Paul Smith's Bugs 'n' Bees 2005-2007 Updated in November 2016 |
The Winsham Parish Web Site was launched in 2004, and Paul Smith was an enthusiastic supporter from the very beginning. He contributed a 'nature diary', titled 'Bugs 'n' Bees' from its earliest days. The reason why the illustrations are relatively small is that in the days before broadband , the standard internet speed was 64bits per second, which meant that pictures sizes were reduced before loading them onto the internet, to avoid long delays in uploading onto a PC could take ages to load-so the smaller the better! To further reduce delays in downloading, thumbnail pictures were used which had to be clicked upon to enable the larger pictures you see here to be loaded.(Editor)
2005
January 2005 With Sparrow Hawks becoming more common some people find them difficult to distinguish from Kestrels as they fly quickly overhead. The former has wide wings of a true hawk while the Kestrel is a species of Falcon with thin wings. With the long series of comparatively mild winters continuing the first spring flowers - a Celandine and a Primrose - were reported before Christmas. As usual several single plants of Hogweed graced our roadside verges. On the fungus front a fine growth of Chanterelle were growing in a garden corner where beech leaves are often discarded. Bird watchers report a regular visit from a pair of Fire crests. A new report is of a Corn Bunting which picks up the droppings on the grass beneath fat balls put out for other smaller species especially the Winsham flock of Long Tailed Tits. January -2005 |
2006
April 2006-Spring was about a month late this
year. So the early wild flowers - from snowdrops, -wild violets-and primroses to bluebells, dog''s mercury, wood anemone and cowslips will not be swamped with early grass or nettles. The fast mild day was 24th March and since then many of the colourful cock siskin seem to have gone, blackbirds and song thrushes are singing, a brimstone butterfly and a large bumble bee are reported. A tiny dark butterfly, seen in Western Way, was probably a small-copper ( which lives on docks) The rare small-blue is too early . Garden flowers are often profuse. Now for a mystery! A small bag of eating potatoes was left on a Winsham table in a closed room one evening. At some time between about midnight and five am. the bag was torn open and a number of potatoes partly chewed up so that the pieces were apparently not eaten but deposited in and around the bag. As if the creature spat then out in small mouthfuls. A mouse was apparently too small and a rat would have left some droppings. Any ideas? |
May 2006-The warm weather towards the end of the first
week saw the real arrival of Spring. The Siskins suddenly left and our Blackbirds went into full song. This
is a poor year for song for most birds are too busy catching up with nesting. It
was the insects that suddenly got busy as the weather warmed up on 5th May.A
swarm of Honey bees first settled on a Churchyard gravestone before settling
into the tower near the church clock. Two interesting swarms of flies filled the
area between the trees. The first were blue flies with their long legs dangling.
The circled from above the garden plants to up beyond sight over the trees.
Among these was a swarm of tiny white Gnat -like flies, also circling. At this time our Swallows and Martins were feeding high over the village UNTIL a Hobby suddenly appeared and for a time they had to circle the houses. |
October 2006-Due to the mildest
season ever witnessed the leaves are still on the trees, which , like
all plant life, are 'dripping with fruit. Gardens are practically
deserted of wild life. Our Blackbirds and even Robins are still in the
woods. Hedgehogs are still around and a litter of baby foxes were seen
and heard playing in late September. Last week dragonflies and
butterflies were about, especially near, waterways ( Rivers Parrett and
Sid), and many Hummingbird moths seen earlier. Our unusual sightings (two independent reports) are of a large bird (seemingly larger than a buzzard (could have been a Red Kite) being attacked by a group of jackdaws and then by a single crow. In each case there was a much smaller hawk-like bird (thought to be a sparrow hawk), joining in. Although the milder weather may tend to upset the balance of Nature it is also the length of daylight hours that determines our seasons. |
December 2006-Recently
a rare WRYNECK has been feeding on fat balls in a Winsham garden.
Of
the woodpecker family it is said
to be very distinctive and unmistakable. Unlike the
reported 'glimpse ' of
a Yellow-browed Warbler seen recently. The Asiatic version
of our Willow Warbler it is just one of some forty similar looking
Warbler species.
The mixed-finch flock from the Nursery area -
mostly chaffinches - now numbers over thirty. A flock of twelve
Long-tailed-Tits is seen every day. A Goldcrest is reported from the
Court Street area. On 25 Nov. a large Grey Heron was seen
circling the Village and pitched in an Ash tree overlooking a pond. There
is a rescued baby Hedgehog growing well.
Despite
a couple of short night frosts earlier there are a few reports of late
butterflies, dragonflies
and the odd bumble-bee. |
Late December-2006 Despite the exceptionally mild spell (52
deg. F) only
a few
wild flowers are reported. The Marsh Marigold is on its third
flowering and the Celandines are out. Pair of Jays has returned to
a Winsham garden.
A Song Thrush was singing at full pitch not here, but over the Lym river into Lyme Regis. A male Kestrel was seen perching on a roof and being mobbed by two blackbirds and other small birds. We usually see the Sparrow Hawk when every bird disappears. Wild bees have been reported buzzing from a Winsham garden |
Paul Smith died on the 22nd March,2007.It had been apparent for some time that his health was failing, but he remained active until the end, going off on his electric bicycle on expeditions into his beloved countryside when many wanted nothing more than to sit by their firesides . This accounts for some of the 'missing' periods in his nature diary during the last couple of years of his life. His love of the countryside, and the plants, animals and birds that inhabit it, is no more clearly expressed than in the drawings that were his delight to produce. |