Our Wildife

Since we moved to our new home we have been amazed by the diversity of wildlife and sheer number of species we have encountered so far on the land here.  With over 30 acres (12 hectares) of mostly oak woodland and meadows with various other sub-habitats such as Juniper scrub-land and limestone paving, we are still learning about the wildlife here and new discoveries are made almost every day.

In early 2020 we created a large pond using the surplus stone and soil from a new septic tank installation.  The pond is already attracting dragonflies, damselflies, diving beetles, water stick insects, frogs and toads, and a number of bird and mammal species visit regularly to drink.

To summarise, here are some of the species we have recorded so far:

Mammals: 

Badger, Wild boar, Brown Hare, Fox, Red, Roe and Fallow deer,  Red Squirrel, Pine and Stone Marten, Bats (several species).

Birds:  

Woodpeckers (Green, Black, Great Spotted and Middle Spotted), Buntings including Cirl and Corn Bunting, Crested Tit, Common and Black Redstart, Serin, Short-toed Treecreeper, Nightjar,  Hoopoe, Wryneck, Hawfinch, Golden Oriole, Turtle Dove and Cuckoo. Birds of Prey including; Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, Red and Black Kite, Short-Toed Snake Eagle, Sparrowhawk, Owls including Tawny, Barn and Scops Owl.  Various species are seen on passage (but not necessarily stopping by) from European Bee-eaters to White Storks.

Insects and Butterflies:

Over sixty species of butterfly and countless moths including Swallowtail and Scarce Swallowtail, Blues (including Adonis, Small, Common and Mazarine), numerous Fritillaries (including Heath, Silver Washed, Spotted, Dark Green),  Cleopatra, Graylings, Southern White Admiral, Hairstreaks, Skippers and so on.  Moths including Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth, large Hawk-moths such as Oak and Eyed, Tiger, Burnet and Forester moths. 

A vast number of insects and arachnids including Wasp and Ladybird Spider,  Mantids (Praying and Conehead),  Owlflies, Stag Beetle, Great Capricorn (Giant Longhorn) Beetle, Cicadas, Grasshoppers and Crickets (dozens of species including Great Green Bush Cricket).  Over a dozen species of dragonfly and damselfly breed at our pond.

Reptiles:

Wall Lizard, Green Lizard, Oscellated Lizard, Slow Worm, Western Whip Snake, Aesculapian snake, Southern Smooth Snake and Asp Viper.

Plants and flowers:

Twenty one species of orchid identified to date including Bee Orchid (exhibiting much pattern variation across the land), Fly, Lady, Man, Woodcock, Early Purple, Burnt Tip, Pyramidal, Lesser and Greater Butterfly, Green Winged (both purple and white variants) and Lizard.

The meadows and woodlands have also produced several species of Hellibore, Hyacinth, Scabious, Sage and Thistles.  Wild Iris, Saffron producing Crocus, Poppies, Cowslip and Violets. Numerous mushrooms and toadstools. Wild strawberries.

We are now using the iNaturalist website and app to begin logging the fauna and flora on site.  You can see our current project by clicking on the logo above.  We would really appreciate assistance from our guests that use the app to help us in building a better picture of the thousands of species we have here.