Last week we had our first of three moth surveys that will take place this summer done by the lovely Philip McGregor. Philip came to stay with us last spring and loved the site so much asked if he could come and do some surveys here.
Philip found 16 different species collected from moth traps located across our 25 acres of ex-dairy farm. One of the moths found was the Red Sword Grass which cleverly looks like dead wood.
Moths are the most successful of pollinators, even better than bees! This because they are very busy in a short amount of time so they “get about it & get busy” The next moth survey will take place in August and then again in September.
It is important for us to have a base record of wildlife and the moth surveys are not the only surveys that will take place this summer, we will also have bird surveys and grassland surveys. We want to improve wildlife habitats & biodiversity and these surveys should give us indications to show how we are doing.
We have planted 1000’s of trees this winter, creating a 10 meter wildlife corridor around our boundary which will join with the nearest native woodland. Next we will focus on our pasture which is ex-dairy so requires leaving alone as much as possible, this will reduce the nitrogen in the soil and discourage invasive foreign grasses that were previously introduced for farage, we will also introduce and encourage more wildflowers.
