Abberton Warden Blog – June 2017

Abberton Warden Blog – June 2017

The wildflower areas at Abberton are getting better and better through June with a lovely variety of species including Lady’s bedstraw, Wild carrot, Knapweed, Birdsfoot trefoil, Self-heal, and Oxeye daisy.

We are getting lots of butterflies too including Small skipper, Common blue, Purple hairstreak, and even a Hummingbird hawkmoth the other day. The trees are also looking good in our young woodland ‘Wildwood’ and are now really getting some height and spread. The reserve volunteers have been creating some bare patches in the Turtle dove foraging plot that we created last autumn. Despite the dry spring it has now put on a lot of growth and is quite dense. The birds need a more open structure to land and forage so we have created this by cutting swathes through the area. Turtle doves have been seen around Abberton at the moment but this area will provide best seed resource in late winter and early spring when the birds return next year.