News - A Mystery solved

Through the later part of the summer and into early Autumn I have noticed many of the Horse Chestnut trees going brown very early - or at least much earlier in the year than I am generally used to seeing during my travels.

It seemed sporadic and inconsistent across the trees though.

Well I solved the mystery a couple of days ago when I found this story from The Woodland Trust.

It seems that there is a reason and it is a pesky little import known as a Leaf Miner, which appears to be making rapid progress across Europe.

The Horse Chestnut is one of the target species that is being tracked by The Woodland Trust, so if you want to help with his programme in the future, here is the link to Natures Calendar.

Let us know if you are already reporting.

Finally, another thing I have recently seen a lot of is dead Mink at the roadside. Know given that this is another dreadful import that has devastating impacts on our indigenous wildlife, I am not at all saddened by this, but it has been interesting to note that there have been so many over a period of a few weeks. I guess it is that time of the year where they go into dispersal, and subsequently become casualties on possibly unfamiliar surroundings.

Martin