Friday 28 June .

We have an oak tree in our garden, it is one of our favourite trees because we have attached a swing to it.  Today me and my brothers placed a white sheet on the ground underneath the tree, Leo and Caspar shook it as hard as they could to see what would fall out.  I was quite excited because quite a few things fell out, then I realised that most of it was leaves and bits of tree, only 3 were creatures.  This is what we found; an unidentified tiny spider, an unidentified tiny fly and a Striped Oak Bug.  We have learnt that the Oak Bug eats other bug nymphs and aphids.  When it is a nymph in the springtime it feeds on baby catkins.  The adult bug only lives from May to July. 

         

We are very lucky to have Curlews nesting in the field opposite our house.  Their haunting call is one of the happy signs of spring that we  look forward to.  They arrive in May  to build a nest in the long grass and when they have hatched and raised their chicks they go back to the coast, at the end of July.  When Mum found this photograph, I was really surprised by it's long beak. We think it has a long beak because it eats shellfish, worms and shrimps which it might have to push it's beak underground for and it's legs are long for wading, therefore it might need such a long beak to reach the ground. 

Caspar's Camera Trap: This week we caught a fox (which we think looks quite young) and a squirrel which looked like it was searching for food.
 These are the first animals I have caught on the camera :) 
 As this seems to be a good spot I have left it there for another week.

 

24 June Monday. Sorry my update is so late, everything has been greening up over the last few weeks.  Look at the oaks for instance.


There are a lot of Buttercups around this year, my brother Leo took this picture in the field next to our house.  They are poisonous so don't eat them.  However if you hold one under your chin in the daytime and it makes your chin go yellow you probably like butter, or so they say.
My Mum told me a story about her tortoise called Henry, he loved Buttercups so much that if you held one in front of him he would run towards it and eat it very quickly. He lived for many, many years eating Buttercups, so they can't be poisonous to tortoises.

Caspar's Camera Trap Update
I found a new spot for the camera last Friday, pointing along a well trodden path (well trodden by animals not people!).

30 May - I (Maddy) went outside, on this very sunny morning, after the mist had cleared to take some pictures of wild flowers.  In the hedgerow opposite our house there are big swathes of Cow Parsley.  Cow Parsley is a white flower, it is edible but tastes disgusting, I know because I just tried it.

I found these Bluebells on the same bank.  I have learnt that they are also called Wild Hyacinths. People think it illegal to pick them but I just learnt that it is only illegal to dig them up.  I love bluebells.

 Alongside the Cow Parsley and Bluebells is Greater Stitchwort.  I knew that it must be used as medicine because it has 'wort' on the end.  I discovered that it was used for people with a stitch (you could still use it for this).  It is very edible and looks lovely in a salad.  I just tried some (I think it tastes horrible).

24 May - I (Maddy) noticed how late the Oaks are this year - hopefully they will change soon as the weather is getting warmer.  Although my big brother thought there was a frost last night
These Oaks are at the bottom
of the garden

Caspar's Weekly Camera Trap update:
Nothing caught this week.  I noticed it was pointing at a tree,  I have  now moved it so that it is pointing down the river towards some rocks.  (Hoping to catch the Dipper we saw there)

17 May 2013 - Me (Maddy), my 3 brothers, my Mum and Dusty dog went down to the Sawdde (small mountain river) for a walk. We were just about to open the gate into a field when we saw a hare coming from the field, it stopped to look at us and then ran away when it spotted our dog.  My eyes were drawn to it's ears because they were very big.  When it ran it leaped, it was a grey, brown colour.  The fact that it's ears are so big must mean it could hear us from a long way away (as we are so noisy), which makes me wonder why it was running toward us.


Facts I have learnt:
Hares bread all year, but mostly in March
They are our fastest UK land mammal (unless we have big cats!)

A male is called  Jack and a female is called a Jill

Caspar's Weekly Camera Trap update:

Strapped camera to tree today pointing towards beach on edge of river.