August 1st – The buzzard was back on the bale of straw tonight, it looks like it could be a juvenile to me.
August 2nd – This evening there were 3 mint moths on the mint, so I’m really glad that it has been left to go to seed. They were also joined by a mother-of-pearl month.
August 8th – the great spotted woodpecker is still feeding on the nuts! He’s the main bird I see at the moment as he seems to be slightly braver than the other birds and will still feed if I’m in the garden as long as I’m not moving about too much.
August 9th – I haven’t seen the rabbits in the field since March when I saw them running about in the snow. This morning they were running about near their burrows. This afternoon I also found a 22-spot ladybird, I’ve never found one before!
August 13th – One of the hedges has been cut! There isn’t a lot I can do about it as a local farmer is contracted to trim them but really! don’t they know they shouldn’t be doing that until at least September 🙁 There were fledgling goldfinches in the garden tonight, they were making one hell of a racket. I think the parents were trying to get them to feed for themselves. I wonder if they had been displaced from the hedgerows? I also found a buff-tip moth caterpillar, it took me by surprise as it was on the edge of the arm of one of the chairs.
August 15th – I thought I saw a frog in the garden the other day but wasn’t convinced as it was small and mud coloured, it hopped but I only saw it out of the corner of my eye and it could have been a cricket. Today I saw it again, it was about an inch long, it saw me and leapt under the fence and into the field.
August 22nd – This afternoon I found a badger in the ditch, I seems it was hit over the weekend and someone had moved it. We moved her round into the field so any other creature wanting to feed on her wouldn’t be hit too. The entrance to the field is where there are regular animal crossings. It’s on a slight bend and people just don’t slow down at all, they also seem to drive in the middle of the road so if another car is coming they have to swerve! You would think if you were a regular driver of the road you would have more sense, but I guess not!
August 23rd – tonight I took a walk down to the river, there wasn’t much activity. There was litter floating downstream, sadly this is a regular occurrence each time I visit but the water is too deep for me to do anything about it. The rabbits are still digging their burrows in the walkways around the field so I walked back along the track as I knew I wouldn’t be able to see them walking back across the field. I can generally only see them when I walk into the field, in the other direction they are more camouflaged! I spotted some of the culprits on my way back!
August 24th – One of the cats left a dead rat in the front garden of the house today! At least we know the rats are still about… there is a barn a little further down the road and we think they catch them there, or next door have chickens so its a possibility they are in their garden too. I do however think if they catch them they should eat them, not just leave them on the floor!
August 31st – tonight I found lots of caterpillars on the rose bush, after a little investigation I have discovered they are large rose sawfly. All the gardening websites tell you how to get rid of them but these are happily munching away in the garden!
