The four sides to a Peacock

The Peacock Butterfly is abundant at Rufford at the moment, as showed in these photos.
The top left showing a very tired looking one and the top right showing the masses.

And if that wasn't enough here are a couple more butterfly photos. Small Copper and Comma.

The Mussel and bustle of Wild Sherwood.

Wild Sherwood didn't disappoint.
There task was simple, take revenge on nettles and Himalayan Balsam, and they did.
Below are some before and after photos.

Also whilst they were down there they saw numerous butterflies and a strange trail in the silt......what could it be?? It is a Freshwater Mussel, moving slowly through the silt.

They will be back next week for more of the same. Our park depends on groups like these to help with it's overall maintenance. 

Going batty at Rufford.

During a top secret meeting one evening at Rufford a bat survey was carried out to identify population and number of species. Twenty three individuals were counted on one particular camera. With at least two species present. The smaller Pipistrelle (Common or Soprano) and the slightly bigger Brown Long Eared bat. Below are some very grainy stills from the video.

Click on image to expand.

Guess who's back, back again.....

Wild Sherwood are coming back on Wednesday for a new era of practical tasks being undertaken at Rufford and other areas. They have a new team dynamic and lots of willing volunteers to help them. They will focus their work down the Wetland. Here are a couple of photos of what there going to be dealing with. Bottom right is a pic of the naughty invasive Himalayan Balsam. 

Other jobs scheduled in for Wild Sherwood will be;

• Coppicing
• Path maintenance
• Endless nettle clearance

Here are some wildlife photos taken down the Wetland Conservation area today. Where most of the creatures were enjoying some Teasel.

Loom bands, watercolors, monks, biscuits and apostrophes.

These are only half the topics discussed on our (normally) weekly Monday walk group.
This group of keen walkers have been coming to the park most Mondays for quite a while now. They do a different circuit every time and we try to get a different staff member to take them each time. Monday 30th was my turn.
I was adamant on taking them to see a new sculpture we have had carved out of a recently felled Lime Tree. It was in the shape of a monks head. The weather was glorious so we spent the first half of the walk in the sunshine and then diverted to the shade for the second half. 

On the walk back many things were discussed but the real joy is when you get back to base and we all sit down for a cuppa and 2 biscuits. The two biscuits are heavily monitored by the walkers. I then just sit there and listen to the indepth discussions they have, all sorts of topics are discussed, last time I took the walk politics and Dynamo the illusionist were discussed.
This time though it was the new craze 'Loom bands' which kicked off proceedings. One of the walkers was sporting a very fetching multicoloured Loom band bracelet. The conversation then moved on to painting and watercolours. Nearing the end of their tea break I handed out a piece of paper with the blog address on. So when this gets published they can see themselves.

Going Cuckoo!!

This bird had been eluding me all day, every time I got the binoculars out he would fly further away. He looked like a very dark bird of prey at first until I saw the beak. It was longer than a bird of prey's beak so it must of been a Cuckoo. Although not heard "Cuckooing" it was identified through the binoculars. I then attempted to take a picture with my phone through the binoculars, here is the result. It is a Cuckoo, honest.

Also spotted were a load of Peacock Butterfly caterpillars nibbling on the nettles.