Spring in Dorset

Spring How It Happened In Nature 2025

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

Spring 2025 felt like an unusual spring this year, with unpredictable weather patterns and trends being hard to pinpoint. Looking back at meteorological records though, despite sudden changeable weather and some cold snaps early on, March, April, May and June were in fact on average warmer and sunnier than previous years, with wet ground drying up fast. As a result, this season felt like it went by in a flash this year and was harder to hold on to, in the present and in memory.

Spring 2024 was even more changeable in weather patterns compared to this year, but still showed some consistent phenological trends (check out Spring 2024: How It Happened). Plant species showed events occurring earlier due to warmer temperatures, whilst insect and bird species showed a split in occurrence, affected by some increased rainfall at certain periods. With spring 2025 also exhibiting some changeability, but overall warmer temperatures, I wonder how spring events played out this year. Let’s take a look at tree, flowering, shrub, insect and bird species to get a snapshot of how things turned out this year in comparison to previous years.

Trees

During 2024, spring emergence dates were on average earlier for most tree species due to warmer and wetter spring weather. In 2025 though, the trend is less easy to discern, with events ranging anywhere from 1 to 30 days earlier, 1 to 21 days later, or even the same day. The trend does not relate to month, but timing of events differed between species, with all english oak events occurring later, whilst all sycamore events occurred earlier, which may signify varying factors at play. There’s also no trend occurring with tree species between the years either, such as becoming earlier or later over time. This year’s spring did feel like the weather was highly changeable at times though, switching from warm to cold, wet to dry, and may have created small scale fluctuation from week to week, despite overall warmer weather.

Flowers

Plants flowering during spring 2024 occurred on average earlier, varying from 1 to 16 days. Following the same situation as with tree species, during spring 2025, the occurrence of plants flowering showed no true trend, with a 50:50 split between earlier or later. Primroses, cowslips, wood anemones, early purple orchids, yellow archangel, and oxeye daisies all first flowered 3-14 days earlier, whereas snowdrops, lesser celandines, daffodils, stitchwort, wild garlic, cuckooflowers, and bluebells all first flowered 5-21 days later. Like with the trees, no pattern was shown connected to month, and flowering this spring may instead also be due to fluctuating weather and temperature patterns.

Shrubs

During spring 2024, the majority of shrub events occurred earlier, ranging from 1 to 53 days. In spring 2025 though, there was more of a split. Of 18 recorded events, 10 were later than 2024, ranging from 1 to 29 days, 1 was the same day, and 7 were earlier than 2024, ranging from 4 to 20 days. Some species, such as blackthorn and elder, had all later events, but most species shared variation between budburst, leaves unfurling, and flowering. It is unsurprising that shrubs followed what was seen with other plant species though, being affected by the same factors, causing no discernable trends.

Insects

Of 10 species that had their first emergence date recorded during spring 2024, a 50:50 split was found for earlier and later dates. This year for the same 10 species though, there was a skew towards earlier emergences. For brimstone butterflies, buff-tailed bumblebees, 7-spotted ladybirds, peacock butterflies, small tortoiseshell butterflies, small white butterflies, and queen wasps, emergence ranged from 1-47 days earlier this spring. The exceptions were orange tip butterflies, red admiral butterflies, and speckled wood butterflies, emerging later by 4-32 days during April. Where plant species showed no great pattern between springs 2024 and 2025, these insect species recorded do show more earlier emergences, with on average warmer weather allowing this to occur.

Birds

Over the last three years of recording bird events during spring, no clear trend was observed between years for the bird species that were recorded. For spring 2025 though, the events recorded were shown to have occurred on the same day as in 2024, or 1 to 26 days earlier. For example, cuckoos were heard earlier during April, and juvenile blackbirds were seen earlier, fledging during April. It is really interesting that where this year plant events were occurring all over the place compared to during previous years, bird species were responding earlier to spring conditions. This could be due to weather conditions being on average milder, whilst food sources were also made available earlier during spring this year.

Conclusion

When I first began writing this phenological report for my family’s Dorset farm this year, I began with the recorded plant species and was unable to find any observable trends between years and species, and within species. Though I was starting to feel that absence of trends was still important, things were looking more interesting when I turned my attention to recorded insect and bird species events. Both insect and bird species showed trends towards events occurring earlier this spring, which is more noticeable after a lack of trends over the last couple of years. These show that the season being on average warmer and sunnier this year did have an impact on animal species, even if more factors were involved in what was seen with recorded plant species.

Species List

  • Alder (Tree) Alnus glutinosa
  • Ash (Tree) Fraxinus excelsior
  • Blackbird (Bird) Turdus merula
  • Blackcap (Bird) Sylvia atricapilla
  • Blackthorn (Shrub) Prunus spinosa
  • Bluebell (Flowering Plant) Hyacinthoides non-scripta
  • Brimstone butterfly (Insect) Gonepteryx rhamni
  • Buff-tailed bumblebee (Insect) Bombus terrestris
  • Chiffchaff (Bird) Phylloscopus collybita
  • Common wasp (Insect) Vespula vulgaris
  • Cowslip (Flowering Plant) Primula veris
  • Cuckoo (Bird) Cuculus canorus
  • Cuckooflower (Flowering Plant) Cardamine pratensis
  • Daffodil (Flowering Plant) Narcissus spp.
  • Dog rose (Shrub) Rosa canina
  • Early purple orchid (Flowering Plant) Orchis mascula
  • Elder (Shrub) Sambucus nigra
  • English oak (Tree) Quercus robur
  • Field maple (Tree) Acer campestre
  • Greater stitchwort (Flowering Plant) Stellaria holostea
  • Great-spotted woodpecker (Bird) Dendrocopos major
  • Hawthorn (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Hazel (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Horse chestnut (Tree) Aesculus hippocastanum
  • Lesser celandine (Flowering Plant) Ficaria verna
  • Norway maple (Tree) Acer platanoides
  • Orange-tip butterfly (Insect) Anthocharis cardamines
  • Oxeye daisy (Flowering Plant) Leucanthemum vulgare
  • Peacock butterfly (Insect) Aglais io
  • Primrose (Flowering Plant) Primula vulgaris
  • Lilac (Shrub) Syringa vulgaris
  • Red admiral butterfly (Insect) Vanessa atalanta
  • Rook (Bird) Corvus frugilegus
  • Seven-spot ladybird (Insect) Coccinella septempunctata)
  • Silver birch (Tree) Betula pendula
  • Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Insect) Aglais urticae
  • Small white butterfly
  • Snowdrop (Flowering Plant) Galanthus spp.
  • Song thrush (Bird) Turdus philomelos
  • Speckled wood butterfly (Insect) Pararge aegeria
  • Swallow (Bird) Hirundo rustica
  • Sycamore (Tree) Acer pseudoplatanus
  • Wild cherry (Tree) Prunus avium
  • Wild garlic (Flowering Plant) Allium ursinum
  • Wood anemone (Flowering Plant) Anemone nemorosa
  • Yellow archangel (Flowering Plant) Lamium galeobdolon

Spring In Photos 2025

/ Laura Tuke / 2 Comments

“The beautiful spring came; and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also” — Harriet Ann Jacobs

As I learn to love how all the seasons in nature have something different to offer, I cannot help but still feel my heart sing when I see the first blooms of spring, hear the first chiffchaff echo across a field, or see the first butterfly flit past on a sunny day. Spring is a time for the renewal of hope, a celebration of colour and vibrancy, and a time that often feels like a collective sigh of relief. It is a season of optimism, and new possibilities, but also passes, like this year, in a blink of an eye.

This year though, I have really embraced the capturing of different light, colour and subjects during spring, giving myself the freedom to explore nature through a lens. As part of this, I also began to experiment with a new camera as part of my photography kit, and kept open minded during the process. It will take a while to sort through all the photos taken so far this year, but for now here is a snapshot of my spring 2025, through a lens, camera or iphone.

Spring In Photos 2025

The new addition to the Tuke family (Barley)

Walking through the Daffodowndillies

My Raven and her baby boy Jackdaw

One of my favourite first signs of spring, the Wood Anemone

The start of new life (here Blue Tits and Robins)

Enjoying the Bluebells from horseback (Dove)

Sunrise swimming in Appledore

Birdwatching on Lundy (Devon)

In my element, camera in hand and fantastic wildlife (Lundy, Devon)

The vibrancy of spring (A Speckled Wood Butterfly on a Rhododendron)

My suckler calves always love to pose for a photo (Orchid)

Herefordshire in the Golden Hour

This is just a very small snapshot of my year so far! More to come.

Spring 2024: How It Happened

/ Laura Tuke / 1 Comment

Over the last few years, it has been noticeable that weather patterns and average temperatures have been changing and highly unpredictable, leading to the seasons, such as spring, varying from month-to-month and year-to-year, especially here in Dorset. For example, last year spring began a wash out, moving to cold and stormy spells, before ending with heat waves. This year was an equally odd series of spring weather events with a cold start to the season, followed by wet weather with northerly winds, and finishing with drier spells. It was on average warmer and wetter, but cold nights continued for a long time, and had a noticeable effect on plant growth patterns being seen.

Spring 2023 encountered trends for later spring events and a slow start to spring, which helped to create a mismatch between species and spring events. With a warmer, wetter winter before spring this year, and often above average spring temperatures, it is likely the trends this year may differ to those of 2023. It will be interesting to see if this has had an effect though, by looking at trends for some tree, shrub, flower, insect and bird species. How will spring 2024 have shaped up? Read on to see how my favourite season unfurled this year!

Trees

During 2023, spring emergence dates for trees showed a trend for on average later dates, ranging from 1 to 28 days later. In 2024 though, the majority of spring tree dates were earlier, as seen with field maple, horse chestnut, english oak, and wild cherry, ranging from 1 to 22 days earlier from March through to May. Alder dates though were fractionally later, as were ash and sycamore flowering, and silver birch and norway maple budburst, but the other events for these species occurred earlier. The on average warmer and wetter weather will most likely be the reason for these trends, allowing trees to get a head start this year.

Flowers

Plants flowering during spring 2023 occurred on average later, varying from 1 to 16 days. During spring 2024 though, flowering has occurred earlier, as was the trend with tree species. For snowdrops, lesser celandines, primroses, greater stitchwort, wood anemones, early purple orchids, wild garlic, yellow archangel, cuckooflowers, oxeye daisies, and bluebells flowering occurred 1 to 32 days earlier between January and May. The exceptions were found with daffodils, flowering 6 days later during February, and cowslips, 4 days later during April. It would be understandable thus to think that the warmer, wetter weather of the start of spring will have had a heavy influence on these events, just like with trees.

Insects

Of 12 species that had the emergence date recorded during spring 2023, the majority emerged later than the year before, ranging from 2 to 46 days later. This year though, spring 2024 saw the occurrence of a 50:50 split for the 10 species that had their emergence date recorded, with some species from 2023 yet to be seen at all, such as painted lady butterflies.

Buff-tailed bumblebees, 7-spotted ladybirds, and orange tip, red admiral, and speckled wood butterflies all emerged earlier this year, ranging from 2 to 46 days earlier. Conversely, queen wasps, and brimstone, peacock, gatekeeper, and small tortoiseshell butterflies all emerged later than 2023, ranging from 8 to 47 days later. Though not complete for all, the split does tend to be due to March to April species emerging earlier this year whereas April to June species emerged later this year. This may be due to April being a cooler, wetter month this year, impacting insect species more greatly than plant species that were already making their advance and were less impacted.

Shrubs

Spring 2023 mainly showed a trend for later shrub budburst, leaf unfurling and flowering, ranging from 3-27 days from March to May. In contrast, for spring 2024, the majority of events for shrubs occurred earlier, ranging from 1 to 53 days earlier from December through to May. These included for blackthorn, dog rose, elder, hawthorn and hazel, with the only later event being for red female hazel flowers being observed. This trend shows similarities to those of trees and spring flowering plants, and would be similarly due to a warmer, wetter winter and start of spring, allowing events to occur earlier and shrubs to get a head start on the season.

Birds

Following on from the last two years (2022 and 2023), the dates of bird events during spring 2024 showed no clear trend, with a split between different species and events. Rooks began building their nests earlier, chiffchaffs and swallows arrived earlier, song thrushes and yellowhammers first sang earlier, and the first wrens fledged earlier. Conversely, blackbirds first sang later, the first blackbirds fledged later, blackcaps, cuckoos and house martins arrived later, and great-spotted woodpeckers drummed later.

Some of these event timing changes will be due to spring temperatures and weather conditions on short term and long term scales. Other reasons are less obvious currently, but the hope is that bird events will still have been timed right with other species to make the most of resources this year.

Conclusion

Spring 2024 was a thoroughly odd season, varying from month-to-month, but feeling like wet weather prevailed more than the normal. In the end it was vibrant and colourful, though missing the traditional spring feeling. This year spring was heavily effected by climatic changes and changes to weather patterns, and this may become typical during the springs to come. It is really hard to predict then how each season will play out, and it will be interesting to see now how all British species cope with such unpredictability as time goes on. Only time will tell!

Species List

  • Alder (Tree) Alnus glutinosa
  • Ash (Tree) Fraxinus excelsior
  • Blackbird (Bird) Turdus merula
  • Blackcap (Bird) Sylvia atricapilla
  • Blackthorn (Shrub) Prunus spinosa
  • Bluebell (Flowering Plant) Hyacinthoides non-scripta
  • Brimstone butterfly (Insect) Gonepteryx rhamni
  • Buff-tailed bumblebee (Insect) Bombus terrestris
  • Chiffchaff (Bird) Phylloscopus collybita
  • Common wasp (Insect) Vespula vulgaris
  • Cowslip (Flowering Plant) Primula veris
  • Cuckoo (Bird) Cuculus canorus
  • Cuckooflower (Flowering Plant) Cardamine pratensis
  • Daffodil (Flowering Plant) Narcissus spp.
  • Dog rose (Shrub) Rosa canina
  • Early purple orchid (Flowering Plant) Orchis mascula
  • Elder (Shrub) Sambucus nigra
  • English oak (Tree) Quercus robur
  • Field maple (Tree) Acer campestre
  • Gatekeeper butterfly (Insect) Pyronia tithonus
  • Greater stitchwort (Flowering Plant) Stellaria holostea
  • Great-spotted woodpecker (Bird) Dendrocopos major
  • Hawthorn (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Hazel (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Horse chestnut (Tree) Aesculus hippocastanum
  • House martin (Bird) Delichon urbicum
  • Lesser celandine (Flowering Plant) Ficaria verna
  • Norway maple (Tree) Acer platanoides
  • Orange-tip butterfly (Insect) Anthocharis cardamines
  • Oxeye daisy (Flowering Plant) Leucanthemum vulgare
  • Peacock butterfly (Insect) Aglais io
  • Primrose (Flowering Plant) Primula vulgaris
  • Red admiral butterfly (Insect) Vanessa atalanta
  • Rook (Bird) Corvus frugilegus
  • Seven-spot ladybird (Insect) Coccinella septempunctata)
  • Silver birch (Tree) Betula pendula
  • Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Insect) Aglais urticae
  • Snowdrop (Flowering Plant) Galanthus spp.
  • Song thrush (Bird) Turdus philomelos
  • Speckled wood butterfly (Insect) Pararge aegeria
  • Swallow (Bird) Hirundo rustica
  • Sycamore (Tree) Acer pseudoplatanus
  • Wild cherry (Tree) Prunus avium
  • Wild garlic (Flowering Plant) Allium ursinum
  • Wood anemone (Flowering Plant) Anemone nemorosa
  • Wren (Bird) Troglodytes troglodytes
  • Yellow archangel (Flowering Plant) Lamium galeobdolon
  • Yellowhammer (Bird) Emberiza citrinella

Spring In Photos 2024

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

Spring 2024 has no doubt been a tough one for all, nature and wildlife included. The cold and wet weather appearing throughout has made for a unique few months, that has often felt more like a continuation of the winter passed. Despite this, spring took its time to unfurl as in the last couple of years, and had lots to offer.

When it comes to nature, whatever is going on, it continues to provide moments of calm, vibrancy and adventure. This has been apparent more than ever as I venture out with my camera or simply with my phone at hand. Here are just some of the many photos I have taken this spring.

Spring In Photos 2024

Butterfly On Blossom
It’s Tiring Being A Tawny chick!
Shimmering Like Gold
In The Spotlight
The Rook To My Raven
Focussing On The Little Things
Sparkling In The Dark
Flying High As A Kite
Beautiful In Blue
Love On The Water
Brooding Like A Blue Tit
A Speckled Beauty

Disclaimer: All birds were handled or observed under rules, with care, and by a trained bird ringer. The welfare of animals always comes first!

Spring Dorset Camera Trapping 2023 – Pt. 2: Fabulous Foxes

/ Laura Tuke / 1 Comment

Bouncing, pouncing, twisting, turning, four tumbling balls of red fur. So small, so little, miniature versions of what they will grow to become. Playing for hours, fighting, racing, hunting each other, unknowingly preparing for the world beyond their home. One day these furballs will venture out, cunning, wily, and most of all majestic.

From the city to the countryside, wherever you live, you will most likely have seen a fox in your lifetime. In Britain the red fox is an iconic mammal species, standing out with their striking orangey-red coats and bushy tails. They are known as expert hunters, catching a range of prey from rats to crows, but are actually omnivores, supplementing their diets with plant material, such as berries. As a species they feature heavily in British folklore, being depicted as cunning and wily, spiritual and intelligent.

Though foxes are often seen wandering around cities, they mainly inhabit rural areas, being more elusive than their urban counterparts. On my family’s farm in Dorset, my camera traps have allowed us to gain an uninterrupted view of the lesser seen world of this majestic species. By gain a greater understanding of their behaviour, habits and daily patterns, it allows us to live alongside them with ease. With the frequency of their presence on my camera traps this year, there will be much that can be learnt once again!

Field Cameras

This year foxes featured at nearly all of my camera trap locations, including all sites where my cameras faced out into open fields and meadows. This could be capturing foxes passing through, hunting, leaving their dens, or just watching the world, but it showed us where the foxes were seen more often and in what capacity. Here’s some of the highlights:

  • Water Meadow – Fox highway

  • Sugar Field – Adult fox passing through; fox cub venturing out of a possible den
  • Tower Paddock – Fox hunting spot

  • Cowleighs – Fox cub on the wander; adult fox returning to their den with food
  • Garden – Adult fox checking things out

Badger Alley

Last year Badger Alley was home to a pair of lovable fox cubs that gave me the wonderful opportunity to watch as they grew up to be scruffy young adults venturing out to explore the wider world. So when spring rolled around this year, I put my camera traps out once again to see what stories would unfold in Badger Alley.

On the 18th April, my camera trap gave me my first views of a new family inhabiting a badger sett in Badger Alley. I was amazed to see a litter of four small cubs exploring the world created by the trees sheltering the footpath, and also excitedly welcoming their parents back as they brought back food to them. On the 21st April I got the wonderful sight too, of all four cubs being suckled by their mother.

With each week my camera traps watched as the fox cubs grew bigger and bigger and came into their deep orange-reds coats like those of their parents. They fought, played and sunbathed, and began to venture further from their den. It was great to see all four cubs thrive through this time and I hope they continue to do so!

Quarry Field

My Quarry Field site is an active badger sett shared with other species. In 2020, I captured a lone cub on my camera traps, sleeping, being fed and wandering around on its own. The following year, in 2021, things looked a bit brighter with two rowdy fox cubs living in the sett, keeping each other company, playing, fighting and growing together. Last year, in 2022, there was signs of an adult fox passing through with food, but that spring I saw no actual sign of fox cubs living within the sett. What did I find this year then?

During spring 2023, I first put a camera trap out at this site on the 8th of April. During the following week, my camera caught lots of sights of an active badger family and a passing through female roe deer, but also an adult fox passing through every night. This was a positive sighting as it meant to me that the sett could be being used once again by a fox family.

This year luck was on my side and on the 17th April, my camera trap caught a first sighting of very small fox cubs venturing above ground at the sett, and there was not just one, or two, but four! I was astounded to have two known large litters of fox cubs on the farm this year, with potential others situated across our land also.

It was amazing over the following weeks to watch the cubs play, race around, rough and tumble, explore, and even beg one of their parents for food in front of the camera. Over time the cubs turned from orangey-brown little cubs into true miniature versions of their parents, lying outside the sett in evening sunshine, running up and down the hedgerows, or venturing out into the surrounding fields, still relying on their parents though. They even blessed me with some in person views of their natural behaviour on my adventures this year too!

This year has been a particularly incredible year for foxes that I will not be forgetting in a hurry, but it will be interesting to now see what the impact may be for local fox populations. They are an important species in the countryside and one people need to learn to continue to live alongside.

Spring Dorset Camera Trapping 2023 – Pt. 1: Wonderful Wildlife

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

“In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated” – August Sander

“Actually, it’s nature itself that creates the most beautiful pictures, I’m only choosing the perspective” – Katja Michael

Over the last four years I have used camera traps to try to capture the wildlife that call my family’s Dorset farm home. It has been a way to gain an insight into the lives of animals that usually would only be seen in passing on a day-to-day basis, such as a hare or a fox, and to be able to see them as anything but ordinary. It has also been an opportunity to watch natural behaviour that we would not usually easily see without disturbing wildlife, and to truly get an idea of the abundance and diversity of species over 250 acres. There is always more that we can learn each year though!

For the last few months, my camera traps have been back out recording what there is to be seen out in nature this year. Moving between 10 locations across our land, from March to July, there were lots of lovely moments that were captured, along with the unusual and unexpected. Over two parts, I will delve into what my camera traps had to offer in photograph and video form, and share some of my highlights. To start, lets take a look at the range of wildlife that featured on the farm this spring, saving the best this year for next week!

Bridlepath: Badger Alley

A family-named Badger Alley is a great site for a variety of mammal species found on the farm, with even a first muntjac deer being spotted last year. Badger Alley is a naturally-enclosed bridlepath that was once home to a large family of badgers, but now the sett lies bare. This path for humans is also a popular thoroughfare for wildlife as well as being a sheltered location for the homes of certain species. This is one site that I return to with my camera trap year-on-year!

This year 6 mammal species were captured on my camera traps, including one of my favourite’s that will feature next week. I had a scruffy adult female roe deer passing through,

an often seen adult male roe deer feeding and scent marking,

a territorial grey squirrel on his favourite perch,

plenty of whizzing past, including babies,

and a one-off inquisitive badger.

Badger Setts: Badger Field and Quarry Field

Over the years our badger population and distribution has fluctuated, including with Dorset’s badger. Currently though we have two active badger setts that each contain a healthy family of badgers that stick to defined territories within our land.

These setts are not just home to badgers, but also other species, including next week’s stars. Each year new species can be added to the list featured at these setts, but this year 4 common ones were captured alongside the two already mentioned. Species seen were:

  • Blackbird
  • Pheasant
  • Carrion crow
  • Roe Deer (male and female)

Wooded Area: Gill Hill Copse

This year I only used one wooded area on the farm for my camera trapping, a small copse towards the centre of our land. Over the years this rich copse has been home to and a passing through place for a variety of typical and more unusual species, and each year it is interesting to see what will be found. This year the more typical characters were seen, which included the highly abundant roe deer, such as a frequent female, and pheasants.

Within the copse an old badger sett can also be found, being situated not far from one of the active setts. This year for the first year of many, a lone badger could be seen entering and leaving the sett using a particular hole, making me think of a satellite male. It will be interesting to see what can be found here next year as a result!

Fields: Cowleighs, Quarry Field, Tower Paddock, Water Meadow

Across the farm, you will find our land is a mosaic of habitats and grassland managed for different purposes, on different timescales, and in different ways. This does mean that depending on where you are and at what time of year, you may experience different species at varied abundances and also the potential for some more unusual species. Fantastic wildlife moments are a guarantee though!

This year has been a hard year on nature already, and so analysing camera trap content is a good moment to stop and reflect on the feathered and furred individuals that call our land home all year round. Living not far from shoots, pheasants and red-legged partridges are a common sight, with numbers reducing over the summer when they provide a popular food source for a number of species. This year pheasants did a good job of making their way into the frame of my camera traps at nearly every site!

Another species going through a population boom on our land at the moment is the roe deer, with individuals being seen at most of my camera trap sites and a walk through our land giving you consistent sightings of many males and females. Next week’s star was also seen at nearly every camera trap field sites this year too!

Badgers were caught on my camera traps when observing fields that were adjacent with active badger setts, showing badgers roaming for food, territorial marking and social interactions.

Many bird species made their cameos on my cameras, including an inquisitive woodpigeon, feeding carrion crows, and a magpie passing through. This year bird species broke up the antics of the mammals that were vying to be the stars of my camera trap photos and videos.

To finish my field observations, my camera traps this year did a good job of capturing sightings of the charismatic hare, a wonderful common sight across our land. Shots include a hare feeding, an inquisitive individual, and hares speeding past.

Garden

Our house and garden is situated at the centre of our land, and has often been described as a hive of bird activity, as such an abundance of different species visit daily. We also get visits at different times of year from different mammal species, which add to the fun of setting a camera trap to gain another view of the wildlife visiting our small garden. This year’s wildlife visits included a cheeky magpie and an emerging hedgehog, a species that we now see in our garden in the autumn in increasing numbers!

Check out my blog post next week to see the missing star of this year’s camera trapping adventures!

Spring 2023: How It Happened

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

The last few years spring has been unusual and unpredictable, with the effects of climate change changing from month-to-month, year-to-year in Dorset. This year has fitted into this with months switching back and forth between record breaking dry spells or heat waves to rainfall or low temperatures. This is bound to have had an effect on nature and the wildlife around us, which is interesting to explore.

Last year there were trends towards earlier spring events or a slow start to spring and then a speeding up to events in April. I can already suggest that spring this year was slow to start as it gave me the opportunity to really experience spring as it got under way and unfolded in front of me. It will be interesting to see though, if this was the trend for trees, shrubs, flowers, insects and birds alike, if the trend differs to 2022 and how spring shaped up as a whole. Read on to see how my favourite season went this year in all its vibrancy!

Trees

Though in 2022 spring emergence dates for trees had crept earlier than the year before, in 2023 nearly all tree dates were later than 2022, following a more similar trend to 2021 and the proceeding years. Field maple and silver birch both flowered earlier in April, but otherwise ash, horse chestnut, english oak, wild cherry and Norway maple all budburst, unfurled leaves and flowered between 1 and 28 days later from March through to May. The same could be said for the leaves of field maple and silver birch. It was odd to see trees though, lacking their fineries for so long this year!

Flowers

In 2022, flowering times varied between species, but this could be split into half flowering earlier and half later than the year before. This year primroses, cuckooflowers and bluebells in woodland all flowered earlier (4, 2 and 1 day earlier respectively), but flowering trends generally followed a more similar pattern to to those of tree events, occurring later. For snowdrops, lesser celandines, daffodils, stitchwort, cowslips, wood anemones, early purple orchids, wild garlic, oxeye daisies, and hedgerow bluebells this was 1-16 days later between January and June. Interestingly yellow archangel was noticeably absent during its usual flowering time, and instead flowered 36 days later than in 2022 on 17th May, being greatly affected by climate and a great indicator of spring conditions.

Insects

Of 13 species recorded emerging during spring 2022, only 2 did not emerge earlier than the year before: the buff-tailed bumblebee and orange-tip butterfly. For 2023, spring flipped dates back around for insect emergences, with 10 out of 12 recorded species emerging later than the year before. This ranged from 2 days later with the speckled wood butterfly to 46 days later with the red admiral butterfly. The exceptions were peacock and comma butterflies, being recorded 15 and 36 days earlier respectively. This could be due to the colder spring impacting and delaying emergences, for example the brimstone butterfly, a common sign of spring, delayed its emergence until the 3rd of April 2023.

Shrubs

For shrub species recorded in 2022, spring events occurred both earlier and later than in 2021, with no obvious trends. In comparison, spring 2023 showed an obvious trend, with nearly all recorded budburst, first leaf unfurling and flowering for 6 species, occurring later than 2022. The exceptions were dog rose flowering earlier in May and hazel catkins flowering earlier in January. The other spring events took place 3-27 days later from February to May. It was an odd year to see blackthorn flowering 2 weeks later within March and meeting its peak in April, and hawthorn first flowering in May, later than usual.

Birds

There was a split with spring bird events in 2022, with events closer to the start of the season occurring later, and those towards the second half occurring earlier than 2021. For 2023, it seems that the dates of spring bird events were also split, but this time with less clear a trend. Rooks began building nests later and most birds fledged young later, but swallows arrived on the 11th April once again, and blackbirds began singing earlier in February. Some differences in event occurrence can be explained by spring temperatures and weather conditions, whereas some are less easily explained for 2023. It is expected though that the later spring will have an overall effect on bird species through other spring events occurring later.

Conclusion

Spring 2023 varied from month-to-month with weather, temperatures, natural events and vibrancy. As a whole, a general unsettled and cooler time led to spring events occurring later than the year before for many species. The concern is though, that there may be a mismatch between the occurrence of events for different species, such as trees and birds, which could have had a greater impact than currently known. Time will tell what the impact of spring 2023 may be!

Species List

  • Ash (Tree) Fraxinus excelsior
  • Blackbird (Bird) Turdus merula
  • Blackcap (Bird) Sylvia atricapilla
  • Blackthorn (Shrub) Prunus spinosa
  • Bluebell (Flowering Plant) Hyacinthoides non-scripta
  • Brimstone butterfly (Insect) Gonepteryx rhamni
  • Buff-tailed bumblebee (Insect) Bombus terrestris
  • Chiffchaff (Bird) Phylloscopus collybita
  • Comma butterfly (Insect) Polygonia c-album
  • Cowslip (Flowering Plant) Primula veris
  • Cuckoo (Bird) Cuculus canorus
  • Cuckooflower (Flowering Plant) Cardamine pratensis
  • Daffodil (Flowering Plant) Narcissus spp.
  • Dog rose (Shrub) Rosa canina
  • Early purple orchid (Flowering Plant) Orchis mascula
  • Elder (Shrub) Sambucus nigra
  • English oak (Tree) Quercus robur
  • Field maple (Tree) Acer campestre
  • Goldfinch (Bird) Carduelis carduelis
  • Greater stitchwort (Flowering Plant) Stellaria holostea
  • Great-spotted woodpecker (Bird) Dendrocopos major
  • Hawthorn (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Hazel (Shrub) Crataegus monogyna
  • Horse chestnut (Tree) Aesculus hippocastanum
  • House martin (Bird) Delichon urbicum
  • House sparrow (Bird) Passer domesticus
  • Lesser celandine (Flowering Plant) Ficaria verna
  • Meadow brown butterfly (Insect) Maniola jurtina
  • Norway maple (Tree) Acer platanoides
  • Orange-tip butterfly (Insect) Anthocharis cardamines
  • Oxeye daisy (Flowering Plant) Leucanthemum vulgare
  • Painted lady butterfly (Insect) Vanessa cardui
  • Peacock butterfly (Insect) Aglais io
  • Primrose (Flowering Plant) Primula vulgaris
  • Red admiral butterfly (Insect) Vanessa atalanta
  • Red-tailed bumblebee (Insect) Bombus lapidarius
  • Rook (Bird) Corvus frugilegus
  • Seven-spot ladybird (Insect) Coccinella septempunctata)
  • Silver birch (Tree) Betula pendula
  • Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Insect) Aglais urticae
  • Snowdrop (Flowering Plant) Galanthus spp.
  • Song thrush (Bird) Turdus philomelos
  • Speckled wood butterfly (Insect) Pararge aegeria
  • Starling (Bird) Sturnus vulgaris
  • Swallow (Bird) Hirundo rustica
  • Swift (Bird) Apus apus
  • Wild cherry (Tree) Prunus avium
  • Wild garlic (Flowering Plant) Allium ursinum
  • Wood anemone (Flowering Plant) Anemone nemorosa
  • Wren (Bird) Troglodytes troglodytes
  • Yellow archangel (Flowering Plant) Lamium galeobdolon
  • Yellowhammer (Bird) Emberiza citrinella

Spring In Photos 2023

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

This year spring has been a very unusual and unpredictable couple of months for nature. Last year, spring took its time to unfurl, and this year saw a similar trend. A very dry February, a very wet March, a cold April, and then a wet followed by hot and dry May, made for a slow start to spring, and a short and vibrant season.

Despite an odd spring this year, the season has been an enjoyable and fulfilling one for me. It has been filled with lots of wild adventures, experiences, and colourful moments. With my camera by my side (or phone), I have spent lots of time this year capturing and exploring spring in all its shades and vibrancy. Here’s just a few of the many versions of my spring 2023.

Spring In Photos

Seeing Red – When people think of hazel flowers, catkins always come to mind, hanging like lamb-tails and powdered with yellow pollen. These are just the male flowers, with the female ones taking the form of understated buds topped with bright red tufts of styles, adding much needed pops of colour at the start of spring.

Glistening Snowdrops – This year I spent much time photographing snowdrops in different ways, making the most of the flowers staying around later into spring. Here I enjoy the glisten of the simple white petals of a nodding snowdrop.

Walking the Line – This crow can be easily recognised from its silhouetted form against the pastels of a blue sky in early spring. A simple photo but an effective one.

Pretty in Pastel – A cheerful sign of spring, primroses get their name from the latin for ‘first rose’. Flowering early in spring, they are often seen as a harbinger of the season, brightening the bleak winter landscape.

Blossoming Chiffchaffs – Chiffchaffs are a real highlight of spring for me, adding to the soundtrack for trees blossoming and leaves unfurling, flowers blooming, and the landscape becoming alive with life once again. I had always wanted to try and capture them amongst this backdrop and this year I had my opportunity to do just that!

Quarry Bank Comes to Life – A National Trust property in Cheshire (check out A Naturalist in Manchester), Quarry Bank’s gardens come to life in spring with a fantastic array of colours!

Sunshine Celandine – Celandines are another classic spring flower, helping to provide a joyful pop of colour, as winter slips away. I always enjoy the challenge each year of trying to photograph them in new and interesting ways.

The Hare [Not] In A Hurry – Whilst walking in my local woods, I caught sight of this lovely pair in a neighbouring field. It was lovely to sit and watch them for awhile as they groomed themselves and interacted with each other, never knowing that I was there.

In The Blue – People familiar with my blog and photos will know that bluebells are one of my favourite spring flowers, as they fill me with joy when I see a woodland floor carpeted with their fantastic blue. The bells individually are like magic themselves.

Leading the Way – A lone early-purple orchid bordering an animal track running through a woodland. These spotty-leaved plants can be found in clusters or as here, on their own, amongst the trees.

Woodland Wonders – The wood anemone is another of my favourite spring flowers, appearing like little stars in the green of a woodland floor. Being found in light spots, they are an indicator of ancient woodland.

On the Way to the Peak – Set against a spectacular backdrop of the Peak District, my friend Emma and I passed these stone stacks on the ridge up to Mam Tor. They provide an interesting feature to the rugged landscape.

A Patch of Light – It’s not the first time that I have enjoyed photographing wild garlic in spots of sunshine, but these clusters of white stars always add a bit of enchantment to the landscape.

Ewe and Me – This photo was taken during my first time out with my swanky, but hard-earned, new telephoto lens, and I was hooked. It is so enjoyable to get up, close and personal with animals without having to disturb their natural behaviour!

Blue-Toned – This was a chance sighting, but a wonderful one to see a holly blue butterfly on the deep purple-blue of bluebells. Wonderful!

Terrific Tawnies – One of my highlights of spring was having our first brood of tawny owl chicks hatch within one of our nest boxes. These two chicks grew on to both fledge successfully from their box!

Spring Camera Trapping 2022 – Pt. 2: Badger Alley

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

I sit flicking through the new photos and videos of rabbits, pheasants, active adult foxes, territorial badgers, and female roe deer passing through by my camera trap. Exciting, but wait what was that? I stumble across a video taken at night. There an adult fox is climbing the outside of the sett with a special surprise for me. Two dark long-tailed fluffy bundles. I could not believe my eyes to see my first cubs of the year this young!

This year I have had the best year yet for camera trapping on my family’s farm in Dorset. With 8 sites, ranging from woodland to hedgerows, and now using 2 camera traps, I was able to capture some fantastic moments from March through to June. Highlights included 2 setts both with badger cubs, an illusive fox, feeding female roe deer, and a fox den discovery. Check out my blog post from last week to find out more!

My favourite site from this spring was one I have used regularly over the last few years. Badger Alley is a 210m stretch of bridleway bordered either side by hedges that have grown up to form an arch over the path. Along this tunnel lies two separate badger setts that were both once active, but are now mainly abandoned by badgers. Though less frequently used by badgers themselves, these setts are now home to a whole host of other animal species, whilst also being a busy highway for wildlife.

With infrequent use by humans, it is unsurprising that Badger Alley is a haven for wildlife. To explore, I ended up keeping my brand new camera trap at the site over 67 days from 17th April to 16th June, changing the set up between 4 angles during this time. This camera takes both videos and photos, so keep an eye out for the full videos coming soon. For now, lets find out what species call Badger Alley home in 2022.

The Characters of Badger Alley

Amongst the species that call Badger Alley home, a number of birds nest along its length. During the 67 days my camera was observing this site, I captured evidence of 4 common non-native and native bird species. Amongst these, there were 6 sightings of pheasants released from a local shoot, all males strutting their stuff and showing off their bright breeding plumage. There were also 5 sightings of woodpigeons feeding, 3 sightings of blackbirds defending territories, and 1 sighting of a robin carrying food in its beak. These are just a few of the birds that frequent Badger Alley.

Along with birds, lots of different mammal species also make use of Badger Alley. This year my camera trap caught sight of two smaller mammal species: grey squirrels and rabbits. Non-native grey squirrels were only seen on my camera 3 times, but made their presence known rushing around in a hurry. The rabbits were a more common sight, being seen 23 days out of the 67 recorded. These rabbits populate both Badger Alley setts and are increasing steadily in numbers. My camera watched on as rabbits fought with each other, mixed with other species, and raised their babies. Though a less common sight for many people now, our successful rabbit populations have become an important food source for other species in our area.

Deer populations have been experiencing increases in the countryside over the last few years, and Badger Alley has become a popular throughway as a result. This year my camera trap recorded roe deer sightings on 22 days of 67, with different variations of individuals, from lone males and females to males following females around. Some of the highlights include a deer being particularly interested in my camera, a female feeding alone, and the unusual sight of a female with a missing back leg. An individual that stole the show though, was not a roe deer, but a muntjac. I have never seen a muntjac on our land before, so my camera caught my very first sighting for me!

Badger Alley was once named for an active badger population, but in more recent years the setts have become abandoned. This year my camera trap caught 4 separate sightings of badgers, with all the individuals taking a particular interest in the lower sett. One day saw a badger passing through and scent marking, another saw two badgers being interested in the camera, and the last two saw a badger looking very interested in one entrance to the lower sett. Maybe one day these satellite individuals will return to form a family in Badger Alley once again.

This year’s most observed species in Badger Alley was by far the fox, being recorded 37 days out of 67. During this time it was really lovely to see some fantastic photos and videos from my camera trap, of adult foxes living in and passing through Badger Alley. In particular one family was shown to be living in the lower sett, whilst another was living around the corner from Badger Alley in Cowleighs. This allowed me to watch the daily lives of different foxes, such as bringing food in the form of pheasants or rabbits, and I have really enjoyed it.

The highlight for me of the whole of this spring season has to be the fox cubs. To add to the photos from the Cowleighs’s fox family (check out last week’s blog post), for the second year running fox cubs were born in Badger Alley. They are the reason I first set up my camera there this year, following a sighting of little cubs by my dad in person. My camera trap gave me my first sight of the family on the 18th April, with an amazing video of the female walking up the path followed by two little brown cubs trying to suckle her.

Over the next two months, my camera allowed me to watch the two fox cubs grow from small brown things following their parents around to two large mini foxes exploring their surroundings together and solo. These cubs were little delights to observe, giving me some special moments and mood boosters along the way. I hope these two cubs in particular survive their first winter and go on to have families of their own in the future.

Spring Dorset Camera Trapping 2022 – Pt. 1: The Farm

/ Laura Tuke / 2 Comments

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera” – Dorothea Lange

“The two most engaging powers of a photograph are to make new things familiar and familiar things new” – William Thackeray

As each year passes, and spring rolls around once again, I set out with my trusty camera trap to record the wildlife that call my family’s Dorset farm home. Remote cameras are a great way to delve into and explore the hidden worlds of the wildlife that live alongside us, without causing disturbance. You never know what you may discover, and so there is nothing quite like the excitement I feel each time I check my cameras.

For the last few years I have spent an increasing amount of time using my camera traps to explore and survey my area of Dorset, and each year the results have got better and better. Species recorded range from small mammals and birds up to larger more iconic mammal species, such as badgers. These adventures have allowed me to open my eyes to the species that goes unnoticed on the farm each day, and to help my family forge a deeper connection with the wildlife we strive to manage and protect. Check out my blog posts from 2019, 2020, and 2021 for more!

This year I have visited 8 locations on my family’s farm, using both my old camera trap and brand new model to see what I could discover (check out next week’s blog post for the 8th location). Last year 6 locations were used that were all visited this year also. Some of these sites were used with a set purpose and question to answer, whereas others are just great sites to use for exploring wildlife. This year 9 species were recorded, with 1 new one to add to the collection. Read on to find out what my camera traps found!

Camera Trapping 2022

Little Wood Field

This year I set up my camera trap 12 days earlier than last year, beginning with a new site. I had spotted an interesting tree at the edge of a small field, where a hole had been dug between its roots, and I wanted to know who may have dug it. So I set up my camera watching the track in the field leading to the hole, and left it from 22nd-26th March to see what I could find.

It was a good start to spring camera trapping, but with mixed results. Different arrangements of male and female pheasants made an appearance every day, birds in the form of magpies, a woodpigeon, and a carrion crow were seen, and potential home owners came in the form of a fox and a badger. Though the badger may have possibly been using the hole, in the end I came to the conclusion that the hole was not currently in use.

Monkwood Field

For my next site, I returned to a new site from last year, a small abandoned satellite badger sett that had been home to a family of foxes. When I went to put out my camera, I could see that a new hole had been dug in the sett, so I set my camera to watch the track heading from the field directly to this new hole over 2 nights (26th-27th March), due to stormy weather.

In the short time it was operating, my camera trap was productive, with a displaying male pheasant, a fox passing through (maybe the same from Little Wood?), and the sett’s current resident. My camera was able to show that the new hole belonged to a lone badger, most probably a male.

Later on in the season I decided to see where the fox may have been coming from, and returned to Monkwood Field. I chose to set my camera trap in the corner of the field on a tree trunk within the hedge, looking at the animal tracks that run through it. I did not know what results I would get, but after nearly a week (8th-13th May), my camera actually did quite well, despite not pinpointing where the fox may have been coming from. I caught sight of the fox a few times, and got some nice photos of a territorial male bullfinch and territorial male blackbird.

Quarry Field Badger Sett

For the last 3 years running, I returned my camera trap to my highly successful site at the active Quarry Field badger sett. Each year I have set my camera up on a fence post in an open space within a hedge lying directly above the sett, pointing in one of 2 directions. Previously, it has been a great site to capture the resident badger family and the other animals sharing the sett, in particular fox families. Last year, in this way, I got to watch the antics of 2 fox cubs living in the sett.

For a week during April (16th-23rd), my camera trap watched this site. During this time, rabbits were a common sight every day, day and night, along with a busy badger every night. So far there was no sign of any foxes at the sett, as in past years.

As this site still seemed to be a productive one, I returned to the sett with my camera trap for a second round once some time had passed. For 2 weeks (6th-20th June), my camera was very busy, capturing rabbits, male and female roe deer, a territorial male blackbird, and at least one fox passing through. The best photos though came in the form of the sett’s resident badgers, and two small editions. An active family, it was amazing to watch the cubs and adults feeding, grooming and playing each day.

Gill Hill Copse

This copse has been another of my regular camera trapping sites over the past 3 years. At this site, I tend to set my camera up on a tree, as with this year where I set it watching an animal track passing through the copse.

This year, over 6 days (23rd-29th April), my camera was not particularly busy, but did capture one of the many male pheasants in the area, as well as a fox passing through.

Dorset County Council Wood

The small piece of wood close to my home is another site that I have used over the last 3 years, situated next to this year’s new Little Wood site. This year, I first visited the wood at the beginning of May, setting up my camera on a tree to face an animal track coming off a quiet road into the wood. After a week (2nd-8th May), my camera had caught photos of a one off woodpigeon and a regular badger.

As spring passed away, I decided to give my camera trap one last go in the wood, over 4 days between 20th and 24th June. This time I set up my camera further within the little wood, facing a clearing. Though the only animal photographed during this time was a fox, I was still excited to see the charismatic species passing through.

Badger Field Badger Sett

My oldest camera trap site is an active badger sett in a hedgerow between two fields. Over the years this sett has given me badgers, fox cubs, and even a field mouse. This year I returned and set my camera up in its usual spot on the trunk of a small tree in the open space within the hedge above the sett. Within a week (13th-21st May), I caught sight of a blackbird, a fox, and a badger. Though no fox cubs, this active sett excitingly had badger cubs again, like the Quarry Field sett.

Cowleighs Paddock

Towards the end of my spring camera trapping, I tried another new site in the hope of capturing sight of a particular species. This year has been a very good year for foxes on our farm, for example with 3 potential breeding females living along the same connecting hedgeline. Though at the beginning of spring I had discovered one litter of fox cubs (check out next week’s blog post), I had yet to find any others. I had a hunch about one den though, potentially situated in a ditch alongside a small paddock. I set up my camera trap and waited 2 weeks to see what I would find (22nd May-4th June).

My camera trap did not fail me. Alongside a showy male pheasant, my camera caught the photos I had hoped for. At least one fox cub can be seen playing and exploring in the long grass in the paddock outside the ditch, along with photos of an adult female bringing food to the same spot. Though from these photos I cannot confirm how many fox cubs are in this litter, it is great to know that they are there and doing well! A great spring this year!