Phew, it has been a bit non-stop the last couple of weeks and with sick children and the lighter evenings upon us, there has been no time for blogging until now.

 Two weekends ago I took a group to the “Fangs and Feathers Open Day” at the New Forest Reptile Centre http://www.new-forest-national-park.com/new-forest-reptile-centre.html . This is a really worthwhile stop off if you are in the Lyndhurst area of the Forest and the weather is good. It is nothing flashy, just small enclosures containing most UK reptiles and amphibians (and green tree frog!) and the chances of seeing at least a couple of species quite close are pretty good. Despite showery weather we had good views of sand lizard, common lizard, grass snake and adder.

A new feature of the centre, since 2007, is an RSPB Aren’t Birds Brilliant display which is a small building with screens to show live webcams on a goshawk nest (4 eggs laid so far). When the goshawk (I think only one chick made it) fledged last year, they switched to a hobby nest. With staff on hand to talk about the birds this is a really worthwhile addition to the centre. Despite getting soaked we had a really enjoyable time and I got my eye in for sand lizard spotting. Photography through mesh is not easy though. At least you can sex the sand lizards as the male already has his bright green breeding colouration.

A week later I helped lead a reptile walk on one of my sites. Unfortunately, the rainy conditions were not good for reptiles or wildlife in general out on the heath but those attending were still keen to look.

We focused our attention on the survey tins around site, on the off-chance that there might be some sheltering animals. We quickly came to realise however that you can only talk for so long about empty tins. Luckily we did see other wildlife, including this fantastic dor beetle, and had great views of singing dartford warblers.

We were finally rewarded reptile-wise by three slow worms in quick succession, near the end of the walk. Snake-like in appearance, these common UK reptiles are actually legless lizards and like their legged relatives, are able to drop their tails (which continue to wriggle around) to escape predators. Fortunately, we were careful enough not to be given a demonstration.

Back at home, there has been much plant growth inside and out. My white trumpet pitcher (see earlier post) has now produced its first flower, which is a beautiful deep red in colour. My peach tree is also doing well, although I walked into it and half snapped off one of the fruit laden branches that I had carefully tended. I have splinted it, in the hope that I can get at least one of the fruit to juicy maturity!

 My blueberry is also in good flower but I’m not sure how it is pollinated so my fingers  are crossed that it will bear many fruit. 

Unfortunately I had been hit by two  pests and diseases new to me - vine weevil and redcurrant blister aphids. I am trying an organic soap spray for the aphids and looking into naturally occuring nematodes to control the vine weevils, which seem to be in most of my potted plants. Those that I have picked out seem to be going down well with the garden bird population.

I have managed to remember most of my deleted post and luckily still have the photos, which tell the story. 

Luckily I got my butterfly transect walked on Friday while the weather was still good. I saw six peacocks which is not a bad start to the season. I also did another night-time newt survey, this time closer to home. We mainly saw palmate newts and not many of them but the highlight of the evening was a new sighting of common toad at one of the sites. 

The day before I saw my first treecreeper for a couple of years and came across this interesting insect - the cream-spot ladybird. It is easy to identify because it has pale spots, six of which form a row across the middle - three per wingcase.

Then, this morning the snow came and came and came. Actually only about one inch fell and lasted for about 3 hours but amazingly I saw two snowmen and even people trying to use a sledge! Snow is a big deal here. Assuming that it wouldn’t last and that it was a rare opportunity to take some snowy landscape shots of some of my sites, I bypassed the office and it was the right decision because it started melting almost as soon as it had fallen.

April snow makes for some interesting photography - such as the emergence of the first native bluebells. I also had a potential classic shot of a little egret against a snowy background. I had both vital ingredients but my camera wasn’t up the task and I had to satisfy myself with a distant shot of the bird, high up in an oak tree.

I then had a meeting out on the heath, where I was meant to be teaching a new warden the method for walking butterfly transects. Snow isn’t mentioned specifically in the instructions (hmmmm) but since it was below 13 C anyway (the minimum walking temperature in full sun) we decided to go and look for reptiles. Actually we were looking for all the survey tins but (being relicensed for 2008) I took to opportunity to lift them on the off-chance.

Reptile spotting in the snow must be quite a rare occupation. Amazingly I saw a common lizard on top of a snowy tree stump (camera hand not quick enough!). Luckily there was another under one of the tins. Both were extremely quick considering the conditions and I only just managed to get a (unique) record shot as it speeded away. The dark flanks and almost snake-like body pose are classic ID features.

One of the next tins was vacant but as I lifted it I heard a familiar hissing sound nearby. It took rather longer than it should have for my brain to process the sound (now where have I heard that before?) and remind me to start looking for the adder - which was about 5cm from my foot, in the strike position! Funnily enough I was wearing wellies and I immediately thought of the woman in Huddersfield who got bitten through her boot!

Although it was a young male, it was pretty alert and I didn’t need telling twice. I rapidly backed off and just had time to get another quick record shot. You can see from the photo that he is a bit hissed off…….

All in all quite an interesting morning, completed by a lovely roe buck sighting and the distinctive song of a dartford warbler. I love my job!

What a fantastic day it has been weather-wise. It seemed like non-stop sun and will no doubt be the start of my farmer’s tan for the year (neck upwards and elbows to fingers)!

Work has been a bit non-stop, either rushing to get budgets finalised for the year end, practical management works (more chipping!) before given the birds a chance to nest, or preparing for a site open-day.

 Photo opportunities have been few and far between but I did see my first baby rabbit of the year, which sat very obliging for a photo from my car window.

No work today though and I managed to spend quite a bit of time outside, including a nice walk around the village of Beaulieu; the main attraction for most of course being the motor museum, or in my case, the excellent Fairweather’s garden centre where I
somehow found myself making purchases.

Having just created flowerbeds, the next stage was inevitable. One side of the garden only gets sun from 8am to 12pm so I was looking for shade tolerant plants. The garden centre had seen me coming and had cunningly not only set up a display of shade tolerant plants but was even selling a collection of six native perennials to attract wildlife for the shady garden. Best not to think about these things too much.

Anyway I duly purchased the collection (betony, oxlip, foxglove, dog’s mercury, red campion and hairy st john’s wort) along with a well endowed cowslip for the bumblebees. I even had time to plant them, my garlic and red onion sets when I got home later.

As in many parts of the New Forest, animals roam freely, making unique traffic calming obstacles. Depending on where you travel you can encounter not just ponies but: cattle, pigs, a range of deer and at Beaulieu -donkeys. We were lucky enough to see them feeding on their staple diet - duck bread and ice cream cones (people can be so thoughtful). They were not surprisingly incredibly tame and I was compelled to be original and take the obligatory “cute donkey” picture.

Easter at work is usually a busy time but the earliness of the break and the cold conditions have reduced the influx of grockles. It normally marks the start of visitor related issues on the sites but it wasn’t too bad yesterday, so I had time to take a picture of the wood anenomes among other things.

Part of my job is collection of injured or stranded animals from time to time, often because the RSPCA are very busy locally. Sometimes it is dead animals and sometimes what is left is more maggots than animal but of course is another potential skull source! Anyway, I got called out to pick up a young dead fox. This is a pretty annual job at this time of year.

I think that the young get pushed out of the territory by the mother fox to fend for themselves and occasionally they are unable to find sufficient food or get hit by cars. It is always a shame to see young animals die but I suppose is a form of natural population control. It was in nice condition too.

Another seasonal spring sign that I look out for is the emergence of a particular solitary (mining) bee, Andrena clarkella, which feeds on willow pollen. I was particularly concerned this year because in the autumn some mountain bikers unintentionally dug out half of the nest to build a ramp. At this time of year the bees are fully developed in individual cells, waiting to emerge in the spring. Those that hadn’t been squashed by the digging or bike wheels were wandering around aimlessly with no chance of survival. At the time I felt like I had failed them. We managed to speak to the bikers and show them the dead bees and they stopped building (for about a month). 

Fortunately the colony, with each bee to an individual burrow, is quite widespread and there were still at least 100 active burrows yesterday and bees going about their business; mainly digging burrows. There is a cuckoo species which particularly parisitises A. clarkella but my knowledge is not great enough to be 100% sure what they look like.

You can see that the front legs are adapted for digging and the female is much hairier for pollen collection. They are fascinating to watch and another herald of spring. Lets hope that climate change doesn’t put them out of sync with their food supply.

Just got back in after a fascinating evening surveying for newts and while my dinner cooks I thought I could share the experience.

I was a complete novice when it comes to surveying for newts at night. All you really need is a good torch, wellies, a net and ideally an expert. If the site is known for great crested newts, then you also need a licence from Natural England (or their equivalent). To get a licence you need some survey experience, so you have to go out with someone has one already and learn the “ins and outs”, which is what I did tonight.

Newts are largely nocturnal and don’t spend as much time in the water as other UK amphibians. Of course, water is pretty essential for breeding and as we are at the start of the breeding season, this a good time to start looking.

There are three species of UK newts - palmate, smooth (common) and great crested (gc). They can all co-exist in one pond, so we were looking for all of them.

Basically you walk slowly around the outside of the pond on the land (watching where you tread) and shine your torch into the water. Breeding activity tends to take place in the shallower margins so this is a simple and effective technique.

We were looking for the adults but also any evidence of egg laying. Newts lay their eggs singly on aquatic plants, usually bending the leaf over for protection from predation. The eggs of the gc newt are bright white in colour so stand out more in torchlight and we saw some almost straight away. Interestingly, the available vegetation did not appear ideal and the leaf folding had not been very successful but did make egg hunting more straightforward.

Close to the eggs was a female gc newt, actually in the process of egg laying. Amazing! I feel really priviledged to have this kind of experience and grateful that a bit of extra effort after a long day at work can be greatly rewarded. Wildlife watching in the dark is always special and some of my best memories come from experiences like this. I will never tire of doing this kind of thing.

Photographing the newts is also illegal and can only take place under licence and when it is incidental to a survey, so again I feel very fortunate to be able to capture these images.

  The cold weather didn’t seem to be having a great impact and we went on to see quite a few more newts. Unfortunately it was mainly glimpses as the non-egg laying newts were a lot less static. The two other species are a lot less smaller and hard to tell apart from a quick glimpse. We did manage to net a beautifully patterened smooth newt (along with a diving beetle larvae and a water slater!) which gave us the chance of a closer look.

Right at the end of the survey, which involves walking the entire perimeter of the pond and recording all sightings and egg laying activity we spotted a male gc newt which we were also able to net, to learn about identification and handling.

The male that we had caught was apparently only a medium size specimen but it seemed easily twice the size of the smooth newt. It was also in prime breeding condition, with an impressive crest (this is reabsorbed into the body outside the breeding season). Again, a really beautiful animal, especially when you turn it over and look at its belly and throat markings! In fact each newt has completely unique belly markings and in years past, photocopying was used as a recording method.  

Well, I could go on typing all night (or morning -oops!) but suffice to say it was really special and a worthwhile skill to learn. If you are interested in doing something similar, (before you rush out with your torch!) it may be worth finding out if there is an amphibian and reptile recording group (ARG) in your county or area to learn from the experts like I did.

This week I have been mostly chipping gorse. Chipping can be fun. Chipping gorse is OK but certainly not fun. Trying to chip old gorse that refuses to fit into the chipper because it is so twisted is not only not fun but also painful. I now have gorse thorns permanently embedded in my hands (they worked their way through my gloves).

Birds are becoming even more vocally evident. I saw a chaffinch on Monday and heard one in my garden today. Their song is quite easy to remember because it sounds like a cricketer running in to bowl (you have the sound of the run up and then the release of the ball). It is the wren that is dominating the airwaves though.  Wrens must be 95% lungs.

One of my neighbours has a communal sparrow box on the front of their house. It is always popular and the house sparrows are often sitting in a row on top. It was nice to see that this morning at least one has taken up full residence and nesting material is poking out of the hole.

My apricot is looking severely unwell. There was mould growing on some of the buds and a sticky secretion and no sign of blossom or leaves although the wood is healthily flexible. I think I need to face the fact that I may need to burn it all before I infect my new peach - aaaargh.

I also broke the flat head screwdriver on my leatherman yesterday. Oh the pain, oh woe is me, etc etc. It lives on my belt and is sooooooo useful. I seem to use it daily and when I think of all the uses, perhaps food preparation shouldn’t be one of them……..

Luckily it comes with a 25 year guarantee so hopefully if I send it off it maybe repaired for free but I don’t know how I will cope without it.

Ironically it broke when I was repairing something else.

No work today and since it was a bit on the damp side I didn’t mind being inside. I did venture out to replace the fence panel during a carefully anticipated dry spell. The panel took about twenty minutes to fix while the dry spell must have lasted about five minutes. I got wet - again.

I found my boots by the way - being waterproof they made a useful rain gauge, each collecting about an inch of water over night.

I had plenty of indoor jobs today and my friend came round to show me how to repot my growing orchid collection. Yes, I know it is another plant hobby that I hadn’t mentioned and yes it is linked to my weakness for garden centres but you’ve got to have houseplants and anyway, the pineapple was lonely……

Anyway I have a bit of a particular soft spot for slipper orchids. I only have two at the moment. One I got super cheap about a year ago because it looked a bit ill and the other was a present from the aforementioned friend. The latter is yet to flower but should be pretty impressive when it does.

While I was out on the heath, despite the poor weather I thought I’d check a couple of my survey tins and saw my first reptile of the year - a slow worm (with a bit of a stunted tail).

Like all of our lizards, the slow worm is able to shed its tail as an escape mechanism. It’s less noticeable than with the other two species because the lack of legs makes it harder to tell where the body stops and the tail starts!

There was also an active ants’ nest under the tin and since ants are part of the staple diet of a slow worm this may have been an attracting factor.

Ants under tins are usually a bad sign as they can dissuade the reptiles if they get too established, particularly if they are a large species.

The site holds all six native species, and hopefully I should be able to record all of them in the next few months. I think grass snake was the only absentee last year.

Well, it sure did blow down here but I think we escaped relatively unscathed. Quite a few trees are down, most of them annoyingly, only half-down.

In the garden I have lost only one fence panel on the side that I own and haven’t had the time (or the daylight) to replace it yet. The fence on the other side (where I have just planted the fruit trees) is a mess but to prevent any calamity I have propped it up with various garden tools!

I have had to replace one section of greenhouse roof twice though. Luckily I chose polycarbonate panels, which although a bit prone to being blown off, don’t shatter - also useful if you have lots of balls flying round your garden. I manage to retrieve the panel from next door and the plants seemed pretty unaffected.

At work I have spent most of the time checking for dangerous trees and either making them safe myself or leaving it to the professionals. Getting round the sites gave me the opportunity for some incidental wildlife watching. It was nice to see wood anenomes in flower (aptly they are also known as wind flowers and according to Flora Britannica - wooden enemies!). I was particularly pleased because I had planted some rhizomes on a site where we had cleared rhododendron about 5 years ago and they are now flowering for the first time. 

Among the other things that I saw were: a very mang(e)y fox, some windblown brent geese, a cormorant sheltering well inland, which had no intention of being intimidated by me, dog’s mercury in good growth and a Spanish bluebell in full flower.

I spent today clearing a river. It was as wet in the water as out of it and I got home in my waterproofs only to remember that I had put my work boots on the ground while I put everything into my car. Let’s hope they’re there in the morning. I blame the lack of sleep…………..

Hopefully we will all escape the forthcoming gales relatively unscathed. Let’s also hope that if any trees come down that some are left, either to grow on in a horizontal fashion or to remain as dead wood habitat. As a nation we are obsessed with tidiness.

I got to spend some more time in the garden today and managed to plant my Victoria plum tree (another weak moment), a dahlia and some primroses, which are just coming into flower.

In the greenhouse my garlic bulbs are sprouting strongly, as are the kiwi and fig but I am concerned about the apricot, which looks healthy on the surface but is not showing any signs of growth.

I only hope it is not going the same way as the old peach since I only bought it last year and at £26, it was not cheap. So far I have harvested 10 fruit and although they were delicious, £2.60 per fruit is not a good return.

I also nearly sowed some parsnip seeds but will have to be satisfied that the vegetable bed is now formally ready for action.  

In the house, my carnivorous plant collection increased by 1 as a friend brought round a Sarracenia leucophylla (white trumpet pitcher) offshoot, which excitingly (if you get excited about such things) has a flower shoot coming.