See what's been happening at Middleton North
My great friend Harry Baker-Cresswell allows one of his fields to flood every spring.
The combination of the wet ground to get beaks into plus cattle whose dung creates insect filled pies and their disturbance of the ground which brings other goodies to the surface is a winning combination.
Yesterday in the overall dry conditions the field was lifting with curlews and pee wits. Great work Harry, Common Sense Farming at its best.
A huge thanks to The Woodland Trust for supplying trees for our riverside project. As ever a pleasure to deal with.
For my new book, Back Down The Rabbit Hole I am working on new illustrations. This chap is for a chapter about Field Voles. Was fun to do , bleach, and water colours on inked paper.
As part of our project to improve our land near the river new hedges and trees are going in. Thanks to The WRCC and Ground Works for making it happen
At this time of year we go around all the newly planted trees . Any that have died are replaced. Any that have fallen over stood up. Any with a story to tell recorded. Like this ladybird who is currently is hibernating in the top of a cane supporting a small tree. It must feel a bit like I do in a bath that is too shallow in a cold bathroom..
Spent a happy hour trying to get shots of dragonflies and damson flies. In order this one on the dock leaf is a Large Red Damson. Below the blue one is a Broad bodied Chaser and the one next to it is an Emperor the biggest of the species.
Another great day with Country Trust kids. Buried pants, dug up pants eaten by worms, charmed worms, talked about and got on farm machinery, played in the woods.. lovely kids and lots of fun.
Natural England are doing soil samples as part of our involvement with a Landscape scale project along the River Wansbeck. It was fun to get involved- our soil smells luverly! Which means it is healthy and full of life..
Accompanied by everything wild guru George Dodds we have completed our winter species count of fur and feather. Not a bad list and shows we are heading in the right direction. You might want to add chicken to the list!
Robin
Crow
Wood pigeon
Blue tit
Reed bunting
Kestrel
Dunnock
Buzzards
Yellow Hammers
Corby
Magpie
Stock dove
Herring gull
Blackbird
Song thrush
Coal tit
Gold crest
Sky lark
Mole
Fox
Field fare
Meadow pipit
Jack daw
Roe deer
Chaffinch
Willow tit
Great tit
Wren
Bull Finch
Badger
Grey partridge
Hare
Linnet
House sparrow
Possible Goss hawk feeding station
Shark Pens have proved invaluable for protecting young trees from Roe deer. The deer fear being restricted in them so don’t go in.. infact, just walk around them.
More economical and means we can use less plastic, because we don’t need to use tall tubes.. win win
First one for this season..new design coming soon
Happy World Nature Conservation Day. We recently had a lovely visit from the Leadership Team at Coca Cola Europacific Partners . Working with with The Rivers Trust and The Northumberland Rivers Trust they have dug thirteen ponds planted over 6000 trees and built an amazing bird hide. It was a real pleasure to have everyone along and a huge thank you for all of the stakeholders investment and hard work on the ground. You have all made a game changing difference to our project at Middleton North which will hopefully encourage further work in sustainability by other land owners and businesses alike.
We are digging out an old ox bow in a field called Bells Park. The field is full of wild flowers and being by the river it will soon be populated with a wide variety of plants and the wildlife that goes with them.
The digger driver- John- an absolute genius by the way also discovered ancient tree roots that I am going to send away for dendro analysis
Outstanding photographer Chris Woodcock came to take some pictures of our wildlife and plants. Please click on the gallery to see the full collection.
Lovely June day, spotted; Sky Larks, think quite a few young ones finding their wings, Dunnock with fresh bedding material, and a Male Yellow Hammer .Lots of butterflies including; Ringlets, Meadow Browns, and a fleeting glimpse of a Painted Lady. A Damson fly also looking beautifully iridescent. Dog Roses looking magnificent.
Agro Forestry meeting on the farm to discuss ins outs goods and bads of planting trees on sustainable farms in today’s world!
I was delighted to welcome representatives from The Woodland Trust who have been a key partner in our work and The Forestry Commission and The Organic Research Centre
We had some really interesting chat as we walked around our new woods hedges and woodland pastures. It was a great pleasure to have those three organisations all together in one place- well organised Rachel Penn from the Woodland Trust. Joining the dots is the future of making all this work.
Members of the Thomas Bewick Society came for a walk around the farm. The Illustrator has been a huge influence. He illustrated wildlife that was around in tthe early 1800’s. This ties into the maps I found at the Lit and Phil in Newcastle that show all the old field boundaries and names. It was a pleasure to show them round and explain how Bewick’s legacy lives on.
Great to have 15 kids doing the John Muir Award . We went on a walk around the farm, planted trees, made dams in the ponds and built a huge dead wood hedge.Thanks kids , great work
On a recent winter bird count we were delighted to count 300 Yellow Hammers. Possibly the population for 10 miles around. They are loving uncut meadows- planted seeds, plus weeds plus cover- heaven!
After a mammoth effort by friends and family, Bowron’s Grave Hedge is in. Many thanks to all.
A “Grave” in this context means a grove, or wood, so nice to be putting some trees back where they were before.
Harry and Finn Baker- Cresswell helped Family Bennett plant a new 300m hedge, that will bring back an old boundary and give us two old field names, Bowron’s Grave and Long Pasture. A Grave was a Grove – so it was a wood, year’s ago.
The hedge has swallowed up 1400 hedge plants and will take a few more to finish
Great job so far, thanks everyone.
We have had 21 12’x12′ cages put in across the fields at Greenside. These are being planted up with canopy trees plus scrub plants like crab apple, hawthorn, rowan, and dog rose.
Very exciting as they will create new habitats, connectivity to existing woods and hedges and provide 360 degree shelter for stock.
A joy to host Natural England for a Nature Recovery Workshop
Lovely group of stakeholders and farmers getting together to discuss how we can improve habitats alongside farming in Northumberland
I am delighted that Chris Woodcock has started photographing the farm.. more of her pics in the gallery
I love this time of year, misty mornings and a last chance for insects to gather pollen and nectar. The hoverflies are having a feast on the fennel, such a joy to watch
What was 38 acres of mono crop is now wild flowers. Some intended, some not! It is alive with butterflies and bees and a treat to see.
Fantastic day when 26 kids from Meadowhall Kids club came out from Newcastle. They planted trees, charmed worms, came on a nature walk and helped developed habitat in the ponds. Generally though they had a great time. It was a pleasure to have them and I look forward to welcoming more inner city kids onto the farm.
The Quarry pond is looking amazing and is full of bird life
All newly planted trees in Charlie's Wood have disappeared under a Sea of Brome. Actually a blessing as grass cover has created a micro climate and protected trees from 12 weeks of drought. Plus too thick for deer to find tasty new trees shoots- win win..
Find out moreAs ever John worked his magic and we have a wonderful new wetland habitat in the old quarry.
Today John the genius digger driver set to work digging pond number 12 in the old quarry .I was worried he would sink and all we would have was something for the archaeologists to scratch their heads about in the future
I’m delighted to see we have visitors in lock down. This lovely black beaked blackbird has made it all the way from Scandanavia.
As the ponds fill up we have noticed that we need some dams to hold water levels. We have started creating these willow dams with saplings cut locally. Hopefully they will thicken up, create a dam and filter out sediment.
We have set up a black board in the shed for everyone to add what they see as they plant trees, dig ponds , or just wander about
Not the clearest pic so here is what it says;
Hedge Sparrows
Weasel
Robin
Brambling
Yellow Hammer
Roe Deer
Pheasant
Corby
Partridges
Field Fares
Hooper Swans
Lots of Fez
Bull Finch Magpies
A huge thanks to our volunteers from The Northumberland Rivers Trust and Coca Cola for planting up the ponds
I lead a walk for the newly founded Middleton Wildlife Group up our old bit of railway – The Wannie Line and into our old meadows.These habitats are perfect for wild flowers, we spotted; Great Burnet, Harebells, Yarrow , Stitch Wort, Silver Grass, various vetches, Rose Bay Willow Herb, Comfrey, Knap weed plus many more
These were all attracting a wide array of insects- Carder , Red tailed and regular yellow black and white bumble bees were all seen in good numbers. Having checked my book at home there were males and females.
Butterflies were also about – particularly Peacocks, but we also saw various Whites,Small Tortoiseshells, a Small Copper and a number of day flying moths.
We were also fortunate to find a large number of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars on a clump of nettles.
The highlight was a Scorpion Hoverfly. All mouth an no trousers as not able to sting!
Great start for our Group as I think I learned as much from my fellow walkers as I told them- a great fund of knowledge and a really enjoyable foray.
Started surveying Bumble Bees- wow this is difficult- definitely need some help
Amazing variety which has to be a good sign?
When the last tenant left the farm they left a disused farm yard around our old buildings.
It is proving to be a really exciting new habitat for wild flowers.
It is made up of old stones and rubble.The farm was an arable farm steading so no muck in the yard for 20 years. An ideal nutrient poor habitat for wild flowers.
A wildflower expert did a survey this week and found 59 species of plant growing wild.
We will be adding to that mix at the end of the summer, plus planting trees and shrubs to extend the range of habitats in the area. We will also be putting some paths in for people to enjoy the plants and insects they attract.
Really exciting day. Having been arable non stop for the last 21 years Greenside is being ploughed and prepped for the seeding of a herbal rich ley. Once seeded it will be great for stock and nectar loving insects alike. Hedges to go back next..
My son Milo and I went to record our eldest trees. I think this Ash is the winnner at 298 years old.
Amazing to think that something alive today was a sapling in 1722
Our oldest oak is 236- the one on the front page of the web site
On Sunday we had a very knowledgeable local bee keeper come to Middleton North. She liked what she saw and will be bringing two hives of bees to forage across the estate and beyond.
I am so excited to have these new additions and can’t wait to try the honey..
Kestrel Boxes
Phil Charleton and I set about putting up three Kestrel boxes.
Kestrels are a declining species of raptor. This is mainly due to loss of habitat. Fortunately we have some good hunting grounds on our old railway line and various other well established rough grasslands. These abound in; voles, insects and small birds.
We were fortunate enough to see a Kestrel hunting close to the box sites. So I hope the new boxes will provide homes for our existing Kestrels and maybe attract some new pairs to take up residence.
I’ll keep you posted when we check them later in the breeding season.
Volunteers
I was delighted to show our first volunteers around Middleton North.
It was blowing a hooley, snowing and sleeting so not the best day to see the delights of the place!
However despite the inclement weather they loved what they saw and will shortly be helping me clear up our old plastic tree guards. Where possible we will be reusing them as recycling them is very difficult.
This is something I have been wanting to see all my life
This huge flock of starlings moved like smoke before diving for their roost- mesmerising
8th November 2019
Today we put up two new Barn Owl Boxes. One in a lovely old Hemmel that just reeks of Barn Owl Des Res. The other in a nice old oak tree. Don’t think health and safety would have been dead chuffed with the shenanigans to get the box in the tree, but we walked away unscathed. Knights of the Owl Box don’t mind a wobbly ladder..
October 21st 2019
Autumn Ramble
Most amazing evening wandering around the old Beech woods. Mushrooms popping up everywhere. Blue Tits charging around catching a late hatch of flies. Rooks making a heck of row calling each other into roost.
Magical light and corn blue sky.
21st September 2019
An unexpected period of late summer sunshine gave us the opportunity to make some hay on an old rig and furrow paddock.
With the help of a 50 year old baler the field was transformed with a covering of over 90 small bales- a rarity these days where most bales are the size of a garden shed.
The farmer’s family and our family helped stack the bales, and we finished off with a few cleansing ales afterwards. It was like a trip back to the 1970’s!
August 21st 2019
Charlie and Owl expert Phil Charleton surveyed our existing barn owl boxes. Two out of the three were in a bad state and been home to generations of Jack Daws.
These busy home makers had filled them to the brim with twigs and sheep’s wool
Precariously positioned in the trees Phil hoyed out any amount of kindling that would have any garage forecourt owner wanting to bag it up and sell it for a fiver.
They then fettled the roofs and Charlie will keep an eye out for new occupants
Their final visit was to a pristine box, but sadly no occupants. Phil put in some fresh sawdust, and hopefully we will see a quick return of barn owls as this one has been a favourite in the past.
22nd August 2019
Charlie met up with Award winning restauranter, Max Gott https://www.bistrofortysix.co.uk/ to go hunting for mushrooms in the woods. Not a huge haul, but some cracking Ceps from the old beech wood that went into the Scotch Eggs for the good policemen and women of Gosforth.
3rd August 2019
Charlie and his son met up with the Alnwick Wildlife Group for a moth survey on the old railway line.It was seriously exciting with 760 moths counted , representing 80 species. Those Victorian lepidopterists were amazing at coining names; These were some of the ones that turned up that night;
| Antler Moth |
| Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix |
| Barred Rivulet |
| Beautiful China-mark |
| Bird-cherry Ermine |
| Brimstone Moth |
| Brown China-mark |
| Buff Footman |
| Burnished Brass |
| Chinese Character |
| Clay |
| Common Carpet |
| Common Rustic |
| Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix |
| Dark Marbled Carpet |
| Diamond-back Moth |
| Dotted Clay |
| Double Lobed |
| Double Square-spot |
| Dun-bar |
| Ear Moth |
| Elephant Hawk-moth |
| Flame Carpet |
| Green Carpet |
| Honeysuckle Moth |
| July Highflier |
| Lempke’s Gold Spot |
| Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing |
| Lesser Yellow Underwing |
| Marbled Beauty |
| Marbled Clover |
| Marbled Orchard Tortrix |
| Mother of Pearl |
| Plain Golden Y |
| Purple Thorn |
| Red-barred Tortrix |
| Riband Wave |
| Rosy Minor |
| Ruby Tiger |
| Scalloped Oak |
| Shaded Broad-bar |
| Six-striped Rustic |
| Small Fan-footed Wave |
| Small Phoenix |
| Small Rivulet |
| Snout |
| Straw Dot |
| Swallow Prominent |
| Swallow-tailed Moth |
| Twin-spot Carpet |
| Underwing |
| White Plume |
| Yellow Shell |
