| 2024 | 2025 |
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1st: Birds and Brash High winds over Christmas and the New Year brought down a few branches in the garden and today we finally got around to clearing them. Most were from an ornamental maple and a very annoying palm tree that we have, in previous years, cut right back, only to see it grow again. We took the opportunity to cut it right back again today and we also took some of the longer maple branches off too that would probably have been at risk in future storms. The whole lot, along with some of the ornamental pear trimmings are now one huge brash pile at the top of Goat field, the idea being they will provide homes and shelter and perching for a wide variety of invertebrates and vertebrates alike. Meanwhile, on the bird front, we continue to thoroughly enjoy the increasing amount of bird song and brighter feathering amongst the song birds. As far as they are all concerned, spring is very close and flirting is well under way!! The skylarks in particular are really going for it at the moment. And the best news of the day - we flushed up a snipe today just by Yellowhammer pond. We know they won't nest here cos of the dogs but if they come to feed, that would be amazing!! They nest on the moor so it's only a stone's throw to pop over here for some grub!! Fingers crossed.      |
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2nd: Wayfaring Tree The Wayfaring Tree, Viburnum lantana, is so named because it grows close to paths. It was one of the many species we were given by Devon Wildlife Trust to plant on our land and is second, after the Elder, to start to show signs of life. These are emerging buds - very hairy and made to look even more special due to a light covering of frost!! It is actually a deciduous shrub but can reach up to 5m in height. It has large umbelical type white flowers in the summer which them become red and black berries in the winter and so of course then a perfect snack for wildlife!!   |
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3rd: Raven Not the best photos at all, but this is our 'resident' raven who for the last few days has been treating us to some very loud calling from this tree (just on the verge outside our land). We very much hope there is some 'suitable nest place' scouting going on as well as calling for his or her mate!! Ravens are such big birds with huge powerful beaks. They mate for life apparently and although only found in rural areas, they are not uncommon and are in fact expanding their range south eastwards.   |
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4th: The Garden - in the frost As well as enjoying the fabulous sunshine of the last week or so, we should also record that we have seen a couple of bumblebees, no doubt awoken by the daytime warmth but hopefully returning to their cosy hibernation places at night when it gets below freezing again. On the other hand frog and toad activity in the garden pond has decreased each night and there was nothing around this evening BUT, we are seeing water beetles in other ponds as well as John's, namely Nick's Yellowhammer and Wagtail. There are all the slow moving, crawling type - the same as the first ones found in John's pond!! Quite fascinating. We have also been catching the fox on camera again but sadly, have had no other sightings of the badger.       |
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5th: Emerging buds Despite the cold of the last week, the daytime warmth from the sun has most definitely been encouraging a few buds - and flowers - to start to open. Here we have purple willow, hawthorn and dandelion. It is such a lift to notice all these signs of spring as we walk around the land. We were also rather chuffed to count six toads in the garden pond this evening - tonight if the first night for a while that we are';t due to have a frost - and the toads obviously know this. We hope the frogs get the memo soon too.       |
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6th: From geese to newts with dogs and brash along the way... The first excitement today was hearing canada geese this morning from the bottom of Oak field, scanning the sky to see where the noise was coming from only to stand amazed as they rose from Nick's pond and then flew right over our heads!! Utterly fabulous. And then this evening we spotted a newt in John's pond along with a good dozen very small and very fast diving beetles. We then made our way over to the garden pond and counted no less than 11 toads in or around the edge!!! And 'one' frog. Water is just such a strong magnet for wildlife. And it populates so quickly. We have just bought a new book on dragonflies - confident we will be seeing more of these as well this year!! It is fair to say that EVERY single day, we spot something new or of note on our little ten acres. It is quite remarkable. We also heard the red deer in Andrew's field tonight too AND in the early hours of this morning the Green Lane trailcam caught a hedgehog snuffling under the bird feeders. The video was rubbish quality as the lens was misty but we hope to get a decent video if it soon. So the photos are of none of the above!!! Instead we have our emerging buds on the willow in our banks, a new habitat pile made from garden shrubs, the completed hedge between Fruit field and the Gathering area, another shot of more starlings passing through and a rather delicious one of Firefly looking very regal and very patient.      |
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7th: Our first frogspawn Major excitement this evening as we spotted freshly laid frogspawn - our first of the year. The most remarkable thing though is that it isn't in the garden pond which is still somewhat devoid of frogs, it is is John's pond, right by the place where Nick B. put a clump of his spawn. We managed to get a look at that tonight too (it had sunk in the cold weather) and were chuffed to see emerging tadpoles. The clump in Nick's pond in Oak field was starting to wriggle this morning as the young poles started eating the jelly!! Back in the garden pond, we lost count of the number of toads but saw that some of them are now in their mating pairs. Cannot wait to find toadspawn next!! Elsewhere we keep spying buttercups peeking out from all sorts of nooks and crannies in the banks and pond edges. The disturbance to the land has probably massively helped their spread as they are so successful at growing from very small pieces of root. We love buttercups - they are hugely invasive but are great for pollinating insects and very pretty!! We also rather like these sorrel leaves - unlike its larger sibling, the dock, sorrel is actually quite an attractive looking plant.     |
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8th: Adding life to the ponds Our garden pond is fairly choked with plant life and for quite some time, we have been meaning to clear it. However, with over wintering larva and the early arrival of newts, it has always been hard to know just when.... now that we have ten ponds on the land though, it made total sense to combine a 'clear out' with kick-starting a bit of life in these new ponds. And so today that's what we did. And rather excitingly, we discovered that we did have some frog spawn in the garden pond after all - two small clumps, although one was rather devoid of fertile eggs it has to be said. Nonetheless, both were added to the others in Nick's pond along with a lot of plant life, and the accompanying invertebrate life. We also put buckets of water and plants into Stonechat, Spider, Wagtail, Nick's, Yellowhammer and Mipit Ponds too. We also spied a few newtpoles and adult newts - so fingers crossed they get on ok!! Elsewhere, we spied our first ladybird of the year on dead iris leaves in the soakaway, saw the first Marsh Marigold flower in the Garden Pond and enjoyed watching scores of tadpoles in John's pond munching on the jelly from their eggs. And to cap it all off, we found we had caught our hedgehog on last night's trailcam. The second video is of a Collared dove and a Wood pigeon under the bird feeders - the difference in size is extraordinary!!        |