Roadside flora

The warm weather in the last few days has encouraged more wild flowers to burst into bloom and some are really stunning, like this patch of Honesty.

When the flowers finish and dry out, the seed pods are a translucent circle that looks a bit like cellophane. Popular with florists for interesting displays.

Another flower I have seen appear recently along the verges is the common vetch, a member of the pea family. It has nitrogen fixing nodes and is grown for animal fodder and as a soil fertiliser.

The glossy, arrow shaped leaves of the Lords and Ladies, also known by various other names, such as Adam and Eve, Cuckoo pint and Jack in the Pulpit, have flower spikes which are beginning to unfurl. The appearance of the unfurled flower has led it to have some quite bawdy names, but in the autumn the fruit is a spike of orange berries which are quite attractive. 

Some recent garden visitors

Spending more time than usual in our garden recently has given me the opportunity to record some of the recent visitors, which have been quite varied.

This seven spot ladybird this made a welcome visit as so often the ladybirds we see in our gardens now are of the Harlequin type, an invasive species from  Asia. The latter out compete our native insects and will eat their larvae and eggs too.

We often come across slow worms in our garden and we have seen both tiny young and adults this week. They are neither worms not snakes as some think, but legless lizards. They can live for an average of 20 years and they don't tend to stray far from where they were born, perhaps an area of 200sq m. They particularly like warm spots to live in, such as a compost heap. You can attract them by providing a piece of corrugated iron laid on the ground in a sunny spot. Females incubate the eggs in their bodies and give birth to about 8 live which are about 4cm in length, like this one on the left. The adults, like the one on the right, can grow up to 50 cm.

 









The birds are getting very active now that spring is here and one bird that is calling loudly at the moment is the nuthatch. This is a very agile woodland bird that can work its way up and down as well as backwards and sideways along a trunk or branch, collecting insects in summer and retrieving nuts that it has hidden in cracks in the bark during winter.

It is a territorial bird and prefers woodland and gardens with mature trees, especially oak and beech.

Wildflowers that are often ignored

Whilst most of us will notice the primroses and bluebells that appear at this time of the year there are many other flowers that won't often get seen but are worth a closer look.

Here are a few I have noticed while out on my daily walk around 
the local lanes in the last few days.


Flowers such as the Herb Robert, which is from the geranium family and is also known as Stinky Bob! It is edible and has a number of medicinal uses. To find out more click here

This flowers from spring to late summer and likes shady spots so can easily be missed. Look closely around the lanes now and you should find some about.

The cow parley, also known as Queen Anne's Lace, it is beginning to appear now and there is always a good show of it in the Meade. It is so common that it rarely gets a second glance but it is an important food source for hoverflies, bees and other insects. It also has a number of medicinal uses, including as a mosquito repellent!
To find out more click here

The White dead nettle is flowering along the hedge banks now and will continue to do so right up until the end of the year. As the name suggests it is a nettle but it doesn't sting and actually has quite an attractive flower if you take the time to look at it more closely and again is an important source of nectar for bees and other insects.

Click here for further information.

Lastly, a pretty, small  blue flower, the speedwell. This one seen along the roadside verges at the moment is a Germander speedwell. There are various other speedwells but this is probably the commonest one. For the gardeners amongst you , this is a type of Veronica but not one you would probably deliberately grow in the garden.

For more details click here



If you are also walking the lanes to get some exercise during the current lockdown, why not start a list of the wild flowers you see as you go along. I find it interesting to compare the dates I see the first ones in flower and then compare from year to year.

Mammal day

Another cool but sunny morning for my daily walk today and I never met another soul on foot in the hour or so I was out, until I popped into the village shop. How lucky we are to have such a wonderful local service especially in such difficult times!

I decided to concentrate on mammals today as I was lucky enough to see a pair of roe deer resting in the sunshine. I was upwind of them so I spent some time watching them looking very relaxed. They only looked up when a lorry went passed but just ignored me watching them from the roadside. Sorry if they look a bit washed out but I was looking into the sun!

Nearby there was one very big rabbit, which was much more twitchy, though that may have been because it is a spot where a fox often patrols, although I didn't see it today.

I've not seen as many rabbits in the fields recently, but the spring sunshine seems to be to their liking and no doubt there will be more about soon.

The last mammal of the walk that I saw was a grey squirrel, busily digging up some food from a winter stash. He was well camouflaged and quite a way off but I think you can spot him here with a very bushy tail.

Whilst I didn't see any badgers, a largely nocturnal mammal, there is plenty of evidence of their presence as can be seen from this newly excavated access point to a local sett!

Random birds seen and heard last in the days of March

The Chiffchaff have continued to arrive on migration in good numbers over the last week or so and they can be heard all round the village, including at Underway Meade. I tried to get a photo of one but they always seem to be obscured by twigs as they sit up fairly high in a bush or tree announcing their presence and calling for a mate!

I also failed to get a picture of a goldcrest which was flitting about in a conifer tree singing its high pitch, lispy song, as I walked along the lanes. 

I did however manage to get this picture of a treecreeper yesterday as I walked round Scrapton. It was working its way up an oak tree, moving like a little mouse, whilst looking for insects in the rough bark. Treecreepers usually work their way up a tree and when they move on to another tree they fly to the lower trunk or branches and make their way back up again. It has a bright white front but when searching for insects its back is really well camouflaged against the tree. 

Today I walked out to the sewage works at Nimmer as I was told there had been a pair of Gadwall seen there recently. This is not a duck that usually frequents this spot and it is a new bird for my parish bird list so I was delighted to see the pair were still there and I managed to get a picture! It goes to show that even though I can't travel to my usual birding spots, there is always something to see locally if you listen out and watch carefully.

Yellow is the colour of spring - mostly

Walking through Underway Meade on my one daily walk today, to the sound of chiffchaff in the woods, I realised that many of the flowers in bloom at the moment are yellow, so following on from the last post with the Marsh marigolds, here are a few more to brighten up everyone's day.

Lesser celandine

The Lesser celandine's flower head only opens fully in sunlight, so on a dull day they are not as obvious as they were today. Notice the nettles are already getting ready to smother them and then we won't see the Celandine again until next spring.

The Celandine and the primroses on the mound behind the pond are looking especially beautiful at the moment. I've unlocked the lower gate so you can get up closer for a better look without having to climb the stile, but please no picking!

The daffodils around the benches are also providing a nice splash of colour and even the ones we only planted a few weeks ago, courtesy of Claire from Combe Dingle Nursery, are flowering, albeit on rather short stems!

Another plant in flower near the chippings pile, not yellow though, is the blackthorn, always, I think, a harbinger of cold weather and, having seen the weather forecast for the weekend , I reckon that is about right!

First post for a long time!

Hello to any new readers and welcome back to anyone who used to view this blog some years ago!  Apologies for the long gap but, due to the current Coronavirus situation which is resulting in most of us having restricted outdoor access, I have decided to start blogging again to highlight the wonderful local wildlife that can be seen in the parish of Combe St Nicholas, and especially in Underway Meade.

The sunshine has seen a number of butterflies around this week such as this Peacock butterfly feeding on a Butterbur flower. This photo was taken near the pond in the Meade and it is the first time that I can recall seeing Butterbur in this location- so interesting from two points of view!

Here's another close up of the Butterbur for the botanists amongst you.It looks like the almond scented Winter Heliotrope that is found in bloom in the local verges in January.

There was also a Comma butterfly near the pond this morning, which has just awoken from hibernation. For more information click here.

Lastly, the vibrant colour of the Marsh marigolds is always great to see in spring and there is a small patch in the Meade pond out at the moment.