Raking again.

At last our volunteers have raked off the last of the cut material 

on the slope of the cowshed field.

Let's see if next year the number of wild flowers increases.

Big spiders

 As you may have realised, late summer and early autumn is the season when most spiders are at their biggest.  The majority of species die in the cold of winter, leaving their eggs to overwinter in a cocoon and start over as tiny spiderlings again in the spring.  

This is not a particularly large garden spider (Araneus diadematus) but she was happy to pose for me  eventually ..  ..  .. 

..  ..  ..  though at first she was a bit shy and curled her legs in, to look smaller.

She is quite pretty with a white cross on the dark 'folium', the oakleaf-shaped pattern on her back,  and black rings or 'annulations' on her long legs. 

BTW the dragonfly I featured on my 12th September post has been identified by helpful Louise Bailey as a male Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Wind and ivy

The main cause of damage to trees in this country is wind, though if course the wind only shows up where the weak points of any tree are.

Half of the crown of this oak tree near the cowshed was removed by the wind during stormy weather in August.  You can see the gap.  

 And a couple of branches came off a nearby ash tree and had to be tidied.

We're not sure why the oak failed but probably it was the heavy load of ivy that led to the branch failure on the ash.  You can see that the ivy was well established

The crown of the tree was getting overwhelmed and the wind resistance had been increased.

So although a little bit of ivy is good for wildlife - shelter and nectar and berries for birds, insects, spiders and small mammals - it was time for remedial action.

By severing and removing a section of the ivy stem, we can ensure that the ivy in the tree dies off.  You can see below how thick the ivy stem was.

  

The only problem now is that large chunks of ivy will eventually die and fall off.

SO DON'T WALK UNDER TREES IN WINDY WEATHER, ESPECIALLY IVY-CLAD TREES, AND ESPECIALLY THIS ONE !

 And today I discovered another broken oak (a broak?) up near post 3.

Hawking on Sunday

Saw this dragonfly on an oak leaf on Sunday.  It has the shape of a hawker.  Could it be a Brown Hawker, Aeshna grandis ?  The wings don't look brown enough.

  I'm not very good at dragonfly identification so if you know what it is please email filnorefriends@gmail.com.

Path improvement - lots of photos

In winter the path between the beech corridor near post 14 and the old plantation near post 15 gets really muddy.

These three pics were taken in April when it was beginning to dry out.

So in May, as the brambles and the rosebay willowherb were beginning to grow, we cut the vegetation back.

We were intending to raise the level of the path, but the weather was against us.  First it was too wet to work and then it was so dry that the ground became like concrete.

So last Sunday, September 8th, we cut it back again  .  .  .

.  .  .  and started building.

Once we had laid out the poles to either side of the central path, they were staked in position.  Then small sticks were laid at right angles to the side poles, and leaf litter scattered on top.

To finish we topped it with woodchip from our friendly community compost site  .  .  .  

.  .  .  and trampled it down

It will need more woodchip as it settles but the team have built a solid foundation.

Photos by Eric, Alan and Jerry

Painted Lady

Another great shot by Alan of a painted lady butterfly nectaring on lavender.  

Darn it, is that a hornet

 Found in our toolshed, a dead hornet that got lost and failed to escape.

Hornets are on the whole fairly docile despite their fearsome appearance (look at that sting).  They rarely sting unless trodden on or poked.  Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.  

Like their smaller relatives the common wasps they spend most of the year collecting caterpillars and other insects to chew up and feed to their larvae.  But like wasps, when the queen is laying no more eggs and they have no larvae to care for in August and September they seek out sweet things to scoff, like your beer or a pot of jam.