Our wildlife
Portnellan is full of wonderful wildlife –
in spring, when the trees are coming into leaf, the
primroses and bluebells are beautiful and a bit later on
the ponds are full of frog and toad spawn.
After a shower of rain at night, hundreds of frogs and
toads come out and sit croaking away. We often
wonder what they are saying!
Portnellan has many hedges that are left to grow to
protect the wildlife habitats and many butterflies, bees
and other insects live there. The
bright green ‘docken beetles’ are a faithful friend to
us – because we don’t use weed killers, many weedy docks
grow in the silage fields – the docken beetles consume
the dock leaves until they are little more than a lace
doily and if you get stung by a nettle after the beetles
have been on the march, it’s difficult to find a dock
leaf for soothing comfort!
We also have foxes, pheasants, roe deer, rabbits,
hares, hedgehogs, badgers, stoats and weasels. In 2005,
the RSPB carried out a bird survey and counted
47 different species, including more than 20 'common
species' whose survival is giving rise for concern. The
wildflowers at Portnellan are plentiful and many of our
visitors enjoy going out with a flower book.
Hedgerows
encourage wildlife
A hedgehog forages on pasture near the shore |
Bluebells in
May
The docken beetle starting to work on a dock leaf
Fungi abound
Greylag geese join us for the winter
|
