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A Patch Wilder

A Patch Wilder is a conservation project aiming to benefit wildlife and connect people with the environment around them.

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    • Lillypool History
    • 10 Local Walks
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  • Gallery
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Gallery

As well as documenting the sights and sounds of nature at A Patch Wilder, Charlie and Spade have built up a portfolio of nature photography from across the globe. See our other photos here.


360 degree photos from around the patch:


Recent photos:

The redwings have arrived! We have been hearing th The redwings have arrived! We have been hearing their high pitched whistles overhead for the last couple of nights as they migrate across from Scandinavia. Then the first few flocks were spotted flitting over, sometimes perching in the tops of the trees on their journeys. And now, just a few days later, they are here in numbers! Millions of redwings come to overwinter here every year and they have had perfect conditions for migration over the weekend. This is one of those milestone moments that I look for every autumn and makes giving up the summer just a little bit easier!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #redwing #migration
Whilst kestrels are often cited to be the only bir Whilst kestrels are often cited to be the only bird that hovers, it is not uncommon to see buzzards "wind hovering" - flying into the window at the exact speed it is blowing in order to stay still and hunt for prey in the fields below.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #commonbuzzard #birds
A familiar sight drifting over the Patch on therma A familiar sight drifting over the Patch on thermals, but it's always worth stopping to appreciate them up close if you get the chance. The buzzard is one of the UK's great conservation success stories — persecuted almost to extinction by the early 20th century, they have since made a remarkable comeback and are now our most common and widespread bird of prey. That mewing call, so often mistaken for a cat, is one of the defining sounds of the British countryside.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #buzzard #birds
One of Britain's most iconic conservation success One of Britain's most iconic conservation success stories wheeling over the Patch in search of an easy meal after the meadows were cut at the weekend. Red kites were reduced to a tiny remnant population of just a handful of Welsh breeding pairs by the mid-twentieth century, driven to the brink by centuries of persecution and poisoning. The reintroduction programme that began in the Chilterns in 1989 has been nothing short of remarkable and this species now graces skies across much of England once again — that extraordinary forked tail making it instantly identifiable.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #redkite #birds
We (finally) had the meadows cut over the weekend. We (finally) had the meadows cut over the weekend. It is always a bit sad to see all of that habitat disappear but also an important part of wildflower meadow management and crucial to keep improving the species-rich sward.  Inevitably when carrying out this sort of management, there will be a few casualties - particularly rodents (voles, mice, shrews etc nesting in the grass) but that means that for.a couple of days, the farm turns into a complete raptor-fest as every bird of prey in the local area comes to take advantage of an easy meal. This means the Patch has been covered in red kites, buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrels all zipping about and providing some terrific photos opportunities (keep an eye out for these later!).  It was amazing to see how quickly everything showed up - the first red kite (a bird we normally only see every couple of weeks) turned up within an hour of the tractor first starting work in the morning. They definitely know what they are doing!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #meadowmanagement #tractorporn #redkite
We often get asked about the pine martens up in th We often get asked about the pine martens up in the woods here. They disappear for spells at a time and don't always pose as nicely for the camera as they could do (!) But, they're still up there. This video shows one giving our camera a very thorough examination just a few nights ago.  It would have been hard to be sure if an ID but there's no mistaking that big bushy tail at the end!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #pinemarten #trailcam
Common lizard. Of the four reptile species we get Common lizard. Of the four reptile species we get here, we see common lizard the least. But this year we have had more sightings than ever before. Many (including this one) have been on limestone hibernaculum installed by the @mendiphillsnl a few years back. The lizards love basking out on the beach rocks in the warm sunshine and quickly disappear into the cracks as soon as you get too close!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #commonlizard #viviparouslizard #hibernaculum
Check out the colours on this fabulous Violet Grou Check out the colours on this fabulous Violet Ground Beetle 💜 🖤 With a dress code straight out of the Adams Family, they don't come much more gothicly elegant than this. And these guys are not just a pretty thorax either: They are  carnivorous predators that like to dine out at night time on a range of garden pests including slugs, snails and caterpillars. They spend the day hiding out under fallen logs and leaf litter, so leave a few logs at the back of the veg patch - your lettuces will thank you for it!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #violetgroundbeetle #beetle
A little while ago I noticed some holes up in the A little while ago I noticed some holes up in the meadows. I assumed it was the work of worms and carried on my way. Some time later I realised that the holes had spread and were now covering around a 50 metre stretch which was spotted with thousands of these holes, each with a little pile of soil outside. I had. A closer look and realised that solitary bees were flying in and out. A quick search online told me these are Ivy Cellophane Bees. A late summer species that emerge to take advantage of flowering ivy. They get their name from this and the fact that female bees line their underground nesting burrows with a clear, waterproof, cellophane-like secretion produced from a specialized gland to protect their larvae.
We have seen aplenty of solitary bees on the Patch before but the sheer scale of this colony and the speed with which it appeared was amazing!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #bees #ivycellophanebee
Say hello to Julius Squeezer (yes, I know adders a Say hello to Julius Squeezer (yes, I know adders are venous and don't technically construct their prey, but the pub was just too good to ignore!). This is one of the newbies around here - born last year and only really started hanging around the Patch from mid August onwards this year. Hopefully he stays though as, I'm sure you'll agree, he is rather a handsome chap.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #snake #snakestagram #adder
A little blackberry thief scrambling through the b A little blackberry thief scrambling through the brambles up in the woods this week. When we chanced upon a dormouse out in the open last week, we decided to set up a camera trap (adapted with a macro lens) onto a juicy patch of blackberries nearby in the hope of catching another glimpse of one of the cutest residents of the Patch - the Hazel Dormouse. Whilst they may have Hazel on their names, they could equally have been called a bramble dormouse as they have a real sweet-tooth and just can't resist a big juicy blackberry. But then, who can? 🐹🌿
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#apatchwilder #mendips #dormouse #hazeldormouse #cameratrap
Stonechat perched amongst the bristling plates of Stonechat perched amongst the bristling plates of hogweed flower heads. We don't have any resident Stonechat on the Patch but every autumn we get a handful passing through and often stopping over for a couple of days to refuel and refresh. Hopefully one day we will attract a pair of our very own!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #birds #stonechat
Wowee, that's something you don't see every day! W Wowee, that's something you don't see every day! We were out for an evening stroll round the patch and caught a flash of movement near one of the dormouse boxes in the woods. A closer look revealed this unbelievably cute little mouseball just chilling and having a little wash up in the top of a scrub patch. We have previously seen dormice here whilst surveying for them but this is the first time we have ever seen one out and about behaving naturally.
Hazel dormice are listed as a high-priority endangered species in the UK (as well as a Mendip champion species) and are protected from even being disturbed in this country (unless you have a licence) so we were careful to stay back and just watch the little dormouse doing its thing.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #dormouse #hazeldormouse
What a year it's been for clouded yellows! A speci What a year it's been for clouded yellows! A species we'd only seen here a handful of times previously is now often the most frequently seen butterfly on our walks! And today, we were treated to this. The rare white helice form of the female clouded yellow. Stunning!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #butterflyconservation #cloudedyellow
A young green woodpecker with it's bill dirty from A young green woodpecker with it's bill dirty from digging around for its favourite food and, if you look closely at the bill, you'll be able to see exactly what Woody was after in the meadows...
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#apatchwilder #mendips #greenwoodpecker #birds
Golden hour on the Patch, presented to you by a pa Golden hour on the Patch, presented to you by a pair of long-tailed tits splashing about in the pond.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #long-tailedtit #birds #goldenhour
We seem to have been flooded with Spotted Flycatch We seem to have been flooded with Spotted Flycatchers recently. Not long ago this species would have been a familiar sight across the UK - they nested in gardens, on houses, in creepers, hedgerows and parks. Sadly, they have suffered over a 90% drop in population since the 60s and have now become an infrequent and special bird to see. They do nest in the woods here but seem to be very sneaky and hard to see until migration starts and then suddenly start popping up everywhere! And we are enjoying every one one that passes through.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #spottedflycatcher #birdsb
Sparrowhawk stopping off for a drink at the wOodla Sparrowhawk stopping off for a drink at the wOodland pond. This male has been a regular visitor here over the last few months.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #sparrowhawk
Comma, our resident pale-morph Buzzard, looking ab Comma, our resident pale-morph Buzzard, looking absolutely stunning as she cruises effortlessly over the Patch in search of her next meal.
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#apatchwilder #mendips #birds #buzzard
A rare visitor to the Patch - this Tree Pipit is t A rare visitor to the Patch - this Tree Pipit is the first I've ever seen here. We seem to be doing well for rare migrants birds this year Spotted and pied flycatchers, Whinchat, Stonechat, Whitethroat and Tree pipit have all been stopping off on their way South. hopefully this is a sign that our habitat regeneration works are finally paying off. Tree pipits (despite the name) are more of a scrub and heathland bird and we have been encouraging patches of scrub to pop up all over the place creating a habitat mosaic in order to entice just this sort of bird in. Perhaps next year they will stay for the summer... You never know!
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#apatchwilder #mendips #birds #treepipit
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