15 May 2018

We went to Apedale after breakfast in the morning today. It was quite cold and misty when we first got there, but then it became sunnier than ever!

There was a heavy dew on the ground today, which meant we saw lots of slugs and beautiful on the foliage:

These are some alder leaf beetles mating. This little alder tree was covered in alder leaf beetles:

They were once on the way to extinction in the UK, until they were discovered on trees in Manchester in 2004. They are now very common at Apedale.

This is a frog in the pond where we usually see newts, he was half-buried in the mud at the bottom of the pond, which clouded the visibility. We’ve put a circle round it to help you see it:

There were lots of large red damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). The yellow stripes on the thorax mean that this damselfly is an immature specimen.

As they get older, the yellow stripes on the thorax will turn red.

This is a footballer hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus), so-called because of the stripy thorax that resembles a footballer’s shirt.

This is a green orb weaver spider, sometimes called the cucumber green spider. Its Latin name is Araniella cucurbitina. It looks as if the spider is weaving a web inside this hawthorn leaf.

Mum spotted that the oak leaves on this sapling were full on holes, so she went for a closer look, and saw it crawling with caterpillars like this one:

We think that they might be Tortrix moth caterpillars (Leaf Roller Caterpillars) but we aren’t quite sure yet.

This beetle is a new one to us, one of  the click beetle family (Elateridae) but we have absolutely no idea which type it is, because they all look very similar.

Another new insect to us was this very shiny moth, perched on a bramble leaf:

Did you know that the antennae are at least twice as long as their body? Not surprisingly, it is sometimes called the green long-horn moth. Its Latin name is Adela reaumerella.

Our last spot today was this scorpion fly (Panorpa germanica). This is a male of the species, identified by the bulbous orange genitalia at the end of its abdomen.

And also, the goat willow was spreading its seeds:

The rowan trees were in flower:

And the bluebells are still looking beautiful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 May 2018

We went to Apedale in the early afternoon. It was quite warm in the sun, but with a cold wind.

The very first thing that we heard today was a cuckoo in the car park. There are also several other cuckoos around Apedale too – we heard them all through the walk!

We checked the pond for newts, and we managed to grab a photo:

This is a sycamore tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) almost in full bloom:

There were loads of drone flies, which were mostly enjoying the dandelions:

Here’s one on some wavy bittercress:

Ali was trying to get a picture of bumble bees but kept failing, but she did manage to spot this possible bees’ nest:

Can you spot the bumblebee amongst the leaves? We wonder if it’s a buff-tailed bumblebee but we don’t know for sure.

Danny was the first one to spot this weird bug on the side of a tree:

We think it is a female St. Mark’s Fly (Bibio marci) because it is pretty large, and the other Bibio species are smaller.

This familiar bird is a carrion crow (Corvus corone) which is one of Danny’s favourite birds. He/she had a blue tint in his/her feathers in the sunshine.

After we walked past the carrion crow we looked back and saw him eating some bird seed. It made us think of one of the traps used by Wile E. Coyote to try and catch the Road Runner in Looney Tunes cartoons.

It has definitely been the weather for bracket fungi because there was loads of it around!

It was a lovely day for wildflowers! We’ve got bluebells, greater stitchwort, wood sorrel, celandines, and more wavy bittercress:

Bluebells

Bluebells and greater stitchwort

This is greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea). Here’s some information from The Wildlife Trust’s website:

Greater Stitchwort grows in woods, roadside verges, hedgerows and grassy banks. It has many other common names including ‘Wedding Cakes’, ‘Star-of-Bethlehem’, ‘Daddy’s-shirt-buttons’ and ‘Snapdragon’ – the latter because its stems are brittle and easily break. It’s pretty star-shaped, white flowers bloom from April to June; as the seed capsules ripen, they can be heard ‘popping’ in late spring.

Another woodland plant we spotted is this wood sorrel:

The wood sorrel’s Latin name is Oxalis acetosella. You only see it in April and May in shady woodland.

Another springtime shady woodland plant is Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna).

The poet Wordsworth wrote three poems about the Lesser celandine. Also, it was his favourite flower.

Wavy bittercress

The red ball that looks like an apple in this oak tree is a freshly-formed oak apple gall.

Dad saw this colourful peacock butterfly that was enjoying the sun down in the grass. He rather naughtily climbed over the fence to get a good picture:

We have absolutely no idea what this tiny, fluffy moth is. Mum spotted it sitting on a bramble leaf.

We shall do more research to try and find out.

We met loads of dogs today. Mostly we didn’t get their names, but we did see our old friends Amber and Lucy, and Camilo with his sausage-dog friend.

25 April 2018

We went to Apedale just after breakfast today. There were a few April showers, but there were a few sunny spells.

This is the first thing that we saw, an arion ater or black slug:

It was quite the weather for slugs, and here’s a Spanish slug (arion vulgaris). It’s a highly invasive species and regarded as a pest:

While we were looking at the slugs, Danny spotted this:

It’s a pair of crane flies, mating. We think the species is tipula vittata, but we can’t be totally sure.

There was loads of these small white flowers growing in damp ditches:

This is a wavy bittercress (cardamine flexuosa).

It was interesting to see what goat willow catkins look like after they have flowered:

We went to our favourite pond where we sometimes see newts. We saw one newt (the first one of the year) on Monday 23rd. But all we saw this time was lots of pond-skaters.

There were loads of horsetails growing today…loads and loads of them!

Horsetails are very ancient plants, having existed since the time of the dinosaurs.

Mum spotted this tiny black caterpillar munching on some grass:

After some research, we discovered that it is a caterpillar of the Timothy Tortrix moth (Aphelia paleana). It’s called Timothy because one of its main food sources is Timothy grass.

There were a lot of drone flies loudly buzzing around a patch of wet moss.

This is a common drone fly. It’s called a drone fly because its buzzing noise is so loud.

Here’s an alder beetle chewing away at the brand new alder leaves. We’re quite surprised to see one of these so early!

It’s nice to see all the spring colour coming to the landscape!

Cowslips near the top of the hill

A bluebell in the wood

As well as that, we were quite disappointed not to have heard a cuckoo as we heard our first cuckoo of the year on Monday the 23rd of April. We didn’t see any dogs either!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 April 2018

We went to Apedale in the afternoon today. It was quite drizzly, cloudy, misty, and a bit cold, but not the worst the weather has to offer.

The monument on the top of the hill looks a bit ghostly in the mist today!

The first thing spotted today were these little mushrooms:

Its common name is Scurfy Twiglet, and its scientific name is Tubaria furfuracea. It’s a very common mushroom and it grows on woody debris, twigs etc.

A few steps after an amusing moment with Mum stuck in the mud, we heard a song which attracted our attention high up in a tree:

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it is a song thrush.

We spotted our very first cowslip of 2018 today:

 The Woodland Trust website tells us that:

Folklore: cowslips were traditionally picked on May Day to adorn garlands but also other celebrations, such as weddings, as they are pretty flowers. Cowslips have also been called ‘St. Peter’s keys’ or ‘keys of heaven’ because the one-sided flower heads looked like a set of keys, and it has been said that cowslips grew where Peter dropped the key of Earth.

As Danny expected, we saw a few small L’escargots (which is French for snails).

It is very hard for beginners to identify snails, but this is very likely a young brown or white-lipped snail. We have no idea what this one is though:

This is one adventurous little snail!

Mum spotted this Turkeytail fungus (Trametes versicolor). It comes in lots of different colours, and obviously got its name because it looks like a turkey tail!

Last one! This is some goat willow catkins soaked by the rain.

Dogs-wise, we saw Camilo and his friend the sausage-dog in the distance, but we also met a new dog, an Italian greyhound called Pixie, and she was one year old. She was totally adorable and jumped up against Danny and Tommy’s legs!

 

26 March 2018

We went in the afternoon, and the weather was sunny and cloudy at the same time.

The first thing we spotted was this bracket fungus:

It is called fomitopsis betulina, and its common name is birch polypore, birch bracket, or razor strop. It’s called razor strop for the obvious reason – dried pieces were used to create the sharpest edge on cut-throat razors. It grows exclusively on birch trees. In this picture it is growing on a silver birch.

Here are some more pictures of the fungus:

These two fungi were right at the top of the tree, and Danny thought they looked like a weird bird with a really long right wing.

Danny thought this hole looks like Mr. Badger’s house from The Wind in the Willows novel by Kenneth Grahame.

These flowers are some narcissi. They are not wild flowers, and have been planted round a bench in Watermills Wood.

The patch of primroses near the railway line, is really big now:

Mum spotted a buff-tailed bumblebee whilst we were walking up the hill – she heard it first, it was so loud! Our first bee at Apedale this year!

Whilst watching for birds in the wood (we heard loads of green woodpeckers, skylarks, blue tits, great tits, jays, crows and the buzzards of course!), mum spotted movement in this hole:

She thinks it had fur rather than feathers though (it was all very quick!) so it might well be a squirrel den rather than a birds’ nest. We will try and see more on further visits.

The pussy willow catkins on the goat willow trees are flowering now:

The yellow-flowered catkins are male, and they are an early source of pollen for the bees and butterflies.

Here’s a honey bee that we spotted on the goat willow’s trunk:

We were glad that this honey bee is not one from Africa, because the African ones are much more hostile, have nasty stings, and are slightly smaller.

We were also excited to see our first butterfly of the year! Here it is:

It was on the goat willow, just like the bees. This type is a small tortoiseshell butterfly, and it was the earliest time we have ever seen one.

 

 

 

 

13 March 2018

It’s our opinion that this was one of the best walks we’ve had in a while. There were lovely blue skies this afternoon and it was warm enough to take off our coats.

We heard the skylarks for the first time this year – up by the Miners’ Memorial on top of the hill. Mum took a useless photo of a skylark:

The pussy willow buds were opening:

Pussy willow is a nickname given to many of the smaller species of the genus Salix (willows) when their furry catkins are young in early spring.

Judging by the shape of this willow tree (on the left), we think the species is Salix caprea or more commonly goat willow or great sallow.

There were some really big patches of coltsfoot (tussilago farfara) in the damp areas by the paths. Apparently it is commonly know as coltsfoot because of the shape of the leaves that look a bit like hooves. It is also known as tash plant, ass’s foot, bull’s foot, coughwort, farfara, foal’s foot, foalswort, son-before-father, disheroagie, tushylucky, tushies, baccy plant, cleats and horse foot!

There was a little fly busy eating a meal on one of the coltsfoot flowers.

We think this is a sepsis fulgens fly or something similar. It is an ant mimicking fly with a dark spot on its wings. It is often seen on flowers but its preferred habitat is animal dung, and as there are cows at Apedale, and horses use the paths there, it seems a likely identification.

We spotted a sparrowhawk up on a branch, but it flew away before we could get closer for a better picture.

Dad spotted this lump in the grass – we wondered if it was an ant hill, and if the holes in the sides were made by woodpeckers.

We have seen greater spotted woodpeckers at Apedale and heard green woodpeckers, so we like this idea!

It was interesting to see the galls which grew in such abundance last year. It is easy to see the hole where the wasp has emerged. It’s also interesting to see how many leaves this oak tree has retained over the winter:

We are looking forward to loads more interesting discoveries old and new as spring really gets underway!

5 March 2018

We went up to Apedale in the afternoon, the weather was cool, with lots of grey cloud but some sunny spells. It was really different to the last few days which were really freezing and snowy. There was still some tiny bits of snow on the ground in sheltered places:

Snow in a drainage ditch

There was plenty of evidence of rabbits:

Rabbit pellets

Rabbits eat about 80% of their own droppings to make their grazing more efficient. This process of double digestion is called refection. There are loads of rabbit warrens at Apedale:

A rabbit warren can be up to 3 metres in depth and can cover a large area, with lots of entrances. The warren will contain nesting areas, living areas, bolt runs and emergency exits to escape from predators.

There were some volunteers working in the woods, thinning out some of the trees, so that the remaining trees can have the space to grow bigger. They have left the smaller branches and twigs on the ground, in piles, to provide shelter for wildlife.

The bluebells are putting up their leaves amongst the moss. It will be interesting to see when the bluebells start flowering this year.

And in spite of the snow, the first primroses have started to flower:

The wild primrose prefers damp places and heavy clay soils, which makes Apedale quite perfect for it. One of its main pollinators is the bee fly Bombylius major – we will make sure to watch out for them later in the month.

We looked at the Jelly Ear fungus again – it had gone over and looked really floppy and dead:

This elder was absolutely covered in Jelly Ear – elder is one of its preferred habitats:

In Watermill wood we noticed, for the first time, how very mossy this tree is:

It rarely gets any sun and its branches are covered in thick velvety green growth. We think this is a sycamore tree – but we will check in the spring and summer.

Another sign of summer, are the buds of leaves opening on the hawthorn.

Hawthorn is a very common tree, but so important to wildlife, as the Woodland Trust’s website tells us:

Common hawthorn can support more than 300 insects. It is the foodplant for caterpillars of many moths, including the hawthorn, orchard ermine, pear leaf blister, rhomboid tortrix, light emerald, lackey, vapourer, fruitlet mining tortrix, small eggar and lappet moths. Its flowers are eaten by dormice and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The haws are rich in antioxidants and are eaten by many migrating birds such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals.

The dense thorny foliage makes fantastic nesting shelter for many species of bird.

The birds were very busy – we heard green woodpecker(s) several times, and jays too. There was a buzzard flying around and there were loads of blue tits very busy in the trees.

This great tit was making a huge racket with his territorial call.

You can listen to the call on the RSPB site. As we walked down the hill back to the car park, there was another great tit making the same call – obviously it’s the time of year to loudly shout about where you are! There’s a lovely video on the RSPB page of a great tit pecking at a tennis ball to get fibres to put in its nest:

Winter at Apedale

We’ve had a fair few walks at Apedale over the winter, but haven’t been great at taking photos (too cold!). Now that spring is coming, we are planning to write regular posts again.

Here are some photos from our winter trips.

A snowy day – looking over Chesterton school to the Staffordshire Moorlands:

The sun on the snow was very beautiful.

There are signs of spring though – this photo of hazel catkins was taken on the same day:

The gorse is in flower, whatever the month. We enjoy smelling the blooms which have the aroma of coconut.

Some photos of another day in January when there was snow on the ground at Apedale, as well as over the distant hills:

The nature pond looked rather bleak:

But the pussy willow was starting to come out:

In the woods we spotted some Jelly Ear fungus:

This is an edible fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae), but it doesn’t exactly look very appetising. It is growing on an elder tree, which is its preferred habitat.

Watermills wood was pretty cold and grey.

But by the time we got up to the area we call ‘the Beech Copse’, because of the large beech trees amongst the elder and alder, the sun was shining low in the sky giving us a beautiful light:

The ivy seed heads are so attractive at this time of year:

And we spotted more fungus. We wondered if these were oyster mushrooms, but we are not knowledgeable about fungus to know for sure!

Here are some photos from a walk in mid-February.

First up some more jelly ear:

Some very familiar wildlife, having a sniff around:

Looking over from Apedale towards Wolstanton, which is quite close to where we live:

The very cheering sight of gorse in the sunshine – it was actually quite a warm day for February, although the temperature has sunk right back down again by the end of the week.

Mum managed this picture of a buzzard in flight:

And a better picture of a blue tit, singing as loud as he could, at the top of a hazel tree:

These are alder catkins, which are darker and longer than the catkins we see on the hazel trees:

We call this tree, the elbow tree:

We spotted leaf miner tracks on the bramble leaves:

The remains of a fox’s meal – looks like it might have been a wood pigeon:

The ivy, climbing a silver birch, brings a real note of colour:

And finally more catkins (hazel this time) showing spring is hopefully just around the corner:

 

1 August 2017

Purple loosestrife in the nature pond at Apedale

We went to Apedale in the morning, it was quite cool and breezy, and there wasn’t much to see, until later in the walk when things started to warm up a bit.

Danny took a lovely photo of this honeysuckle near the railway line:

There are loads of these yellow flowers around, that could be mistaken for dandelions. They are actually called hairy cat’s ear, or false dandelion.

We also saw lots of these purple flowers which we had previously mistaken for thistles. Of course they are not thistles because they aren’t prickly – it’s actually called knapweed:

A fly photobombed our arty shot.

We saw lots more examples of oak apples:

As we’ve mentioned before these are caused by the larvae of the parasitic gall wasp. Here’s a CT scan of the wasps developing inside the oak apple.

Mum spotted this lonely sloe berry – the fruit of the blackthorn. We are hoping to find lots more of these later in the years.

This is a European larch – it is the only native deciduous conifer tree in central Europe and was introduced to the British Isles in the 17th century.

There’s also lots of this very pretty yellow flower with spiky green leaves. It’s called lady’s bedstraw (galium verum) – because it was used to stuff mattresses (especially the beds of pregnant women), because its odour (caused by the chemical coumarin) repels fleas. It was also used in cheese-making to coagulate the milk (but this is a lost skill, amazingly), and is used to colour double Gloucester cheese.

Danny took this great photo of the very intertwined trunk of a sycamore tree.

We were able to get a photo of this leaf hopper because it was stuck on a web, otherwise they are really hard to photograph because they are really fast and hop off!

Green leaf-hopper 

We also spotted a whole clutch of soldier beetles on some (of course) ragwort:

Also hovering round the ragwort was this hoverfly, which we think is a tapered drone fly:

This insect, which has very bright lime green undersides, we think, is a tenthredo mesomela sawfly.

Here’s another pic where you can see its green striped legs:

We photographed a common wasp – buzzing round a thistle – this is another insect that is so hard to photograph because it moves around so much and so quickly!

We spotted another dingy footman:

The final insect for today is this ichneumon wasp. We think this might be a female ichneumon extensorius.

We are not good at identifying or taking photos of birds, but Tom and Sandy spotted a couple of very noisy jays that flew away as we approached.

Finally, the dog report! We only met one dog, but it was a new one to us – a beautiful black and white large Münsterlander, called Loki (after everyone’s favourite Avengers villain).

14 July 2017

We went for a walk at Apedale on a Friday morning – the weather was cool and cloudy – definitely needed our fleeces/jackets. We walked up past the nature area, and the first thing we photographed was the amazing teasels (Dipsacus fullonum). These will be a feast for small birds – especially goldfinches (there are a lot of goldfinches at Apedale) later in the year.

We also spotted a baby oak tree:

Next up was this creepy plant, just opening up. ID coming soon!

Then we spotted this ladybird pupa:

Mum took this close up picture of the larvae of the alder leaf beetle. We saw these beetles mating back on 23 May!

Danny took this shot from further away, showing the size of the larvae – they are pretty small, although they still look big to turn into the very small leaf beetles!

There are loads of alder trees at Apedale. The alder is a pioneer species – moving quickly onto vacant land, so it’s not surprising that there’s so much of it at this former industrial site. This one has a touch of alder rust fungus:

The alder is a really interesting tree because it fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil as it grows, so it is known for increasing soil fertility. It will not thrive at Apedale as other trees take over, because its seedlings need more light than is available on the woodland floor.

There are also lots of rowan trees – these fruits (they aren’t berries!) will provide food for birds later in the year, especially thrushes and waxwings (hopefully).

Mum spotted this tiny snail, working its way along a reed. It was definitely a day for snails rather than bees or butterflies, we hardly saw any.

Towards the end of the walk when the weather warmed up a bit, we did spot some hover flies that started to come out:

ID hopefully coming shortly!

The yellow ragwort is in flower – and there’s loads of it. Ragwort is a rather smelly plant (its common names also include stinking willie or stinking nanny and mare’s fart!), and is poisonous to mammals. It provides food for about 77 insect species in the UK – including this lovely red soldier beetle (from the Cantharidae family).

Later on we spotted a pair mating – also on a ragwort plant:

We also spotted a couple of wildflowers to identify:

Mum said hi to Pepe the dog, who we’ve met before.