Wild Words from the Ground - March

Welcome to our blogs featuring the photos and sightings of wildlife in the garden (and outreach sites like Chattowood and the Meanwhile Garden) by our staff, whether in the office, shop, tea-room, nursery or garden. The images are curated and commented upon by Dr Chris Gibson, our Wildlife Advocate.

While the photos are not always of the highest quality – our staff are busy doing their main jobs! – they give a real feel of life in the garden, something we are very keen to encourage, as indeed was Beth.

March was the month when Spring sprung, but as so often its arrival was rather faltering. While there were some glorious hot sunny days, there were some cool northerly airflows which served to slow down the turn of the seasons.

So one day there would be nothing foraging among the bounteous Spring blooming, but next the gardens could be teeming with butterflies and bees. It was one such day when Rob commented on the bees (of all sorts, here a Honeybee) visiting the Scilla, and the extraordinary number of ladybirds active around the gardens. Thus far almost all are Seven-spot Ladybirds, probably the offspring of the vast invasion we experienced last July. Who would want to be an aphid in a year like this?!

Sharon also got into the swing of Spring, with this lovely photo of a Comma butterfly. One of the five species of butterfly in our gardens that spend the winter as hibernating adults, Commas are beautifully adapted to hiding in plain sight: the brown colour and scalloped wing margins look just like a dead leaf. She also spotted a small moth that is also well camouflaged, a Double-striped Pug. Although a widespread and common species we have very few records of this moth as it tends to fly only at night, spending the day disguised as tree bark.

Spring means birdsong and increased activity around nest sites; the Blue Tit photographed by Scott is already investigating a newly erected nestbox. Amphibians like Kirsten’s Smooth Newt are also on the move, returning to their breeding ponds after a winter of torpor, no doubt taking the odd small slug on the way.

Ladybirds, newts and insect-eating birds are all part of our armoury of ‘natural pesticides’ that help keep the garden in ecological balance. But there are many other unsung heroes, including the predatory larvae of ground beetles as photographed by Cathy, the voracious nemesis of many a slug!

Potentially the most exciting find of the month was also larval: Nicola and her merry 50-stong band of schoolkids were investigating the dead-wood biodiversity under rotting logs and came up with this remarkable beast. This is clearly one of the Stag Beetles, but there are two British species, the widespread Lesser Stag and the rare Greater Stag. The latter is a real speciality of the Colchester area, but so far as I am aware we have never conclusively identified in the garden, maybe because it is most active at dusk when there is nobody around. But we still don’t have a definitive diagnosis: a large Lesser Stag larva will overlap in size with a small Greater Stag larva, although its location at or below ground level is strongly indicative of Greater Stag.

Whatever, it was a magnificent beast and must have thrilled those that found it. Certainly, the joy they brought to the garden as they walked around garden was palpable! To grow to such a size, a beetle larva must eat dead wood for several years, meaning it is essential to leave dead wood be, and not be tempted to clear it away or burn it.

The life cycle of many insects takes them from the larval stage into the pupa, or chrysalis, where the magic of metamorphosis reforms into the adult stage. Especially in moths, the chrysalis is sometimes surrounded by a silken or papery shroud, the cocoon. But in that form they have few identification features, so all that can be said of Malin’s cocoon is that it may be something like an Oak Eggar moth.

During the month, I was happy to find several things new to the garden list. Some had probably been overlooked in the past, but others I assume to be recent arrivals. One of the latter was the groundbug Graptopeltus lynceus, normally associated with Echium species but increasingly moving to other members of the same family, Boraginaceae, of which we have lots. Rare in Essex, my thunder was only slightly stolen by Sharon who, when I announced it, realised she had rescued one from inside the Visitor Information Centre a few days previously!

Finally, I must confess a very soft spot for the exquisite bird’s-nest fungi. Over the past five years we have found two species in the garden and nursery, but only one record of each. So it was a thrill to be informed that Malin had found the Common Bird’s-nest in the Reservoir Garden. This species was previously found by Miya in the polytunnels in November 2024, but remarkably it was in the same part of the garden that Cathy discovered for the only time (so far!) the Field Bird’s-nest in October 2022. Such are the mysteries of the natural world, so many of which are associated with the fungal Kingdom.

From now on, it should feel like the gardens are living up to their reputation as an unofficial nature reserve, teeming with life. The gardens are managed with care and without poisons, and Nature rewards us handsomely. And as always I am looking forward to the delights the coming summer will bring!

For a different perspective, see my personal blogs from this month:

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Spring is unleashed…! | Chris Gibson Wildlife

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: March goes out like a lamb… | Chris Gibson Wildlife