Francis’s thoughts – Page 4

January 14, 2019

The Love Hen

So, you all know about my favourite species of bird now and it’s true I have a tattoo of one on my arm! It needs a bit of work doing on it to be honest as it’s been there 23 years which shows you how long I have been a fan (obsessed) with these birds.

Now Steve has persuaded me to pass on some more information to you about this enigmatic little water bird I’ve had to cast my mind back to where this affair all started.

I’ve been looking at birds all of my life and when I think about Moorhens in my childhood and can vividly remember two places where I always saw Moorhens. The first place was the large lake, in the large park that was on the edge of the town where I grew up in Kent. In one corner of the lake there was a carpark and area where the local boat club did things. On a Sunday afternoon it was common for the people of the local town to come and feed the ‘ducks. ‘ There were the usual hybrid Mallards, Canada Geese, a family of Mute Swans and lots of Coots. In the winter months there were often Tufted Ducks, Pochard and the resident Great Crested Grebe were also present here. When the people fed the birds, it would often be what I can only describe as anarchic with all these birds fighting to get to the food that the humans had brought with them. Being the smallest species present the Moorhen were lucky to get any of the food that had been thrown in the water or had dropped on the ground. I noticed despite their size they were pretty feisty and ready to defend themselves against the larger birds. I then realised that they were pretty smart as well when I observed them leaving the water and apart from the smash and grab style of feeding some individuals were walking, or should I say strutting around the parked cars and picking up the scraps around the cars that had been dropped by the humans eating their sandwiches. None of the other birds present were brave enough to try this method of feeding.

The other childhood place where I learnt about them was in the stream in the nearby village. The stream had an open area called the Brooks where the stream broadened and slowed down and there was a path down the middle where people would walk and also feed the many fewer Mallards that were generally there. The Moorhens were always along the edge of the stream bordering the over grown field. They would take part in similar feeding methods and were often found in quieter moments to be found in the gardens and the pub garden on the other side of the stream. Here I first saw nesting Moorhens and remember how fiercely territorial they were with many a fight being seen in March when they were preparing to nest. Two to three pairs would nest here every year and there were normally 2 nests along the field edge, attached to vegetation that rooted on the field but had bent over the stream and supplied the Moorhens an anchor point on which to build their nest. There was another pair that build a nest ten feet out in the stream on a branch that had fallen from a riverside tree and, in the complete open. Moorhens nesting habits are particularly interesting and as I’ve tried to show how opportunistic they are as nest builders the rest of nesting story is equally interesting. The nest itself is generally woven from vegetation such as Reedmace but I have seen all sorts of material from small branches to plastic being used. The nesting season can start in late March and these days go on as late as October with a pair capable of producing 3 broods per breeding season

The eggs are an olive brown with dark spots of varying sizes and shades. They are incubated for 17 – 22 days by both parents. The early broods normally have more eggs than the later ones with up to 12 eggs being laid in early broods and 5 – 6 in the later ones. The newly hatched chicks are super cute black woollen balls with long legs and are instantly mobile and actively feeding and swimming under their parent’s vigilante guidance. A study of the Moorhens North American counterpart and considered to be the same species until 2011, the Common Gallinule has revealed that newly hatched chicks have barbs in their wing feathers that help them climb vegetation in order to feed, avoid predators and roost. Clever stuff and more interesting behaviour can be seen with our Common Moorhens later in the breeding season when the first brood juveniles will be left for short periods of time, by the adults to ‘ babysit ‘ the next younger broods. Perhaps this explains the different brood sizes that they lay. By the autumn, when the young have been reared, the adults will drive the youngsters off their territory.

Now when you look at Moorhens in flight they don’t look that impressive but don’t let it fool you because Common Moorhens breed almost continually from western Europe to Japan and many of the birds that breed in Russia have to migrate south great distances because of freezing winter conditions. Many of these birds will make it to Europe including Britain and Ireland. They migrate at night and several times over the years I have heard calling Moorhens at night over head. Moorhens make a whole variety of calls from the purring trill to the explosive alarm that has made me jump at night time. I find their calls really expressive and characterful.

I once visited Copeland Island, six miles into the Irish Sea, off the coast of County Down to look at the birds there. The Island’s bird observatory were catching migrant birds for ringing and one afternoon they caught a moorhen. There was not really any fresh water on the island and this bird was obviously a migrant. This bird was also pretty angry at being caught and managed to make one of the ringers bleed after he was lashed by one of it claws. Their ability to survive seems to be pretty hardcore and their omnivorous diet will help them further. I have seen them eating everything from new plant shoots to dead rabbits. Back in my childhood I remember looking in an orchard in the local valley where some apples had been left fallen and in amongst the feeding winter thrushes were 2 Moorhen.

To me they are a pretty amazing species and thankfully the population is remaining stable with declines in some areas and growth in others, they are spreading North probably helped by global warming but are also susceptible to land drainage and developments. The species will prevail I feel as I’ve seen them on ponds in the centre of London and little pools in the middle of woods. Where ever there is water with some vegetation there’s likely to be some Moorhens there so I urge you to have a closer look and see what they are up to. This time of the year they can gather in to fairly large numbers and will often fed in fields adjacent to the water.

They are hardcore survival species with an interesting life story

December 10, 2018

Observing All Hours

To know what kind of wildlife uses a reserve you to actually have to watch and observe the area to record the species present. In my new reserve, or garden as some might call it, I have mainly had casual observations whilst looking out of the window often whilst washing up and the other day I thought I ought to start trying to record more species and share them with yourselves and send records in of what I recorded so I could add to the database of recording and monitoring the state of our wildlife. This year I have spent more time in the reserve than ever before and after undertaking the clearance work and all the continuing ground preparation, this has added up to a fair few hours out there. When the first few flowers started to attract insects, I started to make notes of the records from the garden. Then I started to run the Moth trap and have so far recorded over 40 species. All of the Moth species records have been sent in to the recorders. The whole reason for planting this area up was to attract wildlife at looking back over the last six months; so far so good.

The other day I woke up early and the skies were dark at 6.am. I thought this maybe the day to have a look at the reserve at dawn to see what was using the area. As I lay in bed I heard the first Robin song in the darkness and knew there would be some action soon, so I got up and made a coffee and positioned myself to see what would turn up.

There were 3 Robins in song in the area and as the light became stronger the local Carrion Crows began to leave their roosts and call loudly. I had brought a new bird feeder in the week and positioned it where cat attacks would be quickly spotted. So far, I’ve not witnessed any attempts and, in all honesty, it was taking the local bird population a while to get used to the new feeder, with birds that were using the feeders adopting a smash and grab style of feeding. I saw Great Tit and Blue Tit using this method today and noted the one Blue Tit who was braver than the rest and fed on the peanuts for a minute before the local squirrel arrived. Now we all know how ingenuous these animals are at raiding bird feeding stations and this one crawled along the fence at sat a couple of feet away contemplating its’ next move. It seemed unsure of the situation and decided that eating the bird food on the ground was a better option and proceeded to this feeding method. Its’ presence seemed to scare the smaller birds away from using the new feeding station. The local Magpies were also unhappy as they were coming in and feeding on any leftover peanuts that the Badgers had missed from the night before.

The squirrel to and froes for 5 minutes and I noted it burying some of the food it collected in 3 different locations all of which were going to be dug over in the forthcoming weeks in order to prepare the ground for next year’s planting! Tough luck for the squirrel! Eventually it moved off and after a few moments I saw a Jay fly right over the reserve and land in the woods behind. It called and flew on to the fence and then flew to the ground found himself a missed peanut and flew off into the woods with its food. This was about 5 or six seconds in total and I had that “right time, right place feeling”. Up until then, I had never seen any Jay’s on the ground on the reserve before and made it worthwhile being up early to witness this and remember how opportunistic Jay’s and the Corvid family in general, can be. There were other birds feeding on the ground as well in the quietness of the early morning with Robins, Blackbirds and even a Great Tit taking some fallen seeds. I will most definitely repeat a dawn watch at various times of the year in the future as you can then see some behavioural differences. As I’m aware that the birds here are not totally comfortable with the new feeding station yet but am also aware that it has been very mild again in the last week and I’ve seen plenty of seeds and berries as I’ve travelled about the area. There’s still quite a bit of natural food left out there, so the birds will not be so desperate to be find garden feeders yet. I’m waiting for some really cold weather to see how the birds react and if the feeder gets more active. We shall see.
PS
After finishing this piece, I decided on a coffee and as I stood at the sink a winter Tit flock arrived on the reserve and for 10 frenzied minutes I saw 3 Blue tit, 3 Great Tit 1 Coal Tit 2 Nuthatches and 1 Long Tailed Tits all feeding at the new restaurant. It may be mild but they can’t turn down food!

December 10, 2018

Ears and Eyes to the Sky

My life being involved with the natural world really started with birds. I was lucky with the fact that near to where I grew up there was a very active Y.O.C. club, that’s Young Ornithologists Club to those old enough to remember and was the junior section of the R.S.P.B. now called the Wildlife Explorers. I had been taken on many a walk in the local park as a young child and from eight years old was going on field trips to different places where I learnt more and was lucky in the fact that I picked up on calls and songs of birds quickly. This is still one of my main bird watching tools and during my lifetime of studying birds it never leads me occasionally to comical results.

I was fortunate to witness ‘ vis mig ‘ at several English east coast locations during times of migration, that’s visible migration by the way. I have seen small sparrow sized species arrive on our shores in varying styles and numbers. I’ve seen flocks of Linnet flying at speed along beaches and on the same day seen single birds flying high

Many of these small birds were often seen from quite a distance and even with good optics it was difficult to identify them unless they called. Many birds will call whilst migrating and this will give the observer a chance to identify them.
Only this morning whilst out in my reserve/garden I heard a call above me and looked up to see four small birds flying high in a south easterly direction. I was taken back to the vis mig days and inspired to write this piece. The birds flying over were Skylarks that were moving/migrating to new feeding areas. In this day and age this is a notable record as Skylark have massively declined in recent years due changes in agriculture.

Over the years of studying birds I have observed many species by knowing their calls and although sometimes you may not get the best views in the world, you will know that that species is actually present. By knowing bird calls and songs you will observe more and often in places you may not expect. In recent years I have spent more time in town and have recorded a number of species that I was alerted to by calls that could even be heard in the hustle and bustle of a busy town. I regularly hear and see Grey Wagtails, Peregrines, Goldfinch and Swifts. Occasionally I have heard & observed Common Terns and even in the dark I have heard migrating Redwing.
My advice to see more birds would be learn their sounds and although it can be difficult it is well worth the effort and you will never be bored. At this time of year there are not many birds singing apart from Robins, Wrens and Song Thrush but you can still hear all the calls of the other species. So, get out there and see what you can hear! Good luck with it and I hope your ears help solve some secrets

November 22, 2018

Winter Arrives

The reserve has been changing slowly over the last few weeks and our ever changeable weather, as always, has held the key to the change. As you know, this year has been very warm after the slow cool spring and the results have been obvious with a number of the flowers I had planted in the summer still flowering in mid November. The tree leaves didn’t start to drop seriously until the second week of this month and as I raked a few leaves off the reserve last week I remembered that this was the sort of job I used to do from late September onwards and that autumn seemed to be four to five weeks later than when I was a child.

With all the warmth the persistent weeds had a chance to invade areas I had previously cleared. I tried to keep on top off these species but know it is going to be an impossible battle to totally control.

The reason these plants are successful species is because they have the ability to quickly move into cleared areas and put down their roots and runners and establish themselves as the dominant species.

As leaves have only come down in the last couple of weeks I had been spared any major leaf raking but now they were down and building up in areas of the garden that had been cleared and although you may feel that my clearance was a little too tidy for a natural garden/reserve area , I am only doing this to stop over fertilisation of the soil where there would be wildflowers growing next year. Most wildflowers do not require high nutrient levels in the soil where they grow and leaves will enrich the soil when they rot down. It is again a thankless task but until the flowers are established, I feel it will help establishing the wildflowers for next year.

So what has the local wildlife been doing with these changes in the season and on the reserve? Well there has been a lot more birds seen, possibly due to the fact that I have started a feeding stations on the site and it amazed me that when I put the first feeder up, there were Blue Tit and Coal Tits feeding within ten minutes on the feeders. When the weather was unseasonably warm last week I noted less activity on the feeders and then the temperatures dropped a few degrees and the feeders became a hive of activity once again and I have noted Blue, Great, Coal and Long – Tailed Tits along with the feisty Robins and Nuthatches all feeding at the new feeding station.

I say it’s a new feeding station but it all honesty it’s an old site that hasn’t been used for six years now and I’ve already seen a few issues to where it is positioned. A lot of cover has grown around the site and I’ve already seen the local cat community launch a few, thankfully failed, attempts at the feeding station. So I’m going to reposition the feeding station to a more open area where the feeding birds will have a better chance of spotting any incoming predators like the cats and the local Sparrowhawk of which I noted a large female blast through the site the other day but was unsuccessful in its attempt. I have less of an issue with the Sparrowhawks than the cats as the Sparrowhawks are native to the area and need to eat like everything does. The Badgers and Foxes are still regular nocturnal visitors and I’ve seen how the Foxes always give way to the badgers and are much more wary than the Badgers who don’t seem that bothered at my presence at all!

We shall see what the deeper winter brings the local wildlife populations in the garden over the forthcoming weeks and how they deal with it.

November 14, 2018November 20, 2018

Now is The Time

I am one of those people who likes to know what is going on around the world so I read, listen to or watch the news each day. I have a particular interest in environmental issues and the welfare of the peoples of the world and see how these two areas are intrinsically linked. When you consider the many different ways people barely survive in the world today whilst trying to accommodate to the speed of change in their environment, the natural world simply cannot adapt quickly enough without losing species. Latest figures, 60% loss of the world’s natural species in my lifetime (and I’m not as old as Steve!). In recent weeks there have been a number of reports about global warming, species & habitat loss and a whole variety of depressing news for the natural world. These reports made me think further with the thought of what are world leaders doing to try and address these issues so we can literally; save our planet.

When you look at the worlds political stage today, it appears to be extremely worrying with several big powerful nations having leaders whose environmental records are appalling.

And if I look back over the last few years here in the UK, it looks equally as bad as this small nation with a large population looks like it will continue to lose numbers of species in the forthcoming years.

This loss of species could well be coupled with further land changes, say as a result of floods and rising sea levels, which could affect the species present and possibly damage buildings, roads and many other human settlements. When I first became aware of the global warming crisis nearly 40 years ago many of these things were predicted as likely to happen. Now these things are an actuality and still the world leaders seem to want to kill off the human race by continuing with practices that further damage our planet.
Here in the UK the government seem to belittle the environment and the scientific evidence that proves the serious problems within the environment and the associated species that need them in order to survive. As one of the most comfortable and allegedly most democratic countries in the world and who’s known love of animals, in recent times more knowledge of the needs of our decreasing wildlife are also largely being ignored.
I can highlight this with a point that I was actually involved with recently. When I say I was involved with this you had better note that so were 61,000 other people! This as a result of a petition we all signed asking Michael Gove to revoke the licence he had given some farmers to shoot Ravens, a species that has only just recovered from persecution and started breeding in parts of the UK where it had been absent for over 150 years!
Leaving the argument to one side for the moment, the petition has been sent to Natural England who are the government department that deal with environmental issues of this kind but they themselves, as an organisation, have been decimated as result of major cuts extending back over the last 20 years!

When I last checked the online petition the other day the number of people who had signed the petition had risen to nearly 64,000 and still there had been no response from Natural England. When you look at it, it doesn’t seem very democratic and it seems the wishes of 64,000 people are being ignored by their own government. If you look a little closer we see further evidence of how little this government does to try and deal with serious environmental issues. Since 2010 the budget for Natural England has been cut by 50% and their workforce has been massively reduced with many of the workers now being seconded to work on the mess they call Brexit. We are living in very troubled times.

I’ve been highly frustrated by government decisions when dealing with environmental issues for many years and despite my example of the problems it seems that there has been some awakening within the people to tell the government that they are seriously worried about the wildlife and the environment in general. I know I’m repeating myself when I ask everybody to get involved by telling your MP and signing petitions to try and stop the collision course our planet seems to be on, by expressing your worries to the politicians and hopefully they may start to listen to us.

Francis

October 16, 2018October 18, 2018

Getting in the Way

The other night I sat a watched a Badger busily feeding in my garden for 45 minutes. I felt a bit spoilt to be honest casting my mind back to the many failed attempts of trying to see Badgers out in the wilds of the countryside and here they are on the edge of a small town busily feeding in a garden. Badgers are one of the most studied wild animals in the UK and a lot is known about their behaviour and what they require to keep a healthy population. They are also at the centre of debate over Bovine TB and some parts of the UK have been subject to a cull in recent times all causing a lot of controversy.

The Badger is one of those species that has started to use humans to their own advantage and they are also have a strong sense of tradition in their lifecycle. Some setts are known to be hundreds of years old and as has happened many times since the end of the second World war, many areas of new housing have been placed near to Badger setts. Sometimes this meeting of new neighbours doesn’t go well when the badgers are regularly upsetting the human neighbours when they dig up neat and tidy lawns looking for earthworms or trash the bird feeding stations. Personally, I can’t say I blame the badgers as they have had their habitat destroyed. In the past I have spent a day working on a housing estate on the edge of a new town where developers had built a new estate leaving a small piece of woodland containing a badger sett. The badgers then started to annoy their neighbours by doing some of the above. The team I was working with spent some time trying to create feeding areas for the badgers and advising some of the humans, all of which inspired me to write this piece.

It’s very difficult for to keep human beings happy! The last 2 centuries have seen the human population increase massively and the impact on the natural world has been equally massive. In amongst the losses there have been and number of species that have been able to adapt and for a few to prosper because of humanity. The Badger has been able to adapt to some invasion of their habitat and, although there have been some losses, there are further examples of this adaptive behaviour to be seen in our local wildlife. I’m guessing that most of you will have Foxes and Brown Rats near where you live. These species are more numerous in areas where there are humans and well known for their history of benefitting from living alongside humans. As for Foxes, I’ve met them at 11am carrying whole bin liners that they’ve just stolen from a neighbour and I’ve seen quite a few earths in gardens over the years. Many people feed them every day and it’s another way that the natural world links closer together to us all.
There’re not many people that like Brown Rats and there is good reason for I have seen damage caused by rats and it’s quite phenomenal the destruction they can cause. But I do also have a soft spot for them as I know they will not be beaten by humans and they are one species that use us instead of the other way around.
I’ve noticed over the years of my observations, work, and keeping in touch with natural history and conservation issues, that the more successful a species is, the more likely it is to be disliked by humans. The species I’ve discussed are just a few of the obvious examples that upset us humans in one way or another and I’ve seen this reoccur with species that have increased their ranges such as Magpies which were labelled by some as one of the main reasons for song bird decline. It’s true that Magpies eat eggs and nestlings for I have seen this with my own eyes but a far bigger issue is loss of suitable habitats for both breeding and wintering birds with other examples like Raven which has spread back to its former haunts in the last few decades but already the old habits have returned where recently some sheep farmers have been granted licence by government to shoot Ravens because of the threat they cause to lambs.

This is one of those very debatable topics where there seems to be a lot of hearsay evidence often involved and no sensible person who knows that though it is feasibly possible for a Raven to kill a weak, sick or even a new born lamb; it is far more likely to be eating afterbirth or a still born lamb.

As is so often the way of humanity that we humans get angry when nature costs us money and read recently about how some owners of pheasant shoots have been asking to control Buzzard numbers as they feel that the Buzzards are killing the pheasants. This kind of mentality feels like we are going back in time with regards to nature conservation. The reason many of our predatory species became rare or scarce in the first place was down to the game keeping; let’s not return to the bad old days.
The state of our natural environments is in crisis and trying to manage its wildlife is an ongoing problem due to humanity’s obsession with money and we seem to think we have a God given right to put nature where we want it. It’s my opinion that it’s about time we reserved this ideology and mentality and did more to protect our ever-threatened wildlife. If you have ever suffered any bin robbing or lawn digging you should either feel lucky or protect your ‘ castles ‘ better ‘. In these times it’s more important to me to save our rapidly declining wildlife and not destroy it because it annoys us in some way. See what good you can try and do to help.

Francis

October 16, 2018

Slow Changes

With October upon us the natural changes are starting to happen and I’ve been starting to remove fallen leaves from the ‘ reserve ,’ a sure sign that winter isn’t too far away. The management work for the winter has been started in earnest and I’ve been busy trying to improve the rest of the un-worked area in preparation for sowing wildflower seeds next spring. This work has been laborious with the deep digging and the continuous battle against the dominant weed species keeping me busy. Some areas that I had previously dug were re- dug again as some of the more voracious weed species had obviously not been totally removed and there seemed to be daily growth of Creeping Buttercup and Docks. I also began attempting to remove some of the clumps of Pendulous Sedge. This is going to be a major task as there was quite a number of large clumps present and this species is very deep rooted that makes it very difficult to remove.

With the general management plan in place I had been thinking of how I could further improve the habitat and make it more attractive to the local wildlife. One habitat that has been much reduced in recent times is the classic pond. Many old farm ponds have been lost due to the land being ‘ improved ‘ and many species that used these old ponds have declined quite dramatically particularly in the last 50 years. The reserve needed a pond to hopefully attract some of these aquatic species and I began to prepare an area one. The reserve/garden is on quite a steep slope so an area had to be levelled to accommodate a pond. This has taken a lot of digging so far and there will be a fair amount of landscaping to finish the area.

Along with the idea of a pond I also thought of a very quick way in how to make the area more attractive to wildlife. Some may call it a pile of sticks and branches but to the conservationist it’s a habitat pile! These simple constructions can host a wide range of wildlife species from various insect such as bees (who’s Queens will excavate hibernation sites in rotting timber) and they can also attract amphibians and small mammals once they are a bit more established. I collected some timber from the local woods and started the pile and hopefully the wildlife will soon be finding a home there.

It’s good to plan ahead but what has been happening with the wildlife already present in the area? Yet again the weather has been warmer than average for this time of year and due to my unseasonal planting schedule there have been a number of species that have come into flower and added some colour and food for the insects that have prospered in this late warmth.

At least 2 species of hoverfly and the Common Carder Bees have been seen daily feeding on the 9 species of still flowering plants present in the original area that I planted. The largest visitor to the area seems to be happy with the work I have carried out as I witnessed two Badgers digging up the worms the other night. I feel pretty spoilt really and hope these signs of how the local wildlife is already using the area are a sign of things to come for next year. We can only wait and see what happens in the future but so far so good.

October 9, 2018

Too Tidy, Too Human

If there’s one thing that is going to upset me it’s when we humans apply our “values” on to the natural world. There are many examples of this in modern everyday life and with my conservation instinct at the core of how I look at things there is one that stands out. I am constantly bewildered at how many vital habitats are ‘ tidied up ‘, all because some say they are untidy. There are 1000s of people across the length and breadth of our country who on any given day, could be tidying up our green spaces. This can range from forestry to gardening where people will be trimming hedges, cutting lawns, cutting roadside verges, felling trees, spraying chemicals and countless other activities in order to keep things NICE and TIDY.

Due to social conditioning, many people seem to think this is the correct way to do things and despite various warnings, we are now living in serious times where there are real possibilities of many species becoming extinct due to habitat loss, climate change and persecution in some cases.
It was untidier when I was younger and I recall seeing a flock of 300 chaffinches feeding in winter stubble on a local Farm. You’d be hard pushed to see a flock of chaffinches that big these days let alone a winter stubble field! This is a big example of the “tidying up” of our countryside with farmers being part of the problem but government management of our agricultural land being a much bigger issue. In today’s modern farms, winter wheat is by far the commonest grain grown and is harvested in August most years. The reason winter wheat gets its name is because it is sown in autumn and will slowly develop over winter. The time of harvest till the land is ploughed up and re-sown is the only time where birds and mammals can get access to the fallen off seed. With the old-fashioned stubble field there was access to the seeds throughout winter. This fast production system has taken away a huge amount of vital food for the wildlife and this crop seems to have led to fields being enlarged often at the cost of headlands and hedges and habitats of many plants and animals.

The changes in our agricultural land use since the second World War have had a catastrophic effect on our wildlife. The statistics are proving it and most farmers would say that land productivity has increased, which it has undoubtedly has, but the price has been paid for by our wildlife. Since 1945 97% of meadow lands have gone and all of the associated species have also gone. That’s how serious things have got in these times. The pressure farmers are under from government policy is relentless and serious polices need introducing as soon as possible to redress the balance.

When I used the words tidy and tidiness in this piece I realise that the farmers are more pressurised by government policy in how they manage their farms but other issues of over tidiness seem to be more avoidable, but would need a change of thinking. I’m mainly directing this last comment at the host of gardeners amongst us. I’m constantly amazed at how many gardens have either turned into car parks or bowling greens. It saddens me to see how many gardens have been so heavily manicured and over fertilised that they are little use to wildlife. There is also the massive issue of pesticides that are used on the farms, high ways and now in gardens. We know what these pesticides are capable of and how they kill one of the most important links in the natural food chain. It seems crazy to me to see some dangerous pesticides for sale in supermarkets now days. I urge all gardeners to not use any chemicals and leave areas in their gardens to over grow and encourage invertebrates to make their home. A little untidiness can go along way!

We can but hope that more government money will be put into nature conservation but I’m not holding my breath. With this in mind we should do what we can on a practical level; in our garden for example and if you feel motivated enough, an email to your MP may help raise their awareness that people do care about the state of our countryside. My last advice is, don’t cut the whole of your lawn if you have one, make a compost heap and plant some wildflowers.

September 20, 2018September 25, 2018

Ever Changing World

There are very serious problems in the natural world at this time in our history and I am forever reading depressing reports on various different species of how they and their habitats are declining. I have seen this with my own eyes over 40 plus years of observing wildlife in the UK and still cast my mind back to memories of childhood sightings that would be impossible to imagine in today’s world. I live in hope that things can change and we can redress the balance very soon before we lose any more valuable biodiversity.
In amongst all of the depressing news a few species have reversed the trends and actually increased their numbers and a number of species have established themselves in UK from continental Europe. Since 1990 seven new species of dragonfly have been recorded in the UK which is quite a lot in a short space of time.
So why have some species been able to increase in such troubled times? There are many answers to this question and impossible to fully
here but a number of the reasons can be seen and felt on a daily basis right here in Surrey. As in everything I write about nature and the environment, the weather is at the root of many of the changes.

The above mentioned dragonflies species are among a number of species that are regular breeding species in central and southern Europe and with the rising temperatures that we have been experiencing in the UK over the last 30 years it is not that surprising that these insects have colonised the UK. These heat loving insects have been joined by a number of other continental regulars. Butterflies are another good indicator group into how the temperature is warming up with the Clouded Yellow being a good example of this. Once a very erratic migrant species arriving in tiny numbers if at all or on mass over southern England this species never used to be able to survive the UK winters and perished with the cold. In recent years they have now become resident on the south coast and survive the winters and can have 2 broods each year!

Things have moved fast in the last 30 years. There are numerous insects that have benefited from the warmer climate and some species that were on the edge of their range have spread greatly, the impressive Golden-bloomed Grey Long Horn beetle and Jersey Tiger moth are 2 very impressive examples.
Insects are not the only group of animals that have done well because of the changing weather patterns and again I can remember over 30 years ago the afternoon that I saw my first ever Little egret. The first breeding record for the UK occurred in 1996 and there are now nearly 1000 pairs breeding in this country! The other winter a flock of 7 were seen in the water meadows on the edge of Guildford and it is not uncommon to see them around the county.
In general it is quite obvious to see that the warmer climate has encouraged a number of new species to the country and extended the range of others but that is not the whole story. This point really hit me five years ago when one sunny late July afternoon I watched a farmer cut hay on a field on the edge of Cranleigh. In the sky above were 3 Red Kites and 2 Common Buzzard and I recall jokingly recall saying that I felt like I was in Wales not south Surrey. Both of these species have increased populations greatly in the UK particularly over the last 25 years but the reasons for their increases are very different. The story of Red Kites in the UK has been well documented and from the first English reintroductions in 1989 this species has managed to spread out and it now can be frequently seen all over Surrey. The human intervention has undoubtedly helped this species recolonise various parts of its former range. The Common Buzzard spread from south west Britain all along the southern counties then northwards and is now found all over the UK. This species has managed to spread by filling gaps in the food chain and has greatly benefited from fewer gamekeepers and a reduction in the levels of specific insecticides.

Gamekeepering is always a controversial subject and one that will forever be argued but the evidence conclusively proves that the activity of game keepers in the past has had a detrimental effect on birds of prey numbers in the UK. Buzzards have shown that through lack of persecution they can survive and prosper although there are gamekeepers and some farmers that are now calling for licenses to be issued to control Buzzard numbers. I hope this kind of mentality does not become widespread again for the sake of all predatory species that suffered unjustifiably in the past.
We have seen a few examples of how species have and can prosper and the bottom line is that humanity has caused our wildlife to become depleted. Some of the examples discussed have shown how global warming has caused some species to become regular British species. The effects of this warming has encouraged warmth loving species but let’s not forget that it will have the opposite affect on cold loving species such as several fish and seabird species. It’s a complicated issue and time for some serious action to help our struggling wildlife. Nature is adaptable and can survive, it just needs a helping hand with some sensible management. We shall see what happens in the coming years. I’m hopeful that government will finally start taking our wildlife and environment more seriously.

Francis

September 20, 2018

More weeds and a few surprises

I know that I’m stating the obvious when I say that it has been feeling more autumnal in the last week. With the cooler temperatures, the darkening evenings and the behaviour of the wildlife, all being obviously signs that nature was gearing up to the arrival of the forthcoming winter. With the way our weather patterns have been changing in recent times, we can never be quite sure of what September, or any other month come to that, will bring us and this year seems to be more old fashioned so far which is why I started some serious management work in the last week.
As I have previously stated, nothing had been done to the area for at least ten years and the deep rooted pest species were very well established. To the gardeners amongst you the names of the species will be very familiar to you. Bramble, Creeping Buttercup, Herb Robert and various Dock species are very well known problem species to gardeners and conservationists.
Earlier in the year I had cut the whole of the area down to the ground and there has been a considerable amount of regrowth since then and this was the task I started to try and redress the balance. You can see why Brambles are a successful plant species! Their root systems are deep, extensive and difficult to dig out properly. I decided to dig down at least a couple of feet down into the earth to make sure I would not miss any of the problem species. Several of the Brambles roots took at least 20 minutes to dig out as their root systems were so well established.

This work has got to be carried out to try and ensure that the flower species that I was going to enjoy next spring had a chance of surviving. Knowing that the problem species involved at the site I knew I had a big task ahead of me in a) trying to remove them and b) stopping them re- invading next spring. The deep digging and the sieving carried on to try and lessen this risk. We will only see how well I have done come next spring and I know now that even if I think I have done my best I know there will still be Creeping buttercups and random Bramble shoots appearing. We shall see.
In between the digging and weeding the wildlife was busy all around me with the obligatory Robin often flitting down to pick up various invertebrates I was uncovering and ‘ the shy and wary ‘ as once described in old bird books, Wood Pigeons flying down to within a couple of metres of me to feed on similar food items as well as various grass shoots. Today’s Wood Pigeons are cheeky and almost fearless and I soon understood its’ voracious feeding when I watched it fly from the reserve up into an Ash tree where the high pitched calls of the squabs could easily be heard. From years of watching wildlife I know that unexpected things can happen and whilst digging out a heavy duty bramble root I heard a distinctive ‘ pronk ” call of a Raven. I looked up and there about 200 feet above me was a Raven heading in a south- westerly direction. Its’ massive size was emphasised when one of the local Carrion Crows decided to see off the Raven when it tried to sneak up behind and peck the Ravens tail or back. It didn’t get close enough to try as the Raven became aware of the crows presence and quickly swung/flew round to launch its massive bill in the crows direction. The Crow flew back to the safety of the woods behind the flats!

The flowers in the first planted area were continuing to attract Honey Bees and Common Carder Bees every day and one day I observed a Common Carder Bee feeding in the area and noted it taking nectar from six different flowering species. Many of the Bees seen are smaller male bees and they are busy collecting for their Queens before they hibernate. Many of these individuals are looking very worn and bald and are slowly falling to pieces and dying before the winter comes.

The attraction of flowers has brought in a number of Hoverflies and several species have been noted feeding on variety of flowers. They have given me some homework to do in trying to learn how to identify them. You are never bored when I it comes to learning about nature.

The work that needed to be carried out in the next few months was a continuation of trying to clear the last quarter of the site from the problem plant species and this was going to take quite a long time and a lot of hard work. I will not be bored for the next few weeks that’s for sure.