New Species - hidden in plain sight

In retrospect it seems bizarre that I didn't spot the Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris) as it is 2m tall and very big all round. My excuse is that I assumed it was Hogweed which is found spread throughout The Beeches. This is close by the Fleabane in the wetter part of the site and is another indication that our most damaged field is recovering well.

Fleabane back in numbers

A couple of Fleabane plants appeared a couple of years ago in the dampish corner of the field that I was restoring from its previous use as a quad bike track. I let them flower and seed and now I have a whole patch of more than twenty plants all in a tight area.

Orchid total reaches 123

A surprise with two Broad-leaved helleborines found in the meadow area of the West Field. Last year there was one helleborine under a tree in that field but it became the site of a major rabbit excavation and so has not reappeared. With these two last additions to the orchid count the 2016 total is 123, a massive rise on the count last year of 63. 120 of those were Common Spotted Orchids and just 3 were helleborines.

New species - Red-legged Partridge

I spotted this on our garden wall this evening. I have seen them in the area but generally on farmers' fields and not here at The Beeches before. Cool looking bird.

Almost a herd....

We usually get Fallow Deer in ones or twos, occasionally threes but five came skittering through today.

New species close by - Adder

No photo but a few weeks ago I disturbed a snake sunning itself at the edge of the field in front of the house. It slipped into my neighbour's garden and I didn't see enough to ID it although it was bigger and moved faster than a slow worm. Yesterday my neighbour found an adder 'digesting' in his wood shed so I think that explains my sighting.

Third waxcap species in July......

I expect the earliest waxcaps sometime in August but so far despite the long dry spell in July there have been three species that I would expect in September onwards. The last one is this Fibrous Waxcap (Hygrocybe intermedia) mashed up by my mower following H. citrinovirens and the rare H. ingrata earlier. Now it has been raining the last couple of days there may be some coming through shortly.