Redpoll

As part of my sunday morning route I came across a small flock of Redpoll. They have thrown up an interesting exercise in identification as I struggle through the various subtleties of sub-species differences.

Whats in your garden?

Over Christmas I bought an infra red camera. Its a great little device that has an 8MP Camera that can take either still or short film clips. I have been trying it out so far in the garden before trialling out in the wild. So far I have discovered mice and hedgehogs.

Work continues

Exactly a month has passed since I seriously began to work on developing Saxon Mill Carr and things are really starting to take shape.

In the past 30 days a lot of the materials I had ordered arrived and so I have slowly been working on putting them in place.

Work today consisted of putting up a further two nest boxes and planting some trees



The first trees to be planted were a Sessile Oak and 3 Bird Cherries. Oaks are the countries most important species for supporting invertebrate life and Bird Cherry trees grow well on damp ground and produce berries in the autumn that are eaten by many species of bird.


For the last 3 weeks I have also been conducting a detailed tree survey. I have recorded the location of approximately 213 trees on the site. I used a GPS to plot their exact position and noted down their species. Below is a preliminary map of the results.

Work begins

It is a New Year and with it comes a renewed chance to make a difference. As regular readers will be aware I have taken over managing a piece of wet woodland on the Avon. It is my aim to make this even more of a haven for wildlife than it is already.

After many months of planning and thinking I have now reached the doing phase. Apart from some Himalayan Balsam control I have done little but arrange the fencing. With an assigned budget of £150 I have invested in a number of bird boxes, bat boxes and some plants.

The first nest box arrived on New Years Eve and so this morning I went out to put it up. The box, bought from CJ Wild Bird Foods is a specialised box designed to encourage Willow Tits. It is like any normal box but as Willow Tits like to excavate a little the interior is filled with sawdust.

I went down mid-morning and put the box up at a medium height with an easy flight path to and from it. It was screwed to a Willow tree and was positioned to face north this keeps the box away from the prevailing wind and means no direct sunlight will over heat it in the summer. Now is a good time to put up boxes. The breeding season can start as early as February and birds like to get accustomed to new objects in their neighbourhood.


After checking it was secure I then spent a little time exploring the previously overgrown parts of the site. I found a fallen willow branch that had snapped off in the winds. Some of its shoots were still in bud and so I carefully cut them off. I had read that Willow so readily roots that you can propagate them merely by sticking the branches into the ground. I took about ten of these budding branches in to the meadow scrub where a number of willows have naturally begun to grow. I pushed them into the ground around these other trees, it will be interesting to see if the tale is indeed true and they take.

With all the recent flooding a lot of litter has been left behind and so I spent a little time gathering polystyrene, beer cans and pop bottles from just a small stretch even so I quickly filled a black sack. Several more visits are needed to fully clear up before the next flood washes up more human detritus.

I await now the rest of my nest boxes and the hedgerow plants I have ordered, more of that later though.
All in all a great morning, it feels good to actually be doing something after all this time.

Where Peacocks Pace finally published

My book on the Natural History of Warwick should be out within the next few weeks. Where Peacocks Pace - A Natural Historians Guide to Warwick charts the ecological history of the town and its wild places.

There are Chapters on the Castle, Priory Park, Common Land, The River, and the Town Centre.
The book highlights the plants and animals that can be found there and includes hints and tips to watching or finding them.

The book includes a history of these places and what animals used to be present. It is illustrated with full page photographs.

The book is available for pre-order from Authorhouse - http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~53353.aspx and is priced £14.99.

Saxon Mill Carr

Well its been quite awhile since I last posted a blog and to be honest I m not sure if anyone reads it. Nevertheless I will persist. I hope to now be able to blog my work on my new nature reserve.

Ever since I was a child I wanted own and manage my own land. Trouble is its so expensive. For the last 5 years I have been trying to get the land where I do most of my wildlife watching designated as a Local Nature Reserve. I spent hours preparing reports and writing to local conservation authorities all to no avail.

Then one day I had whilst surfing the web I found the details of an allotment in Old Milverton it stated that it was owned by Mr Heber-Percy, the landowner. Finally I had access. I wrote to the treasurer and requested Mr Heber-Percys address and wrote to him.

With in weeks I had a very encouraging reply and I sent him all my plans and proposals. We met this summer on site and he agreed to let me manage a section of innudation meadow and wet woodland. Over joyed I set to work lining up insurance and arranging for a fence to be erected on the fence. Once up the site would be secure at the far end and I could start the real conservation work. Sadly the site is not able to be open to the public although I do have permission to take on small parties, something I will do in the summer.

Last week the fence went up and so now I feel ready to start the improvements and I shall chart my successes and failures in this blog.

BADGER CULL AVERTED

For the time being it has been decided to not Cull Badgers to control Bovine Tubercolosis in Cattle. Whilst this will continue to impact on Farming this is in my view the correct decision in terms of nature conservation.

Other efforts should now be more fully investigated to ensure farmers are suitably compensated and that a method of protecting catlle is found.

For once I feel I must congratulate the government on following prevailing scientific advice, though the sceptic in me doubts whether this decision will stand for long. Either way I m sure the Badgers will appreciate this stay of execution.