Corvid wars extreme

The corvids are always causing disturbances or arguing about something or other. The resident crows consider themselves top of the chain and they chase off buzzards or other corvids when they stray onto their territory. For a week or so the crows have been chasing and in turn been chased by a jackdaw, who I am guessing was intending to nest here. The noise was pretty incessant. At one point the jackdaw seemed to be joined by a whole crowd of jackdaws but they didn't stay very long. Yesterday it went quiet and it wasn't long before I found the jackdaw's corpse.

Heron on the lawn

It didn't stay long enough for a photo but at half past seven this evening a heron was stood on our front lawn. Out of the water and close up you can see just how huge these birds are. Apparently they are not averse to eating moorhen chicks but hopefully the young moorhens on the moat currently are a little bit too big.

'New' species - Dogwood

I finally got round to identifying a small tree growing next to the Old Carp Pond. It is a Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea).

Favourite flower

Today I saw that the Yellow Flag was in bloom - definitely my favourite wildflower on the site.

New species - wood mouse

A fresh carcass in the woods gives another chance to make a positive small mammal ID - this time it is wood mouse. They are larger than the house mouse and with a longer tail and there are colouring differences as well.

New species - water shrew

I suppose it was always inevitable that there would be water shrews on site but I hadn't actually identified one until today. I found a corpse outside and measurements and colouring show it to be a water shrew rather than a common shrew. They are larger and blacker than common shrews and also have white hairs around the ears and under the tail. It seems that they don't taste very good (to cats) so it is probably a cat's victim that was left in disgust.

Green Dock Beetle - back again

I am pleased to say that my biological dock control mechanism is back. I have seen eggs and adults (pictured) and we should shortly have voracious larvae (pictured last year). It seems that they manage three cycles in a year so I am looking forward to some serious dock destruction......