Another ex grass snake

This the third time I have found a dead grass snake - all of them largish adults. It is perhaps good news that they clearly are resident here despite lack of suitably sized ponds around although next door has a small one. I have also seen live ones it's fair to say. This one had bad injuries and the obvious explanation is that I had been cutting the field earlier a few metres away. Next doors cat was also around and there are other candidates as I did see an animal run away from the site of the snake but couldn't tell what it was - cat, stoat??

Ragwort patch mini-habitat

Looking at the translocated Cinnabar Moth larvae I had a chance to notice the comings and goings on the Ragwort patch. The first thing I spotted was three tiny Cinnabar larvae in addition to the original six (not four as previously stated). They must have been translocated as eggs or very tiny caterpillkars that I hadn't spotted. I also had regular vists from two Hoverflies, both of which had been recorded before - The Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus) and the Glass-winged Syrphus (Syrphus vitripennis). The latter can be difficult to distinguish from S. ribesii but between the excellent Hoverfly book and Steven Falk's photos online the ID becomes clear. There was also a mining bee but so far no ID on that. Another difficult area is Mining Bees! Photo of the male Glass-winged Syrphus clearly showing the colouring on the rear femur that distinguishes it from S. ribesii.

Cinnabar Moth larvae

I leave some Ragwort to flower to accommodate Cinnabar moth larvae but I haven't seen any of the distinctive caterpillars for a few years although I did spot an adult in flight last July. Whilst at a friend's house in the next village I was shown scores of the caterpillars so I was able to take four and restock our site. They are now happily feeding away from the crowded Ragworts where they came from.

Another Bolete - Scarletina Bolete

This proved a little difficult to nail down although I have seen it before locally. Similar to the previous bolete so I had to list the candidates and then check against that list. There have been name changes and Kibby also says it is a poorly defined species and doesn't include it but basically it is the Scaletina Bolete (Neoboletus luridiformis) which has some distinctive colour changes when bruised and cut.

My favourite butterfly appears

I didn't record the Marbled White last year and hadn't seen it this year until this week. I was concerned about their viability as theyt do keep local. In faqct I still am until I see some more individuals. Also seen today was a Comma and in fact we are already at 12 species in 2025 versus 9 species last year. Still nowhere near the 18 or so species I recorded a few years ago but there is time yet. Old photo of Marbled White.

New pond construction - attempt #3

The second pond in the North Field was designed to make up for the first pond losing most of its water due to the lining being torn - those badgers have sharp claws! To avoid using a liner I went for a clay based lining bvut the initial build didn't hold water sufficiently so a second attempt involved lots and lots of clay. This also didn't do the trick with the suspicion that it was leaking slowly out of the uphill bank of the pond. So attampt number 3 is to dig out most of the clay, lay a pond underlay (double thickness), then a puncture resistant liner, then clay on that. Also I now have a feed from the roof of the woodshed to provide enough water in the summer. So far its working although there is still some tidying up to do. It will hopefully provode a suitable habitat for tadpoles next year and also of course newts and dragonflies.

Orchid update

I think the orchid season here is coming to a close - I haven't spotted any new ones today or yesterday. The total is 723 orchids which is a huge increase of 132% on last year's meagre 312. However it is fewer than the totals in 2021,2022 and our best year 2023 when we had 945 orchids. One good aspect is that @othyer' orchids (ie those that are not Common Spotted) increased from just 8 last year to 21 this year. Again this is fewer that the Other Orchid totals for 2019 onwards. The big change is in the number of Broad-leaved Helleborines over those years - we had 42 of that species alone in 2021. The good news in this category is the 5 Bee Orchids, the 4 Heath-spotted Orchids and the reappearance of a single Butterfly Orchid and a single Twayblade. Six species of Orchid is brilliant.