Blow wells and signs of spring

A rare sight this - the ancient blow wells in our local town full to the brim. The anglo-saxon church in the background is on a small, circular enclosure and so the blow well was their source of water and is probably the main reason for the town's origional existence. Sad then that a combination of over-abstraction of ground water, but mostly a poorly-designed drainage system makes this an extremely rare sight.


Apparently once the domain of the mighty great-crested newt, I would guess they are now long-gone, as it is normally nothing but a puddle. Surely a prime candidate for some restoration work on such an important part of the town's history, but no doubt the town council will want to spend the money on planting primulas on the roundabout instead.



once the domain of dragons

Along the river bank, coltsfoot are unfolding their sunny faces to the skies. Spring is here.

Coltsfoot. The absolute lack of other flowers at this time magnifies their beauty.

Alien Invaders

While checking out a local drain for water voles I found this 50m stretch of water fern. The plant is from subtropical America and my book says "carpets still fresh water". This stuff would be a nightmare to get rid of if it got in the nearby clay pits SSSI's - probably impossible to get rid of completely and definitely expensive.




The latest alien to arrive

Judging from the crap people throw in the hedgerows here (it has the unfortunate luck of being next to the council tip - closed on wednesdays where upon people just dump it here instead), I guess someone just emptied their garden pond into the ditch. It's about time alien aquatics like this are simply banned from sale. People are just not responsible enough to be trusted, or maybe slap a tax on all sales of non-natives based on potential costs of erradication. I wonder what else is in there - snapping turtle perhaps?

Amphibian Invasion

Last year, the first spawn clump appeared in my pond. This year it appears that frogs have arrived in force. First appearance around March 8th, and today there are at least 3 females and 15 males, and quite possibly many more hiding in the hornwort.


male and female common frog in amplexus

Two clumps of spawn and around 3 females/males in amplexus, with several wrestling matches ongoing. The females in amplexus had not yet released their spawn and were moving around the pond alot. It could be that they are not happy with their current mate and are searching for one able to wrestle him off.






males waiting hopefully for a successful interception .....

Hopefully some tadpoles will reach metamorphosis this year, but predator numbers are also high in the pond, with several smooth newts present along with many dragonfly larvae, so on the face of it, the chances are not good. Maybe I'll just have to dig them another pond.



A healthy amphibian population with large breeding pond, areas of rough grass, meadow and hedgerow. Can a garden get any better than this?.

Adder Emergence and a Close Shave

The local adders are now emerging from hibernation. They are all males - black stripe on top and diamonds on sides; black-outlined rostral scale (nose); gently tapering tail. At this time of the year males are often mis-identified as females as the background colour is quite brown. The brown background colour should be ignored. They are due to slough their skins soon whereupon the males will become more black and grey.

They are out getting some heat to help sperm development........mating season approaches.

Hope to get some photos of them post-slough (april-ish), along with some females.



At this time of the year, the males are just outside their hibernacula




Check out the smoothly tapering tail




Stripes are quite black in the male




Note the black outline on the rotral scale (nose). Some nice blue flecks on the side of this male.

One of the hibernacula had a rather close shave from the strimmer crew. It looks to me like some mis-communication, as forest enterprise know where the hibernation site is, but the strimmer crew obviously didn't.


hibernacula with damage caused by brash strimmer crew

Socks and Nightjars

I enjoy waiting for churring nightjars. You can take in the silence and view the stars while the mist rises over the heath. Very atmospheric. There's also the supporting cast while you wait. Last night I was treated to a high-flying noctule bat, roding woodcock, and competing cuckoos, but alas, no long eared owls this year.

Having watched Bill Oddie and his hankerchief-waving antics on BBC's Springwatch, I thought I would try the same. I don't stock hankies however, and the laundry basket was devoid of anything white except my white socks looking slightly not-so-white having been round several meadows the previous day.

After the first bout of churring from his usual tree, a rapid double-flick and whip-like 'crack' of the sock had him coming to investigate, circling within 4 meters showing the white wing and tail flashes. After a few circuits, he left for more churring, but more likely due to the strong sock odour.

In summary, if out on the heath and handkerchief-less, I can fully recommend the sock method.

Surprise Demoiselle

Yet another hunt for rare orchids around some local limewoods came to nought. However, there's always the possibility of the unexpected and bumping into this banded demoiselle at a forest pool was a pleasant surprise.

banded demoiselle

banded demoiselle

banded demoiselle

They normally like slow flowing rivers, so what it was doing here, I know not.

banded demoiselle

Less suprising were the large red damselflies which are now appearing.

large red damselfly

I knew a common lizard liked basking in this spot, so I spent some time slowly creeping into position. At one point, several young were basking with her.

common lizard

common lizard

These long-horn beetles looked quite exotic on the umbelifer flower heads

long horn beetle

long horn beetle

First Darter

Another new dragonfly species emerging from the recently designated Bannister Wetlands National Nature Reserve today (hell any puddle can get designated nowadays).

This common darter was drying out in the meadow. That makes 3 species of damselfly and 2 of dragons up to now. No frog spawn seems to survive and I'm beginning to wonder if the large dragonfly larva population and lack of tadpoles in the pond are connected?


Common darter female