Notes from a field & Garden - Bob Sheridan
It
was
early
September
when
David
Suter
called
me
over
into
his
field
to
look
at
some
large
wasps.
Tentatively
I
looked
around
in
the
general
area
he
indicated
and
located
a
hornet's
nest.
The
nest
was
in
an
old
fence
post
that
had
split
and
was
probably
hollow.
The
hornets
had
sealed
most
of
the
crack
with
the
paper
like
material
they
use
for
their
nests.
As
I
only
had
my
phone
with
me
it
meant
getting
close
to
get
a
good
a
good
photograph.
Hornets
are
not
supposed
to
be
as
aggressive
as
wasps
so,
carefully
avoiding
their
flight
path,
I
was
able
to
get
within
a
couple
of
feet
to
take
a
few
shots.
I
was
there
for
several
minutes
and
the
hornets
were
not
bothered
at
all.
I
walked
back
to
David
who,
for
some
reason,
was
keeping
a
safe
distance.
As
I
got
near
him
he
warned
me
there
was
a
hornet
around
my
head,
foolishly
I
tried
to
swat
it
away
and
got
a
sting
for
my
trouble.
Had I
just
kept
walking
it
probably
would
not
have
attacked.
Not
surprisingly
I
did
not
find
this
as
amusing
as
David
seemed
to!
On
somewhat
safer
ground
David
reported
how
many
late
broods
of
birds
he
had
seen.
One
robin,
near
his
barn,
had
three
broods
during the year.
The
female
pheasant
with
chicks,
reported
last
time,
managed
to
rear
three
to
adulthood.
This
is
probably
above
the
average
for
most
broods.
With
the
corn
cut
the
pheasants
are
returning
to
the
field
looking
for
a
reliable
source
of
food.
Also
returning
were
a
pair
of
collared
doves,
the
first
seen
for
some
time.
Walking
through
Munday's
Close
in
the
middle
of
September
I
saw
a
large
flock
of
small
birds
working
their
way
through
the
trees.
I
was
able
to
watch
them
for
some
time
and
it
turned
out
to
be
quite
a
mixed
flock.
The
majority
of
them
were
long
tailed
tits.
They
are
wonderful
acrobats
and
they
were
not
the
least
bothered
by
my
presence.
Other
birds
in
the
flock
were
blue
tits,
great
tits
and
chiffchaffs,
though
in
much
smaller
numbers.
A
few
days
later
a
small
flock
of
even
smaller
birds
were
seen.
They
were
goldcrests
and
again
untroubled
by
me
watching
them.
Being
so
small
and
quick
moving
made
it
impossible
to
count
them
but
I
think
there
must
have
been
at
least
half
a
dozen.
Towards
the
end
of
October
I
heard
a
wafting
noise
and
looked
up
to
see
a
swan
flying
quite
low
overhead.
They are quite majestic birds when on the wing.
The
cooler
weather
means
there
are
fewer
insects
about
although
there
are
still
some
to
be
seen.
A
large
ungainly
insect
flew
into
me
and
landed
on
the
drive
in
front
of
me.
It
turned
out
to
be
an
adult
red-legged
shieldbug
,
the
immature
state
of
which
I
mentioned
last
time.
The
large
amount
of
flowering
ivy
along
Mickley
Lane
provided
much
needed
food
for
large
numbers
of
hover
flies
and
wasps.
Another
insect
found
on
there
was
a
noon
fly
(Mesembrina
meridiana)
.
A
relative
of
the
house
fly
it
is
easily
identified
by
its
black
colour
and
orangey-gold
on
the
base
of
its
wings,
feet
and face.
The last
butterfly
seen
was
a
red
admiral
in
late October.
The
flowering
plants
are
now
starting
to
die
back
ready
for
the
winter.
A
couple
of
fungi
were
spotted,
a
field
blewit
and
a
jelly
ear
.
Some
smaller
non
flowering
plants
tend
to
get
overlooked
but
are
none
the
less
interesting.
Liverworts
are
a
good
example.
They
are
the
flat
green
growths
found
in
damp
shady
places
and
often
on
the
surface
of
the
compost
in
plant
pots.
Their
reproduction
is
by
two
methods.
They
frequently
reproduce
asexually
and
little
cups
appear
on
the
surface
and
produce
cells
that
are
distributed
by
rain
drops
and
will
grow
into
new
plants.
Older
plants
produce
male
and
female
organs
like
little
umbrellas,
some
liverworts
produce
them
on
the
same
plant
others
on
separate
plants.
The
male
ones
look
like
fully
covered
umbrellas
and
the
female
ones
look
like
just
the
ribs
without
the
cover
.
The
picture
on
the
website
is
the
liverwort
Marchantia.
In
the
garden
the
success
story
of
the
year
have
been
the
alstomerias
.
They
have
flowered
for
months
and
are
still
flowering
now.
They
were
grown
in
pots
last
year
and,
as
they
are
slightly
tender,
planted
out
quite
deeply
in
late
autumn.
They
make
excellent
cut
flowers
and
I
used
a
tip
that
I
read
somewhere
on
how
to
harvest
them.
The
secret
seems
to
be
not
to
cut
them
but
to
gently
pull
the
whole
stem
from
the
ground.
New
shoots
should
grow
from
the
area
around
where
they
were
pulled.
This
seems
to
have
worked
as
there
has
been
a
nonstop
supply
this
year.
I
am
writing
this
at
the
beginning
of
November
and
an
unusual
number
of
other
plants
still
have
flowers.
This
may
be
due
to
lack
of
frosts
but
also
October
was
a
very
dry
month,
I
recorded
only
24.6mm.
The
lack
of
moisture
probably
prevented
the
spread
of
fungal
diseases
which
thrive
in
a
moist
atmosphere.
I
counted
more
than
twenty
types
of
plant
that
still
flowering.
Among
these
were
canna,
clematis,
begonia,
geraniums
and
a
triphylla
fuchsia
,
all
of
which
have
usually
given
up
by
now.
The
greenhouse
is
now
overflowing
with
tender
plants
brought
inside
for
the
winter.
The
cymbidium
and
blettila
orchids
came
in
a
couple
of
weeks
ago
followed
by
eucomis,
speckelia
and
potted
cannas.
The
cannas
in
the
ground
have
still
to
be
dug
up
and
the
fuchsias
can
stay
out
a
little
longer
until
they
have
lost
their
leaves.
They
will
be
fine
in
the
garage
as
they
don't
need
too
much
warmth
over
winter.
There
will
be
no
room
for
geranium
cuttings
so
they
will
be
discarded and tiny plug plants purchased in the spring.
December 2017
Hornet Nest
Hornet
Red-legged Shieldbug
Noon Fly
Field Blewitt
Jelly Ear Fungus
Liverwort
Liverwort
Triphylla fuchia
Alstromeria