David Bennett

Saw two foxes today at Cambridge University Botanic Garden. They were just a few feet from people standing watching them. A mallard couple in the stream didn’t seem to feel any need to move as the foxes came to the edge of the water.

One of the foxes had longer fur and was a little bigger than the other, but both were small. Were they are male and a female, perhaps? Young siblings perhaps?

More Chafer Grubs

On another topic, there were lots of fresh divots of grass and soil turned over on the main lawn – more crows after chafer grubs. From the number of divots of disturbed grass and soil, there must be a lot of. chafer grubs.

Cherry Tree

Also at Cambridge University Botanic Garden today, a Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) in bloom. The flowers are white when they are out, but tinged with pink when the buds are closed or just opening.

The Local Council replaced the two newly planted trees on Jesus Green here in Cambridge that didn’t make it through their first year. The two trees planted in their place are Cercis siliquastrum (Judas tree) and Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip tree).

The generic name Cercis comes from the Greek kerkis, meaning a shuttle, which refers to the resemblance of the seed pods to a weaver’s shuttle. And siliquastrum means a pod. So really it is the pod-pod tree.

According to Wikipedia, the botanical name Liriodendron comes from the Greek and means a lily tree, And tulipifera which means to bring forth tulips, because its flowers resemble a tulip. In the right soil conditions it can grow to 55m and more. That will be a sight.

Speaking to one of the tree specialists at the Council a few days ago, he said that lack of water is the main cause of tree losses. And it is well nigh impossible to overwater a newly planted tree.

A few days ago I noticed divots of grass and soil turned over on the lawn that fronts to the greenhouses at the Botanic Gardens. I asked and the gardener said it was the work of rooks and crows digging for chafer grubs. I didn’t get an answer yet to my full question, which was that the damage seemed to follow the location of the fairy circles that I saw last year (and the year before that).

Chafer grubs are about 2cm long and are the larvae of the chafer beetle. The grubs feed on the roots of grass plants and then in Spring they surface and emerge as beetles. They swarm and fly into the trees to mate, and then the females come down to lay eggs in the soil. The eggs hatch into grubs and begin feeding. And that completes the cycle.

Gardeners control chafer grubs on lawns by soaking the ground with nematodes. They are microscopic creatures that act as parasites on other insects by releasing bacteria into the host’s body to kill them. The nematode then eats the host.