I am not good on butterflies but the Bio-Blitz people assure me this is a comma.
The fodder radish has been in flower in the Flora margin all summer but I don’t think I have recorded it. This will be a mainstay for winter birds.
Also in the wildflower margin I noticed our first poppy.
Rather less glamorous is the common fleabane in Big Meadow
This song thrush was spotted last night on the fence half-way between School pond and the paddock.
So, presumably, there are some young song thrushes about!
It would seem that for some birds, ‘summer’ is well and truly over… the first returning snipe have appeared on School Pond in recent days.
Two sightings of brown hares this morning in the Grammar School fields. They were some distance apart so I think they were two individuals.
And some flowers:
Water figwort on the edge of the Hay Meadow (17th July)
Branched bur-weed in Upper Sowerholme (this is a first sighting for me) (17th July)
Water cress at the cattle crossing (20th July)
Pineapple weed Pads footpath 20th July
Bear’s breech, probably a garden escapee but a nice specimen in the Orchard 21st July
Silver weed in Flora field 21st July
And so far as I know our only foxglove, a tenacious chap clung to the Aldcliffe Road wall 21st July
Four very noisy Ravens flying in Pony Wood and the surrounding fields this morning at around 8am.
Maybe a family group?
They were still around about an hour later, I could hear them from the Canal Towpath on my way back from my walk with the dog.
I am noticing more flowers virtually every day. Sorry to be a bore but just for the record:
Angelica in the Orchard, not to be confused with giant hogweed which has had a bad press recently
Brown napweed by the shed (as well as coming quite nicely in the Hay Meadow)
Purple loosestrife on the Pads footpath
Hoary plantain on the Pads footpath
And the delightfully named stinking iris, also on the Pads footpath. Also know as the roast beef plant as that’s the small if the leaves are crushed.
Two young foxes near the canal . Very handsome with their orange coats in the evening sunshine, and not bothered about keeping a low profile. Deer on fauna 6 am this morning, too.
Whilst exploring the Reserve the other day several of us came across this moth in Upper Sowerholme which has now been identified as a male ‘Drinker’ Euthris potatoria. I know nothing about moths so I am not sure whether this is rare or not but it isn’t in our Collins Book of Moths and Butterflies so it can’t be all that common!
And, more prosaically, are a few more flowers
Hedge Bindweed on the Pads footpath 12 July
Meadow Vetchling in the Oak Circle of the Orchard 11th July
Lords and ladies in the Orchard. About to turn red but the almost always fall over when red so this will have to do for the moment.
Here is Jonathan’s message, part of a much longer email about Fairfield activities.
VOLUNTEER SESSION, SATURDAY JULY 11th.
A little earlier than usual, but our tasks for the Volunteer Saturday on
July 11th are as follows:
Many of the fruit trees in the Orchard are being swamped by nettles and
long grass so a main job is to cut all this back.
If you can bring a pair of shears or other favoured cutting and slashing
tool then that will be useful but please do mark your own tools in some
way for identification.
We also need to take a pair of shears along the Long Pads footpath and
check that the path is not obstructed.
We’ve asked the Council to delay the intensive strim they tend to give
this path as long as possible this year to preserve the wildflowers. We
are doing some clearance work to keep the path clear.
We also need to run the mowing machine along the edge of the Fauna path
now that it has been strimmed.
The outer edge of the Oak Circle could use a strimming to preserve the new
path we now have in place.
Graffiti needs to be sanded off one of the Fauna path benches.
Lots of new flowers observed today in the Reserve
Euphorbia on Pads footpath
Rosebay Willowherb on the Pads footpath
Black medick near the Lucy Brook path junction
Fool’s water cress in Upper Sowerholme
Perforate St John’s wort in Upper Sowerholme
Common ragwort in Upper Sowerholme
Water plantain in Upper Sowerholme (this not observed before, photo not too good because the plant is in deepish water!)
Bulrush in Upper Sowerholme
Self heal in Upper Sowerholme
Smooth hawkbit in the Hay Meadow
Yarrow in the Hay Meadow
Meadowsweet in the Hay Meadow
Birds foot trefoil under the Aldcliffe Road wall
Nipplewort under the Aldcliffe Road wall
