Archive [ 2005 Diary: Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec ]

"It's not what you look at that matters,
it's what you see."
[Henry David Thoreau]

January 2007. 

29th Jan. First moth of the season. Pale Brindled Beauty.  

December 2006.

 21st Dec. White frost for three days now. Airports having to cancel most of the flights because of freezing fog. The sunrises and sunsets have been beautiful.

20th Dec. Male Greater Spotted Woodpecker  feeds on the peanuts for less than a minute. Residents in Woodhead have been seeing Woodpeckers on a regular basis. Could we record dates and times and male or female to give an indication of the numbers? Maybe its the same bird on tour.

16th Dec. Work on the boardwalks is ongoing. The netting wire on top helps to prevent slipping. Next job will be to carry in gravel. Any volunteers available over the Christmas holidays?

14th Dec. Visit from James Tindell, representing Scottish Business in the Community.

6th Dec. A Grey Wagtail spent the morning feeding on midgies. Very mild.

2nd Dec. A male Blackcap visited the garden to feed on apple.

November 2006.

Nov. 28th  Met members from SNH  for a site visit. Beautiful day. Plenty evidence of Red Squirrels feeding on pine cones.

21st Nov.  Four members of the Woodhead and Windyhills Community Trust Ltd. travelled to Edinburgh to attend the Calor, Scottish Community of the Year awards.  They were delighted to receive the runners-up award in the communications section. Girvan Community Council were very worthy winners in this section with their excellect website.

9th Nov. Weather still very mild with only a touch of frost one night so far. The trees are beginning to change colour and lose their leaves now. Gale force winds on the 2nd has done no harm in the woods.

October 2006.

 28th Oct. Oral History project. Meeting held in Fraserburgh. Doric recordings handed in.

Yellow Slime Fungi found under a grand fir tree. Latin name Fuligo septica flava.

9th Oct. Fungi galore. All sorts, shapes and sizes. Grasshoppers heard and seen.

1st and 2nd Oct. Lots of rain, ideal for the fungi.

September 2006.

30th Sept. Beautiful sunny day. Red Admiral and Peacock Butterflies, Common Darter and Black Darter Dragonflies are still about. Hazelnuts now ready. The leaves have not started to change colour or drop.

19th Sept. Judges for the Calor Gas 'Scottish Community of the Year' competition were welcomed and given a brief glimpse of Windyhills. Photos, maps, cards,  magazine articles and books were on show and a sample of Windyhills brambles.

The sun shone and the wind blew. Windyhills is well named.

The Woodhead Playgroup had a beautiful display of their work and photos for us to see. Well done.  

 Results of the Competition will be announced on the 21st November 2006, at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

17th Sept. Brambles in abundance. Still lots of butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies about.

Second Generation moths appearing. See the latest new moth records under our download section.

13th Sept. Most of the swallows have left for their winter quarters in Africa.

August 2006

The Lesser Wax moth, thought to be extinct has been found in a bee-hive at Woodhead.

Woodhead and Windyhills Community Trust Ltd is delighted to have reached the final of the Calor Gas wards. Judges are due to visit the site on Tuesday 19th September.

Woodhead was awarded "Highly Commended" in the Village in Bloom Competition. The flower tubs and hanging baskets in the village are now in full bloom.

The flowers are cared for by the residents, who water, deadhead the flowers, and feed the tubs and baskets nearest to their homes.

20th Aug. Red squirrel spotted in Windyhills wood.

A Common Hawker Dragonfly was observed laying eggs. Common Darter, Black Darter Dragonflies observed hatching and on the wing.

5th Aug. Moth night. Used a Heath trap, Skinner trap, sugaring and wine ropes to attract moths. The evening was dark, still, and warm, 20 degrees. Over 70 species were recorded and over six hundred moths were attracted. Roy Leverton, British moth expert and author of "Enjoying Moths" was present.

July 2006

13th July. Get out and get active. Over forty members of the community enjoyed a walk through the community woods. Everyone was given a free pedometer from Jackie Cumberbirch from the Forestry Commission. All ages attended and whole families, grannies, grandas, and grandchildren were able to share the experience. Jackie keep us all informed about the trees, mosses and ferns on route.

11th July. Members from Turriff Rotary Club brought their families to visit Woodhead and Windyhills wood. The weather was perfect and there were no midgies. Bruce Ferguson thanked the guides from Woodhead for a most enjoyable evening.

Red Damselflies.

Male erect, clasping female behind her head.

He keeps a lookout for rivals while female lays her fertilised eggs into a rush under  the water.

Large Red, Emerald, Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselflies and Common Hawker Dragonflies have all been recorded in the Woodhead area.

Bell heather in full bloom now. Moorland very dry.

June 2006.

Badger (right) out for its late night feast of worms and slugs.

16th June. Another new species of ladybird for the area.

The Orange Ladybird (right) with 16 white spots.

Feeds on mildew and found on Ash and Sycamore trees.

13th June. A rare moth in Aberdeenshire, identified as Broad-barred White. Seen once in 1996 and again in 2004, and now recorded at Woodhead.

6th June. The variety of moths are now increasing as the weather warms up. On the right is the Small Elephant Hawkmoth on Azalea.

Check out the "More Moths" Section under Flora and Fauna for new photos.

2nd June. Bat recording evening with Isobel Davidson. Echo locating recorders were used to identifiy the bats that were flitting around the edge of the wood and the pond. The Common Pipistrelle and the Pygmy or Sporana Pipistrelle were the two species indentified. The bats were easy to see and the weather was very pleasant, warm and still.

1st June. Weather warming up at last after a very cold May.

The first Damselflies of the season were out.

May 2006.

22nd May. Hieroglyphic Ladybird (right). Feeds on the larva of the heather beetle. Not a common ladybird.

20th May. Blue Tits, Starlings, Blackbirds are all feeding young.

20th May. Ramsons [wild garlic - pictured right] are now in full flower. The scent is the clue.

Wood sorrel carpets much of the Woodhead wood on the north side. Common Dog Violets, Greater Stitchwort and Pink Purselane are also in flower.

10th May. Five male Emperor moths were seen flying by day on the heath. Lookout for fast flying, large, brown moths with a flash of orange. The Chamomile Shark moth emerged from its cocoon today.

5th May. The underside of the female Emperor moth is pictured right.

3rd May. Small Tortoisehell butterfly seen.

2nd May. Blackthorn started flowering.

April 2006.

26th April. First Primrose flowering

21st April. The Sword Grass moth (right) is now only found in North-east Scotland and is on the Priory list. It is considered scarce. The moths emerge in Late September or early October and hibernate until March.

16th April. Tadpoles hatched.

14th April. Swallows have returned.

12th April. Celandine flowering

March 2006

26th March. First Frog spawn.

23rd March. More bird boxes in a variety of sizes have been erected.

21st. More members of the Community Trust have offered to record different species this summer. Forms are available for anyone interested in helping with this project.

Red Dead nettle started flowering.

Good selection of birds visiting the feeders. As well as the usual birds there were Siskin, Brambling, Goldfinch and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Also Pied Wagtail, Mallard and Curlew spotted in area.

February 2006

A squirrel feeding box has been erected in the wood and filled with peanuts.

A sparrowhawk crashed into the window and survived.

12th Feb. First moth of the season and previouly unrecorded in this area. Pale Brindled Beauty.

4th Feb. Fresh green shoots seen on Honeysuckle.

4th Feb. Red fruiting buds of grey lichen (right)

4th Feb. Snowdrops flowering one week later this year.

January 2006

21st Jan. Birch and Hazel trees planted at Birchwood.

13th Jan. Liz Holden gives Windyhills a mention in the Grampian Fungus Group newsletter No. 9. This specimen was found on an October foray. Described as an oddly coloured variety of Lubrica leotia (Jellybabies) with very dark blackish green head and stipe. Brian Spooner of Kew was consulted and in his opinion it is usually accepted as a variety of L. leotia. However the mycologist Baral thinks that it may have been parasitised by another organism.

10th Jan. Saw the first, seven spot ladybird of the year.

6th Jan. Red Squirrel ran across the road from a pine tree to the wood at the Goatshed, Gight

5th Jan. Blue Tit started to clean out old nest box. Temp.3 C.

1st Jan. Fireworks welcomed in the New Year in Woodhead just after midnight.

[ 2005 Diary: Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec ]