Nature Table Archive 2022
September 2022 update:
The hot, dry days of August – enjoyed by the adder Thelma photographed sunbathing and posted on Whatsapp – are now over. Adders incubate their eggs inside their body and give birth to live young – which is why you can more easily spot then on sunny banks than grass snakes, which lay eggs in compost heaps and rely on that external source of warmth to hatch them.
Cathy Evans noted two humming bird hawk moths sipping nectar from the valerian in the churchyard, and the bee colonies in the log and the church roof have been busy all summer, the latter still getting into the north aisle to some extent and perishing, alas, despite our efforts to guide them out of the north door. The rare Adonis blue butterfly has thrived as never before on the downs at Wallis Farm, according to Rupert Cake. The Cake family have been instrumental in helping to preserve these exquisite, endangered little jewels on their farm.
David Orr noticed a large congregation of house martins flying excitedly around Ellerslie just before the rain came, and surmised they might be gathering to migrate. I am guessing he was right, because since then I can hear churrups coming from only one of the housemartin nests, in the eaves of Markers, in Duck Street – presumably a late second brood which has not yet left for its mysterious tropical destination. David counted 11 nests in the street this summer, two up on last year. Their merry, hoarse chirps have enlivened the street all summer, and we will sorely miss them when the quietude of autumn falls.
A quite fat-looking young fox has been visiting my orchard to feast on fallen plums, slithering in and out of the tiny hole in the wire fence I leave for the hedgehog. The latter was joined by a male who also depended on the special hedgehog food I put out for them during the dry, slugless, wormless days of August – but now she is on her own again. I could determine their respective sexes by studying their undersides as they keeled over to scratch enthusiastically – a habit readily caught by my infra-red trail cam. If you would like to see what creatures get up to in your garden I recommend the Zimoce mini-cam which you can get online – simple to use and not too heavy on batteries.
May autumn come slowly enough for us to enjoy a last few warm and sunny days – a last swim perhaps! – before its blazing colours herald the year’s sunset.
April 25th – First the brimstones, so called because of they are the colour of sulphur, then the odd peacock which has hibernated over winter, then the occasional small tortoiseshell flapping against the window as the sun awakens it from the dark corners of our rooms… these are the first butterflies of spring.
The first bird to declare itself is the chaffinch, whose cascading song was heard in Cattistock in mid-February, followed by the blackbird practising under its breath – and finally in April the first of the summer migrants is heard: the blackcap whose indeterminate, muddled song sounds like a tap left running. And now – they are all at it! Open your window at 5.30am to hear the full dawn chorus.
The swallows came back on the 16th April. Please leave the doors of your stables, sheds and garages open to provide dark cave-like spaces for them to build their small mud nests in – and if you can provide mud too, so much the better; the air around your house and garden will be full of the archetypal sound of summer – their cosy chuckling twitters.
Two days ago the first of the house martins was inspecting one of the many nests under the eaves of Markers in Duck Street. How will the count of this year’s nesting pairs compare with last year?
Cuckoo alert! It is about eight years since I last heard a cuckoo in Cattistock – on Norden Hill, the Cakes’ farm. If anyone hears one anywhere hereabouts please let me know where and when! merrily@harpur.org Thanks!
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January 2nd – Ian Vine reports: “We have just been out for a walk towards Sandhills, and spotted 4 -6 of what I think were Little Egrets, in the first field going out of the village on the Beech Tree Close side. Neither of us had our phones with us for photographs. Lovely to see though.