Notes from a Natural Garden June 2018.

1^st Painted Lady on the wing in Stewart’s garden along with 20 Starlings, Heron stealthily creeping around the ponds, Common Spotted Orchid in full flower in front lawn; 2^nd adult & juvenile Grey Wagtail in Chesham Town Hall car park, plenty of deceased Damsel Flies floating on the ponds, attracting the Newts to come & nibble at them, good to hear from a lady who has a family of Hedgehogs resident in a local garden, she’s doing all things possible to facilitate them, as they’re increasingly under threat from the constant urbanisation & sterile environment created by the over use of garden pesticides/herbicides/slug pellets/fences, could easily be on the verge of extinction in the UK in the next 50 years, juvenile Tawny Owl still remains vocal & invisible in it’s nearby tree roost, 2 Roe Deer stags watching us on a sunset walk; 3^rd Stewart has a female Grey Wagtail at Kings Ash, the garden is alive with the sound of noisy family parties of Blue & Great Tits foraging in the leaf canopy, they’ve had a successful spring with 2 pairs of each species occupying our bird boxes, while Stewart has a pair of each on either side of his shed; 5^th Common Blue makes it 19 species of   Butterfly recorded in the garden, the government announces plans for a 3^rd runway at Heathrow Airport, thought the idea was for less air pollution.. let’s all slowly suffocate together as a nation.

Common Blue Copyright : Don Stone.

 6^th Speckled Wood, cheepin’ sounds from the front hedge reveal the location of a second Dunnocks nest, Juvenile Tawny Owl still callin’ from it’s hideaway; 7^th Stewart’s Robins are busy incubating their 2^nd brood, as are ours; 8^th 2 pairs of House Martins are feeding chicks; 10^th 93 Common Spotted Orchid spikes in the Lee Church yard, (Mary Dwight would have been proud of these), while we have 3 in flower:

Common Spotted Orchid   Copyright : Don Stone

12^th a Southern Hawker emerging from the nymph stage nearly came a cropper when I opened our gate as it was doing its thing on the latch; Becky comes across a mother Mallard & her brood of 4 ducklings as they pop through the roadside hedge at Humphreys Corner; the governments forces of environmental destruction (HS2) are slowly beginning to ravage the area; 13^th a pair of House Martins feeding young in the nest at Hunts Green with a pair of Pied Wagtails under the eaves for neighbours; 14^th thanks to Stewart we were able to identify a Vapourer moth caterpillar we found in Wisteria with amazing yellow punk     haircut.

Southern Hawker  Copyright : Don Stone.

                                                                                                                                                                                

Vapourer Moth Caterpillar  Copyright : Tom Stone.

 15^th stunning sight of crimson Poppies in crop field on the fringes of Chesham; 16^th 22 Common Terns at Weston Turville Reservoir.     

Common Tern         Copyright : Don Stone.

  17^th Fiona & Mark apparently don’t  need an alarm clock as a Crow taps on their window early in the morning, no doubt checkin’ it’s reflection first thing in the day as we do ourselves; 15^th stunning sight of crimson Poppies in crop field on the fringes of Chesham; 16^th 22 Common Terns at    Weston Turville Reservoir.    A Marbled White & a cluster of Pyramidal Orchids found by Stewart at Potter Row; 17^th Red Admiral & Meadow Brown, Yarrow in flower, pair of Swallows in neighbouring stables; 19^th plenty of activity in Stewarts garden with Juvenile Moorhens, Greenfinches & Great Spotted Woodpecker, along with a second brood of newly hatched Robins.       

Great Spotted Woodpeckers       Copyright : Stewart Dennis

             21^st Clean Air Day, a day to make us aware of air pollution & how we can lessen our impact, walk/train/cycle instead of drive, plant trees, get that boiler serviced so the fumes don’t annoy the neighbours etc; 22^nd been pleased to contribute to Mini Beasts week at Lee Common School, got to start them young, suppose that’s where I started, remember with those nature walks down to the woods behind school & the bird table balanced on the hedge beside the glass room, Purple Loosestrife in flower; 23^th Blackcap, Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker; 24^th the Robins have all died in the nest, on a brighter note…751 Pyramidal & 4 Common Spotted Orchids on the grass verge of the Old Amersham exit of the Shardeloes roundabout, with many more dotted along the Amersham by-pass, playing host to 8 Ringlets, 4 Marbled Whites, 6 Meadow Browns & a stunning male Banded Demoiselle. Thanks to some sterling work by Neil Jackson at The Chilterns Conservation Board liaising with Transport for Buckinghamshire, only a minimum amount of grass will be cut on the verge to protect the Orchids, 

Pyramidal Orchid  Copyright : Don Stone.

Sprawky catches a snack in Stewart’s garden.25^th Spotty returns, male Spotted Flycatcher singing loud & proud in the front garden early morning, 26^th Spotty joined by his mate, as they sit together on the gate, Betony starting to bloom, 10 screaming Swifts over Old Amersham, where a family party of Goldcrests fed in Conifers; 28^th Juvenile Goldfinch at pond, 2 Swifts heading east; 29^th 14 Swifts heading east over Chesham at midday, first brood of House Martins fledge from under our eaves … Ease off the Pressure.

Banded Demoiselle  Copyright : Stewart Dennis

Sparrow Hawk  Copyright : Stewart Dennis

That’s the end of the monthly nonsense, now I will post as & when.