there had been 14 juvenile Bullfinches, and compared that number to the 15 Chiffchaffs and 12 Blue Tits. The two latter species are far more in evidence than Bullfinches. Bullfinches will often raise two broods of young and even three in a good year. Four to five eggs are normally laid, hatching after around two weeks, so 14 juveniles could be from a couple of pairs, each pair having two broods. Or from many other permutations; impossible to know but still delightful.

John and Clare are as thrilled as Ruth that her trial season can be declared a success and are very happy to know that the diversity of birds on Liddells is much greater than they had realised. Ruth is hoping for some autumn passage surprises.

31st August

Haws are forming, Blackberries ripening, Rowan berries reddening and Rosehips swelling - all indicating Summer is morphing into Autumn and Clare can prepare this year’s Hedgerow and Rowan berry jellies.

May - life and death

The usual reminder - in order to view the video footage, go the the Blog page of the website: www.liddells.co.uk

1st May

Sadly the ducks’ nest has been raided; ducks and eggs have gone. Possible culprits are herons, foxes, magpies, crows, rooks, jays and squirrels.

3rd May - 4th May

Clare was intrigued to see evidence of considerable disturbance of moss on the Crag. She wondered whether it was caused by birds finding nesting material, however the disturbance seemed on too big a scale for that to be the reason. She set up a trail camera and waited. Resulting footage suggested at first that Pheasants were responsible and maybe a Song Thrush; there is a clip of a Red-legged Partridge although the evidence is insufficient for an arrest in this case, however further footage showed a couple of Jays flinging the moss around with abandon.

Two clips of bucks from the camera behind the bee shed show the old buck still in winter coat, while one of the younger bucks shows more of his summer coat.

4th May

While John worked on one of the strainers for a gate post, Clare repaired the wire damaged by the sheep grazing on the Meadow.

More plants coming into flower; today Clare added Field Wood-rush, Bugle, Bluebell, Lady’s Mantle (the wild version is lower-growing than the one you see in gardens), Stitchwort, Marestail; there is blossom on pear and apple trees, and the Wild Service trees are in leaf. Here is a selection of those and a photo that suggests the young bucks are no longer in velvet.

5th May

Clare supported International Dawn Chorus Day with an early visit to Liddells and discovered why we have the phrase ‘up with the lark’. Skylarks were singing before dawn in the neighbouring field and there were a few lapwing calls as well. The blackbirds and robins began singing at about twenty-five past four and were soon joined by thrushes, wood pigeons, wrens and the warblers; last to sing were the titmice. Keith told his bird-watching group that the birds with the largest eyes sing first and they are after the worms that emerge early in the day. Clare was also entertained by a roe deer barking during her visit; as the light came up she could see it was the pregnant doe. (You may need the volume on the highest setting for the video.)

Thank you to Jean for offering a quote from Tom Stoppard: ‘How beautiful the dawn is. If only it did not occur so early in the day.’

7th May

Ribwort Plantain is in flower on the Hayfield and the Wildflower Meadow. The Wildlife Trusts’ website notes that Ribwort Plantain is the subject of a game that's similar to conkers - children pick the stems and knock the flower heads together, battling it out to see whose head drops off the stem first. Clare recently read Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent and in it Judi Dench quotes part of a song from Cymbeline:

‘Golden lads and girls all must,

As chimney-sweepers come to dust…’

Dench says these chimney-sweepers ‘are those reeds - I think they’re called ribwort plantain - which have a brown nobbly bit at the end. If you pick them and bend the stalk round the neck, you can go ‘phwat’ like that and shoot off the head, and all the seeds burst away like dust. I do it all the time when I find them. I can’t resist it.’

Clare noticed recent fraying on the protection around a Small-leaved Lime; happily the protection has proved effective as the tree itself is untouched.

7th May

Ruth completed the first of her breeding season ringing sessions. She ringed 33 birds in total and the species list is: Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chaffinch (unringable, diseased legs), Bullfinch. She sent a photo of a Garden Warbler adding the birders joke about the species - ‘their Latin name is Sylvia Borin, because they are boring.’

This is a male Garden Warbler identified as in breeding condition because of the cloacal protruberence (not visible in the photo and recorded as CP in the ringing records. Females in breeding condition have a visible brood patch, recorded as BP).

Speaking of breeding, there is much activity in the North-east Strip, in the very first nesting box John and Clare put up. It is being used by Coal Tits. One of the trail cameras has recorded footage of one of the birds leaving with what is probably fecal matter, keeping the box clean; a bird arrives with food and then leaves; a bird arrives with what looks like a St Mark’s fly and leaves without depositing it inside and then is followed by a Blue Tit having a very good look inside the box, maybe with a view to a takeover; the last clip in this series shows a Coal Tit with another large insect - the bird seems very hesitant about taking it into the box, however it seems to do so in the end.

8th - 12th May

Clare inspected all three bee hives and found that two of the queens had upped their laying rate. Clare added supers to all three hives to provide more space - the bees can use the super to store nectar and pollen, leaving the frames in the brood box for the brood. There is a queen excluder fitted between the two boxes so that the queen remains in the lower chamber. On her way back to the Hayfield, Clare disturbed a Tawny Owl twice in the Scrub.

John and Clare marked John’s birthday with a nesting box survey. They found 9 occupied with either eggs or sitting birds and nesting material in a further 11.

The Oaks are coming into leaf and Germander Speedwell has found its way through the stones in the top roadway. Tormentil is coming out everywhere and the Water Violets are looking splendid on the Big Pond. Large Red Damselflies, often the first to be seen in Spring, are emerging and flying.

The two young bucks who were captured sparring last month appear one after the other in the Scrub and seem to still be wary of each other.

The old buck seems contemplative in the Scrub; his summer coat is now coming through; he seeme to check out a twig for scent marking.

John and Clare both did some preparatory work for a group visit.

A badger appears on the Crag.

13th May

Members from the Wildlife group of the local U3A came for an afternoon visit. Clare had given the group a talk about Liddells earlier in the year and this was a follow-up. The visit went well - hares appeared and the big pond offering sightings of damselfly nymphs and, for one half of the group, a couple of newts close to the surface. Jenni L sent a collage of some of her photographs of the visit. The newt is bottom left.

More footage of a Thrush on the Crag.

15th May

Ruth completed another ringing session. She said it was quieter than the first, however her highlights were 2 more Garden Warblers, 3 more Long-tailed Tits a Song Thrush and the first juvenile - a Blackbird. She also heard a Yellowhammer for the second time (Clare has noticed two singing in the last few days and has seen one in an Ash tree on the west boundary which has been used as a Yellowhammer perch for the last few years.) Ruth also heard Linnets so is hoping one might appear in her nets. She sent these photos and thought the Blue Tit was ‘rather grumpy looking’!

17th May

A young doe appears in the Scrub. She could either be the one that had a single doe kid last year and therefore might be pregnant again, or she could be the kid that is now a yearling and unlikely to be pregnant. Neither has been seen for a while. Later in the day one of the younger bucks appears in the Scrub.

18th May

Clare arrived early to conduct the annual breeding bird survey. With the tree foliage well advanced the survey is primarily a listening exercise and the listener can never be sure whether the same bird is heard in more than one place, however the survey gives a snapshot. The first treat was seeing a Tawny Owl perched on Sycamore branches in the Top Strip and clearly visible. During the survey Clare noticed that she heard no Goldfinches, Siskins, Willow or Long-tailed Tits and no Goldcrests, although all have been seen recently. The most numerous songsters seemed to be Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs (13 apiece), followed by Blackbirds and Chaffinches. You can see the full result on the Surveys page of the website.

Clare tackled a long neglected patch of wall repair in the Top Strip. There was plenty of evidence that deer were using the damaged area as a place to jump in and out of the land.

With the stone back in place, Clare checked all the nest boxes again to see whether any with material were now in use. She found Great Tit nestlings in one box. She also noticed that Yellow Rattle, Sorrel and Pig nut were all flowering.

19th May

The Large Red damselflies are being joined by Azures.

A different buck appears in the Scrub. He looks young although his antlers are well developed.

20th May

In the early hours of the morning the old buck is captured chasing the new buck. While the old buck seems to be tolerating the two younger ones, probably sired by him, this new one is one buck too many.

Ruth arrived with her mentor to conduct the first of her nest box ringing sessions. She began with the Coal Tits in Box 1, however when she opened the box where Clare had seen the Great Tit nestlings, the box was empty. It had been predated, possibly by a weasel or a mouse.

25th May

Ruth conducted her second breeding season survey and ringed 30 birds including a number of new Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, a baby Robin and a new female breeding Goldcrest.

Clare and John have been away bird-watching and delighting in seeing three species for the first time - Stone Curlews, a Wood Lark and several Hobbies. Neither of the two cameras in use had much footage of particular interest on their return, and frustratingly the batteries in the camera aimed on nest box 1 had run down so there is no footage if the Coal Tits have fledged.

26th May

The younger doe appears again in the Scrub. Her summer coat is now much more evident. She may be pregnant. John and Clare are hoping the trail cameras will capture footage of any new kids which could be born at any time now.

31st May

John and Clare came up to have a final check on the trail cameras before the deadline for the Blog. Sadly box 1 seems to have been predated. Ruth’s mentor said that with so much bad weather more nestlings may have died beacuse the adult birds have been unable to go and find sufficient food. The bad weather may have contributed to fewer boxes being used this year; conditions have made it harder for birds to breed.

More plants in flower, Clare noticed Ragged Robin, Bush Vetch, Red Campion and some White Bugle.

Large Red, Azure and Common Blue damselflies on the Big Pond and a male Broad-bodied Chaser was flying around the roadside pond and perched for just long enough for Clare to grab a quick snap with her phone - not the best quality however it was delightful to see the dragonfly season progressing.

Happily the hares seem to have bred successfully - the trail camera in the Pit Wood has captured several clips of what are clearly leverets. Here are two of those clips, delightful scenes to end the month.

Readers may remember that the Wildlife Trusts encourage as many people as possible to undertake a 30 Days Wild in June, engaging with nature in some way or other during the coming month.

April - burgeoning

A reminder: in order to watch the video footage in the following Blog post, go to the Liddells website - www.liddells.co.uk, click on the Blog page and the videos will be available there.

Corrections and clarifications:

Clare is squirming with embarrassment on two counts. She has been reminded that ‘whence’ means ‘from when’ and that in pursuit of pedantry in last month’s Blog post, she fell prey to tautology. Apologies to all who were offended.

Second, for reasons best known to her unconscious, Clare forgot to mention a talk she gave twice last month. ‘Liddells: The first ten years’ was the last in the ‘Nature Near and Far’ series that Keith had proposed as a way to raise funds for Liddells. Clare offered it on 12th March, having also given it the day before to the Wildlife Group of the local branch of the U3A. The group will be following their talk up with a site visit in May. Clare was delighted that her talk was well received on both occasions and both John and Clare are hugely grateful to Keith for the idea of the talks and for giving four of them and to everyone, both attendees and those who were unable to come, who all supported the project and donated most generously.

Two postscripts - the most recent edition of the RSPB magazine included a short feature on Willow Tits (mentioned in last month’s Blog), noting them as ‘imperilled’ and describing the RSPB’s collaboration with their grounds maintenance contractor and community green space groups to improve habitat for these birds. The work includes ‘building natural dams in small watercourses to create wetter areas, increasing standing dead wood tp provide nesting spaces or installing nest boxes’. John and Clare realise that the spring stream and fallen wood near there in the Pit Wood maybe be part of the reason the birds are on Liddells.

Also, footage retrieved from a trail camera disc after last month’s Blog post was published shows a hare in the Scrub. Hares are always popular, however this footage is included in order to use the caption.

1st April

Clare was pleased to see the Blackthorn in the hedge by the apiary in flower at last. She set about some repair work on the Willow Avenue and foraged for Wild Garlic and Nettles to make some pesto.

4th April

The new position for the trail camera in the Scrub is proving fruitful. The camera captured footage of the pair of young bucks vying with each other. John suggests that as the bucks are yearlings, this is learning behaviour and the beginning of territorial aggression. There were eleven clips of this activity. John has stitched them together to give a better sense of it all. Although John has seen videos of red deer stags fighting in the rut, he has never witnessed this activity in roe deer.

5th April

The older buck, who is most likely the father of the two younger bucks, walks through the Scrub with the air of an animal that does not have to fight for territory. Oedipal reckonings may arise later.

Another piece of hare footage called for a suitable caption.

Clare has noticed several patches of Scarlet Elf Cap (aka Elf Cup) fungus in the Pit Wood recently. The Woodland Trust describes it as ‘mystical and cheery’ and notes that it ‘has been used as a medicine by the Oneida Native Americans to stop bleeding and was placed under bandages and on the navels of newborns to promote healing.’ Apparently ‘in past times, elf cups were made into arrangements with moss and leaves and sold as table decorations.’ The fungus is also edible and ‘can be stir fried and sprinkled in salads for colour. The fruiting bodies seem to be designed to use them like little baskets. [They can be filled] with any other seasonal ingredients to make raw wild canapés, like Three Cornered Leek, Garlic-Mustard, Wild Garlic or Wood Sorrel.’

6th April

The older buck demonstrates the tastiness of new shoots. Here he is nibbling on Elder.

7th April

A double delight - Clare saw and heard Willow Warblers for the first time this year and noticed that the Willows are coming into flower. The birds were in the Willows. It’s not without reason that the birds have the name they do.

Clare has seen Yellow Brain fungus on many occasions, however she has only recently remembered that it is also called Witches’ Butter. This particular example does look more buttery than some. Long term readers of this Blog may remember Witches’ Knickers and Witches’ Broomsticks from earlier posts. It was clearly important in the past to recognise the part witches played in nature. The Woodland Trust says, ‘According to European legend, if yellow brain fungus appeared on the gate or door of a house it meant that a witch had cast a spell on the family living there. The only way the spell could be removed was by piercing the fungus several times with straight pins until it went away. This is why yellow brain also has the common name of 'witches’ butter'. In Sweden, yellow brain fungus was burnt to protect against evil spirits.’

Clare doesn’t think there is any magic involved, however she was intrigued to notice how the water created curious reflections of rush in the pond.

The Scrub is having almost nightly badger visits, sometimes with more than one visit during the night. It is difficult to tell how many badgers there are, however it is possible there is more than one since the animals are often traveling in the same direction. There is much territory marking happening. The visits recorded thus far have been:

31/03 2308 going away from camera

01/04 21.39 coming towards camera

02/04 22.42 coming

05/04 21.57 going

05/04 22.41 coming

06/04 22.17 coming

06/04 22.36 coming

06/04 23.16 going

07/04 01.56 coming

07/04 23.29 coming

(Clare is reminded of the ‘minor masterpiece of unmalicious humour’, Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith. Pooter, the diarist, has two friends Cummings and Gowing. After an unfortunate incident in which Pooter paints the bath with red enamel paint, Cummings arrived followed shortly by Gowing. Pooter writes, ‘ I said: ‘A very extraordinary thing has struck me,’ ‘Something funny, as usual,’ said Cummings. ‘Yes,’ I replied; I think even you will say so this time. It’s concerning you both; for doesn’t it seem odd that Gowing’s always coming and Cummings’ always going?’) Which of the badgers is coming and which going, will have to remain a mystery.

8th April

The two young bucks are still in velvet and show signs of beginning to lose their winter coat. The same evening the trail camera shows they are still with the mother even though she will be having this year’s kids soon. The older buck follows two minutes later.

10th April

It is unusual for John and Clare not to see a hare when they are on Liddells these days. The cameras are picking up plenty of movement through the different areas. Here three hares seem to be involved in a chase, then two appear a few minutes later (this footage has some clear birdsong) and have a boxing flurry.

12th - 18th April

John is tackling gates. The gateway by the spoil heaps, while wide enough for the quad bike, is too narrow when the flail mower is attached. This means replacing one of the gateposts and retensioning the wires. Also one of the posts supporting the hurdle for the Wildflower meadow was broken in the most recent storm. John has decided to replace the hurdle with a metal gate.

Clare had a far easier time looking to see what plants had come into flower since she last investigated. She found Wild Garlic flowering in the Top Strip.

Extended gate

Badgers continue to come and go each night. From the 8th April there have been 31 further recordings; the badgers always pause to mark in the same places; several times there is only a gap of a few minutes between footage, with badgers going in the same direction.

The cameras pick up two foxes. One seen limping before in a different part of the Scrub, has lost a foot. This does not stop it hunting.

19th April

Clare came home from Liddells today with a big grin. Her morning started well when she opened the hives again and found all three colonies seemed to be thriving with capped brood on 3-4 frames each. The Wildflower meadow is covered in dandelions which accounts for the orange pollen the bees are bringing in. You can see that they are making the most of the good weather.

Recently Clare heard a reading from Maud Martha by Gwendoline Brooks in which she writes ‘the very word ‘meadow’ made her breathe more deeply and either fling her arms or want to fling her arms, depending on who was by, rapturously up to whatever was watching in the sky, but dandelions were what she chiefly saw. Yellow jewels for every day, studding the patched green dress of her back yard’.

Clare noticed deer slots on the path to the bee shed and following them found Violets and Wood Sorrel in flower.

Relieved that all seems as well as it can be with the bees, Clare went looking for more plants in flower and en route noticed a ladybird resting on some algae that Clare had pulled out of the roadside pond (perhaps algae does have a use), then she saw a mallard drake fly off the Big Pond followed shortly by the duck who flew off the island. Clare went to have a look and saw a nest with several eggs. She then decided to have a quick look in the two nest boxes that Juno had helped to make and one had a nest that was beginning to be feathered and the second had plenty of moss. From there Clare went to the Orchard to discover more blossom there than in any previous year. She was particularly pleased to see blossom on one of the Damsons that she and John has planted last Autumn.

Damson

Plum

Bird cherry

All this was lovely. Clare decided to go up to the Top Strip next and as she came to the top of the Crag, she could see three hares. She inched forward and witnessed five hares racing round in circles at the far end of the Hayfield. This went on for a minute or two then two hares went down the Crag and two started to come closer, then joy of joys, they started boxing. Clare was nervous to move and get her phone out to begin with, however the hares seemed oblivious of her presence and she was able to capture some footage. She was so close she could hear the animals grunting with the force of the boxing. You will see the fur literally flying. At the end of the first video, watch how the recumbent hare is gasping for breath.

Long term readers of the Blog will know that for a very long time Clare has hoped to see hares boxing on Liddells. She is delighted.

The day continued well - Field Maple out on the Hayfield, Cherry and False Oxlips out in the Top Strip. Then an insect on a Dandelion that proved to be a Meliscaeva auricollis or Spotted Meliscaeva. It is a ‘narrowly-built species of rather variable appearance. It is one of the first hoverflies to appear in spring and also flies on mild winter days’.

Field Maple

Wild Cherry

False Oxlip

Meliscaeva auricollis

Back down to the Wildflower Meadow - Cowslips in flower, Yellow Rattle is coming through as are the leaves of Common Spotted Orchid and Clare was delighted to notice emerging Adder’s Tongue Fern. She had first learned about the plant when Naomi Thwaite from the Wildlife Trust visited and impressed Clare and John by spotting the plants when they were only a centimetre or two high. Clare is proud that in the Adder’s Tongue Fern spotting department, she has made progress.

Cowslips

Common Spotted Orchid leaves

Adder’s Tongue Fern

As if this wasn’t all enough, when Clare looked at the camera disc she had brought home, she saw an, admittedly brief, hare mating attempt.

She also discovered that two foxes had been through in the early hours, just four minutes apart. Will the ducks and their eggs survive?

20th April

Recently John has been working on a talk about hares and his reading has included a book called The Leaping Hare. Clare thought of this when she saw the next clip, which she found amusing, but then having read recently about the naming of a process with which she is familiar, she decided to name the clip in honour of that. She hopes that this is a male hare leaping out of the way of a female though is enough of a realist to guess that it is a female avoiding a male.

21st April

John had discovered that the post on which he had hoped to hang the new gate on the Meadow, was also rotten and broken. One big learning has been to only use tanalised timber for posts in future. John enlisted Clare’s help and asked her to dig out the post. This went well until she discovered that the post had been set in postcrete. She threw in the trowel and John came, like a knight - hardly in shining armour, although a muddy quad bike is some sort of charger - with a pinch bar lance, to break the solid lump up. After much exertion with the spade, the spit and the pinch bar, and a tow from the quad, the job was completed. Clare thinks ‘the spade, the spit and the pinch bar’ should be a title for some kind of company but can’t think which. Suggestions from readers welcome.

Before the discovery of postcrete

Throwing in the trowel

Riding to the rescue

The gate hangs well.

When Clare captioned this photograph and wondered aloud about why pubs were thus called, John looked bemused. A bit of Googling revealed that ‘the gate hangs well’ or variations on that phrase, are common pub names in the Midlands where Clare grew up, however the name doesn’t seem to occur elsewhere. It is thought to be connected to a pub's proximity to a church gate, toll gate or town gate, though why specifically in the Midlands remains a mystery.

A Fritillary in flower on the Meadow in a place where Clare had sowed some seed and the patch of Wood Anemones that has increased considerably, were reward for all this hard work.

Elder is now coming in to flower.

21st - 23rd April

Seeing the badgers go through the Scrub with such regularity has been interesting, however Clare wanted to put a camera on the path behind the bee shed to capture some deer footage. This worked with comings and goings and much footage of hares, mostly running across the bottom path from west to east. Here are two clips - the pregnant doe comes up the slope and one of the younger bucks goes down. The buck is still in velvet, not in tatters as the caption suggests.

Clare had also moved a different camera - she had seen deer slots in the North East Strip and there is a clearly used path from there across the Meadow, so she hung a camera on the gatepost. The position seems to have been in a wind tunnel and Clare faced over 300 clips of wavy grass when she brought the disc home. Among the clips however, is a lovely close up of a hare and a few birds. There were only two clips of deer, both of the oldest buck (not included here), and one of a badger.

26th April

More emerging growth - Cuckoo Flower and Hornbeam caught Clare’s eye today.

The badgers appear everywhere. One comes up the slope behind the bee shed.

27th - 30th April

Footage of the young buck shows him still in velvet (footage not included here).

Mel completed his wildflower survey for April and said there had been ‘a whopping increase’ from 9 species in flower in March to 35 this month. He noticed three species that were new to his Liddells list, Large Bittercress, Meadow Foxtail and Damson.
Clare had a sit in the hide before collecting the camera discs for the end of the month, and was pleased to see a Redpoll. They have not appeared for a while. Siskins and a Tree Sparrow visited and quite a handful of Goldfinches as well as the usual Titmice.

Clare was successful in her search for the Large Bittercress Mel had mentioned although she forgot to take a photograph. She did notice Bilberry in leaf and Broom in flower on the Crag, and some of what she has always called Cow Parsley although her sister calls it Queen Anne’s Lace. Clare hadn’t realised both were names for the same plant. Queen Anne’s Lace seems a far more attractive name. Apparently the plant is associated with beauty, and the flower is sometimes referred to as 'bishops flower' and therefore it has become to symbolise sanctuary, safety and refuge.

Said plant was on the Hayfield and Clare saw it as she set about making the hundreds of molehills less mountainous. Five hours later she had succeeded. Woe betide any mole who creates a new hill.

March - new life

4th March

A jay, and then a second jay join the procession of creatures that have appeared in the story-telling circle.

A heron demonstrates why there might be very few frogs in the big pond.

6th March

The older buck seems to have an offstage interchange with the younger buck. You can see that the older buck is no longer in velvet while the younger one still is.

The hares are still in evidence near the story-telling circle. Here are three manoeuvring round each other. There is a delightful early morning chorus of birds in the background.

8th March

Clare’s attempts to capture footage of frogs mating have thus far been unsuccessful although there are plenty of videos of herons hunting frogs; unfortunately because of the camera angle, the herons are mostly headless. Here is one that is not beheaded and showing the black spots on its foreneck.

11th March

The old buck is captured scraping vigorously - he is clearing debris from the ground to make a couch. To put it differently, he is making his bed so he can lie on it.

12th March

A mallard drake defends his territory against another drake. The second drake seems to have got straight back in the water although it is chased off again.

Clare noticed that the regenerated elm in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood has lost more of the original trunk, leaving a very slender strip to support life, and yet the tree is sprouting. The buds resemble small raspberries.

13th March

There have been no Mandarin ducks on the big pond this year until now. They seem far less active than the Mallards. Neither John nor Clare have been able to find out from whence locally come the ducks. (Clare has just read an article on not ending sentences with a preposition, a rule that she was taught at school.)

16th March

There are thrushes singing from many high perches on Liddells at the moment. It is pleasing to see one on the ground in the story-telling circle.

The Chiffchaffs are back and singing, although ‘singing’ is a generous description of the sound they make. The collective noun for Chiffchaffs is ‘a confusion’ - maybe this is because looks-wise they are similar to Willow Warblers. Chiffchaffs have blackish legs, Willow Warblers’ legs are pale yellow/brown - so as not to be confused, Clare thinks ‘Chiffchaff/charcoal’.

Another visit from a Jay to the story-telling circle; this one presents a great close-up view.

Although the camera missed capturing any frogs mating, Clare was delighted to see that there is frogspawn in four ponds, so frogs have clearly been busy. She heard a Tawny Owl calling in the daytime, discovered that there is now a much larger patch of Coltsfoot in the north-west corner, the primroses are out on Primroseside (the north bank of the spring stream), she saw at least five Bullfinches on her visit and half a dozen Goldfinches on the feeders - far more than in recent weeks, celandines are beginning to appear in flower and the native Daffodils planted in the Top Strip have not only begun to clump up but are now appearing in places in the Top Strip other than the original planting sites. It’s all very Springlike and yellow.

17th March

A warm and still day, so Clare took a gamble and opened the hives for the first time. She was pleased to see all three marked queens, one of whom had started spring laying. As all three colonies have come through the winter and have plenty of stores, there is no need to disturb the bees again for a little while. This is the earliest Clare has ever been able to open the hives.

19th March

Clare has moved one of the cameras to the feeding station - she has noticed how quickly the nyjer seed is being eaten in spite of very few birds seeming to be on the nyjer feeders - and decided to investigate. Although Clare has heard a Woodpecker drumming recently, she hasn’t seen one on the feeders until this footage appeared.

A male Mallard displays, and a Mandarin is heard calling.

20th March

World Rewilding Day. Clare had a delightful morning hosting a friend of a friend’s nephew. Moritz had come to Hexham to give a concert and, having visited Liddells before, expressed a wish to return. Nature obliged and in spite of seeing no Siskins or Redpolls this season thus far, there were several of both on the feeders, numerous Goldfinches, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a couple of Tree Sparrows (also notable for their absence recently). A pair of Bullfinches perched nearby and two hares ran through the Pit Wood as Clare and Moritz strolled along. There was a peacock butterfly in the far north-west corner and a Buff-tailed bumblebee queen searching for a nest site in the same area. In spite of all these sightings, Clare only managed to capture a photo on her phone of three different finches sharing a feeder. Yesterday she had moved a trail camera to overlook the feeders so expected to find all this activity recorded, however disappointingly the camera had recorded nothing that day.

21st March

Delighted by all the finches, Clare and John went back to the feeders and John took his camera.

A pair of hares pause in the story-telling circle.

22nd March

The trail camera has recorded some activity on the feeders; the first footage provides a nice example of pecking order, the second more amicable feeding.

24th March

Clare had moved one of the cameras to an entirely new position - on an old stone gatepost looking along the north-east boundary between the Pit Wood and the Orchard. It transpires that this is a favourite pheasant run so much deletion of footage followed. Three deer, a doe and two kids, appear grazing near the camera and you can see that the young buck is still in velvet.

31st March

Ruth planned to have a ringing session today, the last of her practice runs before starting regular ringing in May. She was surprised by netting and ringing at least ten Chiffchaffs. Quite a confusion. Clare was interested to see that each bird showed a clear yellow feather on the leading edge of the wing. Ruth showed her how the Chiffchaff can be identified by the emargination to the sixth primary feather, whereas the emargination on the Willow Warbler is only to the fifth primary. Of course Clare first had to learn that emargination is a slight indent along one edge of the feather. Clare will probably stick to ‘Chiffchaff/charcoal’. The Chiffchaffs varied in weight from 6.8g to 8.1g. 6.8g is barely more than a level teaspoon of salt. In addition Ruth ringed two Dunnocks, a Long-tailed tit, a female Bullfinch and, after Clare had left, two Tree Creepers one of which had been ringed on an earlier occasion.

After the ringing Clare wandered around looking to see what plantlife might be emerging. There are dandelions flowering on the Meadow and Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage brightening up the Pit Wood. Although the Blackthorn is still not in flower, Wych Elm, Aspen, Hawthorn and Larch are all greening up.

A ladybird was sunning on the gatepost and John noticed some badger scat on one of the paths - it looks very like wrought iron.

Wych elm

Aspen

Hawthorn

Larch

A fitting end to a month of new life - the camera on the edge of the Orchard captures a doe who is clearly pregnant. The cycle goes on.

February - Primaveral Season

2nd February

Today is Candlemas. ‘To me it appears that there are six principal seasons or divisions of the year, to one of which we may venture to refer to almost all the wild and most of the hardy herbaceous plants which grow in our climate. This arrangement into six instead of four seasons corresponds better with the actual course of phenomena. We may consider the first or Primaveral Season as beginning at Candlemas, on the first opening of the early spring flowers.’ Thomas Furley Forster

‘At last, winter began to gather her limbs, to rise, and drift away with saddened garments northwards…The birds fluttered and dashed; the catkins on the hazel loosened their winter rigidiy, and swung soft tassells. All through the day sounded long, sweet whistlings from the bushes; then later, loud, laughing shouts of bird triumph on every hand.’

from The White Peacock D.H.Lawrence

Mel sent the results of his first wildflower survey of the year (he is interested in seeing the difference now from his first surveys ten years ago), recording Gorse, Snowdrop, Birch (in bud with catkins not quite open), Alder (as Birch), and Heather on the Crag (variety to be confirmed). He remarked that in his very first report for January 2014 the only flower he recorded was Meadow Buttercup, although he suspects the catkins would have been showing then.

11th February

John and Clare inspected all the nesting boxes, cleaning them out and noting what repairs might be needed.

There has been much hare activity near the Story-telling Circle. The following seven clips are all captured within 14 minutes.

12th February

Not to be outdone by the hares, the pheasants are also demonstrating Spring activity.

15th February

Clare cleared weeds from the steps by the Point of View.

Walking round afterwards she noticed the first Coltsfoot in flower by the stream.

16th February

A heron and ducks have reappeared on the big pond, which suggests there may be frog mating activity any day.

Not to be left out, a badger marks his territory near the Story-telling Circle.

19th February

Clare has been looking for hazel flowers and today was successful. The  female flowers resemble a bud, with crimson stigmas that protrude when they are ready to receive pollen. The flower buds are located on the branch above the catkin, to avoid self-pollination. Each bud has several flowers. Each flower has 4 stigmas to collect pollen. If fertilised, each flower will produce one nut.

24th February

John brought the last of the bags of chip to help cover the mud near the hide. He repaired a couple of bird boxes and cleared up from working on the Alphabet Bridge.

In the hope of recording some frog mating activity, Clare had moved her camera to the edge of the pond where John had witnessed it last year. It looks as though the ducks might have the same hope.

Later the same day a female pheasant takes advantage of the pond water. The camera showed her drinking without pause for three minutes.

Later that same evening, near the story-telling circle, the trail camera captures the old buck scraping a couch. He settles in the couch with breaks for chewing the cud and personal hygiene, for just over an hour and a half before wandering off.

25th February

Clare went to meet Ruth to discuss equipment storage for Ruth’s bird-ringing activities. As soon as Clare arrived at the bottom gate, she heard a woodpecker drumming; the first she had heard this year. Ruth had netted and ringed four birds that morning. She said that she had netted Goldcrests on every ringing outing thus far. Ruth also mentioned that on an earlier visit, her son had heard Crossbills on the land. This was exciting news - John and Clare had not thought about the presence of this species. The Common Crossbill is both a resident species and a partial migrant. It is perfectly possible that the birds might appear on Liddells. A closer watch will be kept.

Clare visited the hide while Ruth packed up and had fun watching out for birds with rings. On her return Ruth did a final check on the last net and found a wren. This was the first wren she had netted on Liddells. Clare was able to watch what happened next - Ruth freed the bird from the net, stowed it in a cotton bag and brought it back to her work table. She removed the bird from the bag, measured its wing length from shoulder to tip, counted the white spots along the leading edge of the outer feather, looked at the plumage to help age the bird (there can be traces of juvenile plumage before the bird develops its full adult plumage), attempted to determine its sex (wrens are apparently notoriously difficult to sex), clipped on a ring, weighed the bird and logged all her findings before releasing it. Clare had never seen a wren so close and was surprised at how long the bill seemed.

This is a double length net and one of four Ruth puts up - Ruth says she her personal challenge is to get them in place more quickly; at the moment it takes her well over an hour

A bird in the hand…

The same day footage from near the story-telling circle show another, younger buck, with other deer running away in the background.

26th February

A heron hunts for frogs and captures a fair bit of pondweed before finding food.

More hare activity near the story-telling circle - four running around then two starting to box.

The old buck is captured anointing. John says that territorial behaviour in roe deer has been thought to begin in April. This is much earlier and John wonders whether this is evidence of a response to climate change.

A squirrel appears to ambush a hare.

27th February

A pair of mallards feed for a period of six minutes in the same spot in the Big Pond; they leave then return a couple of times over the next hour or two.

The limping fox, last seen in the Scrub, is captured near the Story-telling circle.

29th February

‘The turn of the year is certainly behind us: a thousand sights, scents, and sounds declare the fact. But exactly at what moment the mystic change took place and Nature, writing ‘Finis’ to the tale of last year, started without pause Chapter 1 of this, is a mystery. Officially, I suppose, the turn of the year is at midnight on the shortest day, when the earth starts spinning the 580 odd million miles yearly trip round the sun again. But Nature knows no calendar; and long before that moment came sap was rising, buds were swelling, and this year’s shoots pushing upwards from the soil. Earlier still, the last leaves of last year were thrust from the bough by the rsing life of this. So there seems to be no definite beginning: the seasons move in a circle.’

From The Peverel Papers, Flora Thompson

Quoted for 29th February in Nature writing for Every Day of the Year

January 2024 - ringing in the New Year

The usual reminder that should you wish to watch the video footage included in this post, go to www.liddells.co.uk and click on Blog. There is one video in particular towards the end of the month that is especially worth a view.

1st January

It’s not the first time a cat has been captured on one of the trail cameras, however this is the first black cat. Clare decided that although it was without the traditional gifts, it was first footing Liddells. Clare and John hope its appearance signals prosperity in the coming year.

Shieldbugs/Shield buses - this Bronze shieldbug suddenly leapt on to the dashboard of John’s car while he was driving to Liddells. Maybe it was looking for the one Clare had found in the foraged foliage before Christmas.

2nd January

Over the holidays the word ‘ectoplasm’ had come up in conversation and its association with the activity of mediums. When Clare saw this clip, she thought of it again. It certainly looks haunting.

3rd January

It is official - the so-called Marsh tits, latterly Mallow tits, are indeed Willow tits. Some time ago Clare had used a bird song identifying app to come up with Marsh tits, however a more recent and more accurate app correctly identifies the birds. Clare hopes the birds enjoyed their marshmallow alter ego.

Ruth and Louis set up their mist nets. Ruth said the activity reflected the expected quiet in winter, however she sent through some photos of the day together with a BTO graph showing the catastrophic decline of Willow tits in recent years. Many thanks for their photographs.

Goldcrest

Treecreeper

Coal tit

Willow tit - these two photographs show clearly the differences are between the Willow and Coal tits.

4th January

John and Clare carried out some sapling maintenance on the Hayfield. The sheep will often knock over a tube or two while grazing and, if they can, nibble the growing tips of the plants. There wasn’t too much damage this year.

5th January

John worked on repair to the Alphabet Bridge while Clare ferried chip to the feeding station to help provide a footing in the mud around the feeders. She was delighted to see two Tree Sparrows near the feeders, birds which have been noticeable by their absence for a while now.

Clare enjoyed seeing Hawthorns festooned with raindrops and decided that Nature was making the most of Twelfth Night and leaving the decorations up till the last minute.

The Alders have already produced their catkins. Clare was pleased that a recent participant in Mastermind chose British Garden Birds as his specialist subject. Clare did well but didn’t score as many as the contestant. She learned that Siskins are attracted to red mesh garden feeders because the feeders resemble Alder cones.

In Wild Fell by Lee Schofield - an account of the RSPB’s efforts to restore the ecosystems in their Haweswater site - the author describes how trees come into flower through in the year. He notes that Hazel is first (January), Aspen, Alder and Wych Elm next (February), followed by Blackthorn (March), then Cherry and Birch (April) with Bramble and Ivy following on through the summer and into autumn. Gorse, as all Blog readers know, can be in flower throughout the year.

Alphabet soup

Each Alder tree has both male and female flowers. The catkins which house the male flowers are up to 6cm long. Young catkins appear green before turning yellow. The female flower is a smaller red structure, about 1cm long and with many hair-like structures across the surface. Once this is pollinated, it turns into the brown alder fruit or ‘cone’ which houses the seeds.

Hawthorn decorations

6th January

John is up to about L on the Alphabet Bridge. He saw 8 Long-tailed tits on the feeders today - another species that hasn’t been around the hide for a while.

7th January

John saw a Woodcock on the western side of the Pit Wood. It is always a treat to see one as they are largely nocturnal and spend most of the day in dense cover. They will be heading back to Finland/Russia as Spring arrives here.

John and Clare see Redwings and Fieldfares on Liddells on pretty much every visit. This in itself is not that astounding, however noting it does provide an opportunity to share more knowledge gleaned from Mastermind, namely that Fieldfares have a flying faecal defence system. The birds defend their nests by bombarding predators with their droppings.

8th January

Trail camera footage shows four deer together and a single buck. With both bucks the growth in their antlers is quite apparent. The lone buck looks to be bigger than either of the two remaining triplets.

15th - 17th January

Clare has repositioned the Scrub camera so that it is now points south into the centre. Hares feature frequently, even in snow, a Woodcock appears in the late afternoon one day and in lighter conditions two days later at the same time as a stoat, and a fox limps past and back again.

18th - 19th January

John and Clare took advantage of the frozen ground to fetch a couple of trailer loads of logs from home - gathering winter fu-u-el.

John completed some maintenance of the Junipers while Clare moved more barrowloads of chip to the ground round the feeders. A day or so ago John had startled a hare from cover near the story-telling circle so he decided to move his camera to overlook the area. The resulting footage captured more birds than hares, however it is interesting to see how many species the camera recorded. Clare is not sure whether they are telling or listening to stories. Or both. Blackbirds seem to be the most frequent visitors; you will also see Pheasants - one with unusually pale supercilia which makes him look supercilious, Robins, Goldcrest, Great tit, and a pair of Bullfinches. The old buck ambles through too. There are clearly other birds foraging in the background however they are harder to identify.

20th - 21st January

More fox presence - a non-limping fox and the return of the one with a limp. A mouse scuttles past close to the camera while one of the young bucks walks through in the background.

24th January

Always good to find ladybirds. This one is a 7 spot, the UK’s most common ladybird, however it has given Clare the opportunity to add a caption which amused her.

Clare also noticed a plant, probably soft rush, making good use of a crevice in a tree trunk.

Staple diet

25th - 26th January

A box of delights. The camera near the pond captures a heron going past (John had seen one fly off from near the pond the day before), a sparrowhawk (the absence of pink colouration on the breast tells us it is a female), joins the parliament of fowls recorded in the story-telling circle, four hares appear together, and then, oh joy, two hares are captured boxing near the circle. Although hares are known to box at any time through the year, March is thought to be the month when they are most active in this regard. Blog readers know that Clare has been hoping for many years to see hares boxing on Liddells. She is very happy.

28th January

John has not only completed the AZ of bridge-building but he has added a step.

29th - 31st January

Yet more rain, though it hasn’t deterred the heron.

There is more hare activity near the story-telling circle.

The hazels have produced their catkins. February might see the Aspen and Wych Elms coming into flower.

December - preparing for new growth

1st - 14th December

There has been very little activity seen on the trail cameras thus far in the month, however John (farmer) has now moved his sheep off the land which could make a difference.

15th - 17th December

After little evidence of activity in the Pit Wood the camera there has recorded some. This does seem to chime with the removal of the sheep even though the sheep were not in the Pit Wood. First you see the two buck kids from this year, then the younger doe with her single doe kid, a buck sporting the beginnings of his antlers (this is probably a buck born last year), a pair of hares, a very wary doe (her ears are working nonstop) and four deer all foraging in the same area.

17th December

John and Clare began preparation to plant eight new fruit trees in the Orchard - maybe a kind of nominative determinism. This area of Liddells had a very large patch of wild raspberries in the early days of John and Clare’s guardianship which gave rise to the name. Subsequently John and Clare planted a few fruit trees, none of which fruited particularly well; the new planting is based on advice about improving the chances of pollination.

As there is little to illustrate this Blog post thus far, here is a riveting picture of holes in the ground ready for the trees and one of sticky buds which are already apparent on the Horse Chestnuts.

19th December

Clare and John planted the first five of the new fruit trees. They met with Ruth again who showed them the areas she thought would be good sites for mist nets and bird-ringing.

21st December

With no joy from the trail camera focussed on the big pond, Clare moved the camera to the north-west corner of Liddells where she had noticed some deer slots. The move proved fruitful with footage of a doe, then of that doe with one of her two buck kids and the younger of the two mature bucks. Back in the Pit Wood the camera there recorded a badger going through. It seems as though the wildlife is back in residence.

22nd December

John and Clare planted the remaining fruit trees. They have planted 2 x apples, 2 x pears, 2 x damsons and 2 x plums.

23rd - 25th December

John has spent time hauling out brash from last month’s tree felling.

Returning from replacing a disc in the NW corner camera, Clare noticed evidence of much digging in the Pit Wood at the point where two paths converge. She suspected a badger and moved one of the cameras. Her detective instincts were proved right.

The camera is also positioned on a deer path to and from Liddells and a neighbouring field and has offered several clips of the deer. The most mature buck appears on Christmas Day and you can see how much bigger his antlers are than on the younger buck.

Clare had foraged some berries and foliage from Liddells to make a garland for the door at home. While sorting through the greenery she found a Bronze Shieldbug Troilus luridus. This is the fourth shieldbug species Clare has found this year. The Wildlife trusts website says:

‘Perhaps one of the more difficult species to spot, the bronze shieldbug lives amongst both broadleaf and coniferous trees and is most likely to be found in woodland habitats. Although it feeds on tree sap during its early stages of life, the bronze shieldbug is normally predatory and uses its long proboscis (straw like mouth parts) to feed on a variety of other insects such as caterpillars.

Shieldbugs go through several stages of growth, with the younger stages known as nymphs. Bronze shieldbugs normally reach their adult stage during July, overwinter as adults, then mate the following spring. There is only one generation a year…

A study on bronze shieldbugs discovered that males vibrate to create pulses of low-frequency sound, which is believed to be a call to attract nearby females. After the signal was given, the female approached the male and began to feel him with her antennae.’

Good, good, good, good vibrations.

26th December

Ruth and her son set up the first of the mist nets and reported that they had had some success - they caught a handful of birds including, ‘three goldcrest. Also a blue tit and a great tit both ringed … in 2018 and are therefore 5 years old!’ Ringing attempts in the next few days look to be thwarted by the weather. Ruth has sent a couple of photos to show the nets in place in the main path going through the Scrub.

28th December

More footage of deer in the Pit Wood. The following two clips show the difference in size between the mature buck and the buck from last year and the difference in size of their antlers.

30th December

A pair of hares seem to be playing ‘Here we go round the Hawthorn bush’ in the Pit Wood.

31st December

Since the sheep were taken off, the moles have been having a Hayfield day. There are molehills everywhere.

John and Clare finished hauling out the brash from the Top Strip. On her way back Clare noticed this attractive fungi on the end of a birch log. It could be Crimped Gill Plicaturopsis crispa.

Liddells is very wet after recent rain; as John said, “‘tis the season to be plodging". Tra la la la la.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Liddells this year - your encouragement and feedback is most appreciated. We wish you all the very best for 2024.

John and Clare

November - bench marks

Clare’s cousin Helen emailed after last month’s blog post saying that her partner Will thought the unidentified lichen might be Cladonia furcata, which is a False Reindeermoss. It can be found on mossy rocks, which fits with its habitat on Liddells. Helen commented that Will ‘is very much into lichen and spends a lot of time identifying them - involving a microscope, an ultra violet light torch and some chemicals. They then go into storage in shoe boxes. This has extended to mosses and liverworts so the house is littered with bits of them after every walk! 

1st November

Local farmer John brought 40 of his sheep to graze the Hayfield.

7th November

John felled one of the trees earmarked for removal in the Top Strip. Taking out some of the larger non-native trees allows the broad-leaved trees nearby to benefit from the increased light and space.

8th November

Clare was pleased to find a holly tree covered in berries in the Scrub. There are plenty of holly berries in the hedgerows at the moment however Liddells seems to have few female hollies and therefore few berries. Hollies are mainly dioecious (male flowers on one plant, female on another) and both need to be present for berries because pollen has to be carried between flowers by pollinators.

10th November

Clare went to check on her bees and to fix mouse guards to the hives and on returning to the Hayfield wondered why one of the sheep hadn’t run down to the far corner with the others. As Clare approached she could see that it was totally tethered by and entangled with brambles which were wrapped round its body, neck and leg. The more the sheep struggled, the tighter the brambles became. Clare channelled her inner shepherd, collected a small saw from the tool shed (John had left the car locked so there was no access to loppers or secateurs), managed to get close enough to the animal while talking in what she hoped was a soothing voice, and was able to saw through the offending bramble. The sheep hobbled off and farmer John was alerted to check on it. All in a day’s Liddells.

11th November

John began preparing planting sites in the Orchard for some fruit trees that are arriving next month.

16th November

There has been very little footage recorded on either trail camera this month however the camera in the Scrub, on the same tree as usual but pointing in a different direction, captured a couple of Redwings foraging in the leaf litter.

20th November

There is a substantial amount of gorse in flower at the moment so kissing is in fashion. John and Clare repaired the dry stone wall on the Meadow border ready for the sheep to move down and graze the last of the growth there. The leaf fall is revealing nests in branches. This one in a Hawthorn on the Wildflower Meadow was probably made by a blackbird.

21st November

John split the trunk of the felled tree ready for it to be used as replacement benches in the Story Telling Circle.

23rd November

David O delivered a bench he had promised to make for the Point of View in the Top Strip by way of a thank you for the Village Band’s picnic in the summer. He had used recycled wood from a strawberry bed. Clare and John have had ‘make bench for Point of View’ on their to-do list for several years so this was a most welcome gift.

24th November

Clare tested the water in the Big Pond which showed a PH level of 7 which is neutral in terms of acidity and therefore might not satisfy the needs of Common Hawkers. (see the beginning of last month’s Blog post)

26th November

Neither hares nor deer have seemed to be around much at the moment, probably because of the presence of the sheep, so John was pleased to see the two young bucks on the Wildflower Meadow this morning.

27th November

John felled another tree in the Top Strip with Dave G’s help.

30th November

John and Clare were delighted to welcome Ruth back to Liddells after a brief visit ten years ago; since then Ruth has trained as a bird ringer with the British Trust for Ornithology and is looking for new sites. Ruth asked if Bramblings had been seen on Liddells. None have, however Ruth said this was a good year for seeing them and wouldn’t be surprised if there were some around. Clare walked home and saw a flock of at least twelve of the birds not half a mile from Liddells so she will be looking out more closely on subsequent visits.

John and Clare set the new bench in place on the Point of View.

October - rock stars

As always, if you wish to see the video footage included in this post, which is unlikely to be included through the email link, go to the Liddells website at www.liddells.co.uk and click on the Blog page. The videos will be there.

Corrections and clarifications: TrogTrogBlog Chris, a continuing source of support and encouragement as well as being a mine of information, pointed out that the dragonfly basking on the tree trunk in the photo below in last month’s Blog post, was not a male Southern Hawker but a male Common Hawker. Significantly Common Hawkers are not that common, so this proved to be a bit exciting. Chris said the Common Hawker, ‘has paired dots on the terminal segments (fused in southern), long shoulder stripes (short in migrant hawker) and a characteristic pattern on S2.  It doesn’t show well in your photo but the costa (leading edge of the wings) is yellow - it is brown in migrant hawker.  Common hawkers are said to prefer acidic standing water.’ Clare has bought a water testing kit…

1st October

A late afternoon walk round Liddells and as John and Clare came up to the top of the Crag, John spotted two deer and three hares all grazing near each other on the Hayfield. Getting too close would have disturbed them so here is one of each.

Clare managed to identify another fungus thanks to the wildfooduk website. The fungus is an Orange Grisette and you can read more about it here.

2nd October

Excitement for Clare as Ian delivered the colony of bees for which she has been waiting. It seems to be quite a strong colony. Before opening the entrance Clare put a bundle of leafy branches in front of it so any emerging bees would realise they weren’t in Kansas any more and would reorientate. As soon as the entrance plug was removed Clare and Ian could see that happening as the emerging bees went off for short flights before returning to the brood box presumably to communicate this new information.

4th October

Clare put a clearer board on the new colony to remove the bees from the super above so that could be taken away leaving all the bees in the brood box for the winter. The clearer board stays on overnight - and is designed in such a way that the bees in the super go down to the brood nest for the night then can’t get back up into the super next morning.

Clare noticed fungi on a Birch tree in the Pit Wood; the growths looked like footholds for climbing. The fungus is, appropriately, Birch polypore. The birch polypore is also known as the 'Razorstrop fungus' because its rubbery, leather-like surface was once used to sharpen knives and razors. Probably a bit of a stretch to sharpen a chain saw.

5th - 19th October

Clare had noticed recent signs of excavation near a large boulder on one of the paths down the Crag. The boulder has cavities below although it isn’t possible to know how big these are. John set up a trail camera and he and Clare awaited results.

October 5th

The buck kid makes an appearance. You can just see the start of buttons appearing where his antlers will grow next year. He is also in full winter coat.

The big buck goes past eight minutes later, past offering a close-up of his fine head and gorget patches.

There was quite a lot of footage of a grey squirrel. John and Clare usually delete such footage (and grey squirrels), however since the footage provides evidence of all the wildlife in this small area, and of some of the excavation, here is one clip which shows the squirrel burying what is probably an acorn.

A hare also appears to be curious about what may lie under the rock.

October 6th

The first of several clips of a badger. The animal has a look down the hole and then appears to be curious about the red light on the camera.

A male pheasant walks past the camera. Pheasants are more usually seen in the woodland patches or the Scrub.

10th October

As a record of all the wildlife associated with this large rock, the slug also needs to be acknowledged. This one takes two minutes to cover a distance of about six inches. This perseverance merits the second clip although it is hardly going at a clip. Of course it might be for a slug. It doesn’t appear again in the footage so may have gone into a crevice or a Slough of Despond. You never can tell with slugs.

14th October

There were a few videos of field or wood mice (different names, same creature). This one gives the clearest view. It is possible that the mouse is storing berries and seeds under the rock.

A buck kid appears and is joined by another kid. As the first kid moves away there is a clear view of the caudal patch. A female would have an anal tush. The caudal patch is more prominent in winter and when the deer is alarmed the erectile hairs make the patch look bigger.

15th October

One of many video clips of rabbits. Here are two rabbits for the price of one.

16th October

A rabbit in a hole, although whether or not it is in a difficult situation is unknowable. It does go on to do some digging, adding to the evidence bag for the excavations. John and Clare thought readers might not need this particular piece of evidence.

With the damp weather have come an abundance of midges and mosquitoes. The camera has captured them in front of the rock.

19th October

There have been several badger visits, however this is the first in which a badger completely disappears into the hole beneath the rock. Four hours later two badgers investigate. Although badgers have frequently appeared in trail camera footage, John and Clare have never found a sett on Liddells. This footage might suggest these badgers are looking to set up a sett. Setting a precedent.

With more of her attention focussed on this area of the Crag than usual, Clare noticed a patch of moss or lichen that caught her attention. She has been unable thus far to identify it. Any ideas, please email.

There has been far more wildlife in this small area than either Clare or John had imagined. They have moved the camera now, however may well position it back in front of the rock at a later date.

Meanwhile back on the rest of Liddells:

7th October

Barry delivered a new colony of bees for Clare. The colony’s queen was raised from a frame of eggs from one of Clare’s colonies last year. After several weeks Barry had thought this had been unsuccessful and had left the bees to their own devices. After quite a while he thought he would check on them, expecting to find most of them dead, and was met with a thriving colony. As Clare was without bees at the time, he very generously offered them to her. While he and Clare were talking by the bottom gate a stoat made its way across the Meadow and stood up on its hind legs very close to the gate, displaying its creamy underside. It was one of those times when getting a camera out would have alarmed the creature so there is no photographic evidence of the moment.

14th October

The Spindle trees are resplendent in their pink berries. The berries have bright orange seeds and although they are poisonous to humans, they are food for mice and birds.

17th October

John saw six deer on Liddells today, four on the Hayfield and two along the top of the Crag.

18th October

The hay has been collected at last. John and Clare were concerned about it deteriorating in the wet weather.

This evening John gave the first in a series of six talks offered to raise funds for Liddells. This is all thanks to Keith, who a while ago had offered four of his talks to raise money for Liddells. John’s talk was one he had given locally a few weeks ago. He is now booked with several local WI groups. The evening represents how John and Clare are thinking about making Liddells more widely known and available to interested groups.

19th October

Clare heard and saw large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings while she walked round today. She also spotted three Goldcrests and noticed lot of Blackbirds - the winter visitors from Scandinavia are arriving.

22nd October

As Clare and John approached the top gate they saw about four and twenty black birds (irresistible) on the Oak at the top of the Crag; they were Rooks eating acorns. This is not behaviour either John or Clare have seen before.

John and Clare walked round in welcome sunshine to see if there was much damage from storm Babet. A couple of limbs had come off trees, the largest being from the Oak at the bottom of the Crag. The spring overflow was gushing water down the stream and water was coming up from the previous site of the spring a few yards east of where it is capped. This has only happened a couple of times before in the last ten years. As Clare captioned the photograph ‘Torrents’, she recalled a song by Elgar she had learned at choir, ‘As Torrents in Summer’ and wondered if there was an autumn version.

Large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings were eating hawthorn berries in the Pit Wood.

A male Southern Hawker was flying around near the Big Pond and a lot of bluebottles were basking on a couple of tree trunks nearby. The flies on one of the trunks appeared to be making use of a vertical groove in the trunk.

Clare noticed the advancing rot in one of the trees left to decay in the Pit Wood. Rotting wood adds to habitat diversity on the site as well as looking rather sculptural.

30th October

Rain has prevented much play on Liddells for a few days, however John has made the Hayfield secure for the sheep which will be arriving shortly. The Meadow road wall also needs attention before the sheep go on there - now on the list for the next dry spell.

John saw a Woodcock - this may be resident or one that has flown in. Regular Blog readers may recall that folklore has it that these birds arrive with the first full moon in November. This isn’t due until 27th November this year, so maybe this bird took advantage of the Hunter’s Moon on 28th October.

31st October

The stream down from the spring is fuller than it has ever been.

As the month ends, here are two images that speak of time to come. Two nascent trees, an Oak with a well placed understory of Holly growing in the Scrub and some lichen that could provide nourishment in a harsh winter. Clare’s friend Gillian reminded her that lichen only grows in areas of low/no air pollution which is a comforting thought about Liddells. This particular lichen is Ramalina farinacea. The trail cameras have captured roe deer eating it on Liddells in snowy conditions. The lichen is packed with carbohydrates (more pound for pound than potatoes), contains usnic acid which has anti-biotic properties against pneumonia, streptococcus and tuberculosis bacteria, and has anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and preservative qualities. If this winter proves to be particularly harsh, John and Clare might use it themselves.

September - time to rest

As usual, video footage can be accessed through the Blog page of the website: www.liddells.co.uk

2nd September

John and Clare have decided that the next ten years will involve less hard work, accordingly they had a stroll to begin the new month. Clare found a Harvestman occupying the Necessarium, Purple Loosestrife offering late forage for pollinators and the first fir cones on one of the young Scots Pines.

3rd September

Enough rest - Clare did some preparatory work for a small wall repair on the west boundary while John repaired fencing on the Hayfield in readiness for the sheep to come later in the year.

Clare found a Violet already in flower on the edge of the Pit Wood.

Clare was delighted to see a Spotted Flycatcher from the hide. These birds haven’t been seen since early in the season. This one may have been feeding up en route south or it may have been around the whole time.

A hare in the north-west corner of the Pit Wood demonstrates the art of stretching.

4th - 5th September

John and Clare completed the wall repair then John extracted an unused hurdle from long grass while Clare used a crowbar to dig up some buried coping stones on the Hayfield. Unfortunately the crowbar slipped. As Clare takes most of the photos, not many of her appear in the Blog - good to swing the balance a bit; it would have been better not to swing the crowbar.

There has not been much activity on the roadside pond this season so Clare was delighted to spot this female Southern Hawker ovipositing near the edge.

9th September

Always good to see later flowering plants for the pollinators. Here a bee forages on Michaelmas daisies in the Meadow.

It was the local Village Show this morning and John won a first prize for his photo of a Spotted Flycatcher taken earlier in the summer, and Clare won a second prize for the Red Admiral photograph from last month’s blog post.

A kid shows off its pronking skills in the Pit Wood.

11th - 12th September

Another new insect discovery, this time a Sun fly Helophilus pendulus. It is a hoverfly and its scientific name means ‘dangling marsh-lover.’ It was neither dangling nor on a marsh. While Clare was giving some syrup to the bees, she noticed a beetle had fallen into one of the wasp traps. She fished it out and wrapped it in a tissue to bring home to check the identification. It was a Smooth Ground beetle and as you can see from the photograph, appeared pretty much dead, however the next day Clare was surprised to see it climbing out of the compost bucket where she’d put it. Another dramatic drowning insect rescue and revival.

In the gloom a badger marks territory on the edge of the Pit Wood.

13th September

John and Clare were delighted to welcome Linda F back to walk round Liddells with a view to some creative writing activity in the future. While Linda and Clare were exploring they saw a male Southern Hawker basking on a tree trunk and a female Common Darter basking on a stone, both by the Big Pond. They also noticed a group of Puffballs that had released their spores.

After Linda had left, Clare went foraging for this year’s Hedgerow Jelly and foraged quite a few creatures with the fruit - two different shield bugs and two species of spider. None of them will go into the jelly. Clare also videoed a Speckled Wood foraging on the blackberries. The butterfly seems to prefer the fruits that have gone over slightly.

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Birch Shield Bug - this is about the size of a ladybird

Eurasian armoured long-jawed orb-weaver Metellina segmentata

Clubiona comta

14th September

The doe with twins sets about grooming them.

22nd September

Clare discovered that as well as the familiar Bluebottle fly, there is a Greenbottle - here is one on Michaelmas daisies.

23rd September

Catching Covid has left John and Clare unable to do little more than gentle strolls on Liddells, however today Clare enjoyed sixteen sightings of hares - of course several were probably the same hare or hares, however the views certainly helped lift the spirits. There were five at one time on the Hayfield.

25th September

Yet another recuperative stroll and watching a hare run away on the edge of the Pit Wood alerted Clare to an Elm tree she had never noticed before. It’s quite small and much higher up the bank than the ones already identified. Liddells continues to surprise.

26th September

One of the does shows how much her coat is changing to winter colours. She also shows gorget patches. John has read some commentators who think that these are more prominent in winter.

28th September

John may not be working much, however Clare discovered that he had invested in a new toolbox dedicated to spanner activity. It takes all sorts. Clare was amused by the double sense of this and decided to see if there are any spanner jokes available. Of course there are. Once again Liddells proves to be a route to consciousness raising.

29th September

Michaelmas Day - the day that marks the end of harvest, the start of winter and the beginning of shorter days. Oak leaves are on the turn.

The doe with twins is quite clear with them that milk is off the menu. Maybe she too needs a rest. It looks at this stage as if both kids might be bucks.

Hares seem to be playing Hide and Seek.

July - rain, rain, go away!

As usual, a reminder to go to www.liddells.co.uk to read this blog post, where the videos will be found in all their glory.

First some trail camera footage from the last day of last month. The buck seems to be in festival mode, certainly festooned.

1st July

This month began on a musical footing with the Hexham Village Band arriving to visit the tree they had planted as a memorial for one of their players and for a picnic. Clare provided the band with maps and several members enjoyed a walk around the site; one group were lucky enough to see a doe with a kid. In her mission to extend the range of Yellow Rattle in the county Clare made sure a few people took away envelopes full of seed.

Clare photographed a fly that caught her eye. It is a Noon or Noonday fly, Mesembrina meridiana and is jet-black with orange on the base of its wings, on its feet and face. If you read this article, you will understand why Clare thinks it is the insect embodiment of the phrase ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’, or gold.

Shortly afterwards Clare saw the hoverfly below. She thought this too was rather attractive. A bit of identifcation work proved it to be a Tapered Drone Fly, Eristalis pertinax. Furthermore she discovered that ‘the larva of E. pertinax is a rat-tailed maggot and lives in drainage ditches, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water with high organic load and low oxygen concentration’. (uknaturalst.org) She found it by the Roadside pond which has a lot of algae at the moment. Where there’s muck, there’s maggots.

On a wander through the Pit Wood Clare noticed that the path down to the spring was covered in Self-heal and reminded her that the tutor on her Orchids course told the group that as a child he and his sister were frequently given Self-heal tea by their mother who believed the plant to have considerable medicinal qualities. The plant’s alternative name Heal-all would support her view.

Clare also used her time to pull the flowers off Hogweed plants in the Meadow and on the Hayfield - behogheading? The plant is highly successful, as is Cleavers. Clare thinks they may well take over the world. She also began her annual Yellow Rattle seed harvesting.

While the band were picnicking and making music, the doe and a single kid were captured on camera in the Scrub and shortly afterwards in the Pit Wood. The next day a kid is seen on its own in the Scrub, then late that night doe and kid are together in the Pit Wood.

4th July

TrogTrogBlog Chris visited to fulfil an offer he had made last year which was to return to Liddells with his Lunar Hornet Moth lure to see whether the moths could be found on Liddells. Chris had looked at last month’s blog post and offered the recording of the up-till-now called Marsh Tit to his new bird identification app, which concluded that the call was that of a Willow Tit. So, either the Marsh Tits have been wrongly identified all this time or there are both species on Liddells. Many specialists find it hard to distinguish between the two species, however the wizardry of the Merlin app showed no hesitation in its identification.

Chris’ lure failed to attract any Lunar Hornet moths on this occasion, however on a visit to a different site he discovered that ‘the moths are not evenly distributed, even in suitable habitat,’ so it may be worth trying again next year in different places on the site.

Clare ordered a sweep net which Chris said he had used for collecting Yellow Rattle seeds.The net is also of course for catching insects for examination.

5th July

Clare was surprised to notice that the Yellow Iris growing on the edge of the overflow to the Big Pond which she had been expecting to come into flower for a while, had grown very long foliage and turned into Reed Mace or Bullrush. Goodness only knows how the plants arrived, however they are very welcome. After last month’s beetles bonking on Hogweed but not Hogweed Bonking beetles, here are some not bonking Hogweed Bonking beetles.

6th July

It is approaching time for the rut and the younger buck is making sure his presence is established in the Scrub. He is captured anointing and scraping.

8th July

Clare spent a day on Lindisfarne looking for orchids and came across Ragwort with Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. Ragwort enjoys a troubled reputation because it is toxic to grazing animals, however the animals will not eat it in the wild. The plant becomes a threat when it finds its way into hay and the animals eat it unaware. There is Ragwort on Liddells however Clare monitors the Hayfield and the Meadow and pulls it out if it appears there. She leaves it on the Wetland where it can benefit insects. This article illustrates the benefits. She saw several Dark Green Fritillaries and met a new insect when it landed on her lunchbox lid. It proved to be a Stiletto Fly Thereva nobilitata and did indeed seem rather noble.

A kid on its own in the Scrub again and in a week it has grown considerably.

9th July

Emerald damselflies are now around in abundance and Clare thought she caught a glimpse of an Emperor Dragonfly however it was never still and so hard to be sure about the identification. The Emeralds were more co-operative. Below is a male, a pair mating and a male attempting to sabotage a mating pair. John Lewis-Stempel describes dragonflies and damselflies as the ‘flying jewels of the British natural world,’ and tells how they ‘share a mating method requiring Kama Sutra dexterity. When interlocked, the two insects form a ‘wheel’ or ‘heart’ shape’. The mating can take place on the wing, or perched on vegetation or on the ground. There is also a photo of a water spider having trapped a damselfly in its web and enjoying its prey.

Damsel in distress

John and Clare have been curious about the fate of the triplets, they haven’t been captured on either of the trail cameras since the first footage last month, however there has been footage of the doe with two kids. It seems likely that one of the triplets has not survived.

July 10th - 16th

While Clare was away for a week in the East Midlands, where she saw large numbers of Gatekeeper butterflies, which she hasn’t ever knowingly seen on Liddells, John spent time repairing the fencing on the Meadow ready for the sheep later in the year. Originally John and Clare only needed to rabbit proof the Meadow so used chicken wire. The sheep put on in recent years made short shrift of that so John has replaced sections with sheep netting.

Final preparations for the first school visit have involved strimming paths and the story-telling circle. At the last minute Clare noticed three wasps’ nests in the meeting room where they would have been a hazard too far for the children. The nests are beautiful and it seemed a shame to destroy them, however the risks of an allergic response to a sting outweighed aesthetic and environmental considerations. ‘Providing for herself, the queen settles on a location and starts to build. She constructs using wood mixed with saliva. This forms a malleable pulp that is perfect for moulding. The queen lays eggs into the hollow spaces - the cells - she creates. The eggs hatch and grow to become her first worker wasps. When they reach adulthood, the new workers take over the responsibility of foraging for supplies and building the nest. The queen is then resigned to laying eggs for the rest of her life.’ nhm.ac.uk

18th July

The forecast could not have been much worse for today’s school visit however nothing ventured…

The children arrived with wellies and waterproofs and the weather held until they left. Some of the children were a little nervous at first - Catherine, their Head, reminded John and Clare that as four year olds, they had been much affected by lockdown, especially in their spatial awareness and confidence outdoors, so Liddells felt particularly big to them. Clare and John welcomed them into the meeting room and Clare told the story of how Liddells got its name, said a little bit about what Liddells was for and invited a discussion about what creatures might live on Liddells. Some of the children had found a Violet Ground Beetle on their way and so that was examined under a microscope along with some moths that Clare had collected from the Shepherd’s Hut. Outside someone found a Silver Y moth and then noticed that its wings were vibrating. Apparently shivering before take-off allows moths to increase the temperature of their flight muscles until the power output of these muscles is sufficient to lift the insect's body mass. A great new discovery for a school day. Then everyone set off to explore the site. A pause by the big pond provided an opportunity for pond-dipping and seeing baby newts, whirligig beetles, pond skaters and more. Of course there was a story told in the story-telling circle followed by toasting marshmallows on the fire. More walking round with an opportunity to try out the swing, then back to the meeting room for lunch. After that the children were all more confident and so were happy to run around and around some logs that Clare had set up as a slalom course. They left just as the rain began. The whole visit was a success for all concerned and plans are afoot for more.

Story-listening

Story-telling

Attentive listeners

The soporific power of stories by the fire

Wet and weary, but much more confident

John and Clare were pleased to see that there is still a kid around although no doe appears.

21st - 22nd July

Clare was pleased to see a few more of the Broad-leaved Helleborines in flower. There are fewer of the plants this year than last and Clare was wondering about whether they had been eaten by the deer, however apparently the plants can flourish in alternate years. Clare hopes this is the case. She also noticed an insect she hadn’t knowingly seen before and discovered it is a Yellow-sided Clover-sawfly Tenthredo nothra. They are widespread and common in grasslands and other legume-rich habitats. The nocturnal larvae feed on clovers and vetches. Adults fly in July and August. They are avid flower-visitors, especially buttercups, umbellifers and thistles, and can carry prodigious amounts of pollen. Clare also saw a Marmalade Hover Fly Episyrphus balteatus on some Hogweed, which reminded her that Hogweed has its benefits.

23rd July

A lot of rain is falling and has been for several days. It is feechie (‘Dirty, filthy, disgusting. Also (of weather): foul, rainy.’ OED Word of the Day 13.05.23), leaving the ground queachy (‘Of ground: swampy, boggy, unstable.’ OED Word of the Day 28.04.23. Probably good weather for a pad (‘A toad. Later also: a frog.’ OED Word of the Day 24.04.23

Readers might correctly assume that the weather is inhibiting work on Liddells so Clare and John have to find other things to do, such as updating this month’s Blog post.

24th July

A break in the rain. John and Clare had a walk around Liddells with a view to updating their to-do list. Instead they were distracted by seeing cherries on the Wild Cherry trees and hazelnuts on the first Hazels they planted in the Top Strip.

Then Clare noticed a web woven around the top of some grass and saw that there was movement inside the web. The spider is a Furrow Orb Weaver Lariniodes cornutus. You can see the distinctive dark V on its abdomen. This specimen was over 10 cms so is most likely a female.

There was more to discover - two more insects demonstrating the value of Hogweed. First a Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Sceliphron cæmentarium, a solitary parasitoid wasp that builds nests out of mud. These sphecid wasps collect mud balls at puddle and pool edges for constructing nests. Then a Golden Dung Fly Scathopharga stercoraria which was overwhelming a Marmalade Hover Fly. In seeking information about this latter insect, Clare came across this article and was struck by how similar her photograph was to the one heading the article.

Last year a mystery plant appeared in the Pit Wood and it has now revealed its identity. It is Burdock. Apparently the roots taste like a cross between sweet chestnut and parsnip ‘but most often require major excavation to remove them from the usually hard and stoney ground. You need to forage the roots in Autumn or Spring of the first years growth to be of any worth. The roots can be roasted like parsnip, sliced finely and stir fried or made into a puree. The stems of the younger plants can be eaten until about May when they become woody and bitter. The tough outside of the stem needs to be removed first revealing a thin vegetable that can be treated like asparagus or used raw in salads. The leaves best use is to wrap and protect food when cooking in a ground or clay oven or in campfires…Recent studies have shown that the extracted oil from the root of Burdock is rich in essential fatty acids and phytosterols…Burdock was commonly used in cooking in the UK in times past but has long been forgotten about’. The article adds the helpful suggestion that the plant’s leaves make a useful umbrella if you are caught in the rain. https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/burdock/

25th - 29th July

Clare took the last three cages off the Larches in the west end of the Hayfield. She then set about painting the new boards on the outside of the meeting room. Some of the boards at the back have been sitting on soil so are damp at the bottom. Clare dug a small trench below them and will have to wait for the boards to dry out before she can complete the job. The rain is frustrating this year’s hay-making, however Tom who cuts the hay has reassured John and Clare that the hay won’t be spoiled and that August will not be too late for the job.

Clare cut several willow whips from the first willow seat and used them to replace those that had been frayed in Sylvia’s Avenue. She was pleased to see that several of the frayed cuttings had sprouted and hadn’t died as she had thought.

Clare secured the new netting on the Meadow to the top wire and found 9 more Creeping thistles in the process - the total is still under 100, so a distinct improvement on previous years. The flowers were alive with bees foraging. Clare noticed a Dandelion seed head that had expanded to a beautiful structure, and a Six Spot Burnet Moth Zygæna filipendulae busy feeding on nectar from a Scabious - you can not only see the spots very clearly, but also the proboscis going down into the flower.

Other insects enjoying some sunshine - a Red Admiral, a Seven spot ladybird and a Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax. The Common Drone Fly is a bee mimic and Clare was pleased to notice it as a recent email from NHSN had included a piece about bee mimics.

Meanwhile the trail cameras have captured several videos of the deer. First a doe runs through the Scrub with the older buck in pursuit a couple of minutes later.

The rut continues - the next sequence shows the doe with her kid, then the buck a minute later, the doe running five minutes after this and finally the buck again a minute later. The kid is still too young for John to be confident of its sex although Clare has put a small bet on it being a doe. You can see along its back that the buck is just beginning to lose its summer coat.

The final video of the month. The kid alone in the Pit Wood shows how its spots are fading and how much it has grown.

30th July

Clare did some preparatory work for wall repair in the Pit Wood by cutting down a small ash tree that was threatening to undermine the wall, removing the loose stones and excavating fallen ones from under the moss. Meanwhile John made several quad and trailer trips to collect wood from near the Trapezium bridge. The logs will cut, split and stacked this weekend if it is dry.

May - surveys and surprises

First the familiar reminder that to watch the trail camera footage, go to the Liddells website, click on the Blog: the videos will be there in all their glory.

1st May

Clare decided to honour International Dawn Chorus Day by arriving at Liddells just before 5am to listen to the birds. She decided on an anti-clockwise route for a change and so quickly arrived at the bottom of the Scrub having heard Blackbird, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Robin, Song thrush, and Willow warblers on the way. At this point she realised she was looking at an odd shape between two Hawthorns on the Meadow. It was a tarpaulin shelter under which was a pair of boots and a bundle. This was not what Clare was expecting and she was quite scared. She backed off quietly and walked away thinking about what to do. Guessing this was a wild camper, but not knowing how wild, she made her way up to the tool shed to see if there was a suitable weapon with which to defend herself. Rejecting the idea of a rake or a hammer, she realised her best weapon was her mobile phone camera. Thus armed, she locked the top gate and made her way on the road to the bottom gate, keeping it locked and between her and the camper. She could see he was up and was starting to pack. He did this very slowly and methodically and was obviously careful to leave no trace. He saw Clare and as he approached asked if this was the Hadrian’s Meadow camping field. Clare pointed out that had it been, it was unlikely to have had a padlock and chain. Kush was profusely apologetic, particularly when he realised how upset Clare had been and that he had somewhat compromised her delight in the dawn chorus. He was courteous, thoughtful and interested in the Liddells project. He asked if there was a café anywhere soon along the route where he could top up his water bottle, then went on his way. Knowing there is no café nearby, Clare drove back home, gathered some portable breakfast goods and water and drove back to find him on route. Kush was very touched by the gesture and gave permission to be included in the Blog. He may well be reading this.

A postscript - Clare knows she is dilatory about checking the Liddells email and was both embarrassed and delighted to see, far too late in the month, that Kush had sent a kind and generous email after his stay on the Meadow, appreciating how Clare and John are engaging with Liddells and appreciative of his stay and his breakfast.

Clare did manage a few recordings so for those who would like to listen, the audio clips feature the following dominant songs (you will hear others in the background):

Wren (often described as the having loudest birdsong per body weight)

Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler (the Blackcap has a deeper tone, slightly more tuneful, while the Garden Warbler has more by way of burbles in among the notes. Then sometimes the Blackcap burbles and the Garden Warbler sings more tunefully.)

Chiffchaff, Chaffinch (Clare often thinks of this song as resembling a build up to a sneeze and ending with the ‘p’choo’ of the sneeze at the end)

Willow Warbler (again for Clare, as if building to a sneeze but then the sneeze goes away in a series of descending notes), Magpie, Coal Tit

2nd May

Juno came to help John and Clare flatten the last of the molehills on the Top Grazing. Not a mountainous job and Juno set about the task with enthusiasm. And a back hoe.

6th May

Clare and John took a break in the hide after strimming the Orchard and protecting Bird Cherry trees with tubes and cages. They were surprised to see a Willow warbler round the feeders and even more surprised when it went into the caged ground feeder. It was not after food though - the bird emerged with a small feather and set off to a Hawthorn not far away. The bird made several trips across the front of the hide collecting several small feathers. Clare went to see where it was taking them and saw it disappear into the base of a clump of rush. While the bird was away Clare had a quick look and saw a small hole with a mossy cup inside. This was very exciting.

7th May

More tree protection in the Orchard. John and Clare are mindful that the younger buck is still in velvet and they have found fraying damage.

8th May

An evening visit to Liddells after a day of heavy rain. As John approached the bottom gate he said, “If there’s not a deer out after that rain, I’ll eat my hat,” whereupon he and Clare saw the younger buck on the Meadow. John’s hat collection remains intact.

9th May

John had noticed a hare on the Top Grazing which frequently ran for cover from the same spot. On closer investigation he found the hare’s couch. It is more likely to be a temporary resting place than the hare’s form. Below you can see the couch and where it is on the Top Grazing.

Clare had moved her trail camera to a site near the Willow warbler’s nest and was pleased to pick up some footage of three deer. First a doe eating raspberries. She is still in her winter coat but looking very shaggy; then a splendid view of the older buck in hard horn (regular readers may remember why this phrase, although often used, is technically incorrect), and winter coat; last the younger buck still in velvet and winter coat. Not a velvet winter coat. The clips are all captured within a twelve minute period.

10th May

Clare had moved her camera again after capturing no footage of the Willow warbler near the nest. The camera had recorded a lot of footage showing the abundance of St Mark’s flies, (so called because they emerge close to St Mark’s Day, 25th April); they are also known as Hawthorn flies. They do seem to be attracted to Hawthorns in particular.

11th May

Keith generously offered his annual help with a breeding bird survey and met Clare at 7.15 in the morning to walk round listening and making a note of what they heard and saw. They enjoyed the usual Blackcap or Garden Warbler challenge. The results of the survey are here.

Clare took Keith to see the Willow warbler’s nest and was dismayed to see that it had been pulled out and apart, and was empty. Culprit unknown. Clare saved the nest and weighed it - it was 8 grams - light as a few feathers.

The destroyed nest…

…and where it was hidden

Clare commented that she hadn’t seen or heard any Bullfinches for a while. Later in the day walking home, she saw one on an apple tree in the garden at home.

12th May

Bullfinches clearly have a sense of humour - there were two on the Meadow as Clare arrived today.

John and Clare are seeing hares on nearly every visit. Below are a couple caught on camera.

13th May

A gloriously sunny day so, as Tim and Jane were away, Clare completed the weekly butterfly transect. Tim has often said that although the transect year begins in April, nothing much happens in this part of the county till later. Nonetheless Clare saw 8 Orange Tips, 4 Speckled Woods and a Small Tortoiseshell on the Liddells part of the transect. After completing the transect Clare went for a wander into a part of the Scrub that is less accessible and was delighted to see a pair of Tawny Owls. They had obviously been roosting together and flew out surprised by Clare’s proximity.

A sequence of clips from the trail camera showed a doe browsing Hawthorn for several minutes before couching at 7.15 am. She doesn’t get up until 8.43 when she begins browsing again for 2-3 minutes before wandering off.

14th May

John and Clare cleared the last of the barley straw bale from the Top Grazing and distributed it in front of the hide where the ground had become very muddy. The pheasants had a great time moving it about as they hunted for the odd grain.

A doe, possibly the older one, and in her summer coat, looks very pregnant. The kids will be born some time in the next few weeks.

15th May

All the trees in the Orchard are now fully protected either with tubes or cages. It’s a time-consuming but necessary part of routine maintenance. John’s friend Mike saw the Tawny Owls in the Scrub.

16th - 18th May

Clare found 6 of the Willows in Sylvia’s Avenue on the Wetland had been frayed and a couple pushed out completely, so she set about putting tubes on them. Clare and John have a commitment to recycling materials whenever possible in their work on Liddells; it was particularly pleasing to use the hedging tubes that originally came with the plants for the hedge by the apiary. There were exactly the right number for the willows.

Clare had moved her camera to a different area near the hide wondering if the deer might be using it. They weren’t, however she was pleased to have recorded this night time activity.

Clare moved her trail camera again, this time in the hope of capturing the owls on film. The camera proved its worth again. The very first clip after moving it provided evidence of both birds with the too-wit-too-woo calls. Although people might assume this is the call of a single Tawny, in fact the female calls ‘too-wit’ and is answered by the male’s ‘too-woo’. A couple of days later one owl is recorded coming into the tree. (Since then there have been no more sightings.)

20th May

Clare was having a gentle walk round Liddells noticing which plants were in flower. She had had cataract surgery a couple of days earlier and was amused that the first flowers that caught her attention were Eyebright.

Clare also saw Large Red damselflies mating near the Big Pond, the first damselflies of the season. She has been waiting for several months to include nuggets of information from a programme called Dragons and Damsels. First nuggets - these creatures have been around for 330 million years (not the ones Clare was seeing obviously). Both dragonflies and damselflies cover great distances in search of suitable spots; their eyes can detect polarised light reflected by water surfaces and this means they can not only detect a pond however small, but also tell a lot about the water quality and submerged vegetation.

21st - 25th May

Clare decided to pursue the idea suggested by Linda France a while ago - to think of more creative names for the different areas of Liddells rather than the prosaic terms used thus far. So the Top Grazing is henceforth the Hayfield - I think you will agree that this is an improvement in terminology. Clare is working on the Top Strip, dividing it in her mind into sections - the Quarry Walk, Up to a Point - the west end awaits a name.

While on the Hayfield Clare noticed several insects that looked rather like Daddy-long-legs, although this is the wrong time of year for them. She managed to photograph a pair mating and sent the photo to the Royal Etymological Society, as ever receiving a very quick response: ‘Tipulidae are tricky to identify, as many of the colour characteristics that look so straight forward are in fact continuous between species, such that many species are difficult to distinguish one from another without careful attention to other characters often not apparent in photographs. Nonetheless, if I'm not too much mistaken, based on the eye, wing and abdomen colouring, this is a mating pair of Tipula (Lunatipula) vernalis. The species has a preference for sweet-grassland or chalky grassland where the larvae thrive in drier soils.’

John and Clare began mapping and maintaining the trees at the east end of the Hayfield. They were pleased to note that from all the planting over a few years, particularly with the very small trees planted last autumn, there are now 37 Oaks, 18 Horse Chestnuts, 3 Beech, 3 Birch, 3 Hornbeam, 3 Field Maples, 2 Limes, 2 Hazels, 1 Ash and 1 Crab Apple. Every one of these is now protected with either a tube or a cage depending on size. Less than a handful of the trees had failed.

Wandering through the Quarry Walk later in the day, Clare found a wildflower that she had never seen on Liddells before. She thinks it is Charlock.

26th May

More damselflies around both the Big and Roadside ponds (yes, these need new names); this time Azures were abundant with much mating activity. Next nugget - Azure males will sometimes attempt to mate with female Common Blues though with no success.

Clare found a mystery creature inside one of the folding chairs in the shed. John thought it might be a tick however it seemed to be too big, then revealed itself to be a spider - a False Widow Spider.

27th May

Water Crowfoot is in flower on the Big Pond. You can also see a photo-bombing pond snail.

28th May

Clare fashioned a step into the meeting room using half an unwanted pallet. John finished extracting nails and other fixings from fenceposts and rails he had collected from different areas of Liddells which had been discarded during a previous ownership. The retrieved wood is now sawn and stacked. Clare added another layer of protective wire to the third of the Oaks that are descendants of the Leper Oak on Hexham golf course.

Clare also completed this season’s nesting box survey. 13 are in use this year - not a huge number, although clearly there are birds nesting without recourse to the boxes.

While she was walking round, Clare noticed Holly in flower which hasn’t caught her attention before. She also found another face in a tree. regular Blog readers may recall that seeing such things is called pareidolia.

30th May

Both male and female Broad-bodied Chasers were flying round and over the Big Pond. Clare waited patiently to spot the frequently used perches and waited beside them only to be outwitted by the Chasers which immediately moved to different resting points, then returning to their original places as soon as Clare had moved. Nonetheless, here is her attempt at a photo of a female. And more information - dragonfly larvae have forward-facing eyes giving them stereo vision, and jaws that can shoot out an additional half length of their body to catch prey. The ideas in ‘Alien’ were far from original.

Clare saw a juvenile Blue Tit in the Orchard.

31st May

In keeping with all the other surveys this month, Clare has been keeping a record of the plants as they bloom. Thus far the following have been in flower this month:

(the flowers are listed as you would find them in a field guide)

Nettle Family - Nettle

Dock Family - Bistort, Common Sorrel, Broad-leaved Dock

Pink Family - Greater Stitchwort, Common Chickweed, Field Mousear, Red Campion, Ragged Robin

Buttercup Family - Marsh Marigold, Meadow Buttercup, Creeping Buttercup, Lesser Celandine, Common Water Crowfoot, Wood Anemone,

Cabbage Family - Charlock, Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard, Common Scurvy Grass, Hairy Bittercress,

Saxifrage Family - Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

Rose Family - Lady’s Mantle, Raspberry, Wild Strawberry, Water Avens, Herb Bennet, Tormentil, Silverweed, Crab Apple, Rowan, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry

Pea Family - Gorse, Broom, Bush Vetch, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Red Clover, White Clover

Wood-Sorrel Family - Wood Sorrel

Geranium Family - Meadow Cranesbill, Herb Robert

Milkwort Family - Common Milkwort

Spindle-tree Family - Spindle Tree

Violet Family - Sweet Violet, Common Dog Violet

Carrot Family - Cow Parsley, Pignut

Heath Family - Heather, Bilberry

Primrose Family - Primrose, Oxlip, Cowslip, Yellow Pimpernel

Bedstraw Family - Woodruff, Heath Bedstraw, Common Cleavers

Borage Family - Common Comfrey, Lungwort, Field Forget-me-not,

Labiate Family - Bugle, Water Mint

Figwort Family - Germander Speedwell, Common Field Speedwell, Eyebright, Yellow Rattle

Plantain Family - Ribwort Plantain

Honeysuckle Family - Guelder Rose

Daisy Family - Daisy, Ox-eye Daisy, Perennial Cornflower, Dandelion, Common Catsear, Orange Hawkweed

Lily Family - Lily of the Valley, Ramsons, Bluebell

Of course some are past their flowering period and there are others yet to come. Clare was particularly please to see Common Spotted Orchid leaves appearing in several places.

Readers may note that Clare has made no further mention of the course she joined on Grasses, Rushes and Sedges. She felt that she insufficient botanical background and inadequate eyesight (at least while she still had a cataract), to derive most benefit from the sessions, so she withdrew. She still has a field guide so hopes to learn a few specimens in her own time.

Another juvenile Blue tit near the Big Pond and three juvenile Thrushes in the Pit Wood.

John and Clare had an afternoon walk on Liddells - yes, they can just walk without any need to work - and spent a lot of time by the Big Pond observing dragon and damselflies. Thanks to Chris W’s wonderful blog, Clare had read of his experience watching a dragonfly emerge from its exuvia and so today she thought to inspect some of the rushes in the pond. One plant had at least seven nymphs, another three or four; luckily John was there with his camera. A splendid way to end this month’s Liddells experience.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

Female Broad-bodied Chaser

Here are some we prepared earlier - Clare is not quite certain about what is shown here and as this all happened just as this post is about to be published, she hasn’t had time to check in with Chris. Her guess is that three dragonflies have emerged and are yet to develop their full colour; the darker smaller form is a nymph that is yet to split and release a dragonfly or it maybe the exuvia from which a dragonfly has emerged, Clare is also uncertain what kind of dragonflies these are. So much still to learn. Clare hope to follow up on this great photograph next month.

A reminder that June is the month for 30 Days Wild - readers may enjoy the challenge to engage with nature in the month ahead by being in, watching, listening, reading, creating, discovering, questioning, learning, or any other ways…

March - the coming of Spring

1st March

From Nature Rambles Edward Step, 1930

‘How long the winter has been in going! Winters are always long; but some of them seem to us much longer than they ought to be, owing to a lengthy spell of north-east winds filling the sky with dark, heavy cloud when we are longing to see the swaying tassels of the hazel, the golden stars of lesser celandine and the haloes of the leafless coltsfoot…dwellers in the country…can take a fair ramble during the eight or nine hours of daylight, making up for the scarcity of flowers and insects by watching those birds that are with us only during the winter. There are also the shrews and mice of the hedge-bottom, and their hunters the stoat and weasel, to take note of…and the occasional bat that has woken up for a brief flight. There are almost endless treasures to be found in the pond, as soon as the thick ice has melted and made them easy to see and reach; and some nice things, such as many of the mosses, that can be found in full beauty during the cooler, moister months only.’

4th - 7th March

John and Clare put up the rest of the 12 new nesting boxes in the Scrub and the Pit Wood and saw four hares each day while so doing.

Clare asks which film title is being represented here? (answer at the end of this blogpost and credit to John for the joke)

The pond trail camera captured a hare eating peacefully.

Another and far healthier looking deposit of frogspawn has appeared in the roadside pond.

While Clare was in the hide she saw a Blue tit making several visits to perch in the entrance to nesting box J1 and a Great tit staying close to J2 for several minutes. She heard for the first time this year a Yellowhammer singing on the Wetland.

Clare spent some time taking tubes off Junipers at the top of the Crag and protecting the trees with chicken wire cages in order to give the plants the chance to bush out more and gain strength against the wind.

John and Dave took the top of a willow that had been blown over and broken in the Top Strip, however the tree had sprouted below the break so they left the rest to grow. Clare helped cut about 50 potential whips from the top branches and will use them to replace some that have died round a couple of bird-watching seats.

John started work on a gateway into the Top Strip so that he can take the flail mower in to keep the path cut - this will take a lot less time than weeding.

The cut Willow with plenty of growth left

Willow whips with even more potential growth

The pond camera has recorded the largest number of ducks on the pond together to date. While John and Clare often see Mallards on or leaving the pond in daytime, they have never seen a Mandarin duck there and then.

8th - 10th March

Clare planted 7 of the Willow cuttings for International Women’s Day. The trees will henceforth be known as the Seven Sisters.

Clare and John were delighted to welcome Rebecca from Miscreations Theatre. They talked about the possibility of bringing a Wilding Theatre workshop/performance piece to Liddells for schoolchildren. Much will depend on funding and logistics however the prospect is exciting.

The deer family run through the Pit Wood followed by the older buck. John is expecting the older doe to encourage the triplets to leave the patch soon.

A hare is caught in the snow at midday. 17 hours later and the snow is still falling thickly.

11th March

Clare freed the last of the Junipers. There are 16 plants established now.

She also staked the Seven Sisters while John did more work on the gateway.

Astute readers will notice there are only six willows pictured, the seventh is on the other side of the new gateway

Clare and John watched a Blue tit sit in the entrance to J1 for at least three minutes during which time the bird repeatedly looked into the box, bobbed its head and looked behind and around. As it is the females that build the nest, John and Clare wondered if the bird was claiming the site or signalling that she had found a site and was looking for a mate. Or both.

Today’s OED Word of the Day is ‘nunatak - an isolated peak of rock projecting above the surface of inland ice’. As the weather has returned to wintry conditions, Clare decided she had found a nunatak in the roadside pond.

12th March

John cut about 70 whips from neighbour Sylvia’s Willow tree. Clare had thought a good use for them would be to make a walk from the bottom of the Crag north across the wetland.

15th March

An abundance of frogspawn has appeared - more in the roadside pond, a large amount in the big pond, some in the Crag pond, and for the first time ever some in the vernal pond between the roadside and big ponds. It represents the potential for a lot of frogs and/or heron and newt food.

19th March

Clare and John set about planting the willow walk and by the end of the afternoon, and with cutting some of the longer whips, had 96 planted and a lot more in reserve to fill in gaps or use somewhere else. They are very grateful to Sylvia and have named the path Sylvia’s Avenue in her honour.

From The History of the Worthies of England, Thomas Fuller, 1662

Willows - ‘A sad tree, whereof such who have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we know what exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful supporters. The twigs hereof are physic, to drive out the folly of children. This tree delighteth in moist places, and is triumphant in the Isle of Ely, where the roots strengthen their banks, and lop affords fuel for their fire. It groweth incredibly fast; it being a by-word in this county, ‘that the profit by willows will buy the owner a horse, before that by other trees will pay for his saddle.’ Let me add, that if green ash may burn before a queen, withered willows may be allowed to burn before a lady.’

Hal, Beth and Juno arrived for some outdoor activity and built a shelter, used the story-telling circle fittingly, investigated frogspawn and lots more besides.

Note the camouflage face paint

Frogspawn - ‘it sprawls, cold and uncontainable, like jellyfish’. (from Still Water: the Deep Life of the Pond John Lewis-Stempel

20th March

World Rewilding Day.

John worked on the new gate and removed the cage round one of the first Horse Chestnuts Clare and John had planted in the Top Strip, replacing it with a cage to protect the trunk from fraying and nibbling.

21st March

World Poetry Day.

I love the little pond to mark at spring
When frogs & toads are croaking round its brink
When blackbirds yellow bills gin first to sing
& green woodpecker rotten trees to clink
I love to see the cattle muse & drink
& water crinkle to the rude march wind
While two ash dotterels flourish on its brink
Bearing key bunches children run to find
& water buttercups they're forced to leave behind.

John Clare

22nd - 23rd March

John and Clare played at The Flintstones - Clare had spotted a pie of discarded stones by the roadside near home, so she and John bagged them up and used them to fill ruts on the Top Grazing roadway. They then went to the Top Strip and began their annual check to see which trees needed maintenance,

Evidence of fraying on saplings in the Orchard suggest that the buck is now, as some writers describe, ‘in hard horn’. John points out that this description is incorrect as roe deer antlers are made of bone, not horn. Synchronously the latest news from The Deer Society (23rd March) included the following: ‘Regular readers may be amazed just how often we encounter the common mistake of referring to deer antlers as horns. It's not surprising,  given how last year one celebrity wildlife expert on a popular wildlife show,  made this very mistake in front of millions of viewers…Deer are unique in being the only animals to produce antlers.  They are normally cast and regrown annually in pairs and are produced by the males of all deer species with the exception of the musk and water deer.  Although it is abnormal for the females of any other deer species to grow antlers, female reindeer are the only ones to do so habitually.

Antler growth and casting is controlled by a number of hormones, the principal one being the hormone testosterone whose production is governed by daylight length.  The growing antler is living bone which is covered by a furry skin called velvet which supplies it with oxygen and nutrients. 

At the end of the growth cycle, the velvet is lost and the material within dies to become hard and insensitive.   After a few months the join between antler and skull weakens and the antlers fall off.  The process of regrowth begins again almost immediately in most cases.

Horns, on the other hand, consist of a living bone projecting from the skull that never dies back and is covered by a sheath of a tough protein called keratin, the same material found in hair, hooves, fingernails, feathers and claws.  Horns are grown by ruminant animals such as goats, sheep, cows and antelope.  They are generally retained throughout an animal’s life and continue to develop as it matures. 

There is only one exception to this rule, the Pronghorn antelope of North America which sheds and regrows its horn sheath every year.  This interesting animal is really neither a deer nor an antelope, although it is related to both, belonging in a distinct family of its own.

Somewhat confusingly, and although now considered by many to be a somewhat archaic term, it is still quite correct to refer to a deer that has shed the velvet on its newly grown antlers as being in ‘hard horn’.’ bds.org.uk

26th March

As soon as John and Clare arrived this morning they heard a Chiffchaff calling and then saw the bird in the old Alder near the spoil heaps. As soon as Clare tried recording the song, the bird flew away and went silent.

With a large bunch of Sylvia’s Willows remaining, John and Clare planted more round the two bird-watching seats, removing dead shoots and replanting outside the membrane floor this time.

Clare spotted a Great Diving Beetle making its way along the grass path away from the big pond. Apparently they use damp soil by the edge of ponds in which to pupate.

A heron is seen in the big pond at night. (The true Night heron can be seen in waterside habitats in Southern and Central Europe.)

27th March

Clare had found another dumping of stone by the wayside so she and John went rubble-rousing again, collecting several bagfuls to fill ruts.

They then finished planting the remaining Willows on the Wetland.

Again the singing chiffchaffs were alert to the sound of Clare getting her phone out to record them, and went silent, though immediately resumed singing once she had put her phone away.

‘It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is from summer in the light, and winter in the shade.’ (from Great Expectations Charles Dickens) Taking advantage of the sunshine (the apiary is sheltered from the worst of the wind), Clare had a quick look at the hives and was disappointed to discover that only two of the four colonies had made it thought the winter. One might have been too small to survive; the other had obviously succumbed to damp. The hive was secondhand and maybe past its waterproof prime and needs replacing.

New Yellow Iris shoots are emerging.

‘…the shoots of yellow iris are pushing through in six-inch blades, a water-bed of daggers; every day they ‘weaponise’ towards the swords of their maturity…Yellow iris is yellow flag (on account of its large petals), is Jacob’s sword, is segg, from the Anglo-Saxon for ‘sword’. The knifeness of the young leaves means that the water-margin plant is occasionally nominated as the origin of the ‘fleur-de-lys’ of heraldry.’

from Still Water: The Deep Life of the Pond

28th March

A Mandarin duck appears on the trail camera in daylight for the first time. This is a male and you can see the distinctive markings: bushy orange ‘whiskers’, triangular orange ‘sails’ on the back and a black chest.

The camera then captures a pair of herons.

29th March

Clare and John collected more rubble for the roadway then went to the Orchard where they freed three trees from their cages - a Damson, a Wild Cherry and the large Bird Cherry. They have each reached a size where they are unlikely to be used by a fraying buck. John noticed that the Oak nearby has become even more of a veteran tree.

Freed Bird Cherry.

After several attempts Clare managed to record a Chiffchaff without it noticing her getting her phone out. The song is unremarkable and an easy one to learn.

30th March

The deer haven’t been seen on Liddells for a while, although John and Clare saw two groups of three out on a field very near to Liddells earlier this week. The trail camera however captured the three does near the big pond.

The film illustrated in 4th - 7th March is ‘Withnail and I’.

February - preparations

To see the Blog with all the video footage, go to www.liddells.co.uk

Left over from January - a fox limps its way through the Pit Wood. The smaller doe squeaks her way along the same path.

1st February

Clare has long said that she wished she knew more about grasses, sedges and rushes. Today she began a course with the Natural History Society of Northumbria on exactly that topic. She learned many new words, always a personal delight, and hopes that by the end of the course she will be able to use them confidently and appropriately. ‘Awn,’ ‘glume,’ ‘tepals', ‘lemma,’ ‘palea,’ ‘stolon,’ ‘culm', ‘auricle’ and ‘ligule’ might also help improve a Scrabble game. ‘Sedges have edges’ is also a good starter phrase and easy to remember.

John began work on the fourth bench.

A fox - not limping - goes off the path in the Pit Wood.

2nd February

The older buck makes his way through the Pit Wood and the camera captures excellent footage of the velvet on his antlers. As yet there is no evidence of him fraying to remove it.

3rd February

Clare took steps to finish putting wire on the approach to the shepherd’s hut; John finished the third bench.

Should the bees emerge in warm spells, there is forage ready for them.

5th February

Clare checked that all the hives had fondant - this can be a time of year when bees starve if they have eaten all their store and there is insufficient forage available for them. If the weather warms and then goes cold again, there is a risk that the queen starts laying but the colony is still too small for the workers to keep the brood warm, so while others are enjoying balmy early spring days, Clare and other beekeepers are concerned.

Clare planted more Periwinkle that she had grown from cuttings. This time she covered them with mesh as previous shoots had been eaten.

John continued his creative recycling for the meeting room; this time the fourth bench top is made from sawn up bed slats from a bed frame he and Clare inherited when they moved house. John also finished plugging gaps in the meeting room roof to keep out the rain. Thus far this treatment seems to have worked.

Clare identified more wall repair that needs to go on the to-do list.

The pheasant feeders that came with Liddells have been removed. Clare and John are hoping that without a supply of food, the pheasants will move elsewhere and stop taking up so much camera footage and battery power.

‘Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

From Flowers of the Field, 1885

Too well known to need any description. Fl. January - March.

Rev. C.A. Johns (1811-1874)’ From Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year

7th February

John and Clare seem to be subject to the organising zeitgeist. John created extra storage in the log shed while in the tool shed Clare channelled some of Marie Kondo’s principles.(While looking up exactly what Marie Kondo suggests, Clare noticed that under the heading ‘What are the 5 steps of the Konmari method' 6 Rules are listed:

Rule 1: Commit Yourself to Tidying Up. The KonMari Method™ is not a quick fix for a messy room or a once-in-a-while approach to tidying. ...

Rule 2: Imagine Your Ideal Lifestyle. ...

Rule 3: Finish Discarding First. ...

Rule 4: Tidy by Category, Not by Location. ...

Rule 5: Follow the Right Order. ...

Rule 6: Ask Yourself If It Sparks Joy.

It would seem that Kondo has neglected to discard one.

Clare was certainly pleased with her work, and will be joyful if her efforts are maintained.

14th February

In accord with the tradition of putting up bird boxes on St Valentine’s Day, John and Clare added a new box in the Pit Wood.

15th - 18th February

Clare discovered Woodpecker activity on a dead Elder behind the bee hives. As it is early in the year this is most likely to be from drumming to stake out territory.

Clare applied her organisational skills to the log shed and after three days’ work all the dry logs were stacked at home ready for this year’s autumn/winter burning, and all the wood that had been sawn and split ready to dry was stacked.

19th February

An entirely new experience on Liddells - John had met some detectorists working on land nearby and invited them to visit Liddells. Wayne, Mac, John and Lisa were delighted to accept the offer and spend a hard-working morning with the metal detectors. They covered the Top Grazing and the Meadow and then worked over the spoil heaps near the hives.

There proved to be no need to contact the British Museum with the finds, however there was some social history evidenced. The remains of a toastrack, a tin of Snowfire Vanishing Cream from the 1930s (here is one in fine condition https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/snowfire-vanishing-cream-alluminium-423388038), a tube of Synulox (still prescribed and used for treating a range of bacterial infections in cats and dogs, a tube of Orbenin (also still prescribed and used for the treatment of ocular infections in cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and cats), a Matchbox Series 23 Trailer Caravan (they were produced from 1965-1969; here is one in pristine condition: https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/Trailer_Caravan), a very rusted door handle, parts of an oil lamp, 2 spent bullets, the bowl of a spoon, the handle-end of a trowel or similar, several buttons, tuppence ha’penny (a George V penny, a George VI penny dated 193? and a George VI ship ha’penny), a nut, various unidentifiable bits of metal, inevitably the remains of a few aluminium cans, two bottle tops and some pieces of metal decoration whose origin is mysterious (top left of the photograph). If anyone has any ideas about what it might have been these last pieces decorated, feel free to email them in.

Meanwhile John and Clare planted an Oak grown and donated by their alarm maintenance engineer, wove straggly Willows into the arbour round one of the benches and completed a second section of wall repair.

The Liddells Hoard

23rd - 24th February

Dave came to help finish the wall as some of the stones needed extra lifting power.

Clare found frogspawn on the roadside pond however it was brown, which suggested it had been affected by the cold weather which had been distinctly brumous (‘Brumous’ Foggy, wintry OED Word of the Day 24.02.23).

Clare moved the camera from the Pit Wood to start this season’s Pond Watch - there were four clips of a heron within the first 24 hours and some interesting early morning visitors.

25th - 26th February

John and Clare set up a nesting box assembly line, completed 10 boxes and put 5 on trees in or near the Scrub. The boxes are mostly made from left over bits of shed not needed in the rebuilding works.

Clare planted a tray of Snowdrops in the Pit Wood and heard a thrush singing on Liddells for the first time this year. She recorded the singing which was accompanied by a Chaffinch, Robin and Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming - all suggesting the nest-box making is timely.

Clare also carried out an equipment inventory in her bee shed and was pleased that due to somewhat over-zealous prep last year, she has all the equipment she needs to start this bee-keeping year.

John saw a Woodcock near the Junipers.

28th February

Luke the Mole Man arrived with his traps - the final aspect of this month’s preparation.

January 2023 - benchmarking

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.

December - hip hip hooray

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.

November - fog, fog blog

For those of you who had difficulty loading the last post, there are fewer videos this month, so it should be easier. As ever, go to the website: www.liddells.co.uk and access the Blog from there to see all the video footage.

October’s Blog was posted before John and Clare saw the Halloween activities in the Pit Wood. One hare is joined by another, but can you see the deer as well?

Although the footage is in black and white, the small birds in the Pit Wood can be identified as Bullfinches - you can see the white rump of the one flying off to the left.

An owl makes a Halloween sortie and its movements suggest it was successful.

2nd November

A fox makes its way through the Pit Wood.

3rd November

Footage of a hare nibbling shows its markings very clearly.

5th November

A fox in the Pit Wood again; it’s hard to know whether or not it is the same fox as a few days earlier, however this one seems to have a kink at the end of its tail that is not so evident in the other one.

More footage of a Jay in the Scrub and as it flies off there is a brilliant flash of the blue in its wing feathers. Jays often appear here in the Scrub as do grey squirrels. It’s possible they are raiding each other’s stashes.

6th November

John fixed catches to the shutters and a handle to the door of the meeting room. The choice of handle is particularly satisfying as it is a recycling of a fixture from the old pony shelter.

Clare found a fungus she had not seen before. It resembles tiny ghostly trees. Thus far she has been unable to identify it. Any suggestions welcome.

Footage from the Pit Wood shows the backs of two hares as they run past the camera, however the source of the squeaking is a mystery. Clare wondered if it was a roe kid, however John thinks this is unlikely given the maturity of the kids now. Any ideas?

9th November

John finished varnishing the meeting room floor.

10th November

More owl footage. A Tawny Owl again finds prey in the Pit Wood.

12th November

Clare brashed a path to the group of Aspens (two newly planted and Juno’s tree) in the Pit Wood and managed to punch herself in the nose with the long loppers. Memo: never tug towards the face. She felt very foolish and very sore and with a black eye as a momento. The path looks nice though.

13th - 16th November

Clare began the annual cleaning of the nest boxes ready for next year. She found the remains of a wasp nest in one, the vacated nest of tree bumblebees in another and lots of woodlice in several.

John worked on logging and moving the remains of the fallen oak branch in the Orchard.

The doe with two of the triplets, the buck and one of the does, forage in the Pit Wood.

The next day one of the kids appears limping. This is similar to last year although there is no obvious injury to the kid. Clare wonders whether with triplets, one might become slightly more vulnerable if it is always last in the queue for food or attention. This year the cameras have shown that one of the three kids, a doe, is habitually slightly behind and more separate from the others. Meanwhile the single kid and the other doe have been seen together and are apparently healthy. John says that in deer world generally, survival rates are thought to be in the region of 30%. In the case of roe deer the figure may well be higher.

18th November

After considerable rain yesterday, Clare was delighted to see the roadside pond fuller than it has been in months and water coming out of the overflow pipe.

19th November

The Hexham Village Band came to plant an Oak tree for one of their members who has died. It was a very touching ceremony. After the planting the band became the first users of the meeting room. They managed to squeeze in 20 players even though one end of the space was full of wood ready to be made into tables and benches. You will note the creative use of the window.

20th November

Sadly Clare and John saw first the carcass of a hare on the path below the Scrub, then Woodcock feathers a bit further on. A Sparrowhawk is probably responsible for the Woodcock. Hares continue to turn up on the trail cameras, so there are still some around.

23rd November

Mel came to help John with tree maintenance, mostly replacing stakes and tubes on the Wetland and in the Pit Wood.

26th November

John completed cleaning out the nesting boxes, which meant climbing up the the three Clare couldn’t reach.

27th November

The Scrub trail camera captures a lone doe kid with a very slight limp and what looks as if it might have been a wound near her front right shoulder. If this is so then it seems as if the kid is getting better, though separated from the family.

29th November

Clare had found a lovely passage in November’s section of Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year, and sent John off with his camera to produce some illustrations. He was somewhat hampered by the dense fog that covered the land, however he managed to augment the writing with his creative eyes and with other treats from Liddells bosky areas.

‘A Leafy November

On some of the oaks the inner leaves were still greenish, while those on the outer boughs were brown, and the mingling of the two tints seen at a little distance under the sunshine produced a remarkable and pleasing colour. Other oak trees had assumed so red a brown as to approach a copper colour…Between the dark Scotch firs the foliage of the beeches seemed warm red. The branches of the larch had a fluffy appearance, caused by the yellow needles which had partly separated but had not yet fallen…Birches, too, except just at the corners of the copses or in isolated positions, were not yet bare…while whole hedgerows full of maple bushes glowed with orange. The sun shone brilliantly day after day, lighting up the varied hues of the trees and hedges and filling the woodlands with beauty.’

From Chronicles of the Hedges, 1879, Richard Jeffries (1848-1887)

Hawthorns on the Meadow

Oak

Scots pine

Beech

Larch

Birch

Maple

Sycamore

Guelder rose

?

Hazel

Juniper

Alder

Wild cherry

Corsican pine

Clare was amused to see that today’s OED Word of the Day is bockety: ‘of a person: unable to walk without difficulty; infirm, lame. Also of a body part: injured, impaired’. The dictionary word chooser seems to know that Clare is due for a hip replacement next week. She looks forward to being less bockety in the New Year.

Thanks to Mathilda for this month’s blog post title; the month seems to be ending in typical November weather; ‘Dark November brings the fog/ Should not do it to a dog.’ (Flanders and Swan)