Birds & Flowers

Last month's meeting saw what must have been a record attendance of both members and non members for the current venue. They enjoyed a most interesting talk on the Upton Warren nature reserve by the always-popular Gordon Forrest. He described the history of the reserve from the creation of the pools as a result of the salt extraction in the area, it's donation of the reserve, which now bears his name, by Christopher Cadbury and it's development over the years into the county's premier bidwatching reserve. The talk, which was interspersed by many humerous anecdotes, was illustrated by Gordon's superb photographs of the birds seen at the reserve over the years. Of particular interest was a series of slides showing Gordon building the hide at the Flashes lagoon; he was rather sad as it it had now been demolished to make way for the new double decker hide which has recently opened.

This month's meeting on Friday 30th March will welcome another of our favourite speakers, Roy Mantle from Bridgnorth, already well known for his fungi talks and walks. He will be giving us an illustrated talk on another of his specialities, "Wayside Flowers".

The meeting commences at 7.30 pm at the Eco Centre, Ridgewood High School, Park Road West, Wollaston, Stourbridge, DY8 3NQ where there is ample free parking in the grounds and disabled access to the lecture room. Admission is £2 which includes light refreshments. Members and non members equally welcome we're looking forward to seeing you!

John, Stourbridge local group

Froggie goes a-courtin'

One of the more spectacular events of this month is the mating of common toads and frogs in shallow ponds around the area. It's something that volunteers might like to look out for on work days or everyone may want to watch for when they're out and about in wet areas.

Mating toads at Wilden

I was lucky enough to witness common toads mating in the North Pond at Wilden Marsh last year.  http://mike585.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/wilden-marsh-march-in-hoo-wood-and-wilden-marsh-nature-reserve-part-2/

Mike, Wilden

PS If you're lucky enough to come across a toad crossing, you can help the toads from getting run over by registering it with Froglife and helping the toads to cross the road!  http://www.froglife.org/toadsonroads/

 

The Conservation Garden

Spring is nearly here, the first daffodils are out and members of the Malvern local group have observed bees and frogspawn in their gardens. What can we do to encourage more wildlife to thrive this year? Rachel Salisbury’s talk on Thursday evening provided many ideas and discussed the environmental issues behind the choices we all make when planning what to plant in our gardens.

A conservation garden doesn't have to be unkempt. While there may be corners left not tidied or a fallen log left where it fell, the plants can be planned and managed in relatively formal designs. A wide range of plants is a good idea. It's best to know and understand your garden; encouraging plants which are naturally at home there, growing drought resistant plants in dry soils and not trying to turn alkaline soil into acid. Containers look attractive but watering them through the summer months may not be ecologically desirable. A pond is always a great wildlife habitat – even a small one will attract frogs, newts, water-loving insects and birds. A bird table and nest boxes will provide food and protection. It is better to manage without pesticides and other chemicals if possible, not least because most sprays are not particular to one type of insect and will kill beneficial ones as well as pests.

Some people are adamant that only “native” species of plants should be grown in our gardens. It is difficult to define precisely what native means and there are some native species one would definitely prefer not to have in the garden, like the creeping buttercup. Celandines, marsh marigolds, primroses, violets and honesty are all very attractive. Single varieties of most species are better for attracting bees and other pollinaters; the doubles are pretty but the bees can’t reach the pollen. There's no need to feel guilty about having some 'exotic' species; the buddleia is a prime example of a non-native plant which attracts more butterflies and moths than almost any other common species.

Gardening should not be a battle but an enjoyable and harmonious process. We are part of the ecology and gardens are for our benefit as well as the plants and wildlife we hope to encourage.

We're looking forward to our next talk - Rob Allen, Reserves officer at the Trust, on Wetlands Creation and Conservation, on March 29^th at 7.30 pm.(Chase Sixth Form Annexe, Geraldine Close).  Don't forget you can find out more about us and other groups around the county on the Trust's website

Alison, Malvern local group

Hard work at Feckenham

We've been busy this winter on the reserve. 

Contractors are in pollarding the big old crack willows along the NW boundary hedge line. This is a continuation of work started last year to maintain and contain these very big trees that, unless work was done to reduce their height, would ultimately result in damage and even them being blown down in a strong wind. We have left existing cracks and holes to encourage bats and woodpeckers. 

Other contractors are felling some ash in the wood alongside the main pool. This is thinning work as nothing has been done to this stand of trees since they were planted in the early 1980s. Thinning will encourage more diverse ground cover as more light is let in and will also benefit the growth of the hazel understory. 


My regular hard-working Wednesday volunters have been busy.  We've cut another 10% of the reed bed, which we found to be very successful in previous years; regenerating growth producing taller denser and stronger re-growth.  This will provide better habitat for nesting warblers in the coming months. 

More work has been done on coppicing in the alders to reduce leaf drop into the dragonfly ponds and allow in more light. We've also started work on coppicing/pollarding the cross hedge between the paddock and the alder carr. This work is part of the greater scheme of things to open up the reed bed and marsh to enable birds such as snipe and other similar species to fly into the wet areas without having to dodge tall trees and high hedges. We'll be leaving any dead trees in the hedge line as habitat and 'cuckoo posts'. 

We've now completed the clearance work to the aged blackthorn where we have had our brown hairstreak success. This will now allow fresh suckers to grow and provide a small micro climate for BH to use in the future. 

Nothing to report on rare bird sightings and in general the reserve has been very quiet. We have had our bird-ringers on site and they have also found it to be very quiet. Last week I did, however, put up 2 woodcock, which was a bonus.

Paul, Feckenham Wylde Moor

Madagascan Wildlife

The island of Madagascar was the subject of a fascinating illustrated talk recently given by Phred Newbury to the Malvern local group. 

Madagascar is two and a half times the size of the British Isles and is the fourth largest island in the world.  It has been inhabited for only 2000 years by people believed to be of Indonesian descent. The island encompasses rainforests in the east and deciduous dry forests in the west separated by a high plateau. Looking at a map, it is clear that Madagascar would fit to the east coast of Africa like a jigsaw piece and it is thought that it broke away from Africa some 160 million years ago. As in Australia, this has led to the evolution of different animals and birds and many of the island’s species are found only in Madagascar. A good example is the Fossa, a large mammalian, nocturnal carnivore. New species continue to be discovered there.

The lemur is unique to Madagascar, where there are around 90 species. In Africa, lemurs were predated by monkeys and apes - they survived in Madagascar where there are no monkeys or apes. Even now they are hunted for food by humans despite being an endangered species.

Phred travelled over much of the island but her main objective was to visit the small, undeveloped island of Nosy Mangabe in the far north east of Madagascar in the hope of seeing Aye Aye Lemurs which are relatively safe there. Stephen Fry and Mark Cardwadine had failed to find these rare primates in the television programme Last Chance to See; Phred was very fortunate to see one of these amazing creatures only a short distance from her tent.

Phred supports Durrell, a wildlife conservation trust which was established by Gerald Durrell the writer who founded Jersey zoo. The trust’s mission is to save species from extinction and much of its work is carried out in Madagascar where it attempts to raise awareness of the importance of conservation amongst local people. She showed many excellent Durrell photographs of animals, birds, lizards, plants and insects which are endemic to Madagascar.

Our next indoor meeting will be held on Thursday 1st March when Rachel Salisbury will give an illustrated talk entitled The Conservation Garden. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm at the Chase Academy Sixth Form Annexe, Geraldine Close, Barnards Green WR14 3PF and we'd love to see you there.

Derek, Malvern local group