Haven 4 Wildlife

22/06/2026

Danger in the garden…….😱

1. A sinister leg peeking around the edge of the flower

2. The owner of the leg (and another 7)

3. Death by stealth - yum

Crab spiders are voracious hunters in the garden. They can change colour from white to green or yellow. They hunt by stealth - holding their legs out like a crab, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting aphid, fly, hoverfly and when they are big enough, bees.

How do the insects not see them you may ask? Insects don’t see in the same light spectrum as us so where we see a bright white spider on a red flower, the insect will see something completely different. The spider blends in with the flower to insect eyes and once those fangs dig in, it’s all over…….

u 🌏

18/06/2026

Here’s a question for you - do you know what this is? Quite tiny (that’s the tip of my thumb on the left), shaped like a Sputnik on the underside of an oak leaf. No prize, but you are allowed to be a bit smug if you get it right 😁

PS - there’s a clue in the above

✨

12/06/2026

The sun came out and although it was a bit blowy it’s was glorious on this afternoon’s orchid hunt. Such a lovely place full of wildflowers and my favourite butterfly, the Marbled White 🥰🦋🐝🐛🐞🪲

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust Butterfly Conservation

07/06/2026

This Tuesday 9 June - Alcester Town Council’s Climate and Nature Day 🐛🐞🪲🌳🪺🌼🦋🐝

Lots of talks, stands, activities and advice between 3-6pm at the Eric Payne centre

Join me for a Bioblitz in the Community Orchard, 12-2pm and 5-7pm. No experience necessary - full support given - families very welcome

Recommended apps to download beforehand (but not necessary, pen and paper will be available)

iNaturalist (for wildlife sightings)
Merlin (for bird identification)

Hope to see you there! ☺️

05/06/2026

A first for me! Holly blue caterpillar 🥰 We have a large holly tree in the front garden and a small one in the back. We’ve seen loads of holly blue butterflies but I’ve never seen a caterpillar before. This caterpillar was on the small holly tree in the back garden which this year has been full of flowers

Holly Blues have two generations a year. This spring one will feed on the Holly’s flower buds, berries and terminal leaves; summer generations feed on ivy although spindle, dogwood, snowberries and bramble can also be food plants 🦋☺️

04/06/2026

The Bank of England are asking the public which UK wildlife it would like to see on a new set of bank notes. I have, of course, voted for the buff tailed bumblebee (and a puffin) ☺️🐝

Here’s the link to cast your vote 🐝🐝🐝

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/help-us-design-our-next-series-of-banknotes

01/06/2026

Come and record the wildlife living in or around the Alcester Community Orchard on Tuesday 9th June We are holding two sessions 12-1pm and 5-7pm.

No experience is necessary and it is suitable for supervised children.

All the wildlife we find will be uploaded on to the iNaturalist app (suitable for iPhone and Android). The community on there will help with identification so no need to worry about getting it wrong. Or you can send photos to me and I will upload them

Knowing what wildlife is there is important for lots of reasons - it gives a baseline that can be compared year on year, and also helps to decide how to look after the area in the future. It’s also great for us to be out in nature and looking at what’s around us.

If you are coming along, downloading the iNaturalist app beforehand would be useful, but we’ll have a QR code for you on the day.

If you prefer pen and paper, that’s fine too - we’ll have everything you need ☺️

I really hope you can join us to find out which wildlife calls the Community Orchard home 🐝🐛🦋🐞🪲🌳🪺🌾🌼

30/05/2026

30/05/2026

What a lovely day for a Bee Festival Coughton Court 🥰🐝

30/05/2026

Ooops -meant to post a video from the Bee Festival 😁😉🐝🐝🐝