Category: Miscellany

Spindle ermine moth caterpillars (Yponomeuta cagnagella) found, photographed and videoed yesterday in the reserve by Sarah Gould. Thanks Sarah.

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We don’t often see ducks on our big pond. These are male mallards perhaps pausing in the reserve on their way to wider waters on either the Avon or the Biss.

Pictures by Cheryl Cronnie

Tonight’s full moon will be the last of the winter season, the last full moon before the spring equinox. It is called the Worm Moon because it marks the beginning of spring, when the soil warms enough for growth to begin and the earthworms come back to the surface.

Searching for moon in our picture gallery…

The first flowers, every year, are the hazel catkins in the copse next to the picnic place. Such a welcome sight.

Header image by DKG

No post today because there is a technical hitch that I don’t seem to be able to fix. Sorry.

Happy New Year!

Here’s a thing: a brisk walk in the reserve will help to increase your circulation, bringing more blood and oxygen to your brain and muscles, and help to offset hangover symptoms like headaches and achy muscles. Our best wishes for 2023 and our thanks for all you support.

Header image taken in the reserve by Simon Knight

The tragic death of three children in Solihull,  has made us think of the dangers of frozen stretches of water in the reserve. Please be careful, keep off the ice, and remember that the new scrape in Lambrok Meadow is more than a metre deep at its centre.

Joan Jones (Chairman FoSCP)

We apologise for the delay in posting. A series of errors, some mine and some from the organisation that registers our domain name, resulted in the webpage being taken offline for a couple of days. Sorry.

Fact of the week

According to the sort of scientists that count things, there is only one mammal in the UK more numerous than we humans: Microtus agrestis, the field vole. The latest estimates put the field vole’s population at 75 million while our own is only 67 million.

Header image: field vole by Sam McMillan (CC BY-NC 2.0) flickr.com

EDITORIAL ERROR

While driving a website without due care and attention, our editor has managed to permanently delete all comments made after September 5th. The comments section is important, particularly while so much work is going on in the reserve, and your opinions are valuable input. Please, feel free to repost if your comment has disappeared.

Please note that the date of the RSPB visit has changed. It is no longer scheduled for Wednesday September 14th but for Thursday 15th.

BEWARE

There is an active wasps’ nest near the wooden footbridge into Village Green at the bottom of the blackthorn tunnel. Walking towards the big pond on the main path, it is about 4 or 5m along from the bridge, on the stream bank close to the hawthorn bush.

There is a technical problem, the editorial laptop has chosen to spend the bank holiday weekend at the menders. We hope, with the help of public libraries, various borrowings and a recalcitrant phone, to keep the website up and running. If not, we apologise.

We now know who set the grass fire in the Heritage Orchard. The matter had been reported to the police. Our thanks for everybody’s concern.

Our apologies: there is a technical problem and we will be unable to post today.

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