South Winterborne flood prevention.

 There stilll seems to be uncertainty in the valley as to what should be done about flood prevention. Perhaps we should note what Dorset Wildlife Trust are doing, namely --  Slowing the Flow.

 

My Cuckoo makes it across the Sahara desert.

     JAC.

  The latest bulletin from BTO brings good news of my tagged Cuckoo, JAC, now some 7,000 miles from home.

Llangollen Cuckoo JAC has successfully completed his desert crossing. He is now in the rainy Sahel of eastern Mali, 24km (14 miles) north east of the city of Goa.

My Cuckoo.

 An exiting bulletin from the BTO .

The big mover over the last few days has been Llangollen Cuckoo JAC. Having spent two weeks in northern France, by Tuesday evening he was close to L'escala on Spain's Costa Brava. But he didn't hang around for long as further updates received that evening showed him crossing the Mediterranean on a bearing for Mallorca. The next updates arrived between 04:55 and 08:35 this morning by which time he had reached northern Algeria. His most recent location showed him approximately 200km south of Algiers, and just south of the vast Zehrez Chergui salt lake in the high steppes between the Tell Atlas and Saharan Atlas mountains. Last year his desert crossing took him via Mali to Burkina Faso and then on to Nigeria.

Valley Orchids.

 For a second year running we have  Orchids blooming in the valley. A single Southern Marsh Orchid has reappeared in last year's locaton, and a single, rather small, Pyramidal Orchid has appeared in a new location. The Pyramidal Orchid which was found last year was, most unfortunately, dug up and all that remains in that location is a trowel shaped hole. Orchids do not transplant, so, please, if you do come across one, do not pick it or attempt to move it. The seeds of Orchids are described as very numerous and very small. They are wind borne and a single bloom can, if left undisturbed, result in large numbers of flowers.

My Cuckoo leaves the country.

 The latest BTO bulletin on my Cuckoo JAC.

 

  Our other Welsh Cuckoo JAC has left Havant and flown 315 km (196 miles) south-south east, crossing the Channel and arriving in France. The most recent update from his tag showed him in woodland to the north of Fontaine-la-Guyon in the Eure-et-Loire department of northern France.

Cuckoo on the Move

The latest BTO bulletin on my Cuckoo JAC .

  JAC

                       

Since our last update Llangollen Cuckoo JAC has reached Havant on the south coast of England. The last transmission showed him between Nevill's Park and the Fat Face distribution centre. We are due another transmission soon, will he still be touring Havant or will he be in France? Last year he arrived in northern France on 24 June and remained here for approximately a month.

Poison.

 The orphaned lambs which have, in recent weeks, been  penned on the wide verge in the centre of the village, have proved a source of interest and delight to many villagers, young and old. It is sad therefore that I have to report that one of them was poisoned and became very ill through, no doubt, well meaning children, who thought it was a good idea to give them some of the plentiful 'Cow Parsely' growing in the nearby stream.  Unfortunately what they picked wasn't the innocuous Cow Parsely but the very poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort, Oenanthe crocata  which grows profusely all along the South Winterborne stream in the village,

 

   Hemlock Water Dropwort.  Photo. John M Elliott

                                                                                                Click on iage to enlarge.

 The very similar Hemlock, Conium maculatum, which history relates caused the death of Socrates, also grows along the stream down the Weymouth Road, and is also poisonous. It may be told from the Hemlock Water Dropwort by the small purple blotches on the stems.

The lamb, fortunately , recovered from the poisoning. A Labrador in Dorchester which ate the roots of Hemlock Water Dropwort a year or two ago didn't.