New Species - Spring Fieldcap

I knew it was something I hadn't seen before when I found this fungus in the rough grass I laughingly call a lawn. With some help I can confidently identify it as Spring Fieldcap (Agrocybe praecox), a common spring species that is probably based on some wood in the grassland. The small ring on the stipe is one of its features and the brown spore print also distinctive.

First 7-Spot Ladybird of the year

There was two or three in the field - good to see when a lot of Ladybirds are of the Harlequin invasive variety.

Red and white in tooth and claw

I mentioned the two white rabbits last month and there is a definite thought that they might be more vulnerable to predation, particularly from a Buzzard or Goshawk. This morning I saw a dog fox kill a white rabbit in broad daylight. I assumed that it was one of the two born last month but this afternoon I saw the original two in their usual feeding place and a further, smaller white rabbit also. I am now assuming it was one of the younger, less street-wise white rabbits that was taken. Th fox picked it up and took it down into the woodlqand, presumably as food for some cubs.

A Twayblade appears.....

Not a new species as for the last two years we have had a single Twayblade - but not the same one. For the third year in a row a single Twayblade has appeared but again nowhere near where the other two came up. I'm hoping a second one comes up this year and then we might get some serious Twayblade pollination going on.

Common Spotted Orchids 2021

There is definitely an increase in Common Spotted Orchid rosettes at this point - a huge increase in the South Field and increases in the other fields too. Last year we had 146 rosettes showing by 26 April - this year it is 256. However I am not expecting a 75% increase in Orchids overall or anything close to that. First of all 75 of the 109 increase is in the South Field where the number at this stage has gone from 19 rosettes to 94 rosettes this year. Increases in the other fields are much more modest. Secondly the extended dry spell may be preventing further plants from coming up this year. Thirdly there is no reason to expect a similar increase in Broad Leaved Helleborines. Why the South Field has more than four times as many rosettes showing as last year I have absolutely no idea!

Bad week for the birds

The untimely death of one of our Crows has been followed by a blackbird deserting a nest with two eggs in it. It was my inadvertent fault as I went into a barn to retrieve some metal cages used to protect the orchids from predation by rabbits and deer. The blackbird had foolishly built a nest at the back of the barn supported by a stack of cages. Although I didn't remove any cages close to the nest she was disturbed by my prescence and abandoned it. Hopefully she will be able to start again. Update 23 April - the female blackbird is back on the nest - has she laid fresh eggs?

New Species - Dog's Mercury

Although it is pretty common in the woodland around here, I have not seen any Dog's Mercury (mercurialis perennis) in our small wooded areas. There is a patch however which has appeared on the footpath above our South Field so that is now another new species for the site.