April 2025, what's happening?

As we come out of the blur of busy-ness that February and March are on a dairy farm, so also the life in the hedgerows is picking up.  We have been watching intently as slowly the different plants start to green up. Last year we planted about 600m of new hedgerow. This was pruned back during February and it is now starting to grow well, it feels weird to prune back hard, but already we can see the benefit, as instead of one leader there are 4 or 5 on each plant.

The gorse is always the first to flower and the elder leaves start to unfurl.  Currently we have the white thorn flowering.  It always looks almost ghostly in the dawn and dusk, and as we go about our work at these times, in the age old ways of farming, I wonder how many stories and myths, through the ages have been built around these ghostly looking shapes in the ditches. 

The gorse shining bright on the cow road as the other plants start to some into leaf - Photo Cheryl Poole

We spotted our first bumble bee, a buff tailed queen, on the 25^th February.  Since then they are getting more and more plentiful.  I feel that there are definitely more than last year.  I have been watching out for and recording as many pollinators as I can, and trying different means of identifying them.

Buff tailed bumble bee on a buttercup - photo by Cheryl Poole

We recently had a school group visit from Gorey Educate Together Secondary School, and the pollinators put on a great show for them.  It is great to get the opportunity to explain about all the different types of pollinators, and how important they all are. We also had a look at the river and did some kick samples to assess river water quality, in a citizen science project run by LawPro.  

A kick sample from the river Bann showing a lovely healthy stonefly - photo by Cheryl Poole

We have joined the national moth monitoring scheme this year, and set our first moth traps last week.  It is exciting to start to learn more about the secret life of moths, they are so often forgotten about, and many don’t even think of them as pollinators.

We have also joined the national Farmland Biodiversity Monitoring Scheme organised be the National Biodiversity Data Centre. So we have several different projects going on.

One thing I love to do is to have my merlin app running as I walk alongside the ditches, as the birds are in full song at the minute.  We have so many different species, including the likes of robin, sparrow, chiff chaff, wren, chaffinch, greenfinch and warbler. We also have the buzzard song to listen to and we are more regularly starting to see a red kite overhead.  Also on the river we have kingfisher, dippers and herons.  Our first swallow returned in the last couple of days of March, we only spotted 2 on the 30^th and 31^st March, and about a week later a few more arrived. I don’t think they are all back yet. The first sand martins were spotted on 24^th March and within a week the sand martin wall was buzzing with activity.  It’s amazing to think of these tiny creatures, making their massive journey to sub Saharan Africa and back. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our swifts, they are usually the last to arrive and the first to leave.

Something we did to mark the 1^st of April, and the start of a new quarter of the year, was to plant another 30 trees, to making another wildlife corridor, from where our bat houses are, to the existing hedgerow.  We plan to develop our bat colony, by providing some more various types of accommodation, and a wildlife corridor is so important for them, and valuable for so many creatures.

As usual our heads are bursting with ideas and plans.  Now we just need a few more hours in the days!