Greenstreete

Recent footage of an unfortunate badger at Greenstreete…

The very slippery bridge caused this badger to fall off. However, it has just become famous, with many likes and comments, when it was shared on Facebook by Springwatch.

Might be good to provide some grip on the bridge for the animals.

Although looking more closely, it seems the badger has inadvertently stepped back to try to turn around and found only space…

So maybe it was not slippery, just narrow?

Not a post about rain, although there has been a lot of that!

Here are the latest videos from the camera traps of Polecat and Otter (the Welsh for Otter is Dyfrgi, or “Water Dog“.) They are from November last year up until more recently, you can see the date and time recorded on each video if interested.

The Otter on the log was also seen resting there for about 20 minutes. It is not an expected resting spot and had not been seen before. 

We have up to 7 cattle every year to graze at Greenstreete. It’s quite a rare sight these days to see a calf sucking – mother and calf are so content.

Here are the latest videos from the camera traps at Greenstreete.

The Wetland Duo, Guy Hart and David Armitage plus David’s partner Lyn, were hard at work recently removing the highly invasive plant, Water Soldier, from the lake at Greenstreete. It has proliferated so much over the summer that they weren’t able to remove all of it but arrangements are in progress for volunteers to continue the work.

While at Greenstreete Guy was lucky to spot a gorgeous Hummingbird Hawk-moth feasting on the Buddleia near the flexible space.

This is what one looks like:

And this is more like what you usually see of it! (A blur – as they are very fast fliers.)

Chris Gilchrist

This year where I live in South Devon a lot of oaks have oak acorn galls. These are caused by a wasp,  Andricus quercuscalicis, which lays its eggs in the developing acorn which then deforms. The wasp grub eventually eats its way out leaving a small hole. Are these in evidence at Greenstreete?

Maybe this has happened because the oaks also seem to have a lot more acorns this year. Is it a mast year for acorns? ” A mast year is a term used in ecology to describe a year in which trees or other plants produce a large number of seeds or fruits, much more than in typical years. These years usually occur irregularly, every few years, and are followed by years with much lower seed production.” It’s a trick often used in nature: overwhelm your predators with abundance. 

When oak trees produce lots more acorns, jays – which bury acorns and retrieve them to eat in winter – bury more than their usual tally: up to 7,000 of them. This excess means that despite having good memories,  the birds forget where they’ve put many of them…  so there’s a bigger crop of new oak saplings the following year. 

(Ed: Here is more info on the different types of Oak gall – https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/oak-gall-wasps )

Greenstreete Oaks:

Ed: Here is info on mast years:

Mary has sent some new camera footage.
Really glad to see the Otter being curious about the new platform.
Amazing footage of a Rabbit/Hare swimming! Have never seen that before!

At the pond, a camera at the larger jetty has caught a Dipper (see it dip up and down!) and a pair of Mandarin Ducks, resplendent even at night time in black and white.

An Otter is also seen enjoying the jetty, and a deer.

and a few videos of the Otter: