Going: Heavy

I went east of the village yesterday, up to Lodge Farm, down to Wigginton and back, 9.26km in all.  The going was heavy, several ploughed fields were very sticky.

Nothing really exciting, though I did find lots of badger signs -latrines and some nice prints in a field of what I think were either swedes or turnips.

 



   There were a couple of roe deer near the Wigginton turn-off on the Milcombe road.   A reasonable bird count including large flocks of both redwing and field fare, a group of yellowhammers, dunnock, buzzard.   The most satisfying though were 4 skylarks.

 Only a few plants in flower, all common arable weeds.  None had fruits and I really find small white crucifers (the cabbage family) a challenge.

Common Chickweed

Field Pennycress

Shepherd's Purse

I brought back 2 insects from swarms near water and under trees.   One was a gall fly, the other a winter gnat, but I will put them under the microscope to check that this is correct