Due to the recent continual rain and heavy showers, the churchyard hay has been spoiled this year. It has been taken away to South Farm to rot down. The pictured volunteers disposed of it on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully we will have a better summer and consequently a usable hay crop next year. Though the hay, before it was cut, did attract a wide variety of butterflies and insects, so overall a success story.
The Bourne that flows out of the spring fed pond to the north of Duncombe Wood, and then flows north to the corner of Coombe Road near the village, is still running. It usually dries up for the summer months. The date varies every year, depending on rainfall. Last year it stopped running on 14 June. This year due to the excessive late spring and summer rainfall it may run right through the summer. What Read more…
Can you help with the Big Butterfly Count in 2021. Please go to the Big Butterfly Count website at https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org for more details.
The first silver-washed fritillary I have seen this year was spotted flying along one of the wide rides in Hen Wood today. It is one of the larger butterfly species in the UK. It needs fairly open woodland to thrive.
This white helleborine orchid (Cephalanthera damasonium) was spotted next to the main footpath, leading to Small Down, in Duncombe Wood. It is found mostly in beechwoods on chalk in this area. After seeding it can be eight years before it shows a stem, and up to another two to three years before it flowers.
Swifts have arrived back in East Meon. They have travelled all the way from south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. Their screeching and swooping is one of the real indicators of summer. Due to our cold and miserable spring they are quite late arriving this year.
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum multiforum) is now flowering in great profusion in the local woods. This is the wild variety and not one of the many cultivated varieties. With all the recent rains and slightly warmer weather there are many wild flower varieties starting to flower.
Click on the link below to view the East Meon Nature video presentation given at the Annual Parish Assembly meeting on 26/04/21. You must click on the ‘blog post’ to get to the active link: East Meon Nature Video
The pond at Lower House Farm has turned green. A little while ago it had a good amount of frogspawn inside it. Is this blue/green algae? Investigations are on going.
Cuckoo flowers ( cardamine pratensis) are blooming in fields, hedgerows and the edges of woods, but where are the cuckoos? One reason they are called cuckoo flowers is that they bloom in April and May when the cuckoos return from Africa. However cuckoos are quite rare in East Meon these days, as they are getting rarer throughout the country. This is due to a number of possible reasons that are still being studied. The cuckoo Read more…