It was towards the end of a dull morning. Along the upper
track through West Wood a few trees seemed to be bubbling with a flock of mixed
tits including many long-tailed and, as if to emphasise the changing season, a
dull, cool morning turned to rain. It was expected; weather forecasting is
disappointingly accurate these days.
Some plants continue to flower – angelica, red campion and
reliable herb robert among them – and devil’s bit scabious has come in to its
own. The fading remains of the summer’s plants make fine practice for the
amateur field botanist’s taxonomy skills. Some of us are best off with a show
of flower to provide an initial clue.
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| Devil's-bit Scabious |
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| Red Campion |
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| Herb Robert |
It has been an unusual season: a cold, slow start, then a
surge of warmth and growth. The task for we wildlife surveyors had been, of
course, to record whatever living plant or animal we found, but also,
specifically, to track down a list of species designated as conservation
performance indicators. That is, to review the state of this Local Wildlife
Site to demonstrate that Gibside NT is doing its bit to take care of nature and
thereby gain merit.
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| Red Bartsia |
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| Speckled Wood Butterfly |
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| Wolf Spider |
With summer fading, it was time for a get together with the
Estate’s rangers to compare findings. As predicted by our friendly local
naturalist (see LWS Blog 3), we never did find lesser skullcap, and can’t be
certain that there are tree pipits around. Otherwise all is well. We recorded
some two hundred species but, undoubtedly, there is much we overlooked: mosses,
lichens, pond life and vast numbers of insects. And autumn’s fungi are just
emerging.
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| Acorn |
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| Emerging Fungi |
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| Blackberries |
Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne
Love reading your posts. Good to see that Gibside's flora and fauna are flourishing.
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