Free of Himalyan Balsam!!

We've just had the first Himalayan balsam free year at Droitwich Community Woods in the 12 years I have been helping to look after it. It is possible to beat it!!!!

Twelve years ago there was Himalayan balsam along the banks of the River Salwarpe from where it  comes into the reserve by Droitwich High School right through to where it leaves us south of the ring road and heads off toward Salwarpe. 

It wasn't just at water level - due to the explosive nature of  its  seeds, it had colonised the banks, in places 1.5 m high, and encroached onto the flood plain. I am over 6’ tall but our tallest plant towered over me and had the ability to shed over a thousand seeds over a 12’ diam. area. 

It's taken us volunteers 12 years to get  to this clear point - doing battle in beds of brambles, 6’ high nettle beds, in the water and up the banks. We have always had a zero tolerance policy but those that know the plant know it is very adept at finding ways to beat you. We also have the problem of the wax coated seeds drifting down with the current. We get, and will always get, the result of there still being masses of Himalayan balsam at many upstream locations. But we are ever watchful and are determined to win!

Roger, Droitwich Community Woods

Fun at the Conference

The annual volunteers’ conference took place on Saturday and, as ever, we had a really informative morning. 

There were useful updates on some of the flagship reserves, some fascinating information on moths as indicators of habitat health and climate change, topped off with a masterclass in radiotagging adders. If you think that’s surreal, you should see the pictures for the Mixed Bag of Bugs! As someone with a general interest in wildlife but few identification or practical skills, I feel slightly better about not being able to ID moths easily now I know there are over 2600 species in UK alone!

As one of the more sedentary of WWT volunteers (I help out with website events updating and do some data entry and image scanning for the Worcestershire Biological Records Centre who are also located at Lower Smite) it was a real pleasure on a gloriously sunny afternoon to get out and about on the farm with Caroline Corsie and hear a bit more about the land and its use - and some of the issues facing those in modern agriculture.

We were also challenged to undertake an OPAL survey, which was a chance to rediscover our inner child, not least through blowing bubbles (wind strength, in case you are wondering). As a wildlife safari, we startled a toad and acquired a cricket which hitch-hiked back from the field on my shoulder – obviously wanted to volunteer too!

 Thanks to the team for an interesting and enjoyable day. 

Ruth, Lower Smite Farm

The Magic of Moths

“Butterflies are beautiful but moths are boring”. This is the common perception of moths but how wrong we can be!   The first photograph Patrick Clement showed the Malvern local group on Thursday night was of the emperor moth, bluish-grey on the forewings with bands of white, black and orange, yellow on the underwings, and brilliant black, yellow and blue eyespots on all four wings.

Admittedly, there are some rather boring brown jobs among the moth family, including the clothes moths which are never popular! However, many common moths are very attractive indeed and have equally beautiful names: brimstone, green silver lines, small elephant hawk, lilac beauty, clouded silver, large emerald. All these moths are attracted to lights and can easily be caught in a moth trap. Traps come in various designs but are basically a bright light over a box with a narrow opening; the moths enter the opening and can’t find the way out, so they can be studied the next morning and then released. A treacle mixture smeared on a tree will also attract certain types of moth.

Elephant Hawk-Moth (c) Rosemary Winnall

 All moths and butterflies are Lepidoptera; wings covered with scales being one shared characteristic. It is commonly thought that all moths are nocturnal, but in fact there are many day-flying moths, like the chimney sweeper, humming-bird hawk moth and scarlet tiger. There are about 2,500 species of Lepidoptera in the UK but fewer than 60 of these are butterflies. There are 900 species of macro moth and 1,400 micro moths, some of which can only be distinguished by dissection of the genitalia. In the UK, butterflies have a club tip to their antennae, whereas moths generally have feathered antennae or a simple hair-like structure with no club tip.

Patrick Clement had many stunning photos of rare moths, secretive females with no wings, parasitised caterpillars, micro moths with amazing colours and a few surprises like the barn owl sitting on a moth trap. Even the leaf miners were fascinating, with each species leaving different mine patterns. The evening was a wonderful insight into an under-appreciated world.

The next meeting of the Malvern local group is at 7.30 pm on October 4^th at Malvern Evangelical Church when we can't wait to hear John Robinson will talk about the Natural History of the Wyre Forest. 

Alison Uren, Malvern local group

Penorchard survey

Spring and summer may be a relatively quiet period for the  volunteers as we cannot carry out our regular blackthorn scrub clearing work (which may otherwise disturb nesting birds and damage the flowering plants) but it does give us time to see the meadows at their best and to carry out flora and fauna surveys. The annual plant survey at Penorchard Meadows has been carried out and initial results show the meadows to be in good condition but this is only our fourth year surveying on the nature reserve.

We still have some management work to carry out, however, and one problem we had to deal with was discovered soon after arriving at the reserve for our first day of recording. Fly-tippers had dumped two dozen car tyres into the drainage ditch running alongside the roadway just outside the reserve boundary. A quick call to Worcestershire County Council that same afternoon and the tyres were collected and safely disposed of within 36 hours.

If you are thinking about visiting Penorchard soon, the next few weeks will see the meadows at their very best. The reserve is open every day but visitors are asked to walk around it following the marked public footpaths.

John, Stourbridge Local Group

Dormouse update

I may not have written a lot about dormice lately but that's not to say we haven't been busy...

 

Grafton Wood – this month James and me checked the tubes in Grafton woods as part of the ongoing investigation (in conjunction with Andy) as to whether dormice are found east of the River Severn (as currently it is assumed they are not present in east Worcestershire). Unfortunately, despite checking 100 tubes, we didn't find any of the furry critters. However,  two tubes contained shredded honeysuckle which is commonly used by dormice to construct nests. A further two tubes contained caches of partially eaten acorns, which is most likely to have been left by woodmice as dormice are not know to store their food. Fortunately further checks are planed this year which may yield more positive results.

Hunthouse Wood – along with Nick, we placed some of the dormouse boxes higher up in the trees to see whether this will encourage the dormice to use them. However, the May check of around 70 boxes and tubes did not reveal any dormice - although several nests of young blue-tits and one rather disgruntled hornet were found! So at least the boxes were providing nesting opportunities for some animals. We'll be carrying out several checks this year so hopefully we'll have more positive results.

Elizabeth

Our interests outside our own reserves often lie somewhere similar - I was lucky enough to spend the Wildlife Trust's 100th birthday last month at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve Cley Marshes on the North Norfolk coast.

The day began sunny and warm as I was shown round by warden Bernard Bishop. Bernard, now in his 60s, was born in a house overlooking the marsh and has spent his entire life growing up around this magical place.  He has a wealth of knowledge about the toography and species to be found amongst the reed beds, pools, scrapes and dunes.  

For those who have not visited Cley it is well worth the trip and if you book on a Wednesday you can take a very informative 'walk with the warden'.

On my walk with Bernard we were accompanied by a TV film crew, there for the 100th birthday of the Wildlife Trusts, and I was pleased to do an interview on camera for Look East about WWT and in particular Feckenham WM reserve. Although the site is significantly larger than Feckenham Wylde Moor, our reed management for wildlife habitat is identical. At Cley, however, they also cut reed commercially every year for thatching.

A real bonus was the sighting of the elusive bearded tit. I managed to see both male and female darting through the reeds and was fortunate to catch a photograph of both with this male staying still for just long enough to capture it's distinctive 'beard'.

In all I recorded 75 different bird species over the three days which included black-tailed godwit (still in winter plumage), pintail, little egret, Egyptian goose and red kite.

On the Thursday I took a trip to Blakeney Point to see the common and grey seals. Along the estuary there were common, sandwich, Artic and little tern - all of which breed amongst the dunes. There were also hundreds of Russian dark-bellied brent geese.

During my three days I also saw 8 marsh harriers, including a breeding pair at Holkham where there was also a colony of breeding spoonbill.  All in all a very pleasant and informative trip. I shall be returning soon.

Paul, Feckenham Wylde Moor