Wild Flower Barn

Wild Flower Barn The Wild Flower Barn is a private nature conservation plot where I grow local origin wild flower plants and study/photo local wildlife.

It's been a good year for warblers here so far this spring/summer - the usual Chiffchaffs (since late Feb/early March), ...
13/06/2019

It's been a good year for warblers here so far this spring/summer - the usual Chiffchaffs (since late Feb/early March), Blackcaps (from end of March), Willow Warbler (mid-April), Whitethroats in late April (still nesting here), Garden Warbler in early May (possibly nested ... and still here) and a fleeting Reed Warbler in late May - only the 2nd one ever seen or heard here though it only stayed 24 hours (no photo sadly) ...

Probably the worst Bee-fly photo you'll see anywhere but it was the first Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) of the ye...
21/03/2019

Probably the worst Bee-fly photo you'll see anywhere but it was the first Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) of the year here at the wildlife plot on 18/03/2019 (and the only pic I managed to take). Also a small supporting cast of bees and hoverflies on goat willow buds and flowers in the spring sunshine ...

Moth-trapping resumed just four weeks ago today at the Wild Flower Barn after my winter break - only 30 species so far s...
16/03/2019

Moth-trapping resumed just four weeks ago today at the Wild Flower Barn after my winter break - only 30 species so far so a long way to go to match last year's 450 species (313 macros, 137 micros. But there again, this time last year (mid-March), I'd only seen 18 species overall so they're definitely a bit earlier this year - no surprise given the early cold snap in March 2018 and milder winter in 2018-19. The habitat here is very moth-friendly and some interesting species have turned up around the plot in the past decade. Will post the micro-moths seen so far in 2019 separately and maybe some of last year's highlights after that. Just for the record, only two species of butterfly seen here so far in 2019 ...

A bit of late-autumn habitat management at the wildlife plot these past few days. Some of the young oaks and sycamores t...
23/11/2017

A bit of late-autumn habitat management at the wildlife plot these past few days. Some of the young oaks and sycamores that have been regenerating here since 1995 were in need of a bit of high-pruning (or even felling) to allow more light in around the base of the trees. I'm hoping this will provide quite a few more sunny glades for basking hoverflies, dragonflies, butterflies and bees next spring/summer. There's still plenty of cover here for the bird and moth populations, talking of which - provisional species counts for the plot in 2017:
Birds (68)
Butterflies (26)
Dragonflies and Damselflies (15)
Hoverflies (57)
Moths (398 - and still a few more micros to ID from photos)
Some 2017 photo highlights to follow soon ...

18/03/2017

A few hoverflies from 2016 - all photo'd March-November here at the Wild Flower Barn. It's proved to be an amazing site for them over the past few years - more by accident than design on my part but it does at least show how important the wide diversity of native flora, shrubs and trees is here for all sorts of wildlife. And particularly the weedy, scrubby annoying sort of stuff that gardeners just love to rip out - docks, thistles, hogweed, brambles, nettles, willowherbs, ragwort, you name it - it's probably here! I've tried to put the hovers in some sort of logical order but unfortunately FB decided to shuffle them all quite randomly but hope you enjoy the pics all the same ...

Melangyna cincta, May 2016
06/03/2017

Melangyna cincta, May 2016

A few more moths from the wildlife plot this past month (September). It got off to a good start with only the second all...
29/09/2016

A few more moths from the wildlife plot this past month (September). It got off to a good start with only the second all-pink Vestal seen here (last one was in 2013) and then the spectacular Clifden Nonpareil (saw three here last year). Still plenty of time for more migrant species - another Convolvulous Hawk-moth would be good (and wishful thinking) before the end of October ...

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Church Road
Herstmonceux
BN271QJ

Telephone

+447932683245

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