Tag Archives: Hornet

Wildlife at Nunney Castle, Somerset

Nunney Castle, Somerset. It was besieged and intentionally ruined by Cromwell’s parliamentary forces in the English Civil War.
Hornet drinking in moat of Nunney Castle. The moat had plenty of tadpoles and smooth newts.
Nunney Castle from the south-west
Large Red Damselfly on lichened stone beside the moat
Wall Rue Spleenwort, a plant of old undisturbed walls, at Nunney Castle

Dordogne: Inhabitants of this house (23 July 2014)

Humans are the most obvious inhabitants, but definitely not the most numerous. The others include:

House Mice (frequently, in loft and whenever food is provided in the kitchen)

Stone Martens (occasionally, in the loft)

Potter and Mason Wasps (making nest pots in the walls)

Wall Lizards (visible any warm day)

Spiders, the ones with very long thin legs, that shake their bodies to warn off predators (we chase them out but there are always more)

Woodworm (never quite eliminated, despite best efforts)

Hornets (just a few, trying to nest in a hole much too small for a proper Hornets’ Nest, unless they’ve found a way right through into the loft, let’s hope not).

Common wasps, too, much as above.

Black Redstarts (well, they stalk the roofline at dusk, as owners of the place; they nest in a hedge nearby)

Meal moths (still living on 50-year-old cereal dust remaining from when the house was a working farm)

Today a White Admiral, a Brimstone female, and a Silver-Washed Fritillary paid visits.