Linda's Photographs.
Carrie's Photograph.
A good turnout of 30 people at Martin's Wood (or Bee Fields as we've know it before) this week. Now under the protective ownership of the Hants and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, thanks guys for welcoming us back.
This 21 acre field, once in arable production, was converted to plantation woodland and with public access in 2001 by local farmer Martin Boswell, sadly no longer with us. Through this act of linking nearby Lynch Cope and Youngwoods Copse and creating what was thought as woodland habitat a most remarkable thing occurred. As a consequence more stable undisturbed bare ground was created around the trees which encouraged ground nesting bees to colonise the site and now over 100 species of bees and wasps have been recorded here. An amazing total. As the ground vegetates over however so the bare ground available reduces so for the past few years we've been involved in creating bare areas for the bees to burrow into. This is what we've been up to this week along with removing unwanted tree guards and path trimming.
Carrie's Nature Find.
This week’s find was in the bottom of one of the plastic guards we were removing from the trees at Bee Fields - some hazelnuts that had clearly been eaten by more than one woodland resident.
The nuts you can see split neatly in half have been feasted on by squirrels, while common dormice leave a smooth, round hole in the side of the nut, with tooth marks running round the inside of the hole.
Wood mice leave tooth marks on the surface of the nut and across the edge of the hole, which may be either circular or ragged in shape; while bank voles create a round hole with tooth marks across the edge, but not the surface of the nut.
Our woodland bird residents such as great spotted woodpeckers break the nuts into pieces or leave large, irregular holes, and even jays are not averse to a tasty snack of hazelnuts.
Carrie's Nature Find.
This week’s find was in the bottom of one of the plastic guards we were removing from the trees at Bee Fields - some hazelnuts that had clearly been eaten by more than one woodland resident.
The nuts you can see split neatly in half have been feasted on by squirrels, while common dormice leave a smooth, round hole in the side of the nut, with tooth marks running round the inside of the hole.
Wood mice leave tooth marks on the surface of the nut and across the edge of the hole, which may be either circular or ragged in shape; while bank voles create a round hole with tooth marks across the edge, but not the surface of the nut.
Our woodland bird residents such as great spotted woodpeckers break the nuts into pieces or leave large, irregular holes, and even jays are not averse to a tasty snack of hazelnuts.
Many thanks to Linda and Carrie for the photographs, Mark for the editorial and Carrie for her Nature Find this week.
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