The fall of the leaves revealed a new nest in the lime tree at the end of the lane. There had been a pair of carrion crows busying themselves around there over the summer so it probably belonged to them. We didn’t see any fledgelings but a couple of juvenile crows have been in the area towards the end of summer.

Folklore states that the moss on trees grows on the damp side and can be used to indicate the direction of prevailing winds, should you ever need to know this and can’t work it out by easier methods. Anyway it seems to work on the Lane, with the moss being on the south side of this ash tree and the lichen on the north. The wind usually comes from the south and blows up the lane.


(south on the left)

Species to be confirmed!

This blog has uses a variety of methods to determine the species out there, from direct observation to echolocation bat detection to examination of specimens caught by predators. I’m not sure what this was intended to trap however - seen rigged up on the entrance to the Paddock a few days ago, it came down with the branch in a recent storm.

This stray cat is a regular sojourner on the lane, sleeping under various cars and being fed by one of the residents. His territory extends from just west of Mayfield up to Johnny Barn Cottages and down to Dobbin Close - almost exactly that set as the boundaries for the local history section of this site.




(as a stray he counts as ‘natural history!)

Although technically outside the survey area I have included the field in my walk for the BTO winter thrush feeding survey. I picked out an easily accessible route over Marl Pits and Meadowhead which included lots of berry-bearing bushed beloved of redwings and fieldfares…

Two blackbirds. Two mistle thrushes. Two starlings (which they do want to know about) Lots of long tailed tits (which they don’t). The blackbirds and tits were in the field, the starlings over the running track and the mistles up by Meadowhead.

Rather fancifully, I wonder if the lack of thrushes is anything to do with the route map looking a little like a well fed hawk…