Noticing Nature Blog

This strangely deformed Spear Thistle flower head seen at Gt Pedding farm, may be the result of a process called fasciation. This could be the result of a genetic mutation. It could be environmental stress or contact with a herbicide. Or, it may have been caused by an insect attack or infection from a bacterium. The flowers on this stem of the plant seem to be fused together, the rest are normal. Deformed Spear Thistle

Not the best weather for snails. In the churchyard, they will seek refuge at the base of gravestones, deep in the woodpiles and at the base of shaded vegetation. This Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) is resting at the base of a recently cut Ragwort plant, conserving moisture during this hot, dry period. A work of art really and no doubt the inspiration for a pottery glaze at one time! Brown-lipped Snail

The seed-heads of Wild Carrot in the churchyard are a joy to see but they also make wonderful platforms for insects and other invertebrates to rest on. This Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) seemed quite at home and unperturbed by my attempts to photograph her. Speckled Bush-cricket

We had an hour or two surveying wildlife in the churchyard today. Helen found and photographed this larva on a Wild Parsnip seed-head. It belongs to a micro-moth Depressaria radiella (Parsnip Moth). It's a fairly common moth across the UK and feeds primarily on Wild Parsnip, and Hogweed if the former is unavailable. Nevertheless, we only saw Wild Parsnip in the churchyard for the first time last year. As plant diversity increases so will invertebrate diversity! Parsnip Moth l

Obviously, there's a wealth of information available on the internet but, how I've missed this until now, I don't know! The Ancient Tree Inventory courtesy of The Woodland Trust https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/add-a-tree/ Here, you can search any area in the UK for veteran and ancient trees through their interactive map. As you might expect, there's a cluster in Goodnestone Park. Visiting there today, I located this one close to the Serpentine Walk. A veteran Pendunculate O