Colin's Wildflower Meadow - and a new book on local walks

Greetings, folks! 

In 2018, Colin Carr, with the aid of our chairman Brian, seeded part of his paddock with wildflowers. The results are nothing short of wonderful, as you can see from the delightful photos that Colin has submitted. 

Colin's wildflower patch - Blackfordby

 Here are some of the beautiful wildflowers it contains.

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) - Colin's Wildflower Meadow

Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense) (white form) - Colin's Wildflower Meadow

Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) - Colin's Wildflower Meadow

Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare) - Colin's Wildflower Meadow

I suspect that everyone knows by now that bees, and many other invertebrates, are perilously declining in numbers, largely due to farming methods and also through loss of habitat to human occupation. I have heard it said, on many an occasion, that if bees disappear the human race will soon follow. It is my belief that we should all be looking for ways to provide places for insects to thrive - whether we have a large plot of land, like Colin, or just a 'postage stamp' sized garden, or even just the ability to have a window box.

Many people are trying to persuade local councils to stop mowing verges and allow wildflowers to re-take posession - unless there's a safety issue - thereby doing something towards saving the planet, and money too! 

Next time you get frustrated by persistent Dandelions, please remember that they're great for wildlife. Take joy from a verge filled with Dandelions - or even Dandelions in your lawn. In fact, consider the possibilities of converting your lawn into a relatively maintenance-free flower meadow.

 

Colin also sent in a photo of a Squirrel dray at the edge of his meadow.  I'm not about to get into the pros and cons of Grey Squirrels here!

Squirrel dray - Colin's Paddock

Colin also kindly notified Brian and I of a short 'e-book' produced by local walker, Mark White, covering local walks in West Ashby. Mark has kindly given permission for me to publicise it here. If you are interested, it's available free-of-charge in .pdf format by emailing Mark at walkingwestashby@gmail.com

 
Take great care, and stay safe. We'll meet again someday - unlike Vera Lynn, I suspect I know where - I just don't know when!

Frog Ramp!

Greetings, everyone! I hope that you are all well and have been managing to enjoy local wildlife.

Colin Carr has kindly sent in some photos of a project that should be of benefit to some of the wildlife that visits his garden pond. I'll let Colin take up the story.

"The stuff you get up to in lockdown. Had the idea for a frog ramp so the new ones can get out of the pond.

Blackfordby's super wood worker Stephen Sinfield  kindly put together one for us. But even before we could see if it worked a frog decided to take a dip first.  

The last image (taken two days later) shows it is already a huge success with the tadpoles which appreciate the shallow water it provides."

 

My Thanks to Colin for the above.

Garden ponds are of great benefit to wildlife, and the well-known Butterfly Brothers have recently stated that, if asked to nominate the most important feature required to make a garden wildlife-friendly, thay always reply - a garden pond.

My wife has a frog phobia so our 2 metre deep koi pond got filled in about 15 years ago and we've not had a pond since, in spite of my hankering to have a wildlife pond, as it would encourage frogs.

I hope, however, that we have now found a solution. For my birthday next month, I expect a delivery of a kit to make a free-standing pond with half-metre high walls with an overhanging lip. This will, hopefully, then be frog-free in deference to Mrs P's fears, but will attract other wildlife - I'm hoping for dragons and damsels! As with Colin's pond, and as recommended by the Butterfly Brothers, this will have a ramp to enable anything falling into the pond to climb out. I'll probably report on progress in due course.

In the meantime, take great care and stay safe - and look after the wildlife out there.

Richard Pegler

Some Moths from Colin, Sallie, and Brian

Group members Colin Carr and Sallie Corfield, and our chairman Brian Hammond have sent in some photos of moths that they've caught in the moth traps, or in his conservatory in Colin's case!

Here's Colin's rather beautiful moth:-

Small Magpie (Eurryhypara hortulata) - Blackfordby

 Here are Sallie's - I'm very envious of the Poplar Hawk-moth, Sallie, as I've never caught one!

Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) - Blackfordby

Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) - Blackfordby

Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica) (male) - Blackfordby

Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) - Blackfordby

Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) - Blackfordby

Here are Brian's moths:-

Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) - Blackfordby

Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) - Blackfordby

Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus) (male) - Blackfordby

Gold Spot (Plusia festucae) - Blackfordby

I finish this off with a fly, rather than a moth, from Brian. This fly looks more ferocious than it is! 

St Marks Fly (Bibio marci) - Blackfordby

Thank you, Colin, Sallie, and Brian for your much-appreciated contributions.

I hope that everyone is staying safe and well. I think that the next blog post will feature some work that Colin Carr has been doing with the aid of Stephen Sinfield!

Some Photos From Brian and Min

Firstly, my apologies for not posting on the blog for a while - I have been a bit busy and otherwise preoccupied. These photos were received a few days ago from our Chairman, Brian Hammond, and from group member Min Bell. My thanks for your much-appreciated contributions.

Here are Brian's photos, which are of shieldbugs. Brian also noted:- "Lot's of Green Shieldbugs (Palomena prasina) around at the moment. Haven't got a good picture from this year yet but here is one from 2019. Woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimusis) is tiny only 4-5mm. A very pretty small bug with a long name it was a devil to photograph as it wouldn't stay still. It also feeds on White Deadnettle & there is lots of that around Blackfordby at the moment."

Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) (adult) - Blackfordby

Woundwort Shieldbug  (Eysarcoris venustissimusis) (adult) - Blackfordby

I have noted these as being 'adult' as shieldbugs, like many other beetles, bugs, etc. have several 'instars' before achieving adulthood, with the instars looking somewhat different to adults. You can find an excellent ID guide to shieldbugs here:-  https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/idcards/life_stages.html.

Min's contribution also came with a brief note:- "I don't have a good enough camera for garden birds. These starlings are very cheeky! And the blackbirds are nesting next door. The footballer was also obliging." - Sorry, Min, but I have to disagree with you about the standard of your camera - these photos are delightful!

"Starling queuing for grub" - Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) - Blackfordby

"Hen Blackbird also waiting" - Blackbird (Turdus merula) (female) - Blackfordby

Min also photographed this hoverfly which has a very apt common name!

The Footballer (Helophilus hybridus) - Blackfordby

That's all for this post. I have some more of Brian's photos waiting for a future blog post.

In the meantime, take great care and stay safe - - - Richard

April Wildflowers - From Brian

Our Chairman, Brian,  has been photographing wildflowers again, in his garden and in some nearby locations.

This first one is an introduced species.

White Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) - Blackfordby

This next one also is not a native wildflower, but a garden escape.

Honesty (Lunaria annua) - Blackfordby

Variegated Yellow Archangel is a British native but the plants in Blackfordby are probably garden escapes as they are regularly grown in gardens.

Variegated Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum (Galeobdolon) luteum) - Blackfordby

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) - Blackfordby

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) - Blackfordby

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) - Blackfordby

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) - Blackfordby

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - Blackfordby

May blossom (Crataegus monogyna) - Blackfordby

Red Campion (Silene dioica) - Blackfordby

Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) - Blackfordby

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) - Blackfordby

Groundsel - (Senecio vulgaris) - Blackfordby

Field Pansy (Viola arvensis) (pale form) - Blackfordby

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg.) - Blackfordby

The 'agg.' bit in the scientific name given above for the Dandelion is an indication that it has not been possible to tie the identification down to a fully specific level. Brian notes that "there are 210 different sub-species that are almost impossible to separate".

Thank you, Brian, for these photos with ID information.

I'm not sure, at this stage, what the next blog post will feature. In the meantime, stay safe, stay well, and stay at home! 

Richard

Notes and Photos from Sallie

Brian and I have had an email from group member Sallie Corfield to say that, having been furloughed from work this week, she is spending more time in her garden. 

I'll let Sallie explain the following photos in her own words by 'cut & pasting' them from her email.

"The photo of the blackbird nest is from my back garden, apologies for the poor quality, I was trying to be really quick when the bird was off the nest so I didn’t disturb her. The nest is tucked into some ivy growing on the fence."

Blackbird (Turdus merula) eggs in nest - Sallie's Blackfordby garden

"The other two photos are my front garden which I decided last year to stop mowing. Last year we had just grasses which I cut just once in September and have left to its own devices. This year so far we’ve had a lot of lesser celandine, lots of dandelions, green alkanet, honesty and now loads of cuckoo flower has appeared! I’m really looking forward to seeing what else appears."

the benefits of  'wilding' a lawn - Sallie's Blackfordby garden

"I’ve also got a patch of the back garden which I intend to leave unmown from this year onwards. Just shows how quickly wildflowers can colonise and that you don’t really need to do much or spend any money to create better habitat at home really easily. It would be great to encourage group members to leave bits of the garden to go wild and see what appears. "

I think that this is a brilliant idea, Sallie, and will be of great benefit to invertebrates, with the knock-on effect of assisting the birds with a food supply too.  Thank you for sharing this.

Last year, I made plans to convert my lawn to a flower meadow for the very same reasons. However, events overtook me and have done so again this year! 

I have been keen to let the Dandelions grow in the lawn (and the rest of the garden) this year, but I have also mown from time to time. I have noticed that, when the grass is relatively short, the birds (mainly Starlings, House Sparrows, and Dunnocks, but other birds too) like to peck at the lawn looking for leatherjackets, worms and insects. This got me wondering if I should shelve my plans to lose the lawn and just concentrate on insect-friendly plants in the garden. Sallie's intiative has caused me to rethink my ideas and I suspect that our lawn will now be a 'half and half' - half mown and half left to grow (with possibly a few wildflower seeds scattered on it to help with the process).

Thank you, Sallie, for your inspiration. Stay safe and healthy, and keep your ideas and photos coming, please.

Brian - your wildflowers will be in the next blog post!

Take good care everyone - - - Richard

Mating Red Mason Bees

Brian has forwarded to me an image kindly sent in by group member Melinda Bell. It shows a pair of Red Mason Bees (I hope I've got the ID correct!) mating. At first I wondered if this was an act of aggression, rather than love as I (a total novice as far as bees are concerned) was quite surprised by the relative positions. However, it seems that these bees might justifiably be called Missionary Bees. The female can be recognised as the one underneath as the 'horns' (the reason for the scientific name) on her all-black head are clearly visible, and the male has white tufts on his head.

Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis) (pair mating) - Ashby de la Zouch garden

Thank you Min for sending this in - I've learned something new (but, at my age, will probably forget it again in no time flat!)

I suspect that the next blog post will feature more of Brian's wildflower images.

Stay safe and well - - - Richard