Whilst popping down to the first screen to give the lizard lounging area a trim, I not only saw another lizard but also four green sandpipers feeding in front of the first screen and two grass snakes warming themselves up under a metal sheet I put down there a few weeks ago. I took a not very good photo of one startled looking snake and the tail of another as it slithered off.
Quite a few red kites were following Zoe around in tractor and with the hay cut in the north west corner of Big Otmoor being carried out very soon by a local farmer we can expect to see many more. I counted upto 25 kites flying over the hay cut area last year. We’ve finished out first top of the season now and so the topper has been taken off the back of the tractor and replaced with the aerator. The aerator has lots of ‘knives’ underneath it which create slots in the soil, this allows air to penetrate and helps encourage soil microbe and fungal activity. This is turn benefits soil invertebrates and plants, which in turn will benefit creatures further up the food chain.