One of the most important groups of animals associated with veterans is the thousands of insects and other invertebrates that live on the trees.
My walk didn't exactly go as planned yesterday. The forecast that I heard was for a dry day and while walking steeply uphill from Oakamoor towards Golden Hill Farm it did feel pretty warm. The views from near the top are spectacular and a reward for the calorie burning exertion.
Walking through woodland in late summer and autumn, one of the many interesting things we can find are the fungi that seem to appear without warning. Fungi can range from tiny near unnoticeable things to grand constructions that rival the trees surrounding them.
Since I’ve taken on the Churnet Valley Veteran tree project the one question that I have been asked by far the most, from both colleagues and the public is this:
“What is a veteran tree?”
My human was sparing with the truth when the magic words 'walkies' were called from the back door. Come on, she said, let's go between the rain showers.
Look out for the silver washed fritillary in the woods of the Churnet Valley, or in your garden if you are lucky.
Last week the volunteers and I began our search for Veteran trees in the Churnet Valley. With Kind permission of the Forestry Commission and Staffordshire wildlife trust’s reserves team, we began surveys at Dimmingsdale and Cotton Dell.
It’s that time of year again and I’ve taken the volunteers out pulling balsam. Balsam is an invasive weed that can take over large areas of British plant communities and destroy the animals that depend on them. This week we were at Deep Hays Country Park pulling it along the brook.
Been very busy lately but made a bit of time to go to Froghall, a little walk and a coffee and scone in Hetty's Cafe. Lovely heron, everywhere beautiful shades of green. Couple of hours of peace.
Irresistible wildflowers. Once I started snapping it became compulsive to capture as many different species as possible. Sadly not time to do a proper survey, but there was a lot of natural beauty on offer.
