The local population of pigeons seems to have reached almost plague proportions and this does not auger well for our local farmers or for our winter vegetables. These birds can be so destructive of crops in the winter months. Mind you, they don’t have it all their own way. A young Sparrowhawk has set up its territory in the area and has been feasting on pigeons. It is an amazing spectacle to see such a bird on one of its “bombing” raids, flying in very low, hedge-hopping, and then conducting a tight braking turn before pouncing on some …
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Paul’s Nature Notes October-November 2022
Paul’s Nature Notes September-October 2022
As September wore on reports were coming in about the lack of flocks of sparrows, which have in the past been such a common sight in our hedgerows. Ours seem to have had a reasonable breeding season, so perhaps the reason could be avian flu. Let us all hope that this is not the case.
As predicted last month, our second brood house martins fledged just before my birthday and are now probably well on their migration to their winter quarters. The strangest thing is that scientists do not fully understand this species’ migration and do not know …
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Yellingham Farm – September 2022
The suspense was over and the day we had all been waiting for had arrived. Yes, the Payhembury Village Show schedules were on the shelves of the shop. A new time of year, a new committee - so what was in store? Had tradition been thrown to the wind and did the famous cookery classes now include new-fangled trendy dishes such as Pigs trotters in cider on a bed of sweetbreads, deconstructed black forest gateau, 10 exotic fruits marmalade? Heaven forbid. Anxiously, I scrolled through the schedule and at a first glance, all seemed fine. But, and …
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Paul’s Nature Notes August-September 2022
As August drew to a close the swallows started to line up on the wires across the road from the house. Is it my imagination or are there many fewer than in previous years? They have clearly not had a good year and have suffered greatly from our exceptionally hot and dry summer. There are worldwide concerns about declining swallow populations with the main reasons being put down to climate change and farming practices, particularly in areas where the birds over winter in Africa.
On the other hand, our house martins have had a really good year …
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Paul’s Nature Notes July-August 2022
How common do you think common actually is? Many might be forgiven for believing it is something frequently seen or encountered. Clearly entomologists will disagree and tell us that, in the case of moths, common means a species which has been recorded in over 300 10km squares since 1 January 1960 – a definition now clearly in need of an update in my opinion.
I was reminded of this recently when Tim W found an Oak Eggar moth indoors, one of those species considered “common”. This really is a special moth, large and sexy, at least as moths go! …
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Paul’s Nature Notes June-July 2022
Strange things have been happening on the mothing front with unprecedented low counts. Low night time temperatures doubtless did not help but this does not explain the total absence of so many species. On the last day of June night time temperatures fell for a second night on the trot to really chilly single digits, with a total count of just 7moths, whereas only a week earlier the total had been 150. This is the lowest count for the end of June I have recorded since I first started monitoring moth populations some 15 years ago.
There are, of …
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Paul’s Nature Notes May-June 2022
My plea for help with the birds of the Hembury Fort area has borne fruit. David Wall, who lives in Tiverton, has been carrying out breeding bird surveys there for the past 25 years and was incredibly kind enough to share his data with me. What a fascinating insight his records offer to the state of our local birds. For those of you who may not know what a breeding bird survey is, this is carried out twice a year about a month apart in the spring walking two 1km lines and involves recording the number of birds of each species seen. It is true …
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Paul’s Nature Notes – May 2022
At a recent parish council meeting a few of us were treated to an intriguing talk about the Poffit Lane Rewilding Project. Now, like many others I have heard about herbal leys but had never actually seen any. What an incredible rich habitat they create, an absolute haven for insect and birdlife and when cut the fodder provides a far superior food source for the cattle that feed on it. The use of flails on most of the hedgerows will now be curtailed, which means that the hedges should thicken out and grow upwards, again to the benefit of all the …
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Paul’s Nature Notes March-April 2022
For me this winter has been cold and, at times, quite wet and so it has been a welcome relief to have become involved with recording the flora and fauna of our parish. The first step was to obtain an up to date parish map and then familiarise myself with where exactly the boundaries lay and to track down several lanes and footpaths with which I am unfamiliar.
Did you know that there are three very special ‘heritage’ things associated with Payhembury: the Payhembury Window, the Payhembury Cider Apple and the Payhembury Daffodil? As the …
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Yellingham Farm – April 2022
Every month is a special month in the farming calendar, but May is one of the months for reflection on the early Spring months and the outcome of weeks of lambing and yet excitement about what the summer months will bring – lots of which is weather dependent.
Lambing went particularly well this year and for the first year for a very long time, there is not one lamb on the bottle – yes, a relief! Mind you, it is lovely when my B and B guests get to bottle feed lambs which they thoroughly enjoy. However, for my sheepdog Nell, bottle fed lambs …
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