Ah, You Noticed!

Bee and Beauty, thanks to Vala Collyer

 

During these unprecedented times I have noticed a number of unusual activities in our relationships with the natural world. One of the things I have constantly observed is how many people are actually talking about nature and the natural world. Some of the reasons of why this happening are fairly obvious; the fact that people have not got the options that they usually have has actually made many people walk in countryside, a place that many of them have rarely been and possibly never been before. In news articles there has been many references to fact that UK people are noticing birdsong more which is down to fact of less noise from traffic and airplanes whose use has been greatly reduced in the last few weeks. The other morning at dawn I was awake and as I sat and listened to the birds of the dawn chorus, there was very little of the background noise that normally occurs.

The decrease in general noise has been very noticeable to me and I quickly realised that the majority of people who were making comments about bird song were possibly hearing them for the first time or more probably had only noticed them because of the decrease in noise. This point itself is part of a current world situation and if we look at some of the stories from around the world in the past few weeks there are many examples of how lack of human activity/disturbance has benefitted the natural world and the species that live in the world’s habitats and ecosystems. There are already countless examples of how the wildlife of the world has taken advantage of this current ‘ quiet ‘ time and the examples range from the Welsh Goats leaving their natural hill habitats and coming into the villages to forage to Thailand where because of the lack of tourists , large numbers of sharks have been observed for the first time and many years and there has also been Leatherback Turtles egg laying on beaches for the first time in 6 years. To me one of the most amazing examples that has occurred is that the Himalayas have become visible in parts of Northern India for the first in over 30 years because of the massive drop in air pollution over the last few weeks.

These examples raise a number of points. The first is something obvious to me and something that conservationists have been saying for years, and that is that if you give nature some space and quiet, species will recolonise. It also shows how quickly nature will seize an opportunity and benefit from it. For instance, on a more local level, the Jackdaws in Cranleigh have taken over the church and are building nests in locations that they would normally not be able to nest in.
During this unprecedented time there have been many changes in human and animal behaviour and now as I hear the news each day and I listen to various world leaders talk about getting their countries’ economies moving again I wonder if there will be any fundamental changes in the way humanity lead their everyday lives that will have a positive effect on our troubled planet. The signs from various of the world’s leaders does not look particularly promising and the same old boom and bust capitalist rational will continue to be the driving force in America, Brazil, China and most European counties. This has already been tried for many years and the environment and its wildlife has paid the heaviest price for this, as have the millions of people around the world who are still living in poverty. In amongst the various politicians proposed visions of life after the virus, there has been a number of scientists and conservationists raising the potential that we could start to make changes now particularly in light of the situation that most of the world is currently experiencing that will beneficial to our planet, its wildlife and its people. Could the collapse in oil prices prompt a move towards electric cars or the ending of various aircraft companies? Many of which are now requesting help from governments right now. Billionaires asking for government help is too ironic for me!

There are many unanswered questions at this time but there are some positives as I said and I feel the recent connection that everyday people seem to have made with the natural world is a very good thing and as I worked on my reserve the other day I heard a little girl and her dad walking through the woods nearby and suddenly the little girl exclaimed ” it’s really smelly here ” to which her father, who seemed to know a bit, explained that the smell was Ramsons or Wild Garlic and you could just hear her amazement.

In this moment I realised that there is always hope for the future whatever happens after this current crisis we are all currently experiencing.

Small Wonders

For those of us with gardens there can be little doubt that they are probably one of the few calm spaces available to us. Similar to the exercising walk, more time in the garden has meant greater appreciation of the small things, small changes, new life and, for many, greater appreciation of the variety of life that envelops us. That’s not to say life in the garden can lack drama, whether its the daily high speed appearance of madam Sparrowhawk or the almost constant acrobatic bullying of the local Red Kites by any of the local crows.

Lady killer, but this pigeon did actually live to tell the tale!

Much has been made of the great expansion of the recording of garden birds on the schemes promoted by the RSPB and BTO, and this is clearly a good thing. County based recording via Twitter is revealing all kinds of wonderful surprises for the birders and the expansion of recording overflying birds at night is uncovering simply amazing evidence of migration routes that I find staggering and utterly fascinating. Now we know that there is almost no limit to the number of bird species that could be flying over your house at night! Your imagination now really does have justification for running wild.

Back to earth at Hempstead, spring trundles on, oblivious to the anxiety in the world of humans. The details draw me in; it’s fascinating that fruit trees, even those closely related, follow a consistent sequence of blossoming, stoned fruit (blackthorn, plums, cherries), pears then apples (even they have a variety sequence that remains consistent).

Apple blush

How come? Weather is too variable to be responsible, so I’m guessing it’s day length. I love the fact that it seems many plants have means of detecting changes in their environment of a sensitivity that is hard for even our technology to match. Yes I do get that I could probably find a scientific explanation but often I just love to wonder at the complexity and sheer beauty of natural details.

Yellow is still, just, dominating the wild flowers but bluebells and local wood anemones are poised to take over.

Proper Cowslip

Having planted a couple of Cowslip plants over 20 years ago they have proliferated in to most areas of the garden. As a species they are ready hybridisers with Primroses, of any variety. Difficult to see how you can stop this hybridising occurring in a garden context and I suspect the bluebells, which were here when I moved in, wouldn’t meet the genetic standard for a native species. Hmmmm….. that reads like a future topic for Francis to tackle!

Cowslip hybrid

When the wind drops the buzzing of bees has been getting louder.

Bumbles love Pulmonaria

I know I have several species of Bumbles and a collection of many smaller species. Masonry bees in the brickwork, mining bees in the veg plot (actually in the flower bed in the veg plot, there to be kept safe from marauding deer!). Bee flies chasing their host species of bumble and hoverflies beginning to appear.

Don’t ask me bee!

A few butterflies are braving the cool wind but the lack of moths is becoming a  concern to me, as is the absence of the bats that normally circle my lawn at dusk.

Holly Blue on the Bay Tree

This little piece started with the joy that birds can incite but I’m going to voice my sadness which partners this joy for me in my little patch of garden.

My joy, and puzzlement to be honest, at the appearance of a 40 strong flock of Starlings in the surrounding fields is matched with a sadness that Starlings haven’t bred in the garden or house for a couple of years.

The joy of glimpsing 4 Swallow flying over is tinged with the sadness that this is no longer a daily event, no locally breeding birds any more. Rarely will I see or hear Martins or Swifts yet when I was young our road had tens of House Martins nests tucked under the eaves, my school had dozens of nests and I even did a project on them. Swifts used to barrel down the road screaming, a real joy. I’m so sad that local kids just won’t see these things and experience life to its fullest potential.

Curious Jay by Steve Duffy

Watching a pair of surprisingly gentle and caring Jays has been fascinating but where are the missing smaller less obtrusive birds? Linnets nested in this garden and the adjacent hedgerows for much of the nineties, now gone. Skylarks could be heard whilst enjoying a cup of tea, not any more. No pipits and only rarely a Pied Wagtail. I will look back over what’s been seen in and from our garden, it is frankly amazing but what matters is where we are now and what we can do to help and to celebrate the everyday.

 

Every Cloud…..

Spring and the weather can bring great peace and not a little joy if you have the opportunity to get outside in a garden or into local countryside for an exercise walk.

My problem, according to my wife, is that I get distracted by nearly everything that we encounter on our daily walks. Admittedly I am fascinated at changes, small and significant, that get noticed when you walk a route more regularly than usual. A quick stroll gets longer and longer……

Oaks beginning to blush green

It might be the effect that a change in light or the colour of a cloud has or it might be watching the Magpies riding sheep.

Where’s the reins!

This year spring flowers and bloom on trees look more abundant almost as if whilst we are catching our breath, nature is slowly exhaling. Frosts have done some damage to the local magnolia blooms but even they have continued to produce more.

Celandines are still producing yellow carpets on verges and in woods and the next wave, wood anemones and bluebells, are beginning to burst forth.

Celandine strewn stream

Textures and shapes can draw you in and might inspire wether the bark of an alien tree

Or the magic of unfurling leaves.

I hadn’t really considered just how fantastic the process of leaf growth actually is. From small buds, then swelling ones of all shapes and sizes there comes forth these miracles of natural engineering. Each vein a sign of a fold that had formed whist still tightly contained in a protective case. Each species evolved to produce a specific folding pattern, magic!

Hidden views discovered

Great pleasure in realising that local can just be stunning and surprise you with bits of history and culture that you kinda assumed you should have known.

Who’s he?

On our “patch” is a beautifully sited very old church, more on that another time, and whilst walking through we are beginning to find what to us are fascinating little mysteries. For example, a small sign pointed the way to the above grave marker. That means you just have to find out why he is of note, doesn’t it? Much to our surprise, and a little embarrassment to be honest, Sidney was an artist of some repute and has a gallery celebrating his work in a local building. The upstairs of the very building where my daughter went to play school! Who knew? Definitely a place to visit when the restrictions are lifted.

Little dramas play out, some of them not to script. After leaving the churchyard via a beautiful old gate in need of some repair,

 

we first encountered what looked like a very lonely Egyptian Goose, not what you expect in a Worplesdon field,

All alone?

but a couple of days later

happy days, there was 2! Probably a bit late for babies as the first clutch Ive seen this year was in January near Chobham.

More sun, more flowers, more butterflies.Last Sunday first Holly Blue

and yesterday, with the first Garlic Mustard flowers, appeared my favourite Orange Tip

Orange tip, not on Garlic Mustard!

Remember, look for the small and easy to walk past, use all your senses, it really is, still, a beautiful world.

Good from Bad

Well here we are all then, in an unprecedented situation for humanity. And like Steve said I’m not going to enter this hotbed of controversy here other than hoping that all who read this are safe and well, take good care of yourselves and each other. So, we all have had restrictions put on us that have restricted our movements and as you have probably gathered from some of my previous articles; I am a man who likes to get out and about.

Violets.

With this situation in place and living in crowded Surrey I have found myself in my reserve a lot of the time in the last 3 weeks. In all honesty, I have needed a lot of time out there in order to regain some kind of control, as helped by the incredibly mild winter, certain familiar species had run rampant through many of the planted-up areas. To the gardeners amongst you will know about the ‘ familiar ‘ species I am referring to and over the winter I had noticed how many plant species had not died off or wilted due to the mild conditions and when I finally got there to deal with it I instantly realised that this was going to be a big task and regretted for not starting to deal with issue a bit earlier. After 3 weeks of doing a minimum of half an hour daily weeding I have just about ‘ cleaned ‘ the flower beds and there are two very large piles of Creeping Buttercups, Broad Leaved Dock and Pendulous Sedge that I have dug, pulled and scraped out of the ground in order to try and redress the balance. I have already previously mentioned that I was aware that this kind of situation could occur in my new reserve and, given the habitats surrounding the area and the tenacity of the problem species I have been dealing with, is never to be underestimated.

Before
After a bit of effort!
After a bit more!

After I had removed as much as I could I started to think of ways to try and slow down this invasion and stop it happening every year. I realised my best chance to abate the weeds was to plant another strong growing species to try establish themselves before the problem species take over again
I had a little look into the woods just behind the reserve area to see which plants were growing on the woodland floor with the thought of finding a suitable species to plant on the edge of my area to try and stop the deluge of Ranuculus. Before you start thinking that I was stealing plants and going against all the things we are taught about picking wildflowers, I will say that the 20 plants I did end up digging out were A) very common. B) in an area where they were often trodden on by the many members of the public who use the woods and C) planting them 50 metres from where I dug them up was actually helping to extend their range in the area. The plants were Ramsons, wild garlic, and there are several large patches in the woods and when they are in flower they give that pleasant garlic odour and beautiful white flowers that will attract a few insects. Ramsons can form quite dense carpets on woodland floors which is I’m hoping is what my transplants will be doing on the edge on my reserve. As I’m becoming more aware of the power of the invasive weeds I felt that the Ramsons would need some time to get established and as we enter the start of the growing season, I knew all the invasive species would start growing all over again, particularly in the newly weeded areas where I had planted the Ramsons. I had a good think about other plant species that could compete with the problem species and one potential species was found accidentally whilst I looked through my collection of seeds (which was itself quite strange as the they were only wildflower seeds I had) Red Campion which seemed a good species to join in the battle. Their reddish pink flowers are in flower from April to July and are also quite shade tolerant which is good as where I was planting was going to be partially shaded. A common species in hedgerows and woodland and, like Ramsons, can form quite dense areas. I sowed some of the seeds directly into the ground in between the Ramson transplants and I also sowed some into pot that I took indoor to try and give them a bit of a head start.

Ramson transplants.

After 2 weeks there are already signs of life in the potted seeds.
I also added one more species to help stop the invasion, Wild Strawberry, which again is a species that can grow rapidly and form dense covering. I was given a single plant last year which I planted in midsummer and by the end of the summer had already flowered and fruited and spread. I have only planted a couple of plants and will see how they get on in the battle. Some of you may be well aware that the species that I have planted in order to try and dissuade invasive species can themselves be quite invasive and I have cleared them in several gardens I have worked in the past. I was well aware of this myself before I planted them and knew that I could be pulling them out in a few years if they got established over the course of this year. In their defence they all produce flowers that are vital nectar sources for potential visiting insects and will offer a visually beautiful show of colours hopefully.

Perfumed Ramsons!

We can only wait and see what happens in the forthcoming weeks as spring progresses. And as I’ve quite a bit more to do!

As I have spent a lot of time out in the area I had cleared and planted up over the last couple of years I started to look at the gardens next to my plot which were all totally overgrown and in a state of poor condition. With a lot more time on my hands I took the decision to try and clear and dig over the ground to prepare the ground ready to replant and further extend the area of the ‘reserve ‘. On one side I began to dig over the earth removing the sods of earth as I went along. This area had once been garden but had not been touched for at least 6 years and most of the area was covered with grass and various other weeds. So far I have managed to dig over about a third of the area and still have a fair amount of digging and weeding to do before I plant up the new space. On the other side of the garden, the other overgrown area was a bit more of a challenge as there were a few major issues. Bramble invasion I could deal with and happily hacked back the sections where they had invaded. I then began to cut the rank grass down and soon discovered that the grass had grown through matting that had been laid years ago in order to prevent weeds growing! This was going to be a massive job and one that I have yet to start, ah well, I’ve got some time.

New Extension.

With all this activity was there actually any wildlife using the area?
It is massively reassuring when I see the local life in the area I have created and with a bit more time on my hands I have felt very rewarded to observe some things that have been seen. I began to put out some monkey nuts in the evening and the locals Badgers soon made an appearance and have seen them a few nights. I can hear, when my window is open, the cracking of the nutshells and know that they are about or so I thought for the other night I heard the shell cracking and took a look out the window and saw a big dog Fox waltzing around and occasionally cracking a nutshell. Due to a change in lighting at the flats where I live the reserve area is now much darker than it used to be and observations are a little bit harder to make.

Signs of Badger Banquet.

During the day time there has been a lot of Bumblebee activity with at least 3 different species observed, Buff Tailed, White Tailed and Early. I’ve seen a White-Tailed Queen investigating the walls at the bottom of garden looking for potential nest sites. Often in the mornings I’m seeing many bird species feeding around the area where the night shift has fed including Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock and for the last week a Song Thrush has been regularly seen. Bullfinches have been fairly regular and the male’s mournful song has been heard on a few days. Summer migrants have started to arrive and there was a Blackcap up in the woods along with a Chiffchaff.

As nature bursts into life , we shall see what this strange years brings.

Back to basics

Its no longer possible for me to excuse lack of posting  by claiming too busy, but I promise that Francis and I will try and avoid constant reference to what seems to fill most media space at present.

We are both fortunate to have access to gardens and exercise through walking locally. So back to some simple truths and the basics of our joy in the countryside.

Spring has been rushing forward with only short pause for some pretty hard frosts, with the first wave of white and yellow wild flowers.

Stitchwort

Early blooms are at least a food source for the early mergers of the insect world, bees and overwintering butterflies in particular. In some ways these early flowers are often ignored, unless they are part of a mass display of primroses or cowslips, because they don’t really contrast in colour against the grass.

King cup

Overwintering butterflies like Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Cooma and Red Admiral are all on the wing when the wind drops.

Comma

Survivors like these show their age with worn or faded colours but have can have the advantage breeding early. Just as likely that the weather can catch them out and if they don’t find a sheltered spot will perish.

Bees are a lot harder to photograph but we will try, as the variety is amazing and in my garden the mimics, fly species, are also active often following true bees around presumably waiting for an opportunity to parasitise their host species.

Stay safe and get back to basics, find a little joy in the small local things wherever you are.