A Time to write again

 It seems I've missed a whole year of publishing some of my adventures. I'll start with some early autumn visitors to my local patch which is Cuerden Valley Park in Lancashire. We have had a juvenile Great Crested Grebe on the reservoir and an otter travelling up the river.  We detected the latter because it deposited spraint on some rocks. The 20p coin is for size comparison. 

    

                             

 

 My first task was changing the locations of two trail cameras. One in Ice House Wood where there is a hedgehog feeder the other at the edge of the reservoir. The tree from last year had grown a lot and needed trimming. We set up a footprint tunnel (pictured) and put out the bird feeders in their usual locations. 

I also had a wonderful experience. I was helping two of the rangers on clearing away some rubbish and emptying some bins. They had gone ahead to check on the site where a footbridge was going to be replaced. They had gone about 200 yards away when I noticed what I thought was a loose dog. I thought 'O no, someone has let their pet off the lead.' However the animal had paused a little which allowed me to recognise that it was a fox. A beautiful juvenile, totally clean and in excellent condition. I was buzzing about it for several days. Of course, if I'd had a camera, Iwould never have got such a vieew. 

 

Contrasting fortunes

 Many of us are still waiting for warmer nights and dryer days. I would like warmer nights hoping to catch more moths in our moth trap. This spring has been a disaster for those of us who count moths and butterflies. Except for Orange Tips in early May, I have hardly seen any butterflies at all. The numbers of moths I have recorded is easily half of those in the same time period for the last two years. Fortunately I am still getting some beauties like Maiden's Blush and Ruby Tiger.

 I have had distressing reports from the north of our county of  Brown Long-eared bats brought into care in need of feeding. This is more evidence of lower numbers of moths there as well.  

The rain washed caterpillars off tree leaves, leaving none for those birds that collect there for feeding their young such as Blue and Great Tits. We have noted several of our nest boxes have had 50% loss of young after hatching. Robins and thrushes that are ground feeders have not been affected.

The wet weather, though bad for moths and butterflies, has been good for many of the wildflowers. Not only those we have planted, but all the others. Marsh Cinquefoil, Orchids and Buttercups have been doing well as you may see below.

 

 

Lighter evenings mean I can also help with some pond dipping sessions for Scouts and Beavers. In one of them, as we were looking at Banded Demoiselle nymphs, this adults paid us a visit. I can't remember ever having one this close before.

 

 

  

wildlife in abundance

Dragonflies start to come out in late May and I had organised a walk to see how many were around on Cuerden valley Park. I had a short presentation so folk could know what to look for and then set off down the Meadow Path. Turning left after the wooden bridge ( Link Bridge) we scanned the River Lostock in several spots What a wonderful display. A few Banded Demoiselles on the river, but several more in the grasses at the edge. There were also some Large Red damselflies. We paused at the new Dipping Platform and were delighted here as well. Despite several doomsayers predictions of little pond life being left after we cleared out the ditch, we had a plethora of creatures. Large Red, Azure, Blue-Tailed damzelflies and some more Banded Demoiselles were noted with pleasure there. Photos by Alan Graves are of Banded Demoiselle and Blue-Tailed.

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During Half Term week we organised a Wildlife Week on Cuerden. Monday was "Discovering Wildlife" We had some doing crafty stuff making dragonflies, others trying puzzles or guessing which skull belongs to which animal, or which feather belongs to which bird.. We also had some owl pellets for the kids to open out to see what Mr Barnie had for breakfast.

            

    

It was a busy week with finding critters that lived in the river, catching bugs in the meadow and making a Heron nest. The week involved great teamwork between staff and volunteers from Cuerden VP

 

I certainly enjoyed sharing all the wildlife experiences with the children and feedback would suggest they all enjoyed it too, One response said "It was well good"

Persistence Pays Off.

 For some time I have been trying to take a colleague and her family to see badgers. We tried a couple of times in April and had alovely time. We saw a hare, a wood mouse, some bats, heard an owl and even had a Roe Deer bark at us. However no sight or sound of any badgers. These were good but not what we were hoping for.

  

Another friend contacted me and said he had some badgers that had started coming out of a sett near where he walks. We organised a date and went to the meeting place. There was a bit of a walk then carefully down a slope. It had been raining which made the grass slippy. We then positioned ourselves ion a spot where my contact said would be best. The midges that evening were very hungry and feasted on our blood. Suddenly we heard a snuffle then a sight of a nose at the end of a black and white face. There was a female badger. Even more exciting she was followed by at least two cubs and more adults. What a thrilling half hour we had watching healthy badgers, especially the young ones having fun. The midge bites were worth it to have this wonderful experience.

  

Bats, Buzzard, Bank vole and Buckingham Palace

 In the first week of May I took one of the Cuerden Valley volunteers with a friend to check for bats. She lives right on the edge of the Park so we decided to walk from her home to the reservoir. Initially we only detected 2 Noctules. Walking upstream of the River Lostock on the path we reached the Link Bridge at the bottom of the Meadow and paused again to check our detectors. After five minutes we heard the click click of a Common Pipistrelle so decided to walk back to the reservoir. Once there our detectors were non stop with the sound of bats echolocating their breakfast. We waited another fifteen minutes or so and then walked back home. I was amazed at the totals recorded when I looked at my recordings. Soprano Pipistrelle - 3; Natterers - 15; Common Pipistrelle - 35 and Noctule - 65. The best bat night I ever had. 

 

Later that week I was showing some students on work experience how I monitor hedgehogs and also survey for small mammals. When we checked the trail camera we had a pleasant surprise of noting that a buzzard had called in at our feeding station.You should see the bird on the left about one third the way down. We had also noted our regular hedgehogs

 

Even more excitement when I went to check our humane small mammal traps. We had set these up much earlier in the morning and left them about four hours. The first two had caught slugs but the third one had caught this wonderful Bank Vole. It was released once photographed. Two young men ended their week thrilled with their experience.

 

On the 21st May, my special day out to London for the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace arrived. Travelling there by train, I was accompanied by my granddaughter. We left Lancashire in sunshine but as we arrived in Euston so did precipitation. Good job I brought an umbrella. Despite the bad  weather we both had a good time, even noting Ring-necked Parakeet flying in the garden there. See below for before and after photos.

 

I plan to stop singing "Long to rain over us"

  

Botany and Beautiful Birds

 Late April was our Cuerden Flower Walk one Saturday morning. We noted Lesser Stitchwort in flower, Bluebells by the reservoir and a flower I had not spotted before on Cuerden. I discovered it was Cornsalad. It was good also to see Cuckoo Flower with Orange Tip butterflies possibly egg laying. In total there were 44 plants in flower. Since we also crossed the WI bridge on its 24th birthday, we sang "Happy Birthday"  The Bluebells did not disappoint either visually or with their amazing perfume. 

 The following weekend was another of the wildlife highlights of spring, our annual Dawn Chorus walk. Starting at 5.00am, We noted Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Garden Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron with young, Grey Wagtail, Jackdaw, Jay, KingfisherLong Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Robin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon and Wren, The two birds that excited me were, a tawny Owl hooting about 50 yards away as we started and a Common Sandpiper at the edge of the reservoir. We completed our walk by nine o clock when most of us went into Cuerden View Cafe for a well earned breakfast. Below is a photo of a Common Sandpiper.

Real Science..Real surprises.

 Spring seems to have slowed down a little. There has been a cold air stream from the north which is keeping the temperatures low. I have had very few moths and butterfly sightings are also low. Thankfully flowers are making steady progress and I was delighted to see my first bluebell in mid-April

Later on that survey of the Park I also noticed Ramsons in a place not noticed before. It has become one of the flavourings of a few of the delights offered in Cuerden View Cafe

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We are also noting some of the summer bird migrants around. Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap have been anouncing their arrival to all and sundry. One bird that has been heard, that has not been on Cuerden for several years is called Grasshopper Warbler. It sounds of course just like that insect. Lots of people have heard it, just not me. 😒

April is also the time when newts move back to ponds to breed. This is the best time for surveying to confirm whether or not we till have them on Cuerden Valley Park. The method we now use is an eDNA check. Several samples of the water in the pond are collected and put in a small tube containing ethanol. This is then taken to a nearby forensic laboratory for testing and we wait a few days for the result

           

There is always the unexpected. I attended a function ot the University of Central Lancashire celebrating volunteering, representing the Lancashire Badger Group. The unexpected was that I was declared the Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. After the event one of the Professors said to me " I want to do what you do when I retire"

 

Then when I went home I checked the post and was even more amazed to see I had an invitation to a Royal Garden Party at Buckhingham Palace. It means I will have to get a new suit. To avoid having to decide which of my two daughters would be my guest, I asked my grand-daughter to accompany me.

I will let you know how I get on.