Yesterday morning, on our way out to Kynance cove, I spotted a Harrier Hawk perched on top of a roadside Sign frame, looking very regal.
This morning's adventure was out to the Piskey Hall, "Fogou" in Cornish, which is on the farm land where we're staying. It's a small cave with glow in the dark lichen, a pretty little place.

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Thanks for that. I had to look up Piskey Hall. A new one for me. Hope the holiday is going well.
https://acornishjourney.uk/early-medieval/fogous/piskey-hall-fogou/ 

 

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Thanks for that. I had to look up Piskey Hall. A new one for me. Hope the holiday is going well.
https://acornishjourney.uk/early-medieval/fogous/piskey-hall-fogou/ 

 

Thanks! The holiday is going great so far, and the farmer and his wife are so very accomodating, they took us to the site because of the electric fences and I have some lovely photo's of it, which I will share here later for comparison to those on that website.
Their holiday let is top notch too (and suitable for those in a wheelchair) and I highly recommend as it was cheaper than a static caravan for this time of the year (and probably throughout the year) and a lot more comfortable all round. 
We're off out Marazion way this afternoon, in spite of the light, passing showers, which is the first rain (if you can call it that lol) we've seen so far this week. The husband and I have been blessed 😊

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So I uploaded just the one picture of the Piskey Hall Fogou onto the TWO gallery. You can see that it's being maintained so that it's accessible, without going overboard. The glow in the dark lichen is pretty interesting though.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/userpics/20240426/20240426093605.jpg 



 

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 Our gannet cam is now live.  Unfortunately, it has been estimated up to 20% of our gannets succumbed to avian flu.
Working with the RSPB, it's interesting that the gannets which contracted avian flu and survived have now got black pupils in their eyes.
Whether this affects their ability to fish, is unknown.

https://www.alderneywildlife.org/wildlife/webcams/gannet-cam 

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Apropos trees being early this year, I was in a local beech wood at Eartham this morning and  the trees are coming into leaf. Last year, when I was organising an orienteering event there, the trees had reached about the same stage on the 18th May. Big difference!

Also heard the cuckoo again.

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Saw 2 swifts over village from garden at 3pm. 😁

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Exciting news today for me. I have 3 little ponds  - one in the front garden and two on the back lawn. I've been watching the dragonfly nymphs climb the reeds and keep finding empty cases but I've not seen a dragonfly emerge yet. There's still quite a few in the pond and as I was watching them one surfaced and I thought wow that was quick. I looked again and saw it was a newt! I've been waiting for an amphibian of some kind for two years since I put these ponds in and finally one has arrived :)

We used to get frogs in the old pond at the top of the garden (which was so silted up I converted it into a bog garden last year) but I haven't seen a frog or toad in the garden for years which I assume is because of the cats that visit or the foxes who seem to use our garden as one of their homes.

And until today, never a newt. So a good day 😀

I've got three ponds too and the other day I saw this frog sitting on a stone. I'm pleased as I think it's one from a batch of spawn I acquired, though I shouldn't have, last year. Anyway a result for my 'wildlife' garden. The pools all have fish to eliminate the mosquitoes.
Frog


I'm also pleased with my propagation of Sea Kale from root cuttings. Little purple shoots appearing. These will recolonise the shore at Kimmeridge Bay in due course where they used to grow.
Sea Kale

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A pair of blackbirds are feeding a newly fledged brood if that's the correct term.
They are flapping around the garden and one managed to land on my back yesterday and clung on for a bit like a pirate's shoulder parrot. The parents gave me a strident scolding but then another one managed to spend the night in the shed as it got dark. I've managed to release it and it's back to flying lessons after its parents fed it on release. This damp/soft weather is good for grub hunting, because the parents don't need to go deep to find food. 
 

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Exciting news today for me. I have 3 little ponds  - one in the front garden and two on the back lawn. I've been watching the dragonfly nymphs climb the reeds and keep finding empty cases but I've not seen a dragonfly emerge yet. There's still quite a few in the pond and as I was watching them one surfaced and I thought wow that was quick. I looked again and saw it was a newt! I've been waiting for an amphibian of some kind for two years since I put these ponds in and finally one has arrived

We used to get frogs in the old pond at the top of the garden (which was so silted up I converted it into a bog garden last year) but I haven't seen a frog or toad in the garden for years which I assume is because of the cats that visit or the foxes who seem to use our garden as one of their homes.

And until today, never a newt. So a good day 😀

That's great. Although I have to tell you that we got the transition from frogs to newts but from a breeding point of view newts seem to be dominant. The frogs are still spawning in March but the newts are eating all of the spawn so no new tadpoles or subsequent frogs.

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Something's up.😞 The blue tits have failed for the third year in a row. Ten eggs were laid in our cam nest box and 8 hatched just before May Bank Holiday. The cold and wet bank holiday caused 4 to perish overnight, or at least I assumed at the time that was the reason. The male was either predated or went AWOL leaving the female to feed the young. This wouldn't normally be an issue but hard as she was working she rarely seemed to return with fat juicy caterpillars. tried getting her to get mini mealworms from various feeders but generally she either ignored them or Sparrows or Robins got them all first. A further one succumbed and their growth and development seemed slow as it was now ten days since they hatched. Yesterday morning I awoke to find the last three were dead and just a Bluebottle left in the box. 😪
I'm sure this is due to malnutrition. The box was successful to a greater or lesser extent with at least some fledging for many years previous to the last three. If anything this year, except for the Bank Holiday Monday the weather has been pretty good, with just a bit of light rain, mainly at night and mild night temperatures. Anyway they will have coped with this for thousands of years. The gardens are more mature than they were 15 years ago and next door's, being empty for 4 years has completely rewilded. My only conclusion is that there are less moth caterpillars about or we have reached a tipping point with the climate where they are now so out of synch that there is not enough food. 
Any thoughts and how are yours doing?

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