On 26 July, whilst James was in the car park and before he started work, he spotted a common lizard basking in the sun on the chippings. It scampered off before he had chance to get a photo. Insect life this year is much reduced with very few species seen in this period until August when there was an increase. Insects included speckled wood, meadow brown (most common), skipper, yellow shell, grass veneers, small heath, several of the stunning common swollen thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis). These are false oil beetles, also known as thick-legged flower ...

The trees have slowly come back into leaf and there has been lots of blossom since March. The first chiff chaff was heard on the 20 March and the first swallow was seen flying over on 14th April. The first orange wing (a male) was seen on the 18th April – coinciding with the flowering of the Cardamine pratensis (also known as cuckoo flower, lady’s smock, mayflower, or milkmaid) which is its lava’s main food plant. This plant species is very abundant here and so are these pretty butterflies. You can spot the eggs if you look carefully. They star...

Over the last few weeks, we have been busy making ash trees safe which has meant felling some of the larger trees. Sadly, we have quite a bit of ash die back but many of the trees are still healthy. We replace any that die with a different species. Over the winter months we had a varied mixture of temperatures and weather conditions but predominantly mild. There was just one very cold spell lasting several days and included some snow. The pond iced over for a few days. The abundance of berries and apples earlier in the season was popular with the small f...