Herb-robert (Geranium robertianum) is one of our most common wildflowers, growing anywhere it can find a damp footing and a little shade. Nobody seems to know who Robert was, though – but there are theories.

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It’s Hedgehog Awareness Week.

The latest research has shown that, while rural hedgehog numbers are still falling, in urban areas numbers are finally beginning to rise. Here is a video to help you make your garden hedgehog friendly and keep those numbers rising.

If you see a hedgehog, please record the sighting on the BIG Hedgehog Map; the more information we have about the species, the more we can help.

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Green nettle weevil

An immature green nettle weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus). We know it is immature because its covering of beautiful metallic green scales is intact; as the weevil ages, these colourful scales rub off and will not be replaced. The mature beetle is a much less dramatic dark green.

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Shed not a clout…

The old saying – Shed not a clout ’til may be out – is not an instruction to keep your coat on until June; it’s telling you to take your cardigan off when the may is in flower, which has been known to happen as early as April.

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Shieldbugs

Here are two shieldbugs from our species lists: a hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) and a cabbage shieldbug (Eurydema oleracea). Both were spotted last year in the heritage orchard.

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Wild garlic

Around here, we have always called it wild garlic (Allium ursinum) but it is known by many different names: ramsons, cows’s leek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear’s garlic. Whatever you call it, it’s coming into flower in our copses.

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Big Garden Birdwatch

Here is a link to the results of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 2024, the latest in the Society’s 45 year-long experiment in citizen science. Please click the link and read their post – if we don’t recognise the magnitude of the problems we face, we might not have the resolve the tackle them.

The Garden Birdwatch concerns itself with the most frequently seen species; here are some of the rare Red Listed birds that are resident in, or passing through, the reserve: spotted flycatcher, mistle thrush, greenfinch, skylark and common swift

Header image: Fieldfare © Teresa Reynolds (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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War with the invader

Every year, the Friends take to the reserve’s bluebell copses to hunt down and pull up Spanish squill, an invasive alien that is threatening the future of our native bluebells.

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Livestream

Here is a livestream from a piece of English broadleaved woodland, just like ours.

Header image: Tawny owl © Keith Morgan (CC BY 2.0)

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Fallen goat willow

A combination of waterlogged roots and high winds brought down an old and decaying goat willow (Salix caprea) on the edge of the Arboretum, near the oak with the chestnut paling fence. Last week, the Wednesday work party spent the morning cutting back the branches and using them to build wildlife sanctuaries.

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