More unusual than the average earthworm is this green or stubby worm (Allolobophora chlorotica) found this week in our vegetable garden. An excellent UCLAN worm research group website tells you all you could want to know about our 28 native species of earthworm and has an identification guide.

Also in the garden was this caterpillar of the large yellow underwing moth (Noctua pronuba).

More great information at the UK Moths website.

Autumn is the time for fungi and in Blea tarn wood above the fly fishery this common earthball has appeared (Scleroderma citrinum). It is listed as ’slightly poisonous’ in website guide!  These False Chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) are growing on bark chippings in our vegetable garden.

Lancaster Beekeepers’ Association held their annual honey show on October 17th 2009. For the first time it was an all day show and was open to visitors in the afternoon. Forrest Hills bees did very well this year with a first in both the dark and light honey sections. We also took a first prize for our wholemeal bread and our picture of a bee with a varroa mite on it (shown in an earlier post) won 2nd prize in the photography section.

Work continues mainly on the joinery of the roof. The shape of the resource centre is now becoming clearer.

The canopied roof of the first floor room can be seen in the picture on the right, with the steeper sloped cafe and meeting rooms shown in the one on the left.

Ray and Nigel from architects Thomas Associates dropped in for a site visit and to discuss the unique guttering system.

On October 16th this solitary swallow was seen flying around and sitting next to the woodburner chimney on the roof.  It hung around for a few days and was then seen with two others presumably its parents. All have now gone.

It just happened that we were meeting Dave Turner from the BTCV at Forrest Hills that day. He said he’d heard of similar late broods being reared this year.

October brings the start of a new year at Lancaster University and a number of induction events held at Forrest Hills. Last week it was the MSc in Management course. The students carried out various team exercises and projects throughout the day including designing and making t-shirts.