Sparrow Terrace

With roof work taking place this summer I have been trying to provide the local Sparrows with nesting places that don't involve some areas of the roof. To that end a further six nest spaces have been provided to add to the four sparrow nests on the back of the house and the four Martin nests on the side of the house that have been commandeered by Sparrows. Fourteen nests should give them plenty of choice. It's so nice to have a noisy troupe of Sparrows around which has been the case for the last few years.

Frog spawn - after a couple of barren years

A nice sign was the appearance of some frogspawn in the older pond which has some water retention issues but enough water to attact a spawning frog. None in the newer pond which has some clay issues as in it is still settling down. Given that the spawn disappeared last time (2021) I am wondering whether I should take a little and rear the tadpoles elsewhere to improve the chances of tadpoles followed by adult frogs. I think I will.

Rooks

The Rook population is declining in Wales. I was surprised to see about 50 of them in our Oak trees this morning and I was hoping they might set up a Rookery here. But they had a look around, decided it wasn't a suitable location and cleared off.

Lots of Jelly Ear

This fungus favours dead or dying Elder wood and I have a lot of that. I just found a motherlode of this fungus whilst clearing some fallen Elder.

Hedge Planting

Our project to plant 100 + metres of hedging reached fruition this week. It achieves several objectives - connecting hedges in the village with Manor Woods below our fields, hedging the boundaries on the South Field and helping to recover overgrown areas of the field. Native hedging of course; Hawthorn, Field Maple, Goat Willow, Dog Rose, Blackthorn and Hazel with a few Wild Cherry trees as well. Should be looking good in five years or so.

First fungi of the year

I saw two fruiting species in the East Field yesterday so I have started my list for 2023. One was a Meadow Waxcap that had somehow survived the frosts and reacted to the milder weather. The other was the Fragrant Funnel (Clitocybe fragrans) with its distinctive strong aniseedy smell. Photo is the Funnel.

Sycamore conversion

The Sycamore that dropped a branch onto my neighbour's car and then dropped another branch the following year which missed his car by inches has been made safe. I opted to 'veteranise' the tree rather thanremove it mostly or entirely. More expensive but it sets out to create wildlife habitat through retaining the main part of the tree and creating some cuts and holes for wildlife to hibernate or nest in. There are also two large bruish piles that will also be useful for wildlife. The photo is the tree most of the way through the process.