St Nicks

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 […]

Members of this large and widespread group of trees can be identified by buds and leaves in opposite pairs, and clusters of small flowers opening with or just before leaves which are normally hand-shaped with three, five or seven lobes. The seeds are in winged pairs that often spin as they fall to the ground […]

Highlights St Nicks bird records broken – twice! 24 months of Shieldbug records. Spring flowers start to emerge. Weather Mainly sunny and calm on Wildwatch Wednesdays, apart from the 17th, with temperatures between 2C and 8C Birds Who says that February is a boring month? This month, the St Nicks Wildwatch bird species record was […]

Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) is a small, low-growing, rather hairy plant with clusters of small, tubular flowers in shades from blue to pink or white. The leaves range from almost heart-shaped to oval, and all but the lowest are blotched with white. Its official flowering period is from March to May but in a mild winter like […]

Highlights Tiny winter visitor makes a brief appearance.. What’s shiny, rough, smooth and pygmy?.. Spring under way with male and female flowers showing.   Weather Temperatures remained seasonally low, between 2C and 7C, but dry and mainly calm on the Wildwatch Wednesdays. The Boxing Day floods continued to ensure high water levels on both the […]