New species - Common Striped Woodlouse

As previously mentioned there are many more woodlice than I imagined - here's one of them - the Common Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum).

Broad-bodied Chaser

My latest pond is still not looking very good - the water is a muddy brown colour but that didn't stop a Broad-bodied Chaser patrolling it relentlessly. Whether there is sufficient prey for any young it sires is an open question. I'm guessing they know what they are doing having been around for many millions of years. Old photo.

Greater Butterfly Orchids

Our first GBO appeared in 2022, and we had two in 2023 but none in 2024. 2025 saw a single one again and this appeared to be the case for this year and the specimen in question is now in full flower. However yesterday I spotted what appeared to be a single GBO leaf and then two more close by. I checked Sean Cole's great book on UK orchids and it turns out that GBOs can send forth a single leaf if they are not going to flower that season. For me that means we now have four GBOs and I look forward to them all flowering next year! Photo is from last year - it's a bit wet outside today.

Waxcap #1 for 2026 - Fibrous Waxcap

Pretty early this year but there has been a lot of rain over trhe last ten days! Found in the West Field. We might see the other 'early' species Dingy Waxcap and Citrine Waxcap soon.

Southern Marsh Orchids

A second SMO has apperared - this time in the West Field. Meanwhile the Monmouthshire Meadows Group open day yesterday featured a site bursting with SMOs - see photo above!

New species - Cucumber Green Orb Spider

One of the many invertebtrates found when the expert visited was this spider (Araniella cucurbitina sensu lato). I have always struggled to identify spiders so it is good to add this one to the list. It feeds mostly on aphids and midges.

Soprano pipistrelles provide nightly entertainment

Feeding on insects at high speed around the house - much better than the Red Arrows. Sometimes very close to each other. Video on link below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nFgS3OFJJzHv4JIg7zLrqGTMfs51kZrH/view?usp=sharing

New Species - Ant Woodlouse

Until my recent time spent with a local invertebrate expert I had no idea of how many species of woodlice there are. Perhaps the oddest one is the tiny white, blind Ant Woodlouse (Platytarthrus hoffmannseggii) which basically lives in Ant Nests feeding of ant faeces and any other detritus in the nest so they are tolerated by the ants. Once I get the list of woodlice species I'll record them here.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Three years ago, mysteriously a single Southern Marsh Orchid appeared in the East Field. At the time it was our seventh orchid species. Three years later a second Southern Marsh Orchid has appeared not far from the site of the origional one. Amazing. With the single Green Winged Orchid flowering this year we now have eight species of orchid - quite outstanding.

Quaking Grass

My favourite grass (with apologies to Crested Dog's Tail which is also special!) is Quaking Grass which seems to be increasing slowly in the East Field. Easily overlooked as it is small and subtle.

Orchids @ 28th May

For some forgotten reason I always note the number of Common Spotted Orchids found by 28 May. This year it is a all-time high of 507 orchids. However I am not feeling that we are going to get anywhere near the 945 orchids (includes other species) found in 2023. We shall see. In that year there were only 369 Common Spotteds by 28 May but I think the season is a lot earlier this year. In 2023 we reached 529 orchids total by the 6 June so if we are ten days ahead of 2023 climate/weather wise that would make a lot of difference.

Heath Spotted Orchid

I suspect that there are a few Heath Spotted Orchids around but this is the first confirmed one. It is in flower and has all the right features - flower shape more rounded than the Common Spotted; flower lips blowsier with central lip much smaller and not protruding; pattern more speckled than strong loops; flower colour pale and paler smaller leaf spots. So far the non Common Spotted total; one Butterfly, one Green Winged, four Broad-leaved Helleborines and now one Heath spotted.

Lesser Horseshoe Bat back on site!

That makes it twelve years in a row that the male LH Bat is making its summer home in our shed. It is at least thirteen years old but quite likely older. Proud to have him around even if it keeps me out of the shed!

New Species - Oak Snakefly

I had an invertebrate expert come over to see what he could find on site and desdpite our day being curtailed by rain he found a lot of invertebrates. While I wait for confirmation of the species he noted I can show the species that he was most excited by - an Oak Snakefly. Snakeflies are apparently rarely seen as they spend their time high up in the tree canopy hunting aphids and mites. This one had conveniently come down to a hawthorn hedge and posed while I took photos. Impressive creatures and rarely recorded.

Playtime for the fox cubs

They were definitely enjoying themselves racing around, ambushing each other and dreaming of capturing birds.

Exciting new species - Green-winged Orchid

A Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio) was last seen on this part of The Narth in 1987 and one has appeared in flower in the West Field. It is a species I have longed to see here. I certainly spread a little seed last year but that can't have produced this flower as they take years to get to the flowering stage. I also did a few years ago but whether this is from introduced seed or buried seed we may never know. I suspect the latter because this is not an area I would have cast the see in and also it has been a good year for GWOs flowering as evidenced by the hundreds that have appeared close to Trellech that by coincidence I was looking at just before I found the one here.

Greater Butterfly Orchid

We first had a butterfly orchid in 2022 - just one. There were two in 2023, none in 2024 and one in 2025. Now one has appeared with just basal leaves at the moment. We can hope for another one but it is not all certain.

Fox cubs on the patio

Great fun last evening watching a couple of fox cubs on the patio and peering through our glass door with us standing the other side. I would say playing but at one point one of them caught a rabbit despite being quite small. Photo is of one of them hiding in the rhubarb patch.

Bluebells in our fields

The Bluebells are now out in profusion in all our fields. This is the West Field show. A lot of sources consider the Bluebell a woodland flower but it is outstandingly happy in our meadows. I suspect that it likes undisturbed ground and so has hung on in woodlands where the ground is less likely to be disturbed over the decade/centuries but it seems equally at home in undisturbed meadows.

Orchid update

We reached 277 orchids today and I've been trying to work out how this relates to previous years. It's not straightforward. The last few years have seen a peak of 945 orchids in 2023 followed by a crash to 312 in 2024 and a recovery to 723 last year. The numbers in the previous years at thgis date were 158 in the peak year, 128 in the crash year and 160 in the recovery year. Those numbers are not really that different when you consider the year totals which are so different. Also with weather changing and spring coming earlier year on year the extra 100 or so orchids could be explained through being a week or so ahead at this stage. So I am drawing no conclusions as to final numbers yet. Here's a photo of a clump of Common Spotted Orchids - eight in total.

It's Bluebell time

Following on from Wild Daffodil flowering we now have the Bluebells starting. Lots of the woodland and most of our fields will be a carpet of Bluebells very soon. Here's an example - actually close to Tintern rather than The Narth but worth a photo.

New Species - Redstart

I have seen Redstarts before but up in wild areas like Bannau Brechiniog. I was completely surprised to see one here - no photo I'm afraid. I checked and they had been seen in the area a few days previously.

Second fungus of 2025 - Turf Mottlegill

A couple fruiting in the West Field- these are essentially dung fungi so can occur in the Spring. They are very similar to the Brown Mottlegill but have a black spore print whereas the Brown Mottlegill has a very dark brown spore print.

Fox hunting rabbits

I guess it must be fox cubs back in the den that's causing it but there was a fox looking for prey in the day time which seems to occur at this time of year. I'm happy for a bit more control over the rabbit population although it is lower that it was before the mixy outbreak in late 2024, but foxes need surprise as they don't seem to have the speed needed.

First fungus of 2026

Often seen early in the year is the Fragrant Funnel (Clitocybe fragrans) which is easily indentifiable due to its strong aniseed smell. Just one small specimen in the East Field. (Old photo)

First Orchid rosette - 28th March

I think this is the earliest I have seen an orchid rosette - all previous funds were April or later. In fact today on the 29th I have seen five more. Whether that is weatrher related or an effect of climate change, or maybe just me getting better at spotting them I don't know. I can't really take it as a sign of a prolific year at this early stage.

Wild Daffodils

This year we have possibly the best show I've seen and just a few yards away in Manor Wood.

New Species - Black Snail Beetle

An invertebrate expert was on site today finding all sorts of tiny things under rocks. In the slightly larger category was a pair of Snail Beetles ( Phosphuga atrata) which were overwintering under a stone in the low wall in front of the house. He's coming back in April to find lots more invertebrates.

Frogspawn

Here and lots of it - certainly more than last year. I shall move some to the new pond although I am not certain that it is yet able to support tadpole development. I haven't seen a lot of frogs but they are definitely a few resident.

We've broken the 30 barrier...

The first time I've counted more than 30 fallow deer in one of our fields. I think they had been spooked by something as they looked a bit nervous - maybe a dog in the woods.

Intruiging DNA result

I sent off a dried portion of the suspected (very strongly by me) Bracken Plums and Custard (Tricholomopsis pteridicola) and have just got the results back. It turns out not to be that species, which to be fair has never been recorded in the UK, but only, I think in France and Spain. It has been returned as a yet undefined Tricholomopsis species which has been recorded once in Cornwall and once in Spain. It is probably the same as a couple of other finds in Wales some years ago that were not DNA tested but seem to be similar in field characteristics. So the next step is to send the remains of the dried specimen to the Kew fungarium and hope that a name and a definition emerges.

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.