New species at the bird feeders

Two new species in fact - first Grey Squirrels who have found the feeders after more than two years and are a daily nuisance starting at dawn. They are a pain for us but worse for the birds was the Sparrowhawk that visited this afternoon and took one of the young Blue Tits. I know that the Sparrowhawk has its own family to feed but I feel a bit bad providing a breakfast bar for Sparrowhawks (see picture above). I think now that it's summer the birds will have to manage on their own for a bit until the Squirrels and Sparrowhawk look elsewhere.

Marsh Bedstraw

I have just one spot where I found Marsh Bedstraw about three years ago. I am always amazed at how a very little management makes such a great difference to flowers. Give them the opportunity and they will spread. A few plants three years ago is now a big bed of this delicate Bedstraw, so much nicer than the gross, blowsey Cleavers (aka Goose Grass).

Banded demoiselle

I spotted this rather fetching damselfly whilst walking in a field close to the Wye. The photo is a bit ropey )just snapped on the phone) but the insect was stunning. It's a new Odonatid for me.

Orchid milestone

Today I found my hundredth 2016 orchid here at The Beeches. Ninety nine of them are Common Spotted Orchids and one is a Broad-leaved Helleborine. A great result for wildlife management as is shown by the graph above. Starting in 2011 with 14 orchids and only 11 in 2012 we have therefore achieved a nine-fold increase in six years. The managemnt in fact consists only of two things - cutting for hay after the orchids have flowered and protecting the orcids from predation by rabbits. Now that we have reached 100 I think I may not bother any more with the rabbit protection.

Pond action

There was lots of Dragonfly action in the pond recently with multiple mating pairs of Azure Damselflies (photo above) and a couple of Broad-Bodied Chasers as well. Even more exciting was the newt that made a brief appearance. I wasn't expecting a newt to find this small pool some distance from any other standing water. I thought frogs were much more likely but no sign of them this year.

Jay vs Woodpecker (Round 2)

I find the Corvids a hugely entertaining group of birds and saw another example recently. In August 2013 I reported on (and photographed) a passing Jay which gratuitously flew at a Greater Spotted Woodpecker perched on the very top of a Larch tree and had several goes at trying to frighten it/dislodge it. The Woodpecker, despite the disparity in size, blanked it and stood firm and after a while the Jay gave up and flew off. The recent confrontation took place on our feeding station which is visible from the bed. I woke up to see a Jay perched just above the feeder that had a Greater Spotted feeding from it. The Jay stood there looking at the Woodpecker from a distance of about six inches and was ignored. After a while the Jay just dropped onto the Woodpecker who flew off as the Jay dropped all the way to the top of the wall below. The Woodpecker flew straight back as if nothing had happened and started feeding again. The Jay pretended he wanted to be on the wall and had found some interesting stuff there then flew off. Round 2 to the Woodpecker

More Damselfly action

I managed to get a picture of a male and female Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) and also came to the conclusion that I probably didn't see a Common Blue Damselfly after all as there were only Azure Damselflies at the pond today. The photo is of the Large Reds mating.