14/02/2013 - A Hedghog was out in my garden tonight. Although it's a bit early for one to be out of hibernation it is quite mild outside. I left it some dog food, so I hope it has a good old nosh and then goes back to bed for another month or so!

24/07/2012 - Welted Thistle in the sheep fields at Davenport Green. Seen these funny thistle specimens for a year or two and was thinking they may be wierd hybrids between creeping/spear/marsh thistles (all present nearby) but the penny finally dropped today. They are not as common in GM as many other parts of England for some reason (too wet?!).

11/07/2012 - 1 Common Hawker along Shay Lane.

23/06/2012 - 10am-1pm: 5 spikes of Bee Orchid found at a new site plus over 200 spikes of Broad-leaved Helleborine nearby. 152 plant species recorded.

10/06/2012 - My standard Cotoneaster is thriving with Bumblebees today in the sun, must be at least 30 in total. Tree, White-tailed, Buff-tailed, Early Bumblebees, Common Carder Bees and Honey Bees recorded.

21/05/2012 - Tree Bumblebee on the wing in the sun today, also using a nestbox in my garden again. They are doing the tits out of a home but fascinating to watch nonetheless having only colonised GM in the last year or two and the UK since 2001.

Also singles of Small Tortoiseshell and Pecock - lets hope they can recover from the terrible spring so far.

30/04/2012 - The first butterflies on the wing today for over a month, probably due to cold temps and wet weather:

Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Green-veined White, Small White and Speckled Woods around the garden.

28/03/2012 - Holly Blue, Comma, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell seen in the garden on this sunny and warm day.

Also the warm weather has brought out Tawny Mining Bee and Grey Mining Bee earlier than usual.

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Wednesday 28th of March 2012 04:37:38 PM

09/03/2012 - An overwintered Oak Nycteoline moth came to house lights this evening. Also a Common Quaker.

01/03/2012 - 1 tatty Comma Butterfly resting on Oregon Grape in the garden. Also queen Wasps, White-tailed, Buff-tailed Bumblebees and Honey Bees 'a plenty.

2 dead Foxes found today, a vixen and dog laid side by side next to a dead sheep with rifle wounds, along a public footpath. These deaths seem totally unecessary as the foxes haven't been killing sheep. Didn't see who did it but I expect it happened overnight.

12/02/2012 - 10pm - A melanistic Pale Brindled Beauty was on the kitchen window. Despite having trapped over 250 species in the garden over a couple of years it was a first.

06/02/2012 - Came across a 'loveliness of Ladybirds' this morning. 7 Harlequin Ladybirds to be precise, hibernating by a window inside the house. 4 were of the common colour variant, one was similar but had an orange ground colour and there were 2 of the dark variant with black wing casings plus a few red spots.

05/02/2012 - Rosy Crust seen off Shay Lane. Also a few Velvet Shank still about the last few days.

22/01/2012 - Witches Butter and Velvet Shank around the edges of sheep fields off Shay Lane.

Nice to see Lesser Celandine coming up, a sign that this winter will soon be giving way.

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Sunday 22nd of January 2012 04:01:01 PM

10/12/2011 - Plenty of Trooping Funnel up in the sheep fields. Seems to be popular with the sheep unusually, so it won't last long!

02/12/2011 - White Melilot still in flower along Buttery House Lane. Also Orpine in flower along Ash Lane in the verge, both new species for the area.

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Saturday 3rd of December 2011 10:08:32 AM

20/11/2011 - Many Wood Blewits out now, most fresh and showing a vivid lilac colour.

14/11/2011 - 4 Harlequin Ladybirds in varying colour variants trying to get into my house to hibernate today. Suprising numbers of inverts still on the wing at the moment with it being so warm.

10/11/2011 - Meadow Coral in the sheep fields and a Slime Mold sp.

05/11/2011 - A few fungi still out today:

Common Inkcap
Coral Spot
Cortinarius sp.
Ganoderma sp.
Giant Puffball
Glistening Inkcap
Hen-of-the-woods
Horse Mushroom
Jelly Ear
Liberty Cap
Panaeolus sp
Shaggy Bracket
Snowy Waxcap

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Saturday 5th of November 2011 03:12:23 PM

01/11/2011 - 1 Small Tortoiseshell out in the sun today

28/10/2011 - 2 Red Admirals today in the area. One nectaring on Ivy still in the late autumn warmth of the sun and another seen in the sheep fields powering on south, migration in action from a butterfly!

22/10/2011 - 1 late Red Admiral nectaring around the garden today.

05/10/2011 - Green Nightshade in my garden still, third record for GM.

05/10/2011 - Hen-of-the-woods seen on Oak in the sheep fields this morning.

03/10/2011 - Plenty of fungi on show in the Davenport Green area during my morning walk:

Shaggy Bracket
Shaggy Inkcap
Pleated Inkcap
Blackening Waxcap
Heath Waxcap
Snowy Waxcap
Egghead Mottlegill
Mottlegill sp.
The Deciever
Field Mushroom
Dryad's Saddle
Chicken of the woods
Giant Puffball - gone over now
Clustered Toughshank
Purple Brittlegill
Ochre Brittlegill
Artist's Bracket
Ganoderma sp.
Cramp Balls
Turkeytail
Hairy Curtain Crust
Tarspot