St Nicks

  Zygaena filipendulae, the day-flying Six-spotted Burnet Moth, is one of seven Burnet moth species to be found in the British Isles, and is the commonest of them. In most years at St Nicholas Fields we see the adult moths in good numbers, feeding mainly on the nectar of thistles and knapweed, sometimes several on […]

Highlights Cool damp weather suppresses butterflies, and other insects.. birds defending their breeding territories.. trees & bushes reach their flowering peak. Weather Temperatures remained low throughout most of the month.. around 10 – 12 C, although a mainly sunny day on the 4th saw the thermometer climbing to 18C. We had intermittent rain on the […]

This week our Recycling Co-ordinator Sam Taylor gets a bit philosophical in her comments below… The next post, which will unfortunately be delayed until 15th June, will focus again on the practicalities and tips for landfill minimisation! Gillian: It is time to say farewell to my lonely tomato, ie I’m going to eat it. Which […]

From May onwards globules of white foam start to appear on the stems of flowering plants and grasses. Centuries ago this acquired the popular name of cuckoo spit because it seemed to appear at the same time that the first cuckoos of spring were heard. Other popular names were snake’s spit, witches’ spit and frog […]

Gillian writes: One soft tomato… This is all proving a little bit more difficult than I expected! I mean – who’s stupid idea was it to do a rubbish challenge in January when the house is still full of thoroughly packed and packaged Christmas goodies? Oh yeah. That would be me! Ah well- onward and […]

This week Gillian has discovered that information on recycling is not always easy to find… “Well I never! Here’s something I didn’t know until today – deodorant bottles can be recycled in the hard plastic skip at the tip (if they have one). However lids on jars are a different matter. Some sites say stick […]

Highlights Woodpecker sightings increase.. chilly month keeps insect numbers down – where are all the butterflies?.. a strange season for herbaceous plants.   Weather Temperatures on Wildwatch Wednesdays remained consistently below 10C, although it was sunny on the 13th and 20th. Birds Great Spotted Woodpeckers, usually an occasional visitor to St Nicks, were seen on […]

A guest blog post from Gillian Clifton who is sharing her experiences of a no landfill january challenge undertaken by herself and partner Mark. A few notes have been added by Sam our Recycling Co-ordinator but otherwise all words are Gillians.

The attractive and unmistakable male Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocaris cardamines) is one of the first to emerge in the spring from its pupa (chrysalis). Within the pupa it has been metamorphosing from a caterpillar into a butterfly since June or July the previous year. Females emerge a week or so later, ensuring that there are […]

Highlights:  new arrival,  emerging hibernators, and the flowers that bloom in the spring.. Birds Our resident birding enthusiast was absent for all but one of the Wildwatch walks during March, so it is no surprise that after February’s two broken species records, nothing so exciting happened on the five Wednesdays of March. Our total species […]