Francis’s thoughts – Page 5

September 11, 2018

Ends and beginnings

On the news the other day, there was a report stating 2018 was looking like it was going to be the hottest year on record. I’ve heard this kind of report a lot over the past 20 years and whilst listening to facts and figures in the report I looked over the mini reserve and pondered the effects of the weather on its progress.
I went outside to have a closer look and not having any engagements for a couple of hours gave me the chance to clear another small area and remove most of the weed species root by root.
In the last week the temperature has dropped considerably and there had been a notable drop in butterfly numbers visiting the area, the occasional Large White visiting the cabbage being the only regular species observed. I found a dying individual under the cabbage the other day which probably indicates the ending of the season. There was still quite a lot of colour on show with several species still in flower providing food for the regular bees that are daily visitors. Still the most numerous flowering species is Borage and although I previously mentioned they were already up/downgraded to a weed species their importance was obvious when you watch the Bees feeding. Next year I intend to manage this species carefully. One species that had been confusing me was the Hysop that I had grown from seed indoors and planted out as soon as space was available. The plants had grown well and seemed to look like they were about to flower but failed to do so until last week when their deep purple coloured flowers added to the food for now bees and hoverflies.

More colours came from the continuous Cornflowers spectacle! The hardiness and adaptability of this species has amazed me. As previously mentioned, the whole site is on a quite steep slope and many of the flowers that have emerged this year have grown up vertically and then fallen over with the weight of flowering heads, or rain or even strong winds and then grown horizontally over the grounds for a short distance and grown another vertical shoot that has often ended up with new flowers on them. Nature is adaptable. The Cornflower flowers seem to be experts at doing this. They are also a very long time flowering with my very first plant to flower in the garden being a Cornflower and now, still 8 weeks later, producing new flowers.

This species adaptability is further shown by the fact it can grow from seed to flower in 3 – 4 weeks. A few Groundsel flowers bloomed with their small yellow flowering heads giving a different colour to the mix.
My mind is already drifting to the possibilities for next year’s show of colour and insects.

Having been fortunate to have worked on the majority of wild habitats that are to be found in the UK from mountains to moorland and Bogs to beaches I know that all areas that are managed for wildlife need a management plan no matter how large or small the area is. It’s in my blood really and my views have immediately been challenged when I realised that several of the flowering species I have grown are not native species to the UK but are introduced garden plants. Much of my time doing practical conservation work was spent removing or killing invasive plant species like Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam and Daffodils to name a few, and all these started out as “harmless” garden plants!

Was I creating or contributing to a new problem?
The seed mixes I had planted were all carefully selected species good for bees and butterflies and were advertised as such. I felt OK with this and realised that the non native species included had already provided vital food for a whole variety of bees and other insects.

It was also increasing my knowledge as I noticed species in flower that I’m not familiar with. Feel free to help!
Management is vital to create the optimum balance of flowering species. Lots of work to do over the winter but so far so good and there’s still time to plant a few more seeds………

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 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.

July 25, 2018July 26, 2018

New Beginning

Anybody interested in wildlife and nature conservation in the UK should be well aware that we are living in some serious times. The loss of our habitats and species is being well publicised and some of the statistics are truly worrying. With this in mind the creation of new habitats will always help to try and reverse this trend and I am aware of ways many of us could help and offer some sanctuary for our dwindling wildlife.

Some of us are lucky to have gardens from window boxes in high rise flats to large country gardens. The areas that people’s gardens cover in the UK is many times larger than all of the UKs Nature reserves put together. Their importance for wildlife becomes obvious when you realise this. And then six weeks ago…
I live in a small block of 10 flats with the front looking at the road but at the back was a sloped area of rough ground leading up to the woodland. Since I moved here the only thing that ever been done to it was that it was cut once a year when the vegetation got really high. I have often dreamed of a flower meadow as I look out of my kitchen or bedroom window and seeing it full of bees and butterflies. I saw my neighbour and asked him about the ‘ garden ‘, he told me it was a community garden and I could do what I want as it needed a damn good tidy up. My plan was immediately put into action and the habitat creation began.

In my years working in nature conservation I found it ironic how often I was killing various plant life in order to ‘make a better home for nature ‘. The point is that you have to have the right vegetation to encourage more wildlife and the new garden was full of bindweed, dock, hedge woundwort with bramble creeping in from the surrounding woods. Large areas of pendulous sedge dominated large parts of the garden. With my dream of butterfly and bees in the back garden still firmly placed in my brain I began to clear the rank vegetation. It should be noted that all the work was being carried out at the wrong time of year, the middle of the growing season but in my mind the sooner I started to clear the area the sooner I could be able improve the area. I had grown some wildflower seedlings in my flat and they would soon need to be planted. I spent a good few hours cutting, raking, trimming and chopping down the problem vegetation leaving one quarter of the garden relatively weed free ready for the wildflower seedlings

There was a sense of excitement when I planted the first seedlings into the cleared ground. I had an assortment of native wildflowers ready to plant including, Cornflower, Borage, Field Poppy, Black Knapweed and a few more, all insect friendly species. I marked all the seedings with little canes next to them and began the wait. During the wait I continued to improve other areas of the garden by digging over the ground and removing deep roots of docks and other problem species. The root systems on some of the dock and bramble were so extensive and deep rooted that they took a good 20 minutes to remove. It is important to remove these roots as they will only regrow and it can ruin all the work you have done. This job will continue into the winter as there is still a large area to prepare for the ground to be ready for wildflowers.
I monitored the progress of the seedlings and some were well established very quickly and by the fourth week a Cornflower came into flower, hooray, and in the fifth week I observed a white tailed bumblebee taking nectar, bliss!

July 7, 2018July 26, 2018

Just a Field

I lent against the old fence the other day watching marbled Whites and Meadow Browns flying over the rough grass land. To my side was bramble scrub where Whitethroats and Garden warblers fed their young and like all of those who watch wildlife felt a sense of excitement to see these wonders of an english summer. Excitement soon turned to sadness as I turn to see the metal fence round the fields where last year as saw the same species and many more disappearing under a housing development.

This field can show us many things if we take closer look. Situated on the edge of a large Surrey village and like many other formerly productive agricultural fields are now seen as a financial asset by the owner and potential building land. I first encountered this field 8 years ago, rough grasses , bramble patches and a few small Sallow trees already established and then we have seen the changes in the species that have occurred from the ground to the skies. the species lists collected show the incredible variety of life that these fields can support given the chance to recover from its former species poor state as an agricultural field. We have observed 24 species of butterfly including Small Copper

Brown Argus, Common Blue, 3 species of Skipper and the Marbled Whites. Amongst the grasslands we found Grass Vetchling.

Scarlet Pimpernel, Birds foot Trefoil

and clumps of beautiful Black Knapweed all feeding a mass of insects. We stood and watched Red Kites and Buzzards in the air together last year, after the presumed farmer cut the grass and made a short lived bounty of food. One winter we watched a Goldfinch feeding on a teasel head and then in a split second its life over taken by a male Sparrowhawk.

My partner Sam and I have watched the sad decline of the wildlife in these fields after so many amazing wildlife scenes, too many to describe.

We believe all habitats are vital if we are to repair the already fragile natural habitats in this country. The current UK government have nature conservation as a low priority which is fundamentally wrong on so many accounts. They and local government need to realise that building on the Greenbelt is whats slowly killing natural biodiversity. Protect what we already have and lets try to repair some of the damage is what I believe we should be doing. Time for the politicians to actually do something constructive to protect our countryside.

For my dad Francis,

Francis Willis