Winter at Feckenham

It's been wet, very wet but Feckenham is coping really well. Surface water is high and there are areas where it is almost over your Wellingtons but still passable with care.

We have been monitoring the water levels since the beginning of December last year and the results are interesting. We already knew that water naturally moved across and off the reserve, however, interestingly, we are finding that after significant rainfall the levels in the dip tubes are not that different to when there hasn't been any rain but the build up at the Southern end is being caused by excess water not getting across neighbouring land and into the brook.

This isn't a problem for us as the high water levels enhance the reserve. It just makes it more difficult for anyone walking the permissive public footpath, but then it is meant to be a wetland !

Our Roving Volunteers have been very busy with coppicing more Alders and this week carrying out margin clearance on the main pool. This was a job that has been long overdue and it now looks much better providing more water in the channel along the right side of the pool.

James Hitchcock has also been busy pollarding more big Willows which is part of our ongoing Management Plan.

This winter we have found a record number of Brown Hairstreak eggs on our Blackthorn. We are currently at 86 with one or two doubles and a triple. Previous years have only managed to record 24. So, when the adults are on the wing in late summer we will hopefully locate an Assembly tree.

This week has seen the first signs of our Cowslips with some brave new plants showing on top of a Mole hill.

Paul, Feckenham Wylde Moor Reserve Warden

Upton Warren visit

I've hi-jacked the blog from the volunteers this afternoon to report on a visit to Upton Warren this morning.  

It was a dreary morning at The Moors for our visit but there were plenty of birds around; we even caught sight of two roe deer moving through the long reeds (pity I didn't have my camera ready).  Alan Shepherd recollected how he had seen harvest mice around The North Moors pool.  

The reserve is more saturated than I have ever seen it.  

This week the Upton Warren volunteers have been coppicing and removing scrub from the edges of the reedbed around the main Moors pool. Without their work the reedbed would diminish in size.  Bitterns should benefit from this too.  

 

Some of the trees next to the reedbed have also been coppiced or felled to encourage the growth of scrub in the right place.  Scrub has a tendency to grow in the wrong place, smothering open habitats such as reedbeds, marsh and meadow.  This felling work should allow light in to encourage it to grow where we want it to.   

Andy, Conservation Officer - Central Reserves

Amphibians of Worcestershire and Beyond

A talk from Alan Shepherd, Principal Ecologist of Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy.

Thursday 2nd January 2014.

Sadly, amphibians in the UK are declining in numbers. Alan Shepherd explained that this is largely due to loss of suitable habitat, but there are also prevalent diseases, some of which have been introduced by non-British species, brought in by humans.

In certain areas however, there are still plenty of amphibians inhabiting our ponds. The common frog can still be found in most places, though it is not as common as it used to be. We are all familiar with their spawn and tadpoles; only a tiny percentage of these survive, as almost everything else eats them. The tree frog is probably extinct in Worcestershire now (there were some in the Wyre Forest up to 3 years ago). The common toad is an explosive breeder, laying its eggs in long strings, which are not eaten by fish, because they are toxic. Otters and mink have the knack of skinning the adult toads to avoid the poisons. Natterjack toads live in a few specialised UK sites, but none locally. There are three kinds of newt in the UK: smooth, palmate and great crested, and we were shown the detailed differences between the three. We are lucky to have many great cresteds in Worcestershire, and they are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Male Palmate Newt © Rosemary Winnall

How can we help our amphibians? We can refrain from dumping our rubbish in or near ponds and streams.  We can take more care over what we pour down the drains. We can dig and maintain ponds in our parks and gardens. Even a small one would soon be inhabited.

The next Malvern Group meeting will be held at the Lyttelton Rooms at 7.30 pm on February 6^th. Rob Allen will talk about South Worcestershire Reserves, including Hollybed Farm Meadows.

Alison, Malvern Local Group

The natural history of Christmas, by Michael Leach.

Michael, a zoologist, wildlife photographer and author, recently made a short TV film on the natural history of Christmas. His researches led to his 27th and latest book and this illustrated talk, in which he examined some of our long-held beliefs about the origins of our Christmas customs.

Robin © Jason Curtis

Every winter we stir puddings, send cards, decorate our homes for Christmas, eat mince pies and Brussels sprouts, but just where do these customs come from? Michael explained why holly and ivy are associated with Christmas, the pre-Christian roots of hanging up mistletoe and that turkeys never did come come from Turkey. He told us why our favourite Christmas bird is the robin and looked at the origin of the Yule log.

Holly and ivy's connection with winter dates back ten thousand years. As they were the only trees in the woodland to retain their leaves it was believed that they harboured the last remnants of the sun and were taken indoors to protect the precious light through the dark winter days.

After the winter solstice the lengthening of the days and the return of the sun were marked by many festivals, the chief of which in Roman times was Saturnalia. This festival was used as a 'cover' by the persecuted early Christians for the celebration of the birth of Jesus on December 25th.

The relatively recent ideal of a white Christmas is believed to originate from Dickens' novels because before he was sixteen, Dickens experienced an unusually high proportion of white Christmases due to climatic conditions at the time.

The Father Christmas legend is thought to have originated in Scandinavia. "All Father" would enter smoke holes in huts and leave food for the people who were struggling through the long, cold winter. Flying reindeer may have resulted from hallucinations caused by the supplementing of a meagre diet with magic mushrooms.

Michael's thoroughly entertaining, topical and thought-provoking talk provided a welcome start to the Christmas season.

The next meeting is on January 2nd at 7.30 pm at the Lyttleton Rooms, when Alan Shepherd will give a talk: Amphibians of Worcestershire and beyond.

Malvern Local Group

Hedge laying at Hill Court Farm

Last month members of the Hill Court Farm volunteer work party got stuck into the task of clearing / laying / coppicing a long length of hedgerow.  The weather was kind to us & in our beautiful location, surrounded by bird song & watched (rather suspiciously!) by rabbits we had a great day. Massive thanks to all those who helped!

Clearing the hedgerow was a job in itself as it was pretty choked by thick bramble in places, but thanks to a determined and enthusiastic team the bramble was defeated and the hedgerow was liberated! We were then to have a go at laying the top end of the hedge and I think the results are looking good - well worth the toil. 

Clearing the hedge ready for laying

The start of the hedge laying - looking good

There is still much work to be done, so if you have a couple of hours spare and fancy lending a hand at this month's work party on this Saturday 30th November we'd love to see you. There will be plenty to get stuck into at whatever pace suits you and the opportunity to learn the art of hedge laying for anyone who'd like to have a go.    Although the work seems almost brutal at times, the hedgerow will be enhanced as a habitat when it grows back thicker, healthier and stronger next year and this in turn will be beneficial to wildlife for shelter / nesting, as a food source and as a 'corridor' across the Reserve.  It should prove to be one of those tasks which gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside as you see the results over time. 

Contact Naomi or Rob for further details on 01905 754919.

Sara, Hill Court Farm warden

Native Owls by Gilian Hales

We were delighted to welcome Gillian Hales and eleven lovely owls to our Worcester local group meeting this November.  Gillian was keen to share her extensive knowledge of owls and we had an enthusiastic audience of almost 50 people who were keen to meet them!  Her love for owls goes back to childhood and now she rehomes badly treated, injured and unwanted owls of all ages from chicks to maturity. 

After an enjoyable illustrated talk, we were introduced by name to each of the owls along with a life history synopsis and how they came to be in Gillian’s care. Species included barn, tawny, burrowing,  little and the magnificent brown wood from Sri Lanka. 

No one could deny their unique personalities especially when Chip, the brown wood, snuggled up to Gillian and the 13 year old barn owl wagged his tail as he lapped up the applause at the end of a most enjoyable evening! 

Caryl, Worcester Local Group

New work party at Hollybed

Sunday 3rd was our Taster Day at Hollybed Reserve. We had a strong turnout in beautiful weather and got to work putting up bird nest boxes. Our new volunteers managed the smaller ones really well but the huge owl boxes tested even the most experienced of us. By lunchtime we had them all in place.

After lunch we did a tour of the reserve led by myself, the volunteer reserve manager and I described our plans for our future development of the reserve and explained some of the work we have already completed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon coppicing an area overgrown by blackthorn trees to let more light into an area on the edge of the reserve.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who took part in the day, including many who have already completed valuable survey work and know the reserve quite well. Please come back and join us for our next day at Hollybed in Sunday December 1st when we will be planting new fruit trees in the old orchard.

Andrew, Hollybed reserve manager