A stoat....!

 This video of a stoat was captured by my son-in-law whilst he was taking a coffee break where he was working in Berkshire. He said the stoat was after a mouse. I have seen the same stoat behaviour here, but have never managed to film it!

Sulphur Tuft or Honey Fungus?

 I popped out to pick a handful of runner beans yesterday; the weather is atrocious. It’s Storm Alex all over this weekend and we have had several weeks worth of rain in three days. I imagine that the dampness has triggered this amazing flush of toadstool growth, which I am certain was not there two days ago because I had then been standing sticks there, and would have noticed. 

I’ve looked it up and am slightly confused as to which of these it is but am leaning now to the Honey Fungus diagnosis.

Sulphur Tuft it is the most common UK fungus and is poisonous. 

Honey Fungus is “endemic in UK woodland”, not poisonous but considered to be disastrous

The fungus is growing on beech; in fact this is part of an enormous and ancient bole that has spread over several yards diameter. 

My Runner Beans

 Here are my runner beans, which have been spectacular after a rather shaky start. 

The first thing I did wrong was to plant them out too early in March - I got caught out by a late frost and it really set them back, I thought they were all dead. I planted two more seeds at each pole, and they developed fast and overtook the frosted ones. Also, SOMETHING started biting off the lower bean leaves and trying to drag them through the netting; several plants were killed like that. I assumed it was mice and searched for a remedy. Holly leaves, somebody said. That was an excellent idea, we have plenty and I put a good layer all across the bottom of my “beanery”. That stopped the damage!

I’m glad now that I planted so many - it was my own saved organic seed and we have had tons of beans and given away loads.  The plot they are in is a very old, very deep bed of horse manure. It has simply become earth;  easy to dig and holds the moisture so well that I hardly had to do any watering at all.

In the picture you can see the last of the potatoes which I had just dug - they’ve been good, too.

The crab apple tree down our lane

 This lovely old crab apple tree is absolutely laden this year, as are our domestic apple trees and indeed everything seems to be producing a huge crop. Holly, hazel, hawthorn, sloe, oak etc. 

These little apples will all be on the ground soon. I made Crab Apple jelly some years ago, so may be it’s time for another batch. Not too difficult because you don’t have to peel them!

I saw a hare this evening...

 It was casually hopping up our driveway - I had frozen as I noticed it and it didn’t appear to see me at all. It turned off before it reached me, onto our neighbour’s drive. I crept around the corner to see where it had gone but it saw me immediately and dashed away into the undergrowth.

It was quite pale, but seemed to have a lot of black on its ears.

I found out what’s eating the hedgehog food..... it’s a hedgehog!

 He or she is coming every night and seems to like the little handful of “Spike’s” hedgehog food.

Palmate Newt

Clearing weeds around our ancient granite stone trough I came across this little chap.  As is often in the summer, the trickle of natural water that feeds the trough has stopped, leaving the trough full of still water. Frogs sit in it, under a great growth of hartstongue and male fern. There are old stone walls on two sides, which make for many cool and shaded crevices for the wildlife.

A Hibernating Dormouse

It's 2020. May. Lockdown. Strange, weird times.

Oh well. And, I rather give up on routine blogging. However, I have some things to post so will start again...

Sometime in the middle of March 2020  I went to the greenhouse to get seed trays, lifted one up and found this little creature in the one below! So sweet! I have never seen a dormouse before. What a strange place to hibernate.
I touched it and it breathed very obviously for a second or two and then resumed this torpor-like state. Carefully replacing the upper tray I fetched my camera and took this photo, and then started a bit of research into Dormouse UK.
I registered ‘my’ dormouse, found out a lot more about them and had a very interesting email exchange with the Dormouse Officer at the People's Trust for Endangered Species.
Dormice are obviously thriving here. We have many very old thick clumps of hazel (full name is Hazel Dormouse) ;  I see the evidence on the way the nuts are eaten. I didn't know that they are mostly arboreal.

A day at the beach

We went to Putsborough on a rather cloudy but mild September day. Beautiful - quiet, unspoilt, safe - perfect for children, and the child in me took my lovely old spade and made a sandcastle. The rock formations and sand pools are amazing and I poked about in the strand line, picking up driftwood and strangely patterned stones.

Our Spotted Flycatchers

They're here every year - late in building the nest, compared to other birds. It all starts in July, but the speed with which they complete the nest, lay the eggs and raise their babies is astonishing!! I took these pictures today of the last youngster to fledge - it just sat on the edge of the nest, looking at me. I think there were four or five there yesterday. The nests are always built about 6 - 7 feet from the ground, on the sheltered and shaded side of a wall or building. Just as well; this year the parent was sitting on the eggs in record breaking temperatures. We had some rain last week, just enough to fill up the water butts and now we're right back in the heatwave.