The Woodland Floor Garden Project - February 2021 - update #2

I spent quite a bit of last week pottering around the garden again and making the most of my neighbours still having the fence men in.  They were uncovering a nice row of slabs that went most of the way up the new fence side of the garden and I asked Ian and George if I could possibly have them. They were more than happy for them to be re-cycled so swiftly and the lad doing the fence even passed them over for me which was a great help.  

 

As such I continued with my path back down the garden to the decking and added a few into the new gap by Bed #3 towards the fence.  I then dug over the last piece behind the cinder block shelter thus creating Bed #4 and used the last remaining section of the old Chestnut palisade fencing to frame it.  The rest of the slabs will gup up the garden once the old greenhouse comes down.

 

It was whilst digging this area that I unearthed a cache of old rubber dog toys that Jinx had studiously buried during her ten years using the garden! Where the eight years have gone since she died I do not know.  I hung two of the rings on the last piece of fence that I put in and smiled.

 

 

 

Jinx - Christmas Day 2006 - my only in the garden pic of her

I still had a few clumps of Celandine to put in and another (with permission!) raid next door saw me liberate another 30 Primroses from the ‘lawn’ along with what I think are a couple of different Composites, possibly Hawkweeds and a nice bit of native Honeysuckle.  Three old metal saucepans were also sunk into Bed #4 to continue the pondlet theme.

 

 

You can't have too many pondlets

And speaking of which, I discovered rafts of Springtails on three of them, drifting around with the breeze.  There seemed to be adults and two different nymph stages but have failed miserably to get anywhere with the identification.  I am not sure that they intended to be on the water so I dropped a leaf into each to aid escape if need be.

 

Springtails - the adults are quite big

 

There were a few small flies around but nothing I could get to grips with but I did see a fine Queen Common Wasp who I disturbed while clearing the rubbish stash from the area opposite the greenhouse and a plump Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee cruised around looking for blooms.

A quick pop out to a local garden centre saw a profusion of Honey Bees around the Hellebores and amongst them a lone female Eristalis tenax to become my second Hoverfly of the year.  My Hybrid Hellebores really did not fare well with the snow cover and the few blooms I had have withered away. Hopefully there is time for more to emerge.   

 

 

Eristalis tenax

I bought some more small native Ferns and a clump of Snake’s Head Fritillaries for the meadow lawn.  While planting them later that afternoon I discovered what I am sure is an Orchid rosette poking through - there may even be two.  I have never had any wild orchids in my garden before although I did have a pot of some spot leaved Mediterranean species that I was given years ago but this is unspotted and looks like it may be a Bee Orchid.  I will keep you posted! At least I do not have Rabbits to nibble on it!  I found Pyramidal growing in the un-mown grass in my road during the first Lockdown but only one Bee Orchid which I checked up on the other day in Crutches Lane.

A saw a single sulphurous male Brimstone while out on that foray and a zooming Peacock back home in the warm Sunday sunshine.  Despite all that garden time there was nothing ornithological to note bar my constant Robin companions and a single flyover Meadow Pipit!

 

The Common Frogs were getting frisky in the pond but I really need some more pond weed to encourage the Smooth Newts and there was such a healthy population of Ramshorn Snails in the old tin bath pond that I transferred some to the pondlets. I even managed to find enough bits of old cane and Marsh Sow Thistle Stems to create some tubes to go into my hanging china cup bee homes.

 

Common Frog

 

An almost dark drive out on the Cliffe, Cooling, Halstow circuit did not produce any Woodcock (I had one last week) but there were several calling Little Owls around Cooling church and I could hear Mallard, Teal and Coots on a hidden pond while a big dog Fox trotted across a field.  The church was tastefully lit up and worth a stop in its own right.

 

I pottered out for a seven mile circuit of Ranscombe and Cobham this morning which was grey but calm.  It was not as warm as recent days and there had not been much progression in the woodland floor flora since before the snow although there were a few Primroses out.  I was hoping for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but failed again but was quite happy to encounter the other two species along with several singing Treecreepers and Nuthatches and my fourth pair of Marsh Tits within this woodland block while a hooting male Tawny Owl was only my second walk encounter and probably not very far from where I had the June fledgling. 

 

My favourite find was a large piece of old Honeycomb at the base of a Beech tree around which there were lots of fresh Badger diggings so perhaps one of them had unearthed an old subterranean nest from last year although I have not seen such a nest entrance before, only in tree cavities quite high up. 

I pottered around the garden this afternoon hoping for a drifting Red Kite and listening to my frenetic Goldcrests singing form the Firs and made a triangular hurdle to go around the odd Raspberry canes and where my Stinging Nettles will emerge.  It is all coming together quite nicely I think.

Green Urban Birding - The Hoo Loop - 19th February 2021

It has been a funny sort of week with the underlying stress of car and cat troubles but I was determined to head out on a walk somewhere today.  The forecast was grey and breezy but mild and dry so I opted for the Hoo route to at least give me a chance of seeing a few estuarine species.

I wiggled through town and up to Frindsbury All Saints (avoiding Donkey Hill) and found the wind to be hardly Saharan in temperature as it whipped over the cliff top.  Blackbirds, Robins and Woodpigeons were all feeding in the deck on the shelter of the Ivy hedge.

 

They had already inexplicably mowed quite a large are of the oldest part of the cemetery but I still found several clumps of Snowdrops and Primroses and the odd little Luffia lapidella Bagworm moth cocoons were still clustered on their chosen gravestone.

Luffia lapidella in all the nooks and crannies!

Primroses

Snowdrops

 

There was only one Redwing on the walk down the lane and the Cotoneaster and Ivy had been stripped almost to the last berry.   

Dog Violet I think

I crossed towards the Temple Hill STW were a cloud of Pied Wagtails and Black-headed Gulls came up but once again Gundolph Pool was devoid of life.  Just beyond the MoD entrance I found some small Holm Oaks and once again found moth leaf mines and these appear to be Ectodemia heringella although I still have a lot to learn.

Ectodemia heringella

Ectodemia heringella

Ectodemia heringella - this one threw me as both mines looked really different

I popped into and empty Coelho’s for a pastry and kept going. The tide was low and dropping fast which meant that I would get along the beach but that once again the birds would be miles away – nevermind.

Sooooooo grey

 

There were a lot more people around than normal and whereas I would normally see a couple of hardy souls traipsing through the mud, today there were loads of families and dog walkers out.  It was easy enough to avoid people though – especially with my wellies on. It was very grey and there were no birds on the foreshore at all but I did find a Shag jump diving mid river with three Cormorants which was pleasing.  I presume it fancied a change from Basin II of Chatham Maritime opposite.

As I approached Hoo Marina a flight of Brents whiffled in and I suspected that they had been on the winter wheat in the field up behind the woods.  They alighted on the mud and set about preening with a few Shelduck, Oystercatchers and Curlews for company.  There were only a couple of Redshanks and just six Avocet to be seen.

Dark-bellied Brent Geese

 

The Phoenix out servicing mooring buoys

 

A small Harrier appeared over Hoo Saltmarsh (the Pampas covered island) and I thought I had got myself a ringtail Hen as it was so light and buoyant but the appalling light was not helping. It dropped lower and against the tall grasses it was clearly all dark and therefore a young male Marsh. Amazingly this was the first one I have seen on a walk with only an over the house spring male making it onto the list.

I plodded through the Marina and utilized the shelter provided to sit and have a cuppa while the Sparrows chattered around me and I was glad that I did as once up on the river wall the wind was now seriously gusting and had dropped the temperature considerably too.  I walked all the way up to the gate overlooking the marsh before Kingsnorth which was very hard going in places with the thick clay rich mud weighing down my boots.  The tide was miles out by now but I had taken my MMIII out with me and by resting in one of the old MoD defences I was able to spend some tome scanning the channels while I had my lunch. I was hoping for Mergansers once again but only found a couple of Great Crested Grebes while small groups of Brents, Pintail and Wigeon hunkered down in the margins.  The odd Grey Plover was out on the mud but it was hard going and even the game crop behind held nothing bar a couple of Greenfinches this time.

Pintail and a Curlew

 

My scans did add another new species though with a female Merlin skipping low over the main channel as it made a b-line for Horrid Hill while a Kestrel was hovering much closer on my side.

The view from the end gate showed me that most of the Brent were infact out on the water meadows grazing with some Canadas and Greylags and a few duck.  I scanned them as best I could but could not find a Black Brant this time.  My time with these birds was short lived as two chaps with a Lab and a Spaniel set about doing some gun dog training on a whistle right in the middle of the only bit of marsh around here that actually holds any birds inside the seawall.  The fact that they put up a Jack Snipe did not reduce my frustration.  Apologies to those I know that responsibly train such dogs but this really was completely unnecessary and pushed everything back out onto the now lifeless mudflats. They tried to return but were constantly spooked.

Brents

Post Jack Snipe flush!

A flock of Lapwings appeared from further inland and fluttered into the wind out onto the estuary – I would have used the word shimmered but there was not enough light for that! 

 

Lapwings

 

This was no Pony!

 

My fingers were frozen by this point but the idea of an inland slog back did not appeal as I suspect that I would have seen very little in the wind so I unusually decided to basically retrace my muddy step homewards.  It is odd how a path walked in the other direction offers different viewpoints and opportunities.

 

Somehow I had not noticed the houseboat with the Plexiglass Dome! Who knew that it was a real thing!  I grew up with Dr Seuss, and the Sleep Book in particular and...

‘On a mountain, halfway between Reno and Rome

We have a machine in a plexiglass dome

Which listens and looks into everyone’s home.

And whenever it sees a new sleeper go flop

It jiggles and lets a new Biggel-Ball drop.’

 

This ship's dog was rather substantial - look at those legs!

The Brent flock that I suspected on the way out was indeed in the wheat field but was soon on the move again and circling back into the bay just beyond the Marina and an immature female Peregrine hurtled through.  The tide was coming in quite fast but I had plenty of time to make it along the beaches back to Upnor only stopping to take some pictures of the Cockles, Clams (I think they are non-native), Slipper Limpets (also a ballast stowaway) Oysters and Common Periwinkles as well as a very fine thick bottle base with what I think is a stylised boar’s head on it.  If anyone has any idea of its origins please let me know.

One for the Seaweed experts out there!

Brents

The old Fort

Common Periwinkle

Cockle

Slipper Limpet

Oyster

Clam sp

Clam sp

 

David Bradnum wins the prize for correctly identifying it as a 1920's Gordon's Gin Bottle!

I also found several small pieces of clay pipe stem

Great Crested Grebe

 

Upnor castle

At the last boat ramp a curious beast emerged and slowly trundled down into the river where a small dingy was ferried into its embrace before being lifted on strops clear of the water and brought ashore for some maintenance. 

 

It was heaving with people on the Upnor river frontage and it is strange that this should now make me feel so uneasy.  I have been so used to having most places pretty much to myself that to suddenly see so many small groups of ‘humans’ was somewhat un-nerving.  I am not sure what has changed over the last few days but despite there being no change in the rules and guidelines there are certainly more people driving out for a walk regardless of the day or weather.  I just hope that the genuine improvement in the figures around Medway do not slip because of people thinking that it is all ok now.

I cut back past Coelho’s which had a throng waiting outside and hurried up the steps and back towards the castle. I took the back path through Temple Hill and was greeted almost immediately by a calling Firecrest that then started singing. A second bird was in with it and like my other’s recently the male was really going for it and sang persistently once he got going.  I could still hear him 50 yards down the track after I moved off!  There seems to be quite a few locally this winter and some of those are in known breeding spots and it will be interesting to see how many I can find this spring.

Firecrest

 

A Chiffchaff called stridently from the ivy and Long-tailed Tits moved through but all the Redwings had gone from the woods. I crossed the main road and headed back up to All Saints before a rapid decent of Donkey Hill back to the river and the final stretch towards home.

Down Donkey Hill!