Morning with nature in Kent

Long time since my last blog post, there has been a lot going on in my life to distract me from my hobbies. But that's in the past and hopefully I'll be posting more in the future.

This morning I went to Hothfield Common for a little nature ramble. It was a nice day after all of the rain and not too boggy.

I saw lots of Great Tits, Sparrows, Wasps, Small White Butterflies, a Jay, Crows, Chaffinches and a glorious looking Slow-worm.





A wonderful morning with the glories of nature.

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Large Spider Stop Press!!

We found this huge spider last night in our bathroom. Really large, I think it's a Huntsman spider ( Palystes castaneus?)




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Location:Torrington Rd,,United Kingdom

Family Outing to Kings Wood 18.09.11 (part 1)

This morning (18.09.11) we as a family went to Kings Wood near Ashford for a walk in the woods.  It was a perfect combination of exercise and seeing what kind of wild life we could see.  We were all on the look out for new things and my wife and I found it invigorating to walk slowly looking for things, we didn't seem to notice that we weren't moving as quickly as we should ;-).

When we first arrived in the sheltered area of the wood, where hardly any strong sunlight penetrated at all, the first things we noticed were some small, black, shiney beetles.  They moved very slowly and looked very similar to the Scarab beetles you see in Egypt.

Black Beetle

We also saw a large selection of delightful Garden Spiders Araneus diadematus of all different colours.

Garden Spider 1 (of lots!)

Garden Spider 2 (the sequel)

We also saw a few of the spindly legged nearly spider creatures Harvestmen Order Oiliones, this one is climbing (rather rapidly) up a tree and is just about in focus.

Harvestmen (Harvestman?)

There were so many huge ants nests, they were humming with activity and the Wood Ants Formica rufa were rushing around, working really hard.  We spent some minutes just watching them and listening to them.  The nests themselves were made from wood, leaves, twigs and pine needles.

One of the many Ant Hills

And another one.

Also seen were lots of different types of fungi, pictures of these will follow.

A blast from the past

We're round my Mum's at the moment and have found some of my old books. Wow, it certainly takes me back.

Here's a photo:



A selection of my old books, probably 30 years old.

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How many wild things...

Just wondering how many different species of wild life there are on our gardens. How many could we find in a week if we looked hard enough: plants, insects, birds and animals.

We've seen evidence of wild rabbits (droppings) and foxes (a couple of dead rabbits), there are always birds and insects.

It does make you think.

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Mushroom in the garden

PLEASE NOTE THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY MADE ON 6TH SEPTEMBER 2011

I made a minor editing change. Not sure why it has now appeared on this date.  Apologies!

Out in the garden I spotted this strange fungi (strange to me, because I've never been into mushrooms and toadstools). I had a look and I think it's a Blackish-Purple Russula Russula atropurpurea we have a Beech tree in the garden and this mushroom seems to be common with Oak and Beech trees.





Top view.





Side view.

Industrial Estate Nature

I had to take my car for an MOT today and so went to our local garage on an industrial park. It was a nice day so I decided to go out and have a look around to see what I could see.

It was quite amazing that it about 15 minutes of ambling around just how much was around.

Apart from the usual Dandelions Taraxacum officinale, Daisies Bellis perennis, Hawthorns Crategus monogyna, and (what I recognise almost instantly like an old friend) Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea, I also saw Wild Pear Pyrus communis.  There were some areas which seemed to be cultivated too, and were several plants in these beds, one of which looked as though it might be Sea-Buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides, some rosehips, and a number of shrubs with white berries.  Now these ones with white berries were in the area where there was an actual bedding area.  So these may well be cultivated plants rather than wild ones.

Wild Pear

Rosehip

Sea-Buckthorn

Unknown (to me at least) plant with white fruit

I did feel a bit foolish looking around an industrial estate looking at plants and taking photos, but it takes all sorts and I am trying to be an Amateur Naturalist....