The Lyons Share

Many years ago, the Woods Mill stream was split in two for a short section to create the mill leat to feed the mill wheel. The stream itself, in an unnatural position, has dug deep into the clay and is very steep sided and uniform in appearance, the area does not function very well as a flood plain for this reason. There is no ecotone between the river and grassland plants. A joint project is underway to realign a section of the stream and this started last week. In the above image, the new stream route is being plotted by removing the top soil.(the current stream follows the line of trees in the distance and to the right of the digger). Riffles, oxbow lakes and woody debris will be added to the design and the project should be finished in two or three weeks. I can't wait to see how it recovers and what new species it will attract. Exciting times! I will be taking photographs throughout the project.

Birds today included the first Redwings this end of the year, Yellowhammer, Skylark and Cormorant. There were still quite a few inverts around today, including Roesel's Bush-crickets and Long-winged Coneheads. I spotted this Nursery-web Spider Pisaura mirabilis. I like this spider, mainly 'cause it is the only one in the genus and there is nothing else that looks like it! It is very, very common and reminds of the big 'facehugger' like huntsmen spiders you get in Australia!