Its June and with the odd weather patterns of previous month’s spring is in full flow. Here at the beefayre grounds we have been very busy. Plans are underfoot quite literally for the full fledging of this land into a small nature reserve. It was well on it s way already… just a few tweaks here and there! The RSPB came and did a site visit, indeed the grounds will feature in an article on ‘gardens for nature’ in their magazine. We ticked many of those boxes! A fantastic organisation to join, for more information click here
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We have excavated a much larger pond in the main garden… immediately five mallard took up residence and the swans who frequently defy the swan fence and are to be found swimming and bathing on their new pond! Our birds have been busy… lots of youngsters… we have breeding tree sparrows, a colony of house sparrows, blue, great, coal, and long tailed tits breeding here as well! Starling have had second broods, lovely to have them back in the last couple of years! The great spotted woodpeckers have reared a brood as well!
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Sadly many of our baby mallards and grey lags have been predated, a combination of badgers, rats, magpies and crows I suspect. We’ve had 3 broods of moorhens as well, some of which have surprisingly survived!
We have many species of native wild flowers here now. We have those familiar on clay meadow. This autumn we will take up the surface of our ground around the water and seed with clay meadow species and lots of yellow rattle to stop unnecessary invasion of too many grasses. Recently I found an early purple orchid growing on the bank by the lake!
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Our new honey bees hives have settled in and are doing well along with a swarm that moved into an old hive.
Our bumble bees are happy as well, lots of white tailed and buff tailed nests here but the most successful bees have been the tree bumble bees. We have 2 nests in bird boxes donated by friends unhappy with them in such close proximity to their back doors! They move quite easily, stuff a sock in the hole late at night and move to a new position over a mile away from their previous address! Bumble bees do not forage quite as far as honey bees. Carder bees are to be found in abundance on the clumps of hedge woundwort.
Here is an interesting article on tree bumbles, they were first recorded in the UK in 2001
