Welcome to 2026

Not much happening on the wildlife front here because it's January and quite cold. The constant however are the deer - between 23 to 25 in the East Field yesterday morning - quite an impressive sight. They also augment the aftermath grazing, so useful as well.

2025

As always an interesting year here despite, or maybe because of, strange weather patterns with lots of dry weather until we had lots of wet weather in the autumn. Species of the year has to be Bracken Plums and Custard (which when confirmed byu DNA will be the first confirmed UK record). Honourable mentions to the two new Pinkgills - Dark Pinkgill and Scented Pinkgill. Also shouldn't forget that we have a new bee species for the site this year - the Early Bumblebee. A couple of favourites that continue to show up are the Stoat and the Lesser Horseshoe Bat that has now been in residence in our shed for at least 11 years. He must be getting old in the tooth by now. A big welcome back to a couple of lovely species that I haven't seen in recent years - Ragged Robin and the Small Copper butterfly. For species seen in unprecedented numbers I have to note Bee Orchids which until the five appeasred this year had only ever appeared singly. Also hordes of 7-spot Ladybirds (but zero other Ladybird species). As a kid I remember that there were sometimes years when swarms of ladybirds appeared and this was like a watered down version of that in as much as there were many times the number seen previously here. Lastly there are usually one or two things that pop up in unexpected places. This year it was the Broad-leaved Helleborine that appeared in the North Field and the Quasking Grass that grew on the side of the drive. It's a privilege to complete another year of interesting records. Photo - Bracken Plums and Custard of course.

Sparrows house hunting already

Onc e again checking out the safew and dry spaces under our fascia board. This the space they usae every year except the year we had the roof replaced which irritated them no end. Good to see them pairing up - we have built a good population on site with nest boxes and nesting spaces over the last few years.

A big charm

A group of goldfinches is known as a charm and I spotted a whole lot of them around the birdfeeder. I can spot 17 on this photo but there was one or two more out of shot. There was some squabbling as they vied for a place on the feeder. A nice sight.

Pinkgills summary

It has been an excellent year for Pinkgills and I have let the side down in not being able to id them all (microscope problems partially). However I am still confident of nine species and two of those are new. We have had Star, Silky, Scented (new), Lilac, Sepia, Chaste, Glaucus, Papillateand Dark (new). Given there were at least three I didn't get to id this year and quite a few that have previously been found here we are probably at around 20 or so species. That is an outstanding total. Next year I will get to better grips with them! Photo is the Glaucus Pinkgill (Entoloma exile) which has a useful id feature of an orange spot at the base of the stipe.

Waxcap summary

I think we've seen the last of them after the frosts last week. Thgis year I recorded 22 spoecies which incidentally would make this a site of International Importance according to Wald and Vesterholt's definition. In addition two species that I always get did not appear, almost certainly due to the dry summer as they are early fruiting. They are the Fibrous and Dingy Waxcaps. Last year I only recorded 18 species and the year before 23 species. Photo - the Pale Waxcap - only one sighting this year.

Fallow Deer social groups

There's definitely a lot going on socxially with Fallow Deer. Having got used recently to seeing a big buck with some does in tow around the place yesterday the primary school outing group appeared - around 15 or 16 young deer with a couple of older does. They skittered around quite a bit.