My new Cuckoo, Arthur, flies south.
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Every so often something new appears in the village and it is always worth checking to see if it has been recorded before. It was exciting therefore to find that a small, hardly noticeable, plant growing on the grass verge outside my house had not been. Here it is.
Unsurprisingly there is no Dorset name for this plant, though its close Geranium relative, Herb Robert, has many. (Shortly after I took the photo the Dorset Council mower came along, but I hope they flower again.)
Both Hedgehogs arrived tonight and soon finished of their food.
Hedgehogs in my wild back garden.
Normally a woodland species, as its name implies, the Speckled Wood does occur in shadier gardens such as mine, where this one has spent the day.. Most of our local ones are found at the bottom end of the Grove Hill wood however. The mating behaviour of individual male Speckled Woods shows marked variation. The three dark spots on each hind wing indicate that this butterfly is likely to be a 'patroller"which will patrol up and down looking for a mate; while specimens with four dark spots are likely to be "perchers" who will perch on a leaf waiting for a mate to come along.
A serious decline in the numbers of Speckled Woods began in the 1860s, and was only reversed in the 1920s, starting here in Dorset.
Yesterdays young Rook was found dead this morning in the back garden, the overnight rain being, probably. too much for it.
The six Rook's nests in the Horse Chestnut tree outside my bedroom window have now disappeared beneath the abundant foliage, their presence only revealed by the occasional 'caw' until this morning when a young rook decided to leave the safety of its nest and flutter down into my front garden, where it sat around looking up towards the tree and hoping no doubt that its parents would come and feed it. No sign of that so far though.
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| Juvenile Rook. Photo. John Elliott, Click to enlarge. |
