Birdsong at Chance

It's been a while since I described what has been happening in Chance Wood.  We've continued to work on rhododendron and sycamore control and eaten plenty of cake!

This January we've taken the plunge and started to repair the fence along the public footpath; every previous attempt to make temporary repairs has soon resulted in the wire being cut and little messages written on the posts to the effect that the wood should be open for mountain biking!  We've put off attempting more serious repairs until we've been able to gather enough material to make the new fence more difficult to dismantle.  John's masterpiece of posts, wire and woven dead-hedge looks pretty substantial but only time will tell if it will stand up to a determined attack.

Our Reserves Officer, Andy, joined us this month and checked the wood for any dangers, particularly in the form of dangerous trees over-hanging the pathways.  There is a little non-urgent work that we have now got planned for later this year.  As is often the case Andy commented that although Chance Wood is a small reserve it has a great variety of substantial trees, it's always worth taking the time to stand back to admire them.

Yesterday, after the rain, the wood was full of birdsong.  In particular two of the larger oaks held a flock of over 100 redwings making enough noise to fill the wood, then going silent before they changed trees, a process that was repeated several times.

There were good numbers of the normal woodland birds; blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, nuthatches, a treecreeper, great spotted woodpeckers, goldcrests and a pair of colourful bullfinches. Blackbirds and robins were joined by mistle and song thrush, it was good to see a flock of 50 starlings just outside the wood and a number of chaffinches, which had a pretty bad year last year.

The snowdrops are appearing again in small groups and we look to see what effect the mild winter will have had.

Roger, Chance Wood

Devil's Spittleful update

The Spittleful mound is starting to re-appear

Following John's blog earlier this week, I thought I'd hi-jack the volunteers' blog and give you a quick staff update on the work at The Devil's Spittleful - hope you don't mind!

I've been regularly visiting the site and, although the work appears extreme, it's great to see the Spittleful mound coming to light for the first time in many years.  Clearing the trees makes it much easier to finally see what the heathland is going to look like once it starts to regenerate.

The work will give the rare heathland's plants and animals a chance to recolonise and expand their numbers.  In time we hope that birds like woodlark and nightjar will return - they haven't been recorded on the reserve for many many years.  Even more well-known birds like green woodpeckers, stonechats, wrens, long-tailed tits and yellowhammers will benefit from the work.

We're already starting to see regeneration of heathland grasses in areas that we'd cleared last year - which is really good to see.  Some of the first colonisers of open ground (not just of heathlands) are foxgloves and mullien - both of which germinated last year and will be in flower this summer.

Mullein & foxgloves poking through

The work will take quite a while - we're expecting big machinery to be off site towards the end of February, which is when we'll start fencing.  We hope you keep returning to the Devil's Spittleful to watch the changes as they happen over the coming couple of years - we're sure you'll be impressed!

One of several stands of trees we're leaving - this has a mix of old trees, scrub and dead wood - great for a range of wildlife

For more updates, keep an eye on our website. 

Thanks
Andy, Reserves Officer

Work at the Spittleful

Just been to the Devil's Spittleful where the Trust is undertaking a major piece of restoration work.  There's lots happening and the Spittleful mound is slowly becoming visible again.  The heathland landscape is re-appearing - the ground is frozen solid so it's easier to see what it'll look like later this year than if it were really muddy because of the heavy machinery.

John, The Devil's Spittleful

Flora of the Malvern Hills

Malvern local group's New Year began enthusiastically with a packed hall, mince pies and hot punch. Rob Havard (Conservation Officer of the Malvern Hills Conservators) gave a fascinating talk with many excellent photographs, focussing to begin with on the beauty of the Malvern Hills and the ever-changing colours of the plants and trees which grow there. I don’t think anyone would predict that a talk on flora would start with several pictures of sheep’s sorrel but when you see it mixed with heath bedstraw and masses of wavy hairgrass, you become aware of the deep reds, whites and pinks - all surprisingly beautiful. 

There is a remarkable diversity of plants on the Malverns, because of the mixture of acidic and alkaline soils, lowlands and uplands, tree cover and open grassland, wetlands and dry thin soil. Several species are common here but rare elsewhere like climbing corydalis on acidic soil and llime-loving spring cinquefoil. Yellow flags grow in abundance in the stream beds, foxgloves appear in exuberant swathes especially in the second year after a clearance or a fire and two kinds of gorse flower all the year round; the European and western kinds. In places there are thousands of orchids, mostly common spotted and southern marsh along with various hybrids.

It was interesting to see a photo of British Camp as it was in 1948 and to realise how it has changed since then. In 2001 the Conservators reintroduced grazing on to the Malverns and this has helped restore and maintain the balance between secondary woodland, bracken and open grassland. There has been a mixed public response to the gates, paths and fencing necessary for the livestock but on the whole walkers appreciate the reasons for them and the Conservators actively encourage dog training to reduce control problems. They are keen to promote all reasonable use and enjoyment of the land, maintaining harmony between conservation and tourism.

We are privileged to live near 3000 acres of beautiful open land, much of it designated SSSI.  The Malverns are a haven for reptiles, birds, mammals and flora and we need to continue to look after them and appreciate their beauty.  

The next meeting will be on February 2^nd at the Chase 6^th Form Annexe. Phred Newbury will talk about the unique wildlife of Madagascar.

Alison, Malvern Local Group

Dormice at Trench?

Andy, James and I undertook a nut hunt at Trench Wood on 11^th December but, in spite of carrying our searches of 5 x 20m squares of suitable woodland, we didn't find any dormouse-eaten nuts. However, as we didn't find many nuts at all, it's likely that, in this instance, this method for detecting thes presence of dormice was not so effective. Next year, therefore,  we'll instigate a tube survey to ascertain whether dormice are really absent from this woodland.

Elizabeth

The Natural History of Christmas

Dr Michael Leach held us all spellbound at last night's local group meeting in Worcester.  He started off by giving us a real insight into life as a wildlife cameraman (it takes at least 3 weeks to get a decent 8 seconds of wildlife film. A half-hour episode could take 4 years to film).  Then he explored the natural history of Christmas with so many stories and anecdotes we only just managed to leave the building before the caretaker locked us in!

He's now off to film wolves, some have been tagged to help in tracking them...I wish I’d had the courage to ask if he needed an assistant! 

Personally I'm really pleased to now have another autographed natural history book (I collect ‘em, and, YES, I have David Attenborough, Bill Oddie and Chris Packham).

Looking forward to seeing some of you in the New Year when we'll hear about garden plants for wildlife from Howard Drury on 1st Feb.  Until then have a lovely Christmas and all the best for 2012.

Sandra, Worcester local group

Mammals of Malvern

Johnny Birks, an excellent and well-known speaker, gave an extremely informative and often amusing talk entitled ‘Mammals of the Malverns’ last week, illustrated with his own beautiful photographs from the field. This was a much-anticipated talk with a turn-out that filled the hall at the Chase 6th Form annexe.

Although British mammals are some of our most loved (and most hated) animals, they can often be elusive and difficult to see. As a true mammal enthusiast, Johnny explained that following their traces through the art of field craft is often the only way to study them. Many species are nocturnal and wary of humans as a result of thousands of years of persecution. 

The Malverns have a rich mosaic of rough grassland, scrub and woodland providing important habitats for over forty species of mammal. The woodland around British Camp has recently been found to support one of the largest colonies of lesser horseshoe bats and the even rarer barbastelle. Bat boxes put up as additional roosting sites are helping to boost population numbers and also reveal the presence of other nationally scarce species such as the dormouse.

It is also the presence of some of the most well-known and common mammals that has the most noticeable ecological impact. Rabbits are now doing well after the effects of myxomatosis in the 1990s and have resumed their important role as grazers of rough grassland, keeping the scrub at bay. Grassland is essential habitat for ground-nesting birds, butterflies and other small mammals such as field and bank voles. In these grassland areas, field voles in particular can have very high population densities providing the food source for kestrels and adders, both of which are in national decline.

As part of his work for Vincent Wildlife Trust, Johnny was instrumental in documenting the return of the polecat to the county. As the natural wild form of the domesticated ferret, these nocturnal and historically much maligned carnivores have been expanding their range from Wales, having been persecuted almost to extinction in the early 1900s. Radio tracking and the mapping of road-kill individuals have given fascinating insights into their behaviour. Due to their tendency to live in farmyard haystacks, the accumulation of anticoagulant rat poisons via their rodent prey is an issue for their conservation.

Other larger mammal species such as red deer are found mainly on the Eastnor Estate, with the smaller muntjac being more widespread. It is likely that over the next twenty years deer numbers will increase and it is possible that wild boar will move in from the nearby Forest of Dean. 

The next meeting is on Thursday January 5th. Rob Havard, Conservation Officer of the Malvern Hills Conservators, will talk about flora of the Malverns. It starts at 7.30 pm and is held at the Chase Academy Sixth Form Annexe, Geraldine Close, Barnards Green WR14 3PF - we look forward to seeing you there!

Derek, Malvern local group