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| << August 2024 | September 2024 | October 2024 >> |
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1st: Birds!! We had a fabulous hour or so with the telephoto zoom in front of the bird feeders, and then, just as we turned to go, a Marsh tit flew in and began to feast on the seeds. Didn't get a great shot but a fabulous sight to see.            |
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2nd: Mesmerizing Just love how each and every dewdrop in this spider's web contains an image of the field in front. Quite mesmerizing!!  |
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3rd: The Herald Back in July, we took four green caterpillars off our new Purple willow in Oak field as along with some sawfly larva, they were doing a good job of defoliating the saplings. A bit of research suggested they may well be Herald moth caterpillars and the emergence of this first moth last night, proved this to be correct. We offered the caterpillars white willow which thankfully they were happy to chomp on for a few weeks before pupating!! Such a stunning moth!!     |
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4th: More emerging Over the last 24 hours a grand total of 21 Large White butterflies have emerged in our 'lettuce' cage. We were surprised as we though they would spend the winter as pupa but apparently some can ever winter as adults! We had great fun watching them dry, photographing them, letting them walk over our hands and then letting them go. What a privilege!!       |
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5th: Abundance We have been eating fresh blackberries and raspberries every breakfast for two/ three weeks now as well as freezing some. We now have around 5kg of blackberries and almost 2kg of raspberries, all ready for when the fresh berries run out. Not bad!! And all free!! Our frozen soft fruit which also includes strawberries; black, red and white currants and loganberries lasts all year: that's 704 breakfasts!!! We dread to imagine how much it would cost if we bought enough to last us both for the year - and where it would need to travel from.   |
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6th: Small Whites In the 'lettuce' cage we had some plain green caterpillars as well as all the yellowy/green and black of the Large White butterfly. The green ones we assumed were Small Whites and this proved correct when yesterday we saw this butterfly amongst its larger cousins. The Small Whites have less black on the outer edges of their forewings and only one spot on the forewings as opposed to the two of the female Large White (the male has none). They are also, as the name suggests, usually smaller too. This one joined its larger cousins in the garden and fingers crossed it makes it!!  |
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7th: Perfection Another stunning web, built between stalks of a dead Marsh thistle. This will have been built by an Orb spider of some kind. We didn't spot the owner today!!  |
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8th: Plant Hunt It may have rained but our Sustainable Chulmleigh Plant Hunt was fab - lots of lovely people came and it was a fabulous afternoon, thanks so much to everyone who braved the weather - it was great to meet so many wonderful and like minded people!! And thanks to Claire Withers for taking such great photos!!      |
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9th: Leave some for us Not quite so many raspberries for us this year!!    |
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10th: New flora and fauna A new moth and a new plant - all in a day: The Green Carpet (making the number of carpet moths we have clocked now six - and yes, it isn't green, but they go through a brown phase) and (we think) a Marsh or Fringed Willowherb. The moth was an easy find as it appeared in the kitchen. The willowherb is just outside the shelter in Oak but we hadn't realised it was a different willowherb to ones we had already found! (Thanks to Viv on our Plant Hunt day.)   |
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11th: Utter beauties We don't post pictures of the livestock often enough. Here we have Clover, Vanilla and Oats, all looking stunning in the September sunshine. They have, for the past few weeks, been happily living with the sheep and alpacas and all getting along famously!!    |
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12th: Views They just get better and better - Oak field, then Goat field!!   |
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13th: Wow! |
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14th: Butterfly boom This warmer weather has really brought the butterflies out, and with one of our buddleias having a second flower, we have been treated to larger numbers than we have seen all year so far. Having their fill today were Large and Small whites, Peacocks, Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals. We are also still seeing Speckled Woods. We have plans to plant a lot more buddleias next year, alongside Stonecrop which they and the bees also love. It's not been a great spring/ summer for insects but it's nice to be ending the year on a bit of an up. Gives us hope for next year as more and more, we continue to adapt our garden and land for the wildlife!!  |
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15th: So much beauty in a 'weed' |
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16th: Picking fruit PIcking fruit ALWAYS involves invertebrate spotting!!And this is why it takes twice as long as it should. From left to right, top to bottom: A plant bug (type unknown), Green shield bug, Elongated Grass bug and a Potter wasp.     |
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17th: Photo shoot A photoshoot instruction afternoon with Nick resulted in some slightly better macro shots!!   |
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18th: And, just like that, we have a pond!! Eight hours work was all it took. John Tonkins is a bit of an artist!! We are so excited! Next jobs are to get some piping and trenches dug so we can get the water from the barn and stable roofs to start filling it up, and to get planting around the edges. We will be getting marsh marigolds and iris from the current pond as a starting point!!! Cannot wait to see how it evolves over the next 12 months and what animals start to make it their home.       |
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19th: A fabulous day with Danny, Shyama and Chittu       |
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20th: Generations Mum and daughter and granddaughters - Roxy and Sparrow, Redwing and Kite So handsome - love them all to the moon and back! Roxy is seven in a couple of days - what a family she has created: 22 pups and 10 grand-pups!!! So proud of her and Sparrow.   |
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21st: Long jawed Orb spiders We had fun and games photographing long jawed orb spiders today (exact IDs tbc) , one we found in the moth trap and another was in amongst the raspberries. We were treated to the 'playing dead' trick from the top one and the I'm-moving-as-fast-as-I-can maneuvers from the bottom. With eight eyes, long jaws and, in the case of the bottom species, those bristly legs to help them control their webs as they spin, they are fascinating creatures.     |
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22nd: Raindrops on dandelion |
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23rd: More webs It's a bit compulsive, taking photos of webs at the moment...    |
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24th: Sheep and alpacas Chips and Lemon, Neptune and Hegemone - well fed and chilled!!    |
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26th: Nature with Nick Well, Jack's photography day with Nick Withers from Nature with Nick was beyond amazing. All the native animals we spent time with were either rescues, or part of established breeding programmes, and being able to get up close and personal to them all was such an exhilarating privilege. Nick was the perfect tutor, full of expertly timed tips and suggestions and he inspired such confidence... Jack took 3160 photos 😲😅(thank goodness for digital) which she whittled down to 152 (some were very similar due to using 'high speed continuous' and some were basically just rubbish!) Jack could do the whole day all over again, many times over!! She loved every second and can soooo recommend Nick as a guide and instructor.       |
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27th: Peace |
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28th: Aspen! Fabulous afternoon with the very gorgeous Aspen who popped in for a visit with her humans. Aspen is from Roxy's second litter and now towers above her mum and older sister Sparrow. We tried to get all eight dogs together - never quite managed but we had a good laugh trying to do so.... 🤣 🥰      |
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29th: Starting to fill The pond is now 11 days old. On day four we had a bit of rain and so a puddle began to form. By yesterday over half of the bottom was covered purely from light rain. The plan has always been to get piping sorted so that the run-off from the barn and stables fills it completely. In lieu of getting this laid under the ground, yesterday we got it all connected and simply lay it on top of the grass. Today as the rain started to turn heavy we were delighted to see a trickle from both pipes going straight in to the pond itself. Fingers crossed we won't see the bottom in the morning!    |
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30th: The Robin Sat on top of a hedge (newly flailed😢), singing away, whilst the wind and the rain pushes summer firmly into the past tense. Is there anyone who doesn't love our native Robins? ❤🥰❤ They remind you that there is always something to smile about if you really look hard enough!  |