This year we managed to make some nice June hay in our new orchard
where the sown grass was long and fresh. It was rather a laborious business with David scything the grass and me turning it by hand, but the end product was excellent. This is not always the best time to cut hay as few flowers have set seed, so we left some older patches of turf for another month.Whilst trying to decide how much to cut and what was ready, some- thing pink caught my eye; a common spotted orchid! I know that some lucky folk in the village have these growing in their lawns, but this was a first for us and we were thrilled with it. Its just the sort of plant we have been hoping for but I was not expecting anything so soon. Before modem weedkillers and fertilisers were widely used these orchids were common. Now they are becoming increasingly rare as they cannot compete with fast
growing grass. Orchids have a special relationship with various soil organisms and are rather difficult to sow or transplant but their seed will stay viable in the soil for years, so the best way to get them is to create the right conditions and see what comes up! We have cut carefully around the flower and marked the spot so that it can set seed and we will know where to look next year.
Since finding a baby grass snake in my compost heap a couple of years ago, I have tried not to disturb the heaps in the summer in case I put a fork through some unhatched eggs. Last week I badly needed some compost for a new bit of the garden and as it was now August, I felt sure it would be OK. I carefully took off the top cover and examined the contents and as there didnt seem to be anything about I pulled my wheelbarrow a little closer. Just then I noticed something in the grass – a long length of slothed off snake skin! As the snake grows in the summer so it must shed its outgrown skin and I had just found 18” from the tail end. After that I dug very carefully in the heap but there was no sign of any eggs or young. Hopefully they have been using the heat from one of my other heaps to incubate and I wont need to touch those until the autumn. I had forgotten all about snakes when a few days later I popped down to the vegetable garden to pick some peas. As I picked the first pods there was a rustling sound and a beautiful grass snake glided across the path into the raspberry canes. It was a good three feet long, olive green with a pale yellow band around its neck. It was only just able to squeeze through the net over the raspberries and this slowed it down, giving me a very good view. We have had a lot of trouble with mice eating our strawberries and peas this year so Im hoping the snake will eat the mice for me.
On our regular dog walks to Barns Lane we have been intrigued by what appear to be pellets from a bird which contain cherry stones. They are left on top of the gate post and dont contain any lime as droppings usually do. They look just like owl pellets, but owls dont eat cherries! Any suggestions? Wendy Bathurst