August 2018 – Secret Surrey

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018

Blues and Poos!

I am a sucker for an invite! Supposedly to help but in truth just an observer who enjoys a chat and a stroll, particularly if its on Chobham Common. I met Ken, who is one of the volunteers working with the Amazing Grace Hedgehog organisation , to check some survey tunnels. Many people are aware of the crash in hedgehog numbers and there is still much to learn about their distribution and use of different habitats. Though the days checks showed no indications of Hedgehog activity, its often forgotten that “negatives” are as important as “positives”in that you can’t figure out whats going on without understand distribution. I had never seen one of these!

The food and inked sheet slide back in to the tunnel and the idea is that a visiting hog will leave inky footprints as it walks through, having a snack on the way.

Do check out this work on the web, its easy to find as the Amazing Grace has the very public support of Queen,s Dr Brian May. My only sadness is that this kind of laudable species work continues the sidelining of the core important conservation work of protecting and managing sites like Chobham Common, but it was forever thus.

Whilst on Chobham Common Ken did take me to the home of an easier to find mammal, the badger. Bearing in mind a badgers size I am continually amazed at how discreet their setts are, even in areas that I know well.

This sett is well established in a bank next to a road and path but unless you looked over the fence or notice the signs you really could miss it.

Badgers keep a tidy and clean home but it was a surprise here that the latrine, or lets call it as it is , their poo point was so close to a main entrance.

Hardly discreet! But a further indication of the sense of security this sett must feel. My Grandson will be delighted I dared to post this, just for you River!

In a previous post I had mentioned my love for the Grayling butterfly, master of camouflage, but on a recent visit I noticed something new to me. On the ground this species can be almost invisibly unless you see it land and I now see that a Grayling on a tree is similarly protected.

Don’t forget the Gentians! If you wish to see the glory you only have a little time left this year.

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018

Bees and Borage

As the rain falls today, I noted that it was exactly two months since I had started the new reserve/ garden area where I live. Already there have been big changes to the wild life in the area in this short space of time and the potential of the project was looking very promising for next year. Earlier in the week I sat and watched up to 10 bees of 3 different species along with 6 butterflies of 4 different species all using the new area. I also noted several Hoverflies busily feeding from the Cornflowers and Borage showing that the area was attracting more than bees and butterflies.
One of the most notable things to me has been how my neighbours have been once I began creating the new area. Everybody has been pleased to see the area ‘tidied up ‘ and some colour put back on the land and most encouragingly one neighbour has told me he has never seen so many butterflies and bees in the area before and he has lived there longer than I have. Things are working! I am also very grateful to my neighbours for buying a few essential tools that have helped me to do the work. The work carries on and this rain will help me plant a few more flowers later on today to bring some more colour for next year.

As you’ve probably noticed the weather and climate have been somewhat extreme this year and the wildlife will be dealing with these changes first hand. These extreme weather patterns have been long predicted as part of the process of global warming. My garden reserve has felt the effects of the very hot weather we experienced a few weeks ago and has manged to not only survive the heat but use it to its advantage by being able to grow rapidly and start to establish ready for next year. It was interesting to note the rapid growth of some newly sown additions after the rain finally returned. In the space of six days I watched seeds to seedlings appear before me.
The cooler weather and rain showers have slowed down the insect activity a little bit but every day I see new activity in some shape or form and another. A new bee species was observed feeding in the area and it, Common Carder Bee, seemed to making full use of the Cornflower and Borage flowers in bloom. A total of eight flower species have made it into bloom and drawn larger numbers of bees, butterflies and various other insects into the local area. You can look at this from a different angle and say that in a very short space of time the biodiversity of the local area has increased by improving ground vegetation, which leads to attracting more insects which in turn will provide food for many bird species, other insects and an almost instant food chain is created.

It’s all well and good getting carried away but the rain also brought ‘ weeds ‘. A few hours have been spent digging or pulling docks, mosses, bindweed, brambles and Borage has been added to the list!

Francis

August 21, 2018August 21, 2018

Old friends and new acquaintances.

Having promised myself to keep my ramblings, both literal and physical, to Surrey I hadn’t figured out that this leads to problems if I am away! However I am now pleased to say that it is now very likely we will be staying at Hempstead for at least a further year.

What’s changed in and around our patcher the last couple of weeks? Well physically, and rather sadly, the elderly and substantial apple tree in the front garden has quietly subsided to the ground. Still attached with bark and laden with fruit I am not going to clear yet in the hope that we can use the last crop. (they are the best apples in the garden). I suspect this tree dates from shortly after the house was built, 1911, and as you may know the best Bramley apples grow on an old tree. To my knowledge this wonderful tree has hosted a tit family every year for the last 24 and some years has also provided home for families of House sparrows, Blackbirds and Robins. A good friend and supplier to me and to the birds.

After a short pause in bird activity round the feeders, probably whilst many were in moult, numbers are rising again with the addition of some “non Hempstead breeding” species. A family of Starlings seem to have discovered the fat balls and my pleasure is tinged with sadness as Starlings nested regularly in my loft till a couple of years ago. The nest hole and habitat round us still looks good enough to me but it now seems unlikely that we will ever again see the autumn and winter flocks develop over the field rounds us.

Much is being said about declining numbers of some breeding birds and how that relates to the massive drop in flying insects across Europe and the further loss of marginal land from agricultural landscapes. It seems the blame is frequently attributed to intensification of agricultural practices and this is often in turn attributed to EU legislation embodied in CAP. To me this explanation is far too simplistic. There is very little intensive agriculture anywhere near where I live and there is still much undeveloped land including large areas of uncultivated military; yet there are still only a tiny proportion of the flying insects about as there used to be. I am old enough to remember it wasn’t long ago that ones car windscreen would be covered in squashed insects particularly during a summer like we have just enjoyed/endured.

I have little doubt that the causes for declines in insects and hence birds are largely anthropogenic but they are going to end up being a cocktail of atmospheric pollution/habitat fragmentation/interruptions to migration routes/hunting/climate change as well as industrialisation of agriculture and subsidy driven farming. Most real farmers instinctively understand the arguments for conservation, most profit driven agribusinesses simply don’t care enough.

August 9, 2018August 9, 2018

Old haunts, expanded outlook.

Last week was National Heath Week and for everybody in the western part of Surrey, land of much heather covered hills, it will be no surprise to find that there are lots of events and walks that could have been enjoyed. August running through to September is the best of times to witness the landscape becoming purple.

Have to say though, that to my mind describing the glory of heather as purple is a poor reflection of the pinks, mauves, purples and rich greens that convert the heaths from a pretty boring (rather bleak even) palate of muted tones to the rich tapestry of almost royal hues now on show.

Photos don’t really cut it (at least I haven’t got anything good enough!) so go and enjoy the displays at your local heaths during the next few weeks.

For me the pull of Chobham common and a walk with Dr Mike Simmonds was enough to get me out. Thanks to Sarah Bunce and her team at the Thames Basin Heaths Partnership for organising the walk and thanks to Mike for sharing his knowledge and insight regarding his research looking at vegetation history through the pollen records form peat. Hope to expand more on this topic with links on the OneObservatory website so keep looking.

It would be very easy for me to eulogise about the wildlife at Chobham common, and I might just do that a little more!

Right now is the time to see a special flower on the common, the only site for it in Surrey, Marsh Gentian.

When they open……

There is much to enjoy on the heaths at this time of year but the best treasures are often small and need a careful look for…

August 6, 2018August 6, 2018

Hedgehogs and absent friends

Unusual happenings in my life always seem to involve wildlife and last weekend was a pretty strange coincidence…..

An afternoon with Roy and Vala, they of of the garden of wildlife and peace, is always an intense pleasure with talk of family and the creatures and plants that they share their life with. July and early August is the quiet time for most birds with an almost complete lack of song whilst birds undertake moults which require discretion to reduce the threat of predators during the periods of reduced flying ability. Birds concentrate on feeding and keeping safe rather than advertising their presence with song. So quiet gardens everywhere including Roys! Still got hand tame Robin though!

High summer is the time of flowers and insects but this really hot dry weather presents problems for both. Plants including flowers are obviously having a shorter life , unless watered, but it is an unseen knock on effect which is likely to cause a longer lasting ripple to insect populations. On the surface it looks like a good year for most butterflies (yet again those that overwinter as butterflies have done poorly) but there is a serious problem for the larvae, not enough food of good quality. A year of boom in some butterflies this year may be followed next year by a crash due to a lack of healthy larvae to overwinter.

Before we left our hosts I had the opportunity to have a quiet chat with their resident Hedgehog. Have to say he, she, is the biggest hedgehog I have ever seen! A delight for me as I have never seen a Hedgehog in my garden, 24 years and nearly everything else you could expect but no Hedgehog but then……

As we pulled in to our drive at home my wife remarked that “wouldn’t it be nice to find a hedgehog in the garden?” The words were barely out of her mouth when we both spied a dark shape on the lawn next the drive… Yep our first ever hedgehog at home!! Smaller and speedily hid in the honeysuckle stems at the base of a pear tree, hence no photo, but a joy nonetheless.

Do remember that planting native species in your garden is great for wildlife and makes common sense as they are likely to be best adapted to UK conditions (Ok there is little that can cope with this heat and drought!).

August 2, 2018August 2, 2018

Project progress

Watching the new garden/reserve develop, each day has been an amazing spectacle to observe. The local wildlife has reacted to the changing habitat in some interesting ways and I have already seen an increase in bee and butterfly activity. The butterflies or to be more exact the Small and Large Whites have been attracted by the accidental cabbage that is growing in amongst the new flowers, which tells me sometimes accidental plants can be beneficial. After six weeks there was enough flowers in bloom to create a food source for at least 3 bee species and Gatekeeper butterfly was observed attempting to feed on the Borage. The Borage itself was proving to be an interesting species in the new area as I had grown them from seed and they were already the dominant species in the meadow area. I am aware of how quickly Borage can take over and shade out the smaller delicate flowers and with this in mind I did some weeding and removed some of the many emerging plants.

As I realised when I started work, the results for this year would not be the end result for the project. For although after six weeks there were flowers in bloom and insects were visiting the flowers, it would take time for a sustainable balance to establish. That said there were also a few practical jobs that needed to be carried out once the ground had been dug over. As the site is on a slope some of the earth tumbled down when I turned the earth over. This was not only messy in a communal area but I need to try and establish some plants in the ground so their root systems could spread and hold the ground together. This was achieved in some areas and the mini avalanches have lessened but the problem has been made worse by the drought that we are still experiencing as I write this.
The establishment of a wildflower meadow in the middle of summer, in the middle of a so far six week drought seems a bit stupid but as I hope you all know, nature is a powerful and resilient force to be reckoned with for although I have watered the plants they have only received a couple of watering cans a day and been left for a couple of days with no water on weekly basis since they were planted and I have yet to lose any plants. This is some indication as to the drought tolerant wild flowers are in comparison to many vegetables and garden cultivars that the majority of the population grow in their gardens.
Feeling pleased so far with this year’s results I decided to spend a invest a little money by buying some extra plants and even though I have seen the resilience and power of natural species, this time I upgraded to plant plugs hopefully giving them a better chance of establishing themselves. We shall have to wait and see what happens as I still have an image in my head of insect filled meadowland. Itself starting to happen already and it’s looking good for next year.

When trying to attract wildlife to an area, it is always helpful to know what is actually already there in the first place. With this knowledge you can help to encourage wildlife to your area with the provision of food and cover so they can flourish. My project was trying to create a new habitat, particularly for insects of the species already present in the area. I have lived at my flat for seven years and over that time I have observed many interesting species of various different groups and felt that the creation of a wildflower area would help a number of those I have already observed. To further my knowledge earlier this year I got a moth trap and started recording the species in area. Moths are good indicators of how healthy a habitat is because like butterflies, they are sensitive to changes of vegetation and habitats in general. Like the UKs butterflies, moth numbers are falling because of habitat loss and this shows that we are needing to create new habitats to help these populations survive. I had also thought that if I could find out which moth species were present, I could then plant some plants that would help to encourage them to the area. After a month of trapping I have already recorded over 50 species of moth which has given me some ideas on a few more plants to put in the garden.

By week seven things were looking promising with over 100 plants and seedlings planted and a number of these were flowering and attracting bees and butterflies on a daily basis. A Red Tailed Bumblebee was an addition to the site and has been seen regularly over the last week. The most notable thing that has happened was that we finally got some rain! It was amazing to see how the ground reacted and on the days after how the green came back into the dried out vegetation around the site. It also meant that all the weeds came up as well and I spent some time removing docks and bindweed from the meadow area trying to stop their spread.