Latest Garden Safari

Some of the species recorded in the garden in the last couple of days including two new species the Square-headed Wasp and a minute White Fly that looked like a piece of detritus until it landed for a photograph.

Photowalk in Great Chesterford

Yesterday evening we had a walk round Great Chesterford looking for some photo clues. The light wasn't very good so will return another day to complete the task. An interesting village with Roman roots and a strong Railway history.

Open Gardens (NGS) Toft

Three Gardens were open in Toft yesterday for the National Gardens Scheme which raises valuable money for nursing and health charities. I started at the largest, Manor Cottage by the church with its sweeping lawn, meadow, copse and herbaceous borders. Old Horse Yard is more compact and very beautifully laid out with its arches, paths and geometric beds. By the time I got to the third garden on Comberton Road the thunderstorm was arriving but certainly time to appreciate a garden started from scratch in 2020 which reimagines a late 18th century garden with four interconnected zones including my favourite, a Ritual Landscape Zone, which was full of British native plants.

Kingfisher Boxes at Paxton Pits

Yesterday, we installed the first 2 of 20 kingfisher boxes that are to be situated in strategic areas at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. The aim is to provide more suitable nest sites especially in areas where banks created by quarrying have collapsed.

Local Orchids

The Man Orchids at our local Cambridgeshire site are in full flower at the moment but are very short in stature and numbers compared to recent years. This is an early date for them; 2010 was the other year that I recorded them in May and again they were short (Ann Miles Blog: Man Orchid (pin-sharp.blogspot.com)). I only found one Twayblade and this was very small and just a handful of small Common Spotted Orchids including a completely albino form