In February 2018 I was discouraged by the mess around the Woodside Link as I reported in the post 'News Catch-up 2017-2018', but this year it's very different. The rubbish is being cleaned up much quicker and travellers have been prevented, mostly, from parking up along the road and cycle tracks. Now that contractors are on the HRN1 site, there is oversight and better monitoring of illegal activity. As a result, nature is flourishing in the fields, in the stream and ponds and in the air. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Work is starting at the northern end of the site so some of my favourite spots are happily undisturbed.
The evening sun picks out red campion, ox-eye daisies and hawkweed on the spur for yet another bridge over Houghton Brook, with the grove of hybrid black poplars behind.
I am taking a greater interest in insects, even though I can't identify most of them. They play an essential role in food production, and come in all colours, shapes and sizes.
This deer slot is in the borrow pit wildlife area that is no longer flooded since it was drained into the stream. It is interesting to follow tracks to see what visits at night.
Ox-eye daisies glow in the half-light on the chalk meadow.
Cornflowers add blue to the colour palette.
A pair of tufted duck have joined swans, mallards and moorhens on the pond. I still miss the little ringed plover and grey wagtails which I used to see regularly. I want to see an increase in number of species, but at present they seem to be coming and going rather than staying.
However, underwater in the stream, biodiversity is improving with my first sighting of a mayfly nymph during our water quality monitoring last week and pond skaters. We also saw lots and lots of sticklebacks and snails (below), and watch out for the golden beetle that is disturbed by the snail as it moves.
