Editor's nature log

15 November – First woodcock flushed while walking and later, at dusk, watched three fightings within two minutes which could have been the same bird.

14 November – First fieldfares amongst the redwing. 

6 November – Watched two red kites fly over woodland near Lostwithiel. Lots of fungi around at last. Troops of long-tailed tits and goldcrests are about in numbers. Bats and tawny owls flying at dusk.

23 October – First sight today of flocks of redwing flying over. Canada geese flying. Curlew, redshank, greenshank, shelduck and kingfishers on the estuary.

18 October – Hornets still active at their nest site in an ash tree. Red Admiral butterflies out and about when the sun shines; Hummingbird Hawk-moth too. Found two toads when clearing undergrowth. Thought I heard the first redwing arrivals this morning.

2 October – Flock of approx. 30 house martins overhead feeding, presumably en route.

1 October – Followed a roebuck through the woods this morning, seen earlier with his mate. Hornets in and out of their ash tree nest still and either ground nesting bees or wasps (too far to see) in and out of theirs. The woods alive with birds. Chiffchaff singing. Small white butterfly on the wing.

27 September – Still seeing a Hummingbird Hawk-moth on the garden flowers, Crickets in the long grass and a few Red Admiral butterflies. The tawny owls are very vocal at dusk, as is a green woodpecker during the day, and the woods are full of every type of small bird. Finding a few frogs despite the absence of any pond nearby. Saw a persistent sparrowhawk mobbed by jackdaws. Buzzards and ravens always around.

8 September – The wet and windy summer has suited the young trees, slugs and snails, fruits like apples and elderberries, and foragers for worms – but little else. Found two cricket horsehair worms in a bucket of water. Plenty of bees around. Green woodpecker is very vocal. 

6 August – A family of chiffchaffs feeding in the woods. More butterflies around today including a blue. Green woodpecker feeding on ants. The blackberries are ready and the blackbirds are after them. Squirrels are busy feeding on hazelnuts. Young buzzards mewing.

23 July – A green woodpecker at last in the woods; haven't seen or heard one for months here.  The first and only Silver-washed Fritillary a few days ago – magnificent; the odd Red Admiral and Comma; a few Meadow Browns – but everyone agrees... a terrible year for butterflies. Did find a beautiful Elephant Hawk Moth in the long grass and plenty of grasshoppers and crickets. Have collected the yellow rattle seed and scythed a summer cut.

6 July – Young roe deer fawn tripping up in goosegrass as I approached. Wild flowers are in full bloom, young apples on the trees, fewer butterflies around than usual and masses of young blackbirds, tits and great-spotted woodpeckers feeding. 

15 June – The woods and garden are filled with fledgling blue, great and marsh tits. Not so many coal tits around. Lots of sparrowhawk activity as a result. Buzzards too are on the lookout for young herring gulls and predating nests such as blackbirds'. Foxgloves and Yellow Rattle are in full flower. Chiffchaffs and blackcaps still singing. Lots of great spotted woodpeckers around but no green ones this year despite millions of ants' nests..

6 May – First swifts over Lostwithiel. Found a little female pipistrelle bat in the house and gave her water and cat food (should have been live mealworms). Took her to one of the local Bat Conservation Trust members who will return to let it fly back here when she's fit.

3 May – The great spotted woodpeckers have completed their nest hole in a wild cherry. The male blackcaps have taken over from the chiffchaffs as the predominant singers in the woods. Still seeing our lone old rabbit every now and then.

18 April – Joyful sound of the first cuckoo calling from close to Temple Old Bridge on Bodmin Moor. Willow warblers were calling and in full sight all around, as they had been at Colliford Lake en route. Skylarks in the background, linnets too, and buzzards wheeling.

15 April – The flooding of a marshy meadow in the Restormel valley (hopefully permanent?) has paid dividends: masses of sand martins catching flies close to the water, house martins feeding above them, just-hatched mallard ducklings paddling about. 

14 April – I'm seeing owls are out in daylight now, presumably feeding youngsters. Jays, possibly as a result, are very vocal, making some really unusual noises. Chiffchaffs everywhere. Bluebells out in flower. First blue butterfly.

9 April – Watched Marsh tits excavating their nest inside a cleft in a rotting eleagnus trunk. First Orange Tip butterfly out and about as well as a Peacock butterfly. Slow worms enjoying the rare sun.

6 April – First swallow pair this year. First Speckled Wood butterfly. Shellduck pairs on Lerryn Creek. Song thrush's nest with eggs.

1 April – Beginning to hear blackcaps singing, alongside the exuberant chiffchaffs. Slow worm sunning itself under a metal wheelbarrow. Sparrowhawk calling as it carried a kill towards the pine woods. A pheasant's egg in the grass. Brimstone and a male Large White butterfly on the wing. Three oil beetles in the same patch of grass. First green woodpecker call I've heard for weeks. Queen bumblebees out and about.

28 March – Have seen a tawny owl sitting in the entrance to the nest box two days running now. The cock pheasant and his five hens are very busy finding things to eat in the long unmown grass. 

23 March – Heard the first of the incoming blackcaps singing this morning.

21 March – Extraordinary and exciting to see a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in March! First Brimstone butterfly a few days ago, as well as a Peacock butterfly and two Oil Beetles.

16 March – Watched a couple of woodcock flighting at dusk, as well as a bat. The tawny owls were calling softly to each other from the direction of their nesting tree, so hopeful. The sound of chiffchaffs can be heard along with all our resident songbirds, including the chittering of siskins. A sparrowhawk passed overhead, mobbed by crows this morning.

7 March – Heard this year's first chiffchaff yesterday. Flushed a woodcock this morning. Pussy willow and wild garlic flowers just beginning to appear. Haven't seen or heard the redwing for a couple of weeks now.

3 March – A few days ago watched a flock of c200 golden plover circling inland over the Fowey valley. Saw what I'm sure was a twite in the woods – stripeyer breast and duller brown than the female siskins I see every day. Constantly amazed at how far away the blue tits spot and then alarm at a high-flying sparrowhawk!

18 February – Getting spring-like with great spotted woodpeckers drumming, song thrushes singing and great tits belting out their squeaky wheel tune. First peacock butterfly on the wing. The brown woodland floor has turned to green. Treecreepers are around, as is the rabbit.

5 February – First blackcap (male) singing and eating ivy berries by Lostwithiel bridge. Very early for a migrant so has probably overwintered here. Lots of siskins singing in the tree tops. A sparrowhawk calling from pine woods. Amazing close-up of a male goldcrest with flame orange crest raised in a mating display with a female. Several song thrushes singing now.

3 February – A rabbit has moved back into the wood – the first for what seems like years. May he have a long life and many children! The woodland floor is turning green with the shoots of wild garlic, dog's mercury and bluebells. Saw a queen bumblebee out and about.

26 January – The beautiful, melancholy song of the mistle thrush rang clear over the valley this morning.

21 January – The buzzards are spending much more time swooping low through the woods than ever before, presumably since rabbits are no longer around and their diet has to change. Watched a treecreeper, woodcock, bullfinch, ravens and goldcrests. Scarlet elf cups here and there amongst the dead leaves. A siskin standing its ground with goldfinches on the niger seed.

18 January – Heard a blood-curdling series of cries first thing this morning which attracted attention from several crows and a buzzard. I put it down to a fox and saw one later in the woods just a few yards away from me. Snowdrops just beginning to show white flowers.

11 January – Disturbed two roe deer sunning themselves in the bracken. As dusk fell last night and the woodcock flighted, I heard the ultra-soft calling of the tawny owls and then saw them fly from the tree with the nest box. Great-spotted woodpeckers drumming. Ravens cronking and circling overhead. The first green woodland shoots showing through the dead leaves.

9 January – Amazing to see six buzzards circling together in a clear blue sky yesterday. Flushed a woodcock from bracken this morning. 

7 January 2024 – Watch the woodcock flighting every evening in the 10 minutes before dusk turns to dark. The sparrowhawks are very active and the occasional peregrine flies overheard. Cleaned and put new wood-chips in the tawny owl box last month and heard soft calling from that direction this morning. Masses of coal, marsh, blue and great tits on the the feeders and goldfinches on the niger seed.

15 November – Remarkable to see a Hummingbird Hawk-moth still around in mid November! Mistle thrush singing. Spotted several little clumps of the anti-viral and tumour-fighting Candlesnuff fungus in the woods.

12 November – It's been an interesting week. The redwing and fieldfares have started to arrive; watched my first great northern diver fishing just a few feet away on the Golant slipway; am regularly seeing the elusive treecreeper; a pair of peregrines flew overhead yesterday and today saw a firecrest and flushed the first woodcock. Lots of interesting fungi including what looked like the bright orange Ping Pong Bat fungus. Sadly no sign of the injured jackdaw for days now.

31 October – Saw a passing peregrine as I looked up to watch two ravens noisily chasing a third overhead this morning. Sights and sounds of curlew on the estuary yesterday.

28 October – Where did the last month go?! Observations include osprey flying high over Golant, hedgehog in the porch, toads in and around the woods, roe deer visits at night only, tawny owls very vocal, Hummingbird Hawk-moths still around, as are Red Admiral butterflies and Cricket Horsehair worms. Expecting the arrival of winter thrushes any day now. ]

20 September – Watched an early morning bat squeeze home beneath the roof slates. The tawny owls are very vocal at the moment, presumably sorting out territories rather than mates. Lots of Cricket Horsehair worms turning up in pockets of water. Hornets and hazel nuts are in abundance this year, but fewer Hummingbird Hawk-moths. A jackdaw with a broken wing has been living on our lawn and roosting in the trees and bushes for over a month now. Good numbers of kingfishers, common sandpipers, greenshanks, curlews, little egrets and herons on the estuary. The swifts seem to have gone but the swallows are still around.

26 August – Kingfisher and dipper seen on the river at Lostwithiel and a flock of about 30 curlew on the estuary at Golant. Roe deer with fawn feeding in the woods. Good to see plenty of grasshoppers around. Jackdaw with a broken wing has been feeding and roosting for over a week in the garden. Bats patrolling up and down the lawn at dusk.

19 August – Hummingbird Hawk-moth out and about in the garden. Treecreeper again in the woods. 

16 August – Heard and then saw my first treecreeper for ages. Wonderful to watch a whole family of spotted flycatchers darting up from their vantage points to catch flies. Counted 28 species of birds on a short walk through the woods. Found a hornets nest in the cleft of an ash. Kingfisher, curlew and common sandpiper on the estuary last night.

11 August – A Bat was hunting in broad daylight yesterday afternoon in the drizzle. Watched this year's first spotted flycatcher in the woods this morning. The trees are full of families of bullfinches, goldcrests, every kind of tit, chaffinches, chiffchaffs, blackbirds, wrens, nuthatches and woodpeckers. The young buzzard has started its persistent mewing for parent attention.

28 July – Lovely sight of 20-plus feeding swifts overhead. Lots of sparrowhawk and green woodpecker activity. Young buzzards mewing. Holly Blues, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Small Coppers and Red Admirals around. 

16 July – This rainy period after weeks of dry is helping the trees and plants as well as making it easier for worm foragers like blackbirds. Masses of young birds around and butterflies. Tawny owls calling softly during the day and young owls 'tzeeking' at night. Grasshoppers fleeing before me as I collect Yellow Rattle seeds. A good year for hazel nuts. Swifts still wheeling overhead.

22 June – First Silver-washed Fritillaries – a pair dancing through the woods. Chiffchaffs very vocal. 

20 June – Much needed rain at last. Young birds everywhere – bullfinches, blackbirds, siskins, goldfinches, pheasant (down to one chick), jackdaws, herring gulls, woodpeckers and tawny owls, the latter 'tzeeking' incessantly after dark. More butterflies around. Ripe wild cherries dropping. Roe fawn in the woods.

6 June – Saw a hen pheasant with at least 17 gorgeous chicks scurrying around her. Lots of raven activity. Five swifts screaming overhead. Roe deer on the lawn in the middle of the day. Siskins overhead. Sparrowhawk carrying off long-tailed tit.

29 May – A fair bit of fly activity along the river attracted a pair of swifts, several swallows, grey wagtails and rising trout. Saw a pair of reed buntings, sedge warblers, a lesser black-backed gull catch and swallow a small flatfish and Canada geese chicks grazing. Damselflies and Speckled Wood butterfly. Foxgloves and elderflowers.

25 May – Over the last week, a pair of red kites above Lostwithiel, the first of the blue butterflies – a Common Blue. Yellow Rattle in full bloom and keeping the grass down – and a magnet for bees. Blackbirds and blackcaps singing. Hornets looking for nest sites.

5 May – The first 'tzeek!' of the spring (referred to in the February blog) came yesterday evening, so the tawny babies are out of the nest box! Saw one of the tawny parents yesterday carrying food. First baby blackbirds out and about too.

29 April – Slow worms, Brimstones and Orange Tip butterflies out in the sun. Sparrowhawk swooped at the bird-table and sped after a blue tit without success. Great spotted woodpeckers still hanging around their stolen nest site.

27 April – This morning it wasn't a black and white head I saw peeping out of the great-spotted woodpecker's nest hole but that of the female green woodpecker. Stolen after all that hard work! Hummingbird Hawk Moth spotted in the garden. 

25 April – Looks like the green woodpeckers have been watching the great-spotted excavating their nest and are making a bid to take over now the work is done! Yellow Rattle plants springing up in great numbers where self-sown last year. Found a pheasant egg but no nest nearby. Dawn chorus is at full volume!

21 April – Watched a buzzard close by flying up with what looked like a squeaking, writhing stoat in its talons. A bit of a handful, it was dropped fairly low and its fall broken by a rhododendron bush.

15 April – First Orange Tip and Speckled Wood butterflies. Oil Beetles on the woodland paths. Bluebells bursting into flower.

12 April – Magical sight of a tawny owl gliding across the wood this morning chased by jays and mistle thrushes. Male blackcaps singing everywhere. Watched a great-spotted woodpecker excavating its nest hole in a cherry tree. Leaves on the maple trees. Saw the first slow worm basking a couple of days ago. Blackbirds gathering worms for their chicks.

6 April – First newt (Common or Smooth) in new garden pond. The tawny owls are out now in daylight so presumably have young to feed.

4 April – First blackcaps singing in the woods. Blue tits in and out of nest boxes. Long-tailed tits collecting feathers. New leaves shooting on the maples and crab apples trees. White blossom appearing on the wild cherry trees. Hummingbird Hawk Moth spotted locally.

3 April – First swallow of the year and first Comma butterfly. Brimstone butterfly feeding on primroses and violets. Marsh tits everywhere in the woods this morning. 

2 April – Something has just killed a female pheasant and dragged it 30m and then left it. A fox would have taken it away, unlikely a cat, so I think it's the stoat I saw a few days ago here. It may return to drag to cover. A mallard duck in the woods presumably nesting up here to bring ducklings down to the stream later. Chiffchaffs and a green woodpecker calling.

30 March – A stoat in the garden – my first for years! Blackthorn blossom appearing and leaves beginning to shoot on the hawthorn, hazel and wild cherry. Pussy willow is out.

18 March – Lovely to hear the first chiffchaffs of the year. First Brimstone butterfly too. Long-tailed tits carrying feathers to their nest. Greenfinches and green woodpeckers calling from tree tops. Queen bumblebees out and about..

16 March – Male Siskin singing beautifully from a treetop. Seeing roe deer more frequently in the woods. Green woodpecker feeding on ants and calling a lot. Female tawny owl seems to leave her nest at dusk every evening and returns a short while later.

26 February – Rooks are active around their nests. 37-bird walk including a siskin, dipper, sparrowhawk and meadow pipits. Unusual sqeaking call coming from a pair of woodcock flying at dusk last night. Woodland floor is green with wild garlic.

18 February – Alarming blackbirds and chaffinches led me to my owl nestbox and, sure enough, there was a tawny owl's head peering out. Made my day! A siskin joined the goldfinches on the niger seed feeder yesterday. The dominant cock pheasant has now accumulated three hens. The woods are full of the beautiful chattering sounds of redwing.

14 February – Listened to a dipper singing below Respryn Bridge. A sparrowhawk chased overhead by a crow. Flushed a woodcock and then watched two fly past at dusk. Roe deer in the woods.

8 February – Serenaded by two woodpeckers this morning – great spotted on drums and the most beautiful green woodpecker on vocals. Goldcrests everywhere in the woods. Saw the largest dog fox I've ever seen. The green shoots of garlic and bluebells are pushing through the brown leaves on the woodland floor.

25 January – I'm seeing and hearing more greenfinches now after numbers dropped by 70% since 2008 due to a parasitic disease. Two woodcock together on a fly-past last night. Goldfinches feeding on the dead burdocks I left unscythed. Primroses and snowdrops appearing along with the first shoots of plants that will cover the woodland floor.

1 January 2023 – New Year's Day and the mistle thrush continues to fill the air with its melancholy and beautiful song. Goldcrests squeaking in the trees, great tits belting out their squeaky wheel rendition and a roe deer running away barking like a dog, flushing a woodcock as it went.

21 December – Winter solstice. Counted 10 woodcock fly-pasts in less than five minutes last night just before 5pm.

16 December – The highlights of a 40-bird walk this morning were a mixed flock of about 40 lapwings and 120 golden plovers in a field above Lostwithiel, an overwintering chiffchaff, a tawny owl flying low chased by a blackbird, a female stonechat. Great-spotted woodpeckers have just started drumming.

6 December – Two woodcock flew up from my feet this morning; overhead a sparrowhawk was being harried by crows, magpies and jays in the tree-tops. Tawny owls are very noisy after dark as they sort out their territories for breeding in a few weeks' time. A joy to see a few rabbits in the last couple of days. Goldcrests and long-tailed tits everywhere.

26 November – First woodcock of the year, over a fortnight later than last year. Beautiful, melancholy song of the mistle thrush. Lots of long-tailed tits and gold crests in the woods.

11 November – Amazing sight of a buzzard with a screaming, writhing sparrowhawk in its talons for a few seconds until it broke free.

10 November – Saw my first firecrest a couple of days ago. Long-tailed tits alarming this morning alerted me to a sparrowhawk which was then mobbed through the treetops by magpies and crows. A raven flew overhead cronking.

1 November – Over 20 curlew flying up the estuary at St Winnow, shelduck, a pair of common sandpipers, dabchicks, great black-backed gull amongst the herring gulls. 

22 October – 47-bird morning walk to the tip of Shirehall Moor. Great white egret, kingfishers, dabchicks, stonechats, one barnacle goose amongst the flocks of Canada geese, sparrowhawk, teal and, excitingly, either a red kite or marsh harrier (chestnut back but just not quite close enough to be sure) being escorted downriver by half a dozen crows. Dead moorhen: bird flu?

20 October – The valley this morning is full of the chattering and calls of the first fieldfares and redwing just arrived from Scandinavia. Skylarks high overhead.

19 October – Watched a Hummingbird Hawk-moth feeding (still!) in the garden at dusk as the heavens opened and thunder and lightening crackled all around. As it got dark, the moth started to settle while feeding, which I've never seen in the day. The woods are full of goldcrests, many having migrated from Scandinavia and Europe. Much calling between male and female tawny owls after dark.

5 October – Ospreys are still active on the estuary; one seen dragging a large grey mullet onto the bank to eat near St Winnow. Dabchicks, common sandpipers, dippers and kingfishers on the river. Canada geese skeins flying over. Lots of fungi appearing in the woods. Dragonflies and the odd butterfly still about.

10 September – High-flying hobby over the house. Hummingbird Hawk-moths still whizzing around. Kingfishers very active on the estuary. Stonechats in the hedgerows. Hazel nuts, acorns and hawthorn berries in the woods, along with Speckled Wood butterflies.. 

3 September – Spotted an osprey flying down the estuary at Golant mid morning. First sighting for me this year and, like last year's, there was too much chop on the water for it to spot fish easily. Lots of dragonflies out hunting. Disturbed two small frogs.

27 August – Early morning on the estuary; a hobby out hunting, curlew flocks overhead, a solitary tern, redshanks piping, kingfishers flying up and down, a raven pair crossing the water, tawny owls calling. Wall butterfies and a kestrel mobbing a falconer's peregrine on Bodmin Moor; Hummingbird Hawk-moths and Brimstone butterflies in the garden.

8 August – Bird-of-prey bonanza! Young sparrowhawks screaming all through the day and a lot of strident calling between the tawny owls. A bird the size of a buzzard flew low past us yesterday evening scattering pigeons and then set off in hot pursuit of one in a very goshawk-like way; and this morning I watched for 15 minutes my first hobby this year sitting at the top of a fir tree.

3 August – Hearing the high-pitched calling from young fledged sparrowhawks, which reaches a crescendo when they see one of the parents flying back. Tawny owls screeching in the night rather than twit-twooing. Lots of owl pellets under a favourite hazel branch. Dragonflies laying eggs in the stream. Silver-washed Fritillary couples regularly dancing through the garden.

28 July – Some interesting butterflies to add to the many Gatekeepers, Small Whites and Silver-washed Fritillaries that abound: a Small Copper and two different female blues – a Holly Blue and Common Blue. A crash in the undergrowth yesterday and a sparrowhawk was off to the wood carrying some unfortunate bird.

23 July – Young blackbirds everywhere – second broods? Dragonflies, damselflies and mayflies around. Good to see lots of bats out at dusk. Most of the common butterflies are being seen but still not in numbers I'd expect. 

13 July – Three newly-fledged jays and a young blackcap being fed by parents. Joyful to see the courtship behaviour of the male Silver-washed Fritillary as he repeatedly swoops around the female from head to tail. These beautiful, large, fast flying woodland butterflies are the swifts of the butterfly world! And the real swifts are still screaming overhead.

30 June – Stopped by the river below Lostwithiel to watch about 30 swallows dipping repeatedly into the surface in a sort-of wonderful drinking frenzy that lasted for 10 minutes. A kingfisher flew slowly by, sedge warblers chirped in the reeds on the other side, a young buzzard mewed continuously, swifts and house martins fed above and a fish jumped.

27 June – Spotted a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in the woods, as well as a young roe deer fawn. Young fledged tawny owls are still calling at dusk for parents' attention. A family of young green woodpeckers calling in the trees; masses of ants' nests in the woods to feed them. Good to see plenty of marsh tits around. Rabbits seem to be on the increase. Loads of Meadow Brown butterflies, plus a few Ringlets and Small Tortoiseshells.

25 June – Lovely to see several Comma butterflies around. A bumper crop of wild cherry fruit is attracting large numbers of blackbirds, jackdaws and wood pigeons to the tree tops. Blackcaps are still singing their hearts out. 

10 June – Young great spotted woodpeckers have been out and about for days now. Also Meadow Brown butterflies. Good to see swifts, house martins and swallows all sharing the skies over Lostwithiel. 

6 June – 35-bird walk along the river this morning, including a reed bunting, sedge warblers, a young buzzard on one of its first flights, and a group of six Canada geese with a creche of 16 goslings, in contrast two two mallard females with only one duckling each. First Skipper and Painted Lady butterflies.

30 May – Much squeaking in the tree canopy from just-fledged families of blue tits, coal tits, nuthatches and goldcrests. The predator activity has increased accordingly: yesterday I 

disturbed a young chaffinch being attacked by a jay and a male blackbird pinned down by a sparrowhawk. Herring gulls noisily chased off a heron flying too close to their chimney nest this morning and I flushed two young tawny owls from their daytime hazel roost. Just-hatched cygnets on the river.

26 May – A roebuck I disturbed at dusk last night went away barking indignantly. Took avoiding action this morning not to disturb the baby owls which call day and night now they've left the nest. The jays and blackbirds voice their disapproval of them.

21 May – The quiet 'tzeek' of the young fledged tawnys stopped as they heard the soft calling of one of the parents to say 'Keep quiet, there's a man about'. Roe deer everywhere this morning. Several species of bumblebee on the yellow rattle. Beetles about.

15 May – Lovely to hear the chattering sounds and then see my first house martins this year – a group of at east eight. Blackbirds, song thrushes and chiffchaffs are singing their hearts out all day. Blue and great tits are in and out of the nest boxes. Sedge warblers churring along the river. The roe deer are turning summer russet. Oil Beetles in the woods.

12 May – Heard the sound I've been waiting for – the repetitive 'tzeek' of fledged tawny owls calling for food. Saw the first of the new-born roe deer fawns, still wobbly on its legs and with polka-dotted coat. 

10 May – Heard the screams and then saw six swifts in close formation speeding backwards and forwards over Lostwithiel. They're back! Yellow rattle just coming into flower.

1 May – At least one brood of robins has fledged. More blackbirds collecting food for nestlings than in previous years. May Day brings welcome rain after a dry April.

28 April – For me the last week has seen the arrival of sedge warblers, Speckled Wood butterflies and cowslips. The woods are a sea of bluebells and white garlic flowers and yellow rattle is popping up everywhere. There's much daytime activity of tawny owls and I'm hoping to see fledged youngsters outside the nest any day now.

16 April – Saw first swallow yesterday and another today. Another willow warbler. Amazing to see slow worms enjoying the warmer weather now, loads of oil beetles on the woodland paths and blackcap pairs building nests. Excitement (and relief) to see green leaves just appearing on the beech saplings I planted and the hazel hedge I laid in February.

11 April – First willow warbler this year, singing from a willow in Restormel valley.

10 April – Bluebells are beginning to flower and white blossom appearing on the wild cherry trees. First Orange Tip butterflies yesterday. Spotted a mistle thrush nest and disturbed a daytime tawny owl this morning. Roebuck still in velvet. 

31 March – The woods are full of wild garlic beginning to flower, the sound of chiffchaffs, blackcaps, green woodpeckers and tawny owls calling softly to each other during the day. Beginning to see Oil Beetles crawling about, several types of butterfly and numerous bees. Lovely to see white Blackthorn blossom (before the leaves) and green Hawthorn leaves (before the blossom).

14 March – A beautiful sunny day has brought out several Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and a first Brimstone butterfly. Saw long-tailed tits carrying nesting material to a privet bush and the first wild garlic flowers, bright white amongst the green.

10 March – Chiffchaffs are singing in the woods every day now. Lots of noisy marsh tits around.

4 March – Last night saw my first bat of the year! 40-bird walk this morning including two singing blackcaps, a chiffchaff and magpies sitting outside their completed nest. 

24 February – Stood quietly by a wood at dusk to watch three pairs of roe deer at intervals, several woodcock fly-pasts, a female tawny owl and a fox calling. The woodland floor has turned from brown to green as bluebell leaves and wild garlic push through.

10 February – First chiffchaff singing briefly in the woods. Like yesterday's blackcap, about a month earlier than last year. Green woodpecker calling regularly.

9 February – Walked into the garden this morning to hear and then see the first blackcap this year. Later heard a second singing in the town where I normally see the first one each year. Much earlier than last year's 1 March.

5 February – Lovely to hear on BBC Radio 4 this morning Dame Judi Dench reading the A E Housman poem Loveliest of Trees while talking about the Queen's Green Canopy initiative. You'll find it at the top of our 'Poetry' section here, even if the blossom is yet to come.

31 January – Still seeing this year's roe deer youngsters with their mums. That will change by late spring when the new ones arrive. Lots of noisy siskins in the tree tops and a pair of beautiful teal on the river – so much more wary than the mallards. Five little grebes. 

17.45 update: just popped outside for two minutes because I heard the tawny owls calling and saw at least three woodcock on their dusk flight as well as two owls floating by.

23 January – Good to see all three of the common raptors – kestrel, sparrowhawk and buzzard, the latter mobbed noisily by two herring gulls who know a threat to future nestlings when they see one. Likewise, two ravens also being mobbed by a hoard of jackdaws, part of a 400-strong flock of mixed rooks and jackdaws at Restormel.

14 January – Two roe deer browsing together late yesterday afternoon and ravens very active over the woods this morning. Found an old clay pipe belonging perhaps (who knows?) to a long-gone woodsman, brought to the surface beside an old rabbit hole (the pipe, not the woodsman). Sparrowhawk mobbed by crows. Common sandpiper on the river.

9 January – Walked outside to the haunting song of a mistle thrush. Watched a treecreeper, a stonechat, a pair of ravens and flushed a woodcock. First snowdrops of the year.

4 January – Counted 40 today! Included a flushed woodcock, very brown buzzard sitting on an island in a farm pond, greenshank on the estuary mud, dabchick and greenfinches.

3 January – Woodland, river and farmland walk this morning with 37 species of bird including reed buntings, siskins, little egrets, all the thrushes (redwing, fieldfares, song and mistle), goldcrests, marsh and long-tailed tits, pied and grey wagtails, green woodpecker, ravens. No birds of prey, great spotted woodpecker, bullfinch or even mallard to push on to 40!

27 December – The winter is so mild so far that many of the birds are showing early (too early?) signs of spring: house sparrows with nesting material, dunnocks and song thrushes singing and great tits belting out their squeaky wheel song. Redshank and a greenshank on the river. Less attractive are the (harmless) cricket horsehair worms we find on our doorstep when it rains.

13 December – As I watched through binoculars a fine heron fishing on the river this morning, and a pair of beautiful teal nearby, a pair of stonechats settled in the foreground - all in at the same frame. Masses of blackbirds in the woods, probably mostly winter migrants.

1 December – Three snipe flying over the river yesterday and, remarkably, five different tits on the bird table at once – blue, great, coal, marsh and long-tailed. Roe deer and fox in the woods this morning as well as numerous softly chattering goldcrests. Yet to see a firecrest.

28 November – Enjoying the woodcock fly-pasts at dusk. Plenty of fungi around and the sun lit up what I think is called fire moss on a dead tree branch. With the recent gales we're now losing the beautiful golden beech tree leaves and the brown leaves of the oaks. 

14 November – The swallows and martins that left about a month ago (although a few are still being seen in Cornwall) were replaced a fortnight later by flocks of redwing. I saw my first fieldfare yesterday and am seeing woodcock in the woods now, the first a week ago. Sad to see a swan had fallen to a fox on the riverside below Lostwithiel. Followed a badger for 200 metres in the car the other night.

30 September – Quite a month: most memorable were dolphins in St Austell bay, my first ever wryneck on the edge of Shirehall Moor, another hobby sighting (pursued by swallows) and yesterday my first Cornish osprey fishing over the Fowey estuary at Golant for over half an hour. 

13 August – First sightings of hobbies this year – one at Restormel and one (the same?) half an hour later near Lostwithiel. At least 10 species of butterfly in the garden: Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Small White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Silver-washed Fritillary, Comma, Blue (Holly?).

4 August – Exciting start to August. Painted Lady butterflies just arriving in small numbers (see blog 'Eyes to the skies'). Family of spotted flycatchers catching flies. Young sparrowhawks flying freely and calling incessantly to be fed by parents. Grey wagtails on the river now fledged. Roedeer resplendent in their tan summer coats. Yesterday two pods of dolphins and 200 diving gannets a short way into St Austell Bay and a peregrine over Golant.

20 July – Lovely to watch a flock of 15 curlew fly over Golant, albeit half the size of last year's flock, and that six of the ten shelduck youngsters I spotted two months ago a couple of miles upstream have survived. Exciting to see a flock of noisy siskins in the woods this morning. 

18 July – The woods are alive with speeding orange Silver-washed Fritillaries and the grasslands with many species of butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies, beetles and grasshoppers. Grey seal and her pup being spotted in Golant. Good weather for harvesting Yellow Rattle seeds for sowing in the autumn. A record year for wild strawberries.

6 July – Had to watch where I stepped to avoid dozens of tiny black toadlets on a wet woodland path this morning.

1 July – Treecreeper in the woods and what looked like the first Silver-washed Fritillary speeding through. Green woodpecker calling 'chack, chack, chack' every day so presumably a nest or young ones nearby. Bird's-foot Trefoil (Eggs-and-Bacon) now flowering next to the fading Yellow Rattle plants on the new wild flower areas.

28 June – Cherry fruit in the wild trees now and yellow irises beside the river. Mallard ducklings and moorhen chicks on the water and swifts, swallows and house martins (few and far between) feeding above. River running chocolate brown after heavy overnight rain. At least four male reed buntings singing from the tops of small oaks on Shirehall Moor. Stunning sedge warbler pair collecting feathers, presumably late nest building. Butterflies and moths including first Ringlet, Skippers and Six-spot Burnet. 

18 June – Lovely to see Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and the first Meadow Brown butterflies, Mayflies and Damselflies. Male blackcaps singing all day long. Surreal to see sand martins swooping through the crowds by the stream at Perranporth with skylarks serenading them from the fields above. Large shoals of school bass in the estuary.

8 June – Families of fledged great-spotted woodpeckers and blue tits around. Kingfisher, shelduck, reed bunting on the river and grey mullet in it. Fawn in the wood. Speckled Wood butterfly. 

2 June – Wonderful to see a field of over a dozen young rabbits and the first roe deer fawn. The foxes have moved their cubs to a den further up the hedge. Wood full of fledged squeaking nuthatches. First foxgloves are out. Spotted flycatcher at Lanlivery this morning and a red kite a few days ago over Golant. Sparrowhawks feeding nestlings. Oil beetles are around.

19 May – Very good to see three pairs of shelduck near Milltown Creek, one with four pretty ducklings, another with ten, all scampering across the mud flats. 

17 May – Spotted flycatcher, swifts and house martins near Milltown – the first I've seen but I know they've been around for a few days. The first flowers have appeared on the yellow rattle I planted in the autumn to help start another wild flower area. Bluebells at their peak as the white garlic flowers go back. Blackbirds being taken by sparrowhawks on the lawn. Roe deer nearly free of their shabby winter coats, looking stunning in their summer tan.

10 May – After over a month without any, the rain has come like the cavalry to the aid of all our vegetation and made life easier for blackbirds and thrushes to find food for their nestlings. I fear the unseasonable frosts which persisted into May will have had a detrimental effect on some of our wildlife. I hope there are enough insects around to keep the bats and swallows going. The woods are covered in white garlic, bluebells, red campion, primroses and the occasional cowslip – beautiful. 

29 April – First cuckoo heard for over a minute calling in the woods. First sight of three small fox cubs outside their den two days ago. Blackbirds are more numerous than previous years but their nests are being much raided by magpies. Swallows becoming more numerous.

24 April – Walked to Shirehall Moor, seeing the long-tailed tits' nest, a shelduck, reed bunting, pair of stonechats and a willow warbler singing its heart out – from a willow of course.

21 April – Really excited to watch a pair of firecrests collecting moss for their nest. I always think of them as winter visitors here but a small number do stay on to nest in the south west. First cowslips appearing on the hillside. Spotted a Tree Bumblebee amongst the Buff-tailed ones.

17 April – There's masses of sparrowhawk activity in the garden. A pair of ravens is circling the woods constantly and calling to each other, presumably waiting their chance with crows' and other nests they can see before the leaves come out fully to hide them. A tawny owl flew low through the wood in daylight. Buzzards circling. A roebuck casually walked across the lawn. Blue tits carrying nesting material to the boxes. Blackbirds feeding chicks.

14 April – In amongst all the fulmars, ravens and linnets flying over Beacon Cove on the north coast, I saw my first choughs – a pair heading noisily to the pasture to feed. Outside the Fowey Valley I admit, but too exciting not to include.