Winter Spring 2025 Winter 2024/25 diary
Muntjacs are causing considerable damage this year. This tree will not recover its been completely ring barked.
ABOVE The mesh protecting the tree has been pulled back and the tape to hold it in place offering no defence.
BELOW Creating wildlife homes has started in earnest. Leaves twigs and straw
ABOVE LEFT Bird tables have been in the news a lot in January and one article by James Fair writing for the BBC's Countryfile has made me think more carefully about how I do this.
My feeding station could impact on the health of wild birds so I am going to change the design. The video on the left shows how a brown rat can easily access a standard feeding system. I was going to remove the table but now I will use a pole system to hopefully prevent further incursion.
OBSERVATIONS - Spring Summer Autumn 2024
Crab apples as always have done very well this year.
The nature trails have been a challenge this Summer. I am always reluctant to trim and cut back.
Plums and damsons have been excellent. However there have been very low levels of damage by moth larvae in the fruit or aphids on leaves. Considering the site is totally organic I would have expected to see a lot more. Although I have not carried out scientific population estimates this Summer I can say with complete confidence that there has been a significant decline in all insect and bug species.
Above - Lime tree flowers are hermaphrodite meaning they have both male and female reproductive parts.
INSECT NUMBER DECLINE 2024
Five acres is totally organic and could be thought of as an ecologically enriched environment so its unlikely to be habitat loss. Other factors like climate and possible changes in insecticide use from surrounding farmland could be contributing. Also very high rainfall and relatively low levels of the Sunshine have also impacted this year. Blackberries have been small and raspberries few and far between a sure sign of low light levels. The answer is likely to be multifactorial.
Above - This tree though giving a plentiful harvest needs serious trimming. Some of the branches have broken and Autumn is a time when dormancy leaves the tree more vulnerable to disease and also not the best time to prune. This tree will need monitoring and forbearance with next years yield.
Below - bramble climbs a European Larch extending potential habitat and food availability and providing even more shelter and nutrition for wildlife.
Bumble bees were very prevalent in spring but not so much throughout the Summer. Wasp numbers were down significantly which is very unusual for Five Acres, especially with so much fruit available.
Above - Bramble competes for light and space along with thistle. Both provide food and habitat for bees, small mammals and wild deer.
Below - This winters tree cuttings provide a wildlife corridor as the grass grows through and around the branches. Also a home for many more invertebrates in the microhabitats.
Plenty of blossom to keep the bees happy but some trees were quite late. Cherry trees looked like the fruit was set but having a lot of fruit fall after an initial encouraging start in early May.
Hazel, Rowan, Lime (middle), Popular(Background), Sweet Chestnut and Purple leaved Sycamore
Many species of bee spotted this Spring but less in the Summer. Comfrey is a firm favourite and is growing abundantly after extensive planting.
Freshly sheared sheep enjoying spring grass. These have needed careful management as their appetite can extend to eating flowers that provide essential food for bees.
Winter 2023/24 diary - Muntjac, apples and sheep
Muntjac deer have started to eat the bark early this year. Its usually in January and February but the cold snap in December has pushed them into survival mode.
For most fruit trees winter pruning is an essential job that if done correctly greatly enhances the yield as well as ensuring a healthy tree.
Leaving trimmed branches on the ground helps protect new saplings as rabbits will consume the easiest to reach first. In a few days these branches were stripped bare of bark and lichens.
Apples can provide valuable food especially in the cold weather. Badgers, wood mice, voles and hedgehogs all benefit from the Granny Smith.
The sheep keep the grass trimmed and benefit the soil. The Shropshire's will also eat any leaves on bramble which persist into the winter months.
Root stock for the fruit trees often outlives or overwhelms its designated fruit tree. This is hawthorn rootstock and has displaced its apple host. Still an asset for wildlife though.
Autumn of 2023
Where do butterflies get their camouflage? Can you spot the two in the picture above? they seem to match the colours of apples in Autumn perfectly giving them some protection from birds.
Crab apples, sloes, rosehips and blackberries often found in hedgerows are now fully established at Five acres. Planting for the winter has created what will hopefully provide for birds and mammals essential calories and nutrition.
In Autumn walks this year I have spotted brambling and many robins. The blackbirds have had a good year but very few raptors spotted. The fruits of Summer are easy to spot in this picture and the deep hedges give the birds food, potential nesting opportunities and shelter from the elements.
Why do rabbits stay still when a predator approaches? The importance of camouflage and speed can be glimpsed here. Difficult to see before they run.
Dog Rose provide winter berries for birds and wildlife and the bright flowers food for bees in high Summer
LEFT A Muntjac deer buck helps himself to a midnight feast of apples and leaves. A very elusive visitor and difficult to photograph especially in the daylight hours. They are an invasive species brought to the UK in the late Twentieth Century and are now widespread. They have caused considerable damage to my trees by eating the bark around the base of young and older fruit trees. I have lost at least a dozen trees that have been ring barked by the Muntjac and had serious damage to others which has impacted on a tree's ability to survive and produce fruit.
BELOW Fungi are a key part of soil health and a welcome sign of nutrient recycling. They play an essential role in decomposition and distribution of potassium and nitrogen which helps plants flourish. They can be poisonous to humans and should always be treated with great caution. Look but don't touch.
Summer of 2023
Observations and news - here is an active diary of events and some links to useful sites
European hornets (not the Asian variety) have been seen in much higher numbers this summer. Wasp numbers for more common varieties have been seen a lot more also. One thing missing this year is ladybugs (they are actually beetles not bugs). This also seems to be the case for aphids which have not been seen in fruit tree leaves in significant numbers this year.
2023 has been the year of the plum. Interestingly there have been very few bugs in the fruit this year. That coupled with the high number of wasps is ecologically significant in my view. Organic fruit generally means that some fruit has the plum fruit larvae in it which can be left for nature. Having harvested thousands of plums only a handful have been found to have evidence of bugs in.
The abundance of pears this year has been a first for me. I have not seen the high numbers experienced this year before. Apart from cookers some types of apples have struggled this year. Damsons and plums have gone bananas (loads).
Frogs and toads hardly seen this year and tadpoles in very short in numbers after a sizeable frogspawn found in ponds in March and April. Dragonflies seen but in much lower numbers. Survey to be carried out before the end of September.
There have been healthy numbers of Emperor dragonflies this year but Common Blue Damselfly numbers are few and far between.
This year I have been careful not to skim the pond too much and increase rainwater volume to improve organic runoff. Blanket weed has not been too bad but I wanted to minimise my impact on the pond wildlife nutrient balance in the water.
Bumper crops this year have resulted in some broken branches. I should have thinned the fruit out but time is always the problem. The cooking apples have grown extremely well this year and the crop is quite sizable. I estimate at least 2 tons from six established trees possibly more. This is based on weighing the individual plastic bags full of apples (about 10kg) then estimating how many per section of a tree.
This branch despite being broken still has the bark connected so I will leave until the winter before I remove the damaged limb. The leaves will carry on with photosynthesis as long as there is a connection to the roots for their water needs.
I have removed the broken plum tree branches (not shown here) as they heal better in the growing season.
There have been several young trees dying this year for no apparent reason. They are all about the same size as the one on the left. There has been deer damage last winter along with escaped goats stripping the bark of lower branches and trunk which I think could explain some of the die back. Muntjac deer in particular can severely damage orchards. This has been an ongoing problem since day one and can result in the roots not receiving enough glucose energy and from photosynthesis. The inner bark contains the phloem which is the plumbing if you like transporting nutrients around the tree including the roots. When damaged it leaves the tree vulnerable when there is low rainfall or high temperatures. Some trees survive but when bark is completely ringed they usually die the year after damage takes place.