May 2008

May at last (!) beginning with wood sorrel and common solomon’s-seal and a start to my ‘Barn Owl Diary 2008’ which didn’t get very far in the end unfortunately due to lack of time, but will be better next year! I did see it briefly on the 2nd, hunting in the Pleasure Field next to the road. I went out and waited for a while to see it fly into the nest with prey but I didn’t see it come out again. I did however get a couple of half-decent pictures. On the 3rd I cycled my 900th mile on the way to Broughton Down on a very hot day! At that time of the year the sheep graze the chalk downland which is very annoying but I know it is necessary in preventing the grassland being overrun by scrub, which in turn limits the orchid growth time unfortunately. I did, however, find spring sedge up on the downland (I haven’t found it anywhere else this year other than Martin Down) and the first of the common milkworts and also lots of sanicle, in the beech woodland. To make up for the lack of flora I stayed along the path where the grass had not been cut and the scrub was alive with warblers in full flow. Eventually, having waited for a long time in the heat, I spotted my first few whitethroats on top of the bushes, which was a real treat  I also heard a turtle dove in the beech trees!
On that same day I went up behind the green barn in search of more flowers and was surprised to find lots of common solomon’s-seal growing there as well as pignut, yellow archangel and winter-cress. This is a really nice stretch of wooded hedge which supports hundreds of flowers and insects, especially butterflies like the speckled wood which like to flutter up and down feeding on the brambles.
The 5th arrived and we set off on our first visit to the Wiltshire Wildlife Nature Reserve at Martin Down. In the scrub we heard blackcaps and saw whitethroats before emerging onto the Down. There were lots of skylarks and stonechats. In the grass I found lots of salad burnet, crosswort, hairy violets, common and kidney vetches and common milkwort – in blue, white and pink forms. Halfway round we stopped to watch corn buntings feeding in the fields and a grizzled skipper in the grass, and then , at last, I heard my first cuckoo of 2008! Lastly, I found two early purple orchids near the car park which were my first ever and a bright sight against the brambles.
It was a beautiful evening on the 16th and we went up to Figsbury Ring after school to see the early flowers which included horseshoe vetch, white campion and musk thistle. There was lots of common rock-rose and spring and glaucous sedges, but the yellow rattle and orchids weren’t up then unfortunately.
The 20th arrived and so did the great tits in the nest box. The parents were in and out all day feeding their young with tasty insects. Over the next few days I saw my first damselfly this year (a common blue at school) and the yellow irises and marsh marigold were out by the pond. We also had our first green-veined white in the garden and a huge male brown hare feeding out at the back, among the rabbits. On the 23rd we had a cuckoo singing in the Plantation.
The next day I cycled down to Hound Wood, a month after my last visit, to see what else had come up. It was amazing to find a whole new set of flowers that had come out, including a large patch of the uncommon yellow pimpernel, common bird’s-foot trefoil, bush, common and bitter vetches and some hedgerow crane’s-bill. This time, the orchids were out. There were 50+ common spotted all along the side of the track, providing some great photos. I heard willow and garden warblers and 3 beetles: Oedemera nobilis, Malachius bipustulatus and Alosterna tabacicolor (a longhorn). Again, the butterflies were struggling due to last year’s wet summer but I still managed a brimstone, green-veined whites and a couple of speckled woods, but the best two were a grizzled skipper that I disturbed before I could take a photo and a fine pearl-bordered fritillary which I caught in my butterfly net, enabling me to get some amazing photos.
Next was the 25th when I found 10+ goat’s-beard flowers growing opposite the Tythings, next to the road. They close up towards midday and on dull mornings, leaving a towering spike that looks nothing like the flower when it emerges. So much so that when I found this spike for the first time, it took me a few days to work out what it was!
Finally, after a long term, we broke up for half-term and travelled up to Yorkshire for three days aiming to see golden plovers, whinchats and short-eared owls up on the moors (no chance he says!). I also went in the hope of seeing some early summer flowers, with enchanter’s nightshade, eyebright and heath spotted orchids high on the list!
It was the 26th and our first expedition was down Bridgehouse Beck to the much loved ‘Packhorse Bridge’. Before, we have seen kingfishers, dippers, brown and migrant hawkers and yellow irises, but there wasn’t much around this particular time. However, there was lady’s mantle, cuckooflower in huge numbers, ramsons, sweet cicely, common bistort and bog stitchwort, so we didn’t do too badly I suppose! Also, there were a lot of the red and black froghoppers, Cerocopis vulnerata, and one large red damselfly sheltering from the wind on a dock leaf. There were lots of willow warblers as well. In the afternoon, we went up onto Stanbury Moor to look for whinchats and short-eared owls, but all we managed were a couple of curlews. Field forget-me-nots and common cotton grass were the only plants I photographed though we did also see lots of deergrass.
Moving on, it was a cold wet day on the 27th but we went to Fountains Abbey to meet up with some friends. As you probably guessed, Fountains Abbey was the last place I wanted to go, but looking back I say thank you to Mum who persuaded me to come along! By the river there was lots of life, for example common valerian, common bistort and lady’s mantle but also lots and lots of water avens – a flower I’ve wanted to see for a long time. Along the main track there was spring sandwort and other flowers such as red and bladder campions, yellow pimpernel, ramsons and, on a very steep bank, a large colony of common twayblades! Unfortunately, they weren’t fully out and so I had to search for the best one (there were over 30 to chose from) and in the end I made use of the ‘digital’ element of my camera and took over 100 photos !
Next was the 28th and a visit to Hardcastle Crags on a wet afternoon. There weren’t too many flowers about, other than Spanish bluebells, but I did find pink purslane, cuckooflower, ramsons, amphibious bistort and a few nibbled wood sorrel flowers (Oxalis sp.). I went through a very wet ‘field’ on the other side of the river to get photos of some large bitter-cress growing there before watching a dipper feeding its chick. At the mid-way point I found fairy foxglove growing on an old wall along with welsh poppies.
It was a good holiday, though somewhat restricted by the weather and I added lots of flowers and birds to my year list .
Finally, back at home now, the last action in May was another visit to Martin Down. We parked at the same end of the Reserve (the end without the burnt orchids….) and more or less walked the same route as last time. I found common spotted orchids along the path but the early purples had finished. The grass had grown a lot since we were last there and was now above waist height, mainly made up of false-oat grass and yellow-oat grass. I managed to find dropwort and field fleawort which is only found on calcareous grassland in certain areas in the south. Yellow rattle lined the pathways in very good numbers, with eyebright, heath speedwell, horseshoe vetch, common rock-rose, fairy flax, wild thyme, white bryony and common valerian in among it. I stumbled across some common fumitory while looking at the Small blue butterflies that were flitting in and out of the common blues. As well as these I found brimstones, commas and small heaths and one wood tiger moth, having thought it was a marsh fritillary (rolleyes)…!
Birds included willow warblers, whitethroats, corn buntings, another cuckoo ( 3rd of the year) and stonechats, including a young family. I spotted a common lizard in the grass just after two young male roe deer wandered over to have a look at us. It was a good way to end May.