Winter flowers

 An early morning ground frost covering house and car roofs heralded the coming of winter and the long sleep of most of our flowering plants. But not all, as a walk up the bridleway to Ewelease Dairy revealed. Next year's Cow Parsley, already six inches high ( or 15.24cms. if you insist) above the ground layer of Ivy and Ground Ivy, as is also next year's crop of Nettles, one of nature's great food plants, the main or sole food plant for around seventy moths and butterflies. Though most of the Ivy is now covered in berries a few flowers remain to provide late food for insect like bees, wasps and hover flies.

Ivy is not the only plant to be still in late flower on the roadside bank up to the farm. A small       patch of Hedge Mustard has come into bloom quite recently.

Hedge Mustard.

A few flowers of Red Campion remain, as also do Herb Bennet and White Dead Nettle.

Hawkweed.

Hawkweed looks far from over in several places, A few Dandelions and Buttercups are still showing, together with one of the Hawkbit species and Yarrow, and right at the top of the hill a couple of specimens of that much maligned plant, Ragwort.

Ragwort.

Yarrow.

         

                                         

News of Cuckoo Valentine.

An update from BTO on the migratory travels of my Cuckoo Valentine arrived in my inbox today .

Our Cuckoos have now reached their wintering areas. It is amazing to see that having been tagged within a stone's throw of each other, Norfolk Cuckoo Valentine and Suffolk Cuckoo PJ were separated by 3,780km (2,349 miles) in August but are now again within 15km (9.3 miles) of each other in northern Angola.  They are approximately 70 km (43 miles) north east of the capital Luanda. PJ and Valentine have wintered in this area in previous years and if conditions are good, they may well stay in this area untill late February/early March.

Hedgehog Survey.

 I recently took part in Dorset Wildlife Trust's survey of Hedgehogs in Dorset. Sadly I had to report that I had seen none in Martinstown.  For most of my 46 years in the village hedgehogs have been nightly visitors to my garden, together with Badgers and Foxes. Experiences ranged from stepping on a hedgehog in the dark, I am not sure who was most alarmed, me or the hedgehog ( niether of us suffered any serious harm), to getting up in the middle of the night to investigate what sounded like a baby crying in the front garden. This turned out to be due to a tightly rolled hedgehog which a badger was trying to open up and make a meal of.The badger was persuaded to leave through the front gate and the hedgehog taken to the back garden where it scampered off into the shelter of the hedge.Alas these nightly visits seem to have ceased in the last four or five years.

However, of the 4000 responents to the survey 80% had seen a badger.  Full results of the survey are at:-

dorsetwildlifetrust.typeform.com/report/ogep1RZr/yswQfsOA2Zh2LbJJ

and a leaflet on helping to preserve the hedghog population is at:-

www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/download-your-hedgehog-guide-0?utm_source=EmailHHGuide91120&utm_medium=EmailHHGuide91120&utm_campaign=EmailHHGuide91120&utm_term=EmailHHGuide91120&utm_content=EmailHHGuide91120

 I saw a car flattend hedgehog at the western end of the village a few days ago so we do still have a few around.

 

Update on Valentine.

 The latest bulletin from the BTO on migrant Cuckoos has arrived with news of the one I sponsor, Valentine.

Since our last update our Cuckoos have been making steady progress towards their wintering grounds. Valentine is leading the way, having passed through Cameroon, Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, he is now in northern Angola. He is now only approximately 130 km (80 miles) north of his wintering location in 2019. Last year he arrived here on December 5 so he is a little ahead of schedule this year. If conditions are good, he may well stay in this area until late February/early March. 

Nearer home the Horse Chestnut outside my bedroom window has produced a record crop, the best in the last forty years, despite the extensive damage to the foliage from the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner and a fungus infection.  

 

Bird Migration Goes On.

BTO have just posted news of their three tagged Cuckoos which have just started to move north from their winter quarters in the rain forests of Central Africa. My Cuckoo, Valentine, is number three in the queue. "A low quality location received from Valentine's tag suggests that he may also be on the move from Angola towards Democratic Republic of Congo. Hopefully he will emerge from the forest canopy soon and his tag will receive enough sunlight to send us a more reliable location." The birds will be feeding and fattening up in preparatiom for their Sahara crossings.

Very late House Martins nesting.

 Most of the village House Martins and Swallows are now on their way to somewhere in Africa, but one or two are still flying around stoking up their fat reserves for the long journey ahead. Somewhat surprisingly one pair of House Martins are still feeding two young ones in a nest that has not been peviously used for breeding this year. Whether the adults or the young ones will now be able to build up enough energy reserves to get across the Sahara must be doubtful.

House Martins.  Photo. John Elliott. Click to enlarge

They don't seem to mind visitors.  They are up the path to Steven's Farm, just past the Air Ambulance box for milk bottle tops.

 Autumn Fruits

September is Blackberry time but this year it is proving disappointing. A few weeks ago it looked as though we were in for a bumper harvest but late ripening has resulted in berries that are dry and not very sweet. So goodby to my ideas of making blackberry jelly.

                                              Blackberries on the way to Ewelease Dairy. Photo. John Elliott

 

The Bullaces, wild plums, have however had a good year and I now have, thanks to a kind neighbour whose garden has several trees, four pounds of  'damson' jam. The trees by the Reading Room, much appreciated by villagers in former years, have had a bumper crop this year but this is now rotting on the ground as the trees have been trimmed and the fruit can't be reached. 

 

                                             Reading Room Bullaces.   Photo. John Elliott