May days...

 

Dog Rose in flower

                  After what seemed like endless days of cold wind from the North and the extremely hot weather in April, late May has brought calmer days to the wood and it is suddenly alive with colour and insect activity. There are insects abuzzing, bumble bees collecting nectar and the first Spotted Orchids bursting into flower. 

               While it does not seem to have been a good breeding season for most of our woodland birds with many of the nest boxes left empty, we do have a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers nesting in a dead pine tree and hungry young birds inside ready to fledge any day now. When nearly fully grown they are very noisy chicks especially when they hear the parents nearby. Using my truck as a photographic hide they let me get quite close and enjoy them being fed. Sadly the Turtle Doves that I continue to put out feed for on the main truck have proved very elusive this year and I have yet to see one, although I have had positive reports  of sightings from the other end of Old Park Wood.

                 Cutting back some Sweet Chestnut a week or so ago I happened to notice some strange galls on many of the leaves. They looked like green lumps often in the centre of the leaf. After a bit of research I learnt that these are caused by a tiny insect pest that started being seen just a few years ago in Kent. The culprit is called the Oriental Chestnut Gall Wasp and as its name suggests it originated in China, probably arriving in shipments of timber. It can cause damage to the trees and its presence has to be notified to the Forestry Commission, which we have done. It's rather too easy to blame the Chinese for all the world's ills but we can certainly put this one there, for sure. The bigger evil is the changing climate that enables these new parasites to expand their ranges and flourish.

Bugle in flower, a favourite of bumble bees

The first spike of Common Spotted Orchid

An adult woodpecker leaves after bringing food to the nest in the dead pine

Ready to leave, I wonder how many chicks are in the nest

new cones on the Larch Trees

one of the galls in the middle of the leaf caused by the invading wasp species

not a butterfly but a day-flying moth, the Speckled Yellow, just now on the wing

Foxgloves in flower, another favourite of bumble bees