The Art of Noticing ~ July
1st July – Just when we think Elmore’s long birthing season is finally finished, a second glut of fuzzy ducklings and moorhen chicks appears on the lake, briefly leaving their refuge under the overhanging trees, young enough to still be shadowing mum closely.
2nd July – A kaleidoscope of butterflies adorns the land, confetti colour bright against the dry, beige grass.
4th July - Down by the lake, the eye is drawn to flashes of blue against the lush green backdrop: damselflies and our kingfisher, return after a period of reclusively.
8th July – Ripe, tart blackberries bejewel the hedgerows and are a welcome snack, but that delight is marred with environmental concern, for blackberries are usually a late August treat.
9th July – The oaks of Elmore seem to radiate a living force, their presence almost electric in the air. Few trees have carried such weight in the human imagination. To the Norse, the oak was sacred to Thor, god of thunder; to the Greeks, it belonged to Zeus. The Celts honored it so deeply that the word “Druid” itself means “oak knower.” In Slavic lore, the oak was no less than the world tree, its roots plunging into the underworld while its branches reached toward the heavens. Across mythologies and centuries, the oak has remained a tree of power and wonder — a living bridge between earth and sky, mortal and divine.
10th July – Grasshoppers animate Elmore’s long wilding grasses. Their chirping, or ‘stridulating’ is a percussion concerto nostalgic of the simplicity of childhood summers. Solitary creatures by nature, the grasshopper can jump up to 20 times it’s body length.
11th July – Fluffy, cottony seeds float through the air like snow, ironic on such a hot day.
12th July – Heat rises in wavering ribbons from the thirsty earth, the air thick with stillness. Amid this shimmering world, a young blackbird appears — small, untested, yet carrying itself with an air of significance. In its beak it bears a heavy blackberry, dark and gleaming, as if it were no mere fruit but a jewel of the season, a gift gathered from summer’s abundance.
14th July – The wind picks up, bringing with it promise of a much-needed storm. Ladybirds in quantities I’ve never seen before bejewel every blade of grass, landing on me the moment I’m still. The name ‘Ladybird’ derived from the Middle Ages, and was a nod to the Virgin Mary, who was often depicted wearing a red cloak.
15th July – The rain that yesterday’s zephyr promised did not disappoint, and the thirsty land drank gratefully - an earthy, homely smell it’s gift in return. Two buzzards call to each other across the land, one tucking into the bounty of its last hunt.
16th July - Sunshine again today, and the butterflies come out of their rain-induced hiding, including a common blue – actually more lilac looking in colour.
18th July – The grass is brittle, spikey and scratchy. Grasshoppers leap out of my way, only visible in movement, ahead of me as I crunch though the field towards a trio of decoy cranes, hopeful for the company of more animated friends.
Due to hunting, habitat disturbances and loss of wetland areas the numbers of cranes in the UK has been falling for the last 300 years. They have an amber conservation status and there are only 31 breeding pairs in the UK. The usually marshy fields surrounding our wetland scrapes are an ideal habitat for them and we would love to attract some of these slender birds to Elmore.
19th July – While supervising some wild swimmers at Madams Pond my eye was drawn to the thick encroachment of reeds lining the pool.
The common reed is vastly under appreciated. The reeds' extensive and dense root system makes it an incredible soil stabiliser, preventing erosion and mudslides. It thrives in wetland and desert conditions alike and provides the ideal habitat for countless species of birds, mammals and insects. It is also a potential biofuel as the stem can be processed into eternal and bio gas, and perhaps most interestingly, is its ability to filter and purify water. A reed can absorb harmful heavy metals through its roots, and is so accomplished at this, that reed beds are a fast-growing infrastructure installed to clean water, even sewage water. Installed in vertical level beds with gravel, they provide a cost effective and natural solution to environmental clean-up, while also promoting habitat creation, which is so often lacking from these industrialised processes.
Here at Elmore we are lucky that our pond, scrapes and other wetland areas have a thick growth of reeds, quietly and humbly doing their essential work.
22nd July - The hedgerows all over the Elmore Estate are suddenly swelling with thousands of blue/black marble sized fruit. These sloes are edible and grow on the blackthorn bush. It is more typical for sloes to appear in August and ripen to a dark almost black colour between late September to December, so seeing them so ripe, this early in the season is uncommon and another indicator from nature of the exceptional and sustained summer temperatures.
Blackthorn, it turns out, is a great bioindicator of soil conditions. It thrives in well-drained soil and its presence will indicate that the soil is not waterlogged (certainly not a concern this summer) or compacted by destructive and machine heavy farming techniques.
In folklore, Blackthorn was planted as a ‘guardian shrub’ and was thought to ward off malevolent spirits. No doubt a call back to its barbed thorns which acts as a natural barrier that keeps most livestock at bay.
It seems that we can take immense solace in the sheer quantity of blackthorn currently thriving at Elmore. It truly is a guardian shrub, protecting our land against the wringing out of nature and preserving this corner of healing land.
24th July – The cows are restless and irritable in the heat. Temperatures are creeping back into the mid to high 20’s as the week goes on. Usually amiable and placid the herd is being awkward to usher into the corral.
Today we are checking their GPS collars, which serve the duel purpose of keeping them in a no fence boundary using audio signals, and tracking their movement. Some cows have managed to slip out of their collars and need to be retrieved, while others require their batteries to be replaced. As each animal is moved, we also carry out basic health checks, paying close attention to any whose horns curve inward toward the face, coming dangerously close to making contact. Prompt action is necessary, because if left unchecked, the horns will continue to grow and begin to rub, causing painful sores.
A cow’s horns are a lot like a dog’s nails: the very tip can be safely removed without causing pain. One of our cows needed just such a trim, and that was all that was required. Naturally, cows are not fond of having their horns cut, so we took precautions to keep her safe. Using the chin rest in the crush and gently securing her head, we were able to carry out the procedure calmly. While John, the farm manager, carefully sawed off only the tip of the horn, I held a cloth over her eye to protect it from any debris. Though the experience was understandably stressful for her, we worked quickly, and now she can graze and roam freely without discomfort.
26th July – At the base of a tree, where the roots splay out, like the fingers of a hand, is a large hole. A week ago I caught a glancing look at it and just knew I had to know what lived there. It was like something out of a children’s book.
I set up a trap camera and let it record for a week. I didn’t find as much as I had hoped for but one clip charmed me. Most of the footage is taken up by a few cows, who manged to find the camera and spent hours inspecting and licking it. There is a small wren who lands in the 'doorway' of the hole, and finally, there is a stoat, who looks out of the hole for a few seconds before driving straight back inside.
Stoats are a small predator that hunt mostly rodents and rabbits, in fact they are known to take on prey up to five times their size! They are easily identifiable by their red/brown coat, with a white bib and tummy, black tail, and a distinctive bounding gait. It is thought that the black tail serves as a decoy to birds of prey, who will focus on and attack the dark tail, leaving the main body of the stoat safe. A stoats fur can turn white in winter if it is living in snow covered conditions, but the tail will always remain black. They thrive in many habitats but most notably grasslands. Stoats are thought to be common, however spotting one is rare, so it is not truly known. Ours was spotted just a field away from a large number of rabbits, so they should continue to thrive here at Elmore.
30th July – We have started running Wildlife Safaris for children staying in the treehouses to help cement that bond with nature from a young age. As part of these safaris we look at owl pellets with the children.
Owl pellets are undigested and regurgitated parts of an owls food. Owls swallow their prey whole then cough up any bits that they cannot digest. They often contain hair, bones and cartilage and can be the undigested remains of up to six meals! If the owl pellet contains a jaw bone this will help you identify what was eaten. You may also find a bird ring that will help you to identify the species of bird eaten, and where it was from.
The children love dissecting these pellets and do not shy away from the facts of life. Their curiosity is truly beautiful.
31st July – Rain at last! The heavens opened for the first real rain and thunderstorm right at the end of one of our safaris. Moments later multiple frogs were spotted gratefully basking in the much needed moisture. A fun end to another safari.
The term petrichor was coined in the 1960’s and describes the pleasant scent of rainfall after a period of dry weather. It is a scent that is often deeply nostalgic for many – a distinctive and earthy scent, that is a combination of the oils released by plants during a dry spell and a chemical compound produced by bacteria in the soil. For those that work on the land the scent of petrichor is the smell of life triumphing.
The day after this safari I met the family walking on the land, retracing the route of the previous day. They told me that it had felt like such a special place that they chose to spread a family members ashes on our land so they could always be within nature. What an honour for Elmore. We will protect this area ever fiercely!
by Hazel Alabaster, Elmore Estate Ranger
