First, a dedication
Our beautiful, kooky lurcher Sookie died at the end of February after a fall in the field which badly dislocated her shoulder and resulted in her needing an operation. But she didn't come out of the anaesthetic despite the vet's best efforts. She loved the field and took every opportunity to dig, run, play, sniff and swim with the greatest gusto. Her energy and zeal for life and her goofy smiles are very missed. So this post is dedicated to my dear Sookie who merged with the burnished grasses at this time of the year. Don't forget to wait for me at the gate, Sookie ...!
A slow awakening
We had 40 of our neighbour's ewes back on the field in the last 2 weeks of March and they did a good job of knocking back what grass was coming through. Yellow Rattle had begun to appear as tiny notched leaflets in the sward, but we had so much of it we figured it wouldn't matter if sheep ate a few (as it turns out there was more than enough to spare).
After being scythed and raked last October and grazed from October to December (and then again in March), the tumps looked pretty good as Spring progressed - and better than we had hoped, helped perhaps by the colder temperatures? The grass on them was well in check, leaving room for the tiny gardens of spring ephemerals to gather and exploit the anthill mounds.
Changes over time
As time moves on and our management of the land has had longer to have an impact (It is now nearly 5 years since we bought the field), it is interesting seeing how the fenced out (non livestock) areas are already quite different vegetatively to those areas that are mown or scythed *and* grazed. They are getting tussocky, thatch-ier, coarser, wilder. Some scrub is already inching in from the sides (Blackthorn). These areas are also less flowery as a rule and more grassy. They are also also the parts of the field that the insect group were most interested in when they came to do their surveying! The introduction of water on to the site has had a transforming effect too.
Ponds and wetland
After anxiously watching the ponds for some weeks, they finally erupted into hectic life in the warmth and sunshine of late May. Dozens of damselflies (Common Blues, Azures and Large Reds) and Broad Bodied Chaser dragonflies have been patrolling the main pond and there's been a frenzy of egg laying and territorial display. There must have been 5 or 6 Broad Bodied Chaser males (blue) vying for the pond on one hot afternoon and just one or two females (yellow - difficult to count!) who seem to spend time away from the ponds when not egg laying. Meantime the males buzz and zip around the pond seeing off rivals, clashing their papery wings and having dogfights at every turn. They move so fast I've only managed to photograph them properly at rest when they stop for a few seconds on prominent perches around the edge of the pond. Four Spot Chasers have also been seen.
Watching them makes the importance of having a well vegetated pond margins very clear. They do a lot of hanging around and resting amongst the tall vegetation (thistles, nettles, longer grasses and nearly hedgerows) in the vicinity of the pond and I found a number of exuvia (body cases shed during the hatching from nymph to adult) on rush and bulrush around the pond and and at the edges. I later found one of the evening roosting spots for the Chasers - our now billowing, West facing Hawthorn hedge!
Much more serene, at least on the surface, are the damselflies who sit like periscopes on the pond vegetation as they pair up and the females lay their eggs. Occasionally a dark, satin-clad Beautiful Demoiselle flaps in (and is seen off by the male Chasers), but they prefer running water to still so don't hang around the ponds too much. They are still by far my favourite insect clad in the most glorious sumptuous silk taffeta of the animal world. Below a male on Lesser Spearwort. The females have bronze coloured wings and green bodies. The only damselflies with coloured wings.
Frogspawn was laid in the ponds and wetland ditches in mid to late February, although quickly disappeared from view. We think some of it might have been pulled out by ?hungry birds/animals during the very cold spells we had in the spring and some may have been eaten by ducks and other animals. And also the cool weather may have meant they kept out of sight. So tadpoles have not been so in evidence this year. However, I was relieved to see young froglets leaving the big pond in May so they are there, just not so much in evidence. We also do have a lot of dragon and damselfly - and great diving beetle nymphs - all of which eat tadpoles! I guess we have to accept that some years are not 'mast years' for some creatures and that is just how it is.
More insect life
Orange-tips made an appearance earlier in May with the blooming of the Cuckoo Flower, or Ladies Smock with which they are associated. I'm sure I saw a couple of Small Heath butterflies in May, some Common Blues, a couple of Brimstones with their big, flappy light-acid-green wings.
Grasshoppers have been pinging around the grassland especially in the long grass of the tumps. They take around 6 instars to reach adult size. We have had 3 types of grasshopper recorded in the field, Meadow, Common and Field grasshoppers and I always love to see them. Sadly I don't seem to be able to hear their high pitched song any more which I really miss - the 'sound of summer'.
Flora - we've been well and truly Rattled
Yellow Rattle has fairly taken over the main meadow this year. It will mean less grass and less hay for the farmer who mows the field for us in the summer ... but it is helping make way for more wildlflowers and is also much loved by bees.
Click on the button below for a short video showing the bottom meadow on 1st June (link takes you to You Tube where there may be adverts!).
Flowers are definitely spreading.
We noticed more bluebells appearing in odd parts of the field this year, just in singles and the Lesser Trefoil formed almost a virtual carpet in a good part of the upper meadow in late spring. Creeping Buttercup is finding its feet in the damper areas of the field, Bulbous Buttercup dominated in the main meadow and the lovely airy Field Buttercup also seems to like the damper sections like the damp meadow at the top of the field which is always the lushest part of the field - and the preferred site for the Cuckoo Flower or Ladies Smock in late April/May.
On the tumps, we've had a lovely display of Birds Foot Trefoil which seems to be spreading as is Tormentil and the tiny and intricate Birds Foot. Ladys Bedstraw is coming up fast and spreading. In the past this Bedstraw, a plant of the galium family (related to Cleavers) was used to stuff mattresses. It is meant to have flea repellent qualities and was also used to colour and curdle milk for cheese).
We have 4 small patches of Betony this year! Although they are growing perilously close to the rabbit warren (the flowers got eaten overnight one year). So we are putting some nightly protection from the ravenous rabbits. Perhaps a bit far-fetched but we're keen to help them to spread and prosper!
One piece of Moonwort has appeared (there were 2 last year). We are still looking for the second!! Pignut is more evident this year though not spreading very fast and seems to be popping up fairly randomly. Knapweed looks more in evidence this year after having none (that I remember) in year 1. Yellow Oat Grass (one of my favourites) is flowering now and has a beautiful delicate angularity. Like Betony, Birds-Foot and Moonwort, it is an axiophyte in Shropshire which means it is a sign of good habitat.
Smooth Hawksbeard is much in evidence this year and I did spot a few spikes of Horsetail (not the rare Water Horsetail but the commoner one) in the muddy banks of the stream. Meadow Vetchling is coming up again by the fence with its pretty tendrilly shoots next to Greater Trefoil which confounded my botany last year. And yesterday I was amazed at the extent of the magic carpet of yellow flowers buzzing with bumblebees in the hot sun.
Water purslane again is doing well in the new big pond (which is now getting nicely and naturally vegetated) - it's very pretty with pinky purple stems. The pond has lost around a foot or two of water in the last few weeks of hot sunshine but it does reveal a shoreline of wet and drying mud that the insects like to congregate on and collect for nests and it is getting slowly vegetated over time too.
Up in the Woods
The trees are doing well and really beginning to grow now they are in their third year (planted January 2020). The Silver Birches and Rowans are already taller than me. Some of the Hollies have struggled perhaps due to last year's long dry spring and summer and inexplicably we lost one or two Hazels over the winter. Some more of the Oaks were nobbled by voles overwinter, but otherwise everything is looking fresh, promising and vigorous! The cardboard mulch mats we put down to keep down the grass seem to have done their job and are now quickly biodegrading into the soil.
The Wild Service saplings we were gifted are growing well and will become handsome trees in time. For the first time it's beginning to feel like a very young woodland which is very exciting.
Larks, Swallows, Stonechat and Reed Buntings
Having downloaded the brilliant Merlin app, I'm trying to learn more about the birds who are finding the field and using it for food or shelter. We are hoping as the trees and scrub grow, we will have more and better bird habitat.
I'm thrilled to say that we seem to have Skylarks nesting in the top of the meadow! The males have been singing for some weeks from dawn until dusk high above the field. We have always had larks on the tops of the hills around here but we've never noticed them further down our way. So this is new. So the dogs are banned from the top of the field at the moment. I think the larks will have to run the gauntlet of foxes and magpies as all ground-nesting birds do. But they will hopefully manage a successful brood. They will apparently take 2 or 3 attempts over the summer. This also means we will have to have a later hay cut (no bad thing).
Stonechats have been scolding us from the hedgerows at the top of the field near the wood too in late Spring and yesterday I managed to photograph a bird I didn't recognise in the wetland - a Reed Bunting I think which is quite exciting.
Sparrows and Swallows have been using the barn for nesting/shelter, the Swallows having decided to nest atop the bat box inside the barn! We will put some ledges up for them for next year.
Unusually in late winter/early spring we found the remains of a dead heron near the pond, perhaps got at by a fox?
The old barn comes into its own
The repaired barn is proving a really useful building in the field, for storing wood and providing shelter for birds (and humans). It comes in very handy on hot days for shelter from the sun for people who come to visit as the field is a very open and hot site in the summer.
Meadow Monoprinting
We are hosting several walks around the field this year and (for the first time) I'm running a monoprinting workshop (using grasses and flowers from the field) in August (see below). This workshop is fully booked but if you are interested in trying your hand, please get in touch - I might be able to organise some extra dates.
