Noticing Nature Blog

SWFV Bat Talk A good evening in the church last night with Dr John Puckett, Chairman of the Kent Bat Group, hearing about the bats of Kent. It was a great turnout with over 30 people attending. Superb refreshments organised by Kate and Hazel. Towards the end of the evening we even had a fly-past inside the church, courtesy of an obliging Pipistrelle bat!

Spring flowers are appearing rapidly now with some already gone! Early Dog Violet (Viola reichenbachiana). A few plants were flowering in Lea Wood today. Also in Lea Wood, a few clumps of gorgeous native Bluebells (Hyacynthoides non-scripta)

This Dotted Bee-fly (Bombylius discolor) was in my front garden this afternoon. These are fabulous insects-just look at that proboscis. Dotted Bee-fly

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) is often used as a hedging plant and, due to regular trimming, they seldom show flowers. Western Red Cedar trees that line the roadside at Summerfield, have been largely left unmanaged and are currently adorned with these attractive red male flowers. The female flowers are much less obvious but will mature into the seed bearing cones. Here is a cluster of last years cones, now dried and empty of seeds. A current female cone can be seen (middl

Water Vole (Library picture) I was very pleased to see a Water Vole today in the Great Pedding stream. This british mammal is a red listed species in the UK. One of their main predators is the Mink. These, of course, were introduced for fur farming and escapes have been very successful in colonising our water-ways. Mink and habitat loss have been the main drivers of Water Vole population decline.

Cherry Plum and Blackthorn: Perhaps the most noticeable thing in the hedgerows during February and March is the white blossom. It's a welcome sight after the dark and dreary days of winter. The blossom is likely to belong to either Cherry Plum or Blackthorn. They look similar. This is Cherry Plum and it flowers before Blackthorn often in February. However, both can be in flower together, usually in March. Blackthorn as its name suggests has thorns whereas Cherry Plum doesn't.