Last year Tawny Owls nested successfully in one of two boxes sited close together in the quietest part of our wood. They are traditionalists by habit, and will continue to use the same nesting site year after year unless they are disturbed.   The pair will re-bond during autumn around their nest site, and eggs will be laid early to late March. We were expecting to see them use one of the boxes again this spring, and our trail camera frequently showed them inspecting the box. We captured the shots below in October, and were confident they would nest there again this year. It’s during these early stages of nesting that Tawny Owls are most sensitive to disturbance, and inevitably the owls were given a lot of competition by the squirrels for their rights to the box.   Also, regrettably, on a couple of occasions we disturbed the female owl which prompted her to leave the box in daylight.  Read more...

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the various honey bee species world-wide.  Like the other honeybee species, it is described as eusocial.  That is, thousands of sterile female worker bees live in colonies with one fertile queen, and a small number of males (drones).  The western honey bee is often described as a ‘domesticated’ insect. Whilst it is true the honey bees have been ‘managed’ by humans for thousands of years (through the provision of hives), their behaviour is essentiallysimilar to that of  their 'wild cousins’.  Read more...

Get your competitive juices flowing and you could win a prize! Or nominate a worthy winner and they could be surprised with a prize – and recognition! The Woodlands Awards (sponsored by Woodlands.co.uk) are back for the fifth consecutive year, and are open for entries now. Certainly don’t delay too long: the deadline for all entries is 31 July 2021. There are 14 categories of Awards for 2021 – with a few changes from previous years (see the full list below). Read more...

Both carbon dioxide and methane are significant contributors to global warming and climate change. But they are not the only agents of global warming.  Emissions of nitrous oxide N2O (aka laughing gas) are also rapidly increasing, mainly associated with large-scale farming using synthetic fertilisers, and the rearing of livestock.  As a ‘greenhouse gas’, it is extremely potent, much more so on a gramme for gramme basis than carbon dioxide.  It also interacts with the ozone layer, which protects us from the worst aspects of UV radiation. Now recent findings on nitrous oxide emissions from trees in northern latitudes have surprised scientists.  They have found that the gas is released not only from the soil but from the trees. Read more...

Spring is in the air and it feels as if the whole of the outside world has been painted over with a fresh coat of green. A new cycle of living plant matter means a new cycle of fungi that grow on and reproduce from this living plant matter. The few members of the kingdom that are conspicuous around this time of year can feel like an intrusion into this pristine world. I am talking about the rusts, the subject of previous postings on Blackberry Leaf Rust (Phragmidium violaceum) and Bluebell Rust (Uromyces muscari). The rusts aren’t a particularly loved group, even among mycologists. Gardeners curse at the appearance of Puccinia allii on leeks, onions or garlic, or Puccinia menthae on mint, and as mentioned in my earlier pieces, Puccinia graminis, or Wheat Stem Rust or simply Stem Rust, has caused havoc with cereal crop yields. Read more...

We tend not to think about soil very much, except perhaps when digging over a tough patch of weeds in the garden or if we see it being stripped from dry fields in a strong wind.  We take soil for granted though we rely on it for our food - almost totally.  Soil is a very thin layer covering the outer surface of the Earth.  The earth’s crust varies in thickness from 3 miles in oceanic regions to 30 miles in continental areas - by comparison most soils are shallow and have little depth. Sadly, the earth’s soils have been neglected and squandered throughout history.  In America and Canada, deep ploughing of the prairies and subsequent drought left the ‘unanchored soil’ exposed to wind erosion. Read more...