Flooding around Naunton Beauchamp 9th March 2016

Flooding has been relatively minor this year. Piddle Brook had some flooding on 9th March which extended onto the road at the entrance to the village but fortunately no properties were affected.

The entrance to the proposed chicken farm site for Kinsey Hern (the so-called "Frogmore Farm") opposite the Cowsden Turn was flooded. Vehicles would have struggled to get access in the morning. Moor End Lane was impassable in the morning. By late afternoon when these pictures were taken it was possible to navigate it.

This was not an extreme event and neither was it unusual. Our question for the Environment Agency is what happens if the attenuation ponds at the proposed unit flood and this whole area is contaminated with the output from the swales which includes chicken broiler unit dust.

We look forward to seeing further details of the proposal including levels. We think it will pose some interesting questions of the applicant.

Entrance to Naunton Beauchamp

Field behind Naunton Court

Local Wildlife Reserve Piddle Brook Meadows

Car going into Naunton Beauchamp

Entrance to Frogmore Farm Site - this was about 4 hours after the peak

Entrance to Frogmore Farm Site - this was about 4 hours after the peak

Ditch by Cowsden turn opposite entrance to Frogmore Farm showing the ditch was at capacity

Entrance to Frogmore Farm Site - this was about 4 hours after the peak

Moor End Lane - passable but 4 hours after the peak when it was closed.

Fields behind Naunton Beauchamp close to waste plant

Fields behind Naunton Beauchamp close to waste plant

Fields behind Naunton Beauchamp

Not a good idea to go through the Ford - Seaford Lane

The Picnic area is closed

Picnic Area at Seaford Lane

The Whitsum Brook was very close to the edge of the Solar Farm

Frosty!

Two days in a row of -5C and freezing fog today which hopefully will clear. 

Checked out the otter prints and as expected the water levels had gone showing a number of tracks and where the otter had gone back into the water.

Otter prints 2016

It was great to see our local otter is still around this morning.  I checked the area where I have previously found prints and under about an inch of water the prints were clearly the right size and type with 5 distinct toes and claws.

The morning was cold.  The first hoar frost of the winter with minus 5 Celsius.  Cool! A beautiful walk and views of Naunton Court. The stone mullion bay is Elizabethan and the building Grade 2 listed.

Highlights of 2015 In Pictures

2015 was a good year for me with lots of opportunities to get out with my camera but the weather wasn't always obliging.

Here are some of my favourites pictures from this year.

Tree Sparrow

Starling nesting in a timber frame building - at least two babies fledged

Bee on Lavender

A friendly robin

Long Tailed Tit - Just fledged!

Red Darter

Migrant Hawker Dragonfly

Large Male Bullfinch

Gatekeeper

Pair of Bullfinches eating seeds

Painted Lady

Migrant Hawker - normally hangs down like this when resting

Holly Blue on a ....holly.

A beautiful toad

Bees loving our the lavender

Beautiful Sunrise on a Warm Winter's Morning...

Moving on from various shades of grey we finally had a beautiful sunrise this week.

The temperatures both night and day time are unseasonably warm and the result is blossom and daffodils starting to make their way above the grass.  We've only had one frost so far and it's Christmas next week!

Climate Central record and compare temperatures globally - they are "An independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the American public." So for Europe this is the graphic up until 2014. 2015 will likely match that trend as a number of records have been broken again, especially in December 2105....their will be impacts on wildlife and shifts in patterns, confusion for plants and trees, etc.

Examples of climate change patterns on record levels of rainfall this year put into question the use of the Environment Agency's 1 in 100 Year events for Planning purposes. 

Isn't it time to review trends and deviation statistics?

Here be Dragon.....flies

No, this is not a reference to Games of Thrones (which features dragons if you've never watched any of the epic series) but to the large number of Dragonflies we have had this year.

We've occasionally had them but not in great numbers. The mystery of why this sudden change in the pulling power of our garden was revealed yesterday when I visited my neighbour two doors away. As a horticulturalist she has an immense knowledge of plants and with an acre of mostly base lawned grass and hedging to play with, in four years she has transformed it into a wildlife mecca.  I wondered if I had stumbled into an alternate reality or some Disney cartoon with woodpecker and three buzzards coming in on cue. So many more bees than our garden which is a cottage garden and bee friendly but this was on another level.

Female Migrant Hawker - no longer an uncommon visitor

Added to the huge stocks of plants which fill the 10' deep beds the house suffered from a moat like feature which basically meant flooding almost up to the house itself. As a result, diggers and drainage was created to make a more permanent water feature of a long pond mirroring the ridge and furrow features in the adjoining meadow and in part of her garden. The wild irises must have remained dormant for years but this year sprung into life as a result of not being mowed out of existence.

The dragonflies followed.

I watched a Migrant Hawker dart and chase around the new "moat" and then head over the fence into our neighbours (and probably our garden was to follow).

The mystery was solved.

So here are a few photos I took before I knew why we suddenly had these amazing creatures flying around the patio.

Closeup of Female Migrant Hawker Dragonfly

Red Darter?

Male Migrant Hawker having a rest

Long Tailed Tits Piddle Brook Meadows

Walking in Piddle Brook Meadows last week.  A skylark was singing.  It's song was so sweet and carrying quite a distance. Looking high into the sky it was nowhere to be seen. I realised it was instead hovering low and with wings outstretched. Singing all the time. A beautiful sound.

Soooo many long tailed just fledged tits that I was spoilt for choice when it came to taking photos. It was early morning - around 7:30 in the morning.

A very cute little fella

Even the presence of my labrador, which is usually enough to scare most of the bird population out of camera taking distance, didn't phase them. There were maybe 10-12 of them (I counted 10 in one picture so there were probably more) and most of them looked like they were slightly in shock at being out in the big world beyond the nest.

Blue Tit possibly just fledged too

Cute!

Bad Hair Day

The tree was a recently dead beech so provided a nice contrast to the birds and meant the leaves didn't get in the way. They seemed to like picking at the unfurled leaves or beech nuts on the tree. Some were still very fluffy and a few looked like their feathers would be barely enough for flight. Undeniably cute.