2 brushes with The Anthropocene...

What is it, The Anthropocene: The current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Brush One:

Last week we started the grim job of either felling or severely pollarding the Ash trees, which run along the lane to the east of UWNR. They being destroyed from without and within by Chalara (Ash Die Back). Highways England designate that these trees have to go - they are a danger to users of the lane. 3 trees in particular were gnarled, venerable specimens, who should have been able to run their course and not fall to our chainsaws.

Dan, the highly skilled Arborist, climbing one of the old beauties….

How did it come to this?

Chalara was imported from Asia into the UK, embedded in Ash whips - a consequence of an illogical, and in this case destructive, globalised supply chain. Ash is prolific here, so why ever import? This pathogen will likely kill 95-97% of our 150 million Ash trees. 955 species of flora and fauna utilize Ash & of these 45 are obligate, i.e. they only live on Ash. When the Ash goes, they may go too - the populations becoming isolated and their genetic viability compromised. This is known as the ‘island effect’ - species live in islands isolated from their wider population. 65 species are highly associated i.e. they have a high preference for Ash.

A big thanks to Harry, Dan, Simon, Dan and Jeff who grafted!

Brush Two:

We dug the lake at UWNR in 2015. By the spring / summer of 2016, on warm sunny days, there would be upward of 50 House Martins & Swallows bathing, drinking and hunting over the lake. A wonderous riot of birds, slicing the air above the water. The following summer our good friend and brilliant photographer, Steve Hurrell, took this shot.

Each spring / summer since, we have witnessed an inexorable decline - 2017 maybe 35, 2018 20, 2019 perhaps 10 and then this year 4? 5? 6? While it is typical for Swallow and House Martin numbers to fluctuate, this year is exceptional and follows the downward trend, I have witnessed over the last 6 years. Our overuse of herbicides, pesticides and veterinary pharmaceuticals may be significant causes. Climate Change may be overly stressing these animals, as they migrate. Habitats are being lost and degraded at an alarming rate - this has to be a contributor. At the end of summer 2019, I was hopeful the decline I was witnessing was the bottom of the curve - not so. Am I witnessing an extinction - caused by us, our activities and behaviours?

In the way that these things do, pretty much on the same day that we started dismantling the wonderful Ash trees at UWNR, Boris Johnson trotted out the old trope that Newts (he really meant Nature & was probably riling against the EU Habitats Directive, which protects many species) are an impediment to his vision of Build, Build, Build.

The UK ranks 29th lowest out of 218 countries, when it comes to Biodiversity Intactness. 15% of all UK species are either extinct or threatened with extinction. The starting date for this analysis, 1970 - I was 11 years old in 1970. Current global extinction rates are far greater than background (standard) rates - some estimates put the current rate at 1,000x higher, some 10,000x This summer the Artic has been overwhelmed with abnormal heatwaves - temperatures up to 38 degrees C.

Our planet is struggling (at best), yet our leaders speak these (populist & pernicious) lines. What don’t these people get?

This week I will return to UWNR, to fell more mature Ash.

Death (& a bit about Life) in Spring

We think of spring as a time of renewal, birth, fecundity & growth, but what has struck me this spring season at UWNR, is how it is also a season of death. Death with consequences.

Across the Reserve and particularly around the lake I have scattered approx. 20 sheets of roofing iron. These become solariums for the Grass-Snakes as they emerge from their long winter hibernation. They can warm themselves and seek shelter from adverse weather and predators, beneath these. At this time in the spring season I should be seeing upward of 8 - 10 snakes - yesterday 1, last week none, the week before that 1. The other thing which has become apparent, are the lack of field voles occupying the sheets - those not being used by the snakes. This was all really perpelexing. And then, in the company of ecologists Gareth Harris (amazing things happen when he is at UWNR) and Simon Smart, we found this (see pic);

This scat is either weasel or stoat. It smells of dried hay, mixed with old Spanish jamon - all musty and saltpetery. I keep going back to that olfactory well, for another inhale - it is amazing. Sitting next to the scat is a pile of delicate fur and fine bones. So could it be, that the small mustelid has discovered that the iron sheets are a food source and this resource (snakes and voles), has then been plundered. Local ecologist and friend of UWNR Steve Telling, thinks that is exactly what has happened. Steve’s take on this though, is spot on - ’It’s a sign of a good healthy ecosystem’.

Persistent hunting of waterfowl chicks by a beautiful heron last spring, changed the reproductive outputs from the lake at UWNR. Not a single chick survived this apex predator, last year. This year only one Mallard Duck has nested on the lake to raise a brood - at the same time the heron has abandoned this hunting ground. For how long? The dynamic predator - prey (Saylor) cycle is established.

Seeing this predation as healthy and positive is something that is missed too often and gives rise to us playing the God Species, determining what levels and types of predation are acceptable. Buzzards, Crows, Hen Harriers, Peregrines, Foxes, Golden Eagles, Sparrow Hawks, Kites, Jays, Polecats, Weasels, Magpies, Ravens, Stoats, Goshawks (what have I missed?), are all killed in the name of predator control. Oh yes I missed a Barn Owl, which was recently slaughtered in Scotland - a Barn Owl!?!

A big death - This (pic below) is both sad and exciting.

One of the things that makes the Bialowieza Forest Biosphere Reserve (Poland), so special is the extraordinary tonnage of rotting timber giving rise to abundant invertebrate and fungal populations. Some of the fallen trees in Bialowieza take many many decades to fully decompose. So, UWNR has lost one of its venerable, veteran Oaks (about 150-200 years old I think), but gained a special and unique habitat. I wont cut this tree up - research shows that whole trees provide optimum habitat - rotting very slowly. I will watch closely, as this leviathan slowly changes over time. (There may be one intervention - I may carve out a cavity for another wild Honeybee hive…I will need to consult with good friend & Honeybee expert Matt Somerville first).

Life from death - In her book Wilding, Isabella Tree laments the fact that it is illegal to let animals die and then slowly decompose, on privately owned land in the UK. She writes that this type of decomposition is part of the natural cycle, in wild habitats. (Research by Entomologists support this assertion). I have run with this idea since reading her book and have recently increased the volume of animal discard ,which I source from a local butcher. I scatter this across the land - some is taken and the larger pieces play host to invertebrates. When I left the land yesterday these bones were awash with flies laying eggs. In time, birds will likely predate on the larval maggots.

And affirming life - the Honeybees are happily building their colony in their new log hive, the Barn Owls have started to use their day box in the Barn Owl barn (because they are tending a growing brood), Tit nests are numerous, as are Wren and Dunnock.  Pioneering, Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonflies, have emerged and are incorporating the new woodland pond into their territory. Solitary Bees come and go, at a frenetic rate, from their hive. And as mentioned, the Mallard chicks are paddling on the lake.

Swarm 2, The Sequel....

Last spring, I spent a number of pretty stressful days trying to coax a cluster of honeybees into a new log (freedom) hive. This all before a severe frost, which would have surely killed them all, struck. Keggie and good mate Chris Nicholson, helped out. I wrote a blog at the time:

So when I arrived at UWNR on April 29th and found another swarm in the same tree, I felt all at once elated and really anxious. What if…what if…what if. The forecast for April 30th was dire - a deep Atlantic low, with a reading of 995 millibars was due to slam into the UK and hit southern England hardest. It did just that - dumping 46 millimeters of rain over a 36 hour period. At times, hail was added to that mix and just for good measure, 40 mph wind gusts.

After the storm had abated, I returned to UWNR and remarkably found this, in a hedge 100 meters from the tree it had originally been in. How had it survived a 36-hour beating of such magnitude, was truly mind-blowing.

And there it sat for the next 3 days, scouts flying out from the cluster in a desperate hunt for suitable sites to colonise.

On the 3rd day Matt Somerville (who knows everything there is to know about honeybees) visited, and on his advice we decided to move the log hive. Matt had an uneasy feeling about its location - too windy, overly shaded & cold. The move worked a treat - on my next work visit to UWNR, I found this abandoned comb in the hedge, and a band of busy honeybees orienting themselves around their new home….oh my god the relief!

Matt makes a poignant and interesting point about the abandoned comb. It indicates that wild honeybees cannot find suitable sites to create new colonies in. Another indicator that our environment is degraded.

Two examples spring to mind. Locally, incomers with limited / no ecological knowledge, contracted negligent tree surgeons who cut down a beautiful veteran Chestnut tree in Wardour (Dorset), not too many years ago. This act of vandalism, robbed this landscape of a wild honeybee site. At a national level, the HS2 project is clear-felling many ancient woodlands, again with the loss of sites. We are duped into believing that replacement, replanting programs will suffice - this is a lie.

The log hive re-sited, in decent sun and sufficient shelter from cold northerly and easterly winds……

AND JUST YESTERDAY THIS HAPPENED!

Good UWNR friends and brilliant ecologists Gareth Harris & Lisa Wade sent me this pic from UWNR - they had gone there for the day to inspect boxes and tubes, which are deployed at the land. For the 3rd year in a row we have confirmed Dormice at the Reserve. This is a huge deal – this rare mammal is a key indicator species i.e. indicating health of habitat at UWNR.

Thanks Lisa and Gareth. And thank you too Jan Freeborn, who first suggested that we monitor for this species.

And I have to add Gareth & Lisa’s wonderful list, from their day at UWNR….

2 dormice - tube 9.

Plus a wood mouse/yellow-necked mouse nest, and a yellow-necked mouse (likely pregnant female) - box 3.

Nests:
Box 5 (great tit, on eggs), Box 1 (blue tit on eggs), Box 4 (great tit on chicks), Box 8 (tit nest with chicks), possible wren nest in Box 10, possible woodmouse nest in Box 9 (couldn’t find boxes 7, 8 and 11, buried in deep!)

Butterflies – Small Copper was the star (pic below) plus peacock, holly blue, speckled wood, orange tip. Damselflies on/near pond – Azure (inc pair in cop and egg-laying), large red, common blue and blue-tailed damselfly.

Largish grass snake under one of the tins near the pond.

On the pond were singing Little Grebe, pair of Moorhen and two male Mallard.

Singing in the scrub/trees and hedgerows – blackcap, bullfinch, chiffchaff, Mistle thrush, song thrush, robin, blackbird, dunnock, wren…….

Nice to see lots of flowering red and white campion, yellow archangel, primrose etc.

Forgot to investigate the bee hive on legs BUT there was a swarm on the hive high in the oak tree near the education centre / barn owl boxes.

Small Copper

North - South Unification (and Spring things)

While The Anthropocene shows its milk teeth and we cower, the Spring rhythm of nature pulsates with growing vigor at UWNR. More of that in a minute – in the meantime some great news…. UWNR has grown by 7 acres, and a barn (which is over 100 years old)!

Over the past few months, I have been talking to my lovely neighbour Jo and her son Andrew – these convivial conversations have been about horses, nature, farming & life. They have often taken place in Jo’s kitchen with her Aga chugging away, while we sip hot tea. I am not sure when and how, but at some point, we began discussing me buying their land and barn – called Hartmoor. The entire negotiation was done slowly, gently and with an old school tone – no one looking to gain advantage, rather a strong desire to come to an agreement which suited everyone. Jo and Andrew, thank you very much….

We will use the coming months to imagine and plan….

Now back to Spring. I grew up in the sub-tropics, where there are only 2 seasons of note, Summer and Winter. The northern Spring always surprises me – the explosive burst of life, which begins about now, is really staggering to me. This after the deep dormancy of mid-Winter. There are times at UWNR, in mid-February (sleet being horizontally driven across the land), when the land feels somehow drained of visible life - no movement & little sound. I spent two days working at UWNR last week and wherever I walked, there was a striking abundance…. standouts:

In the winter of 2017/18, I planted an orchard to produce blossom in the Spring (for a range of invertebrates), and food (for a range of fauna) in the Summer and Autumn. This week the blossom was festooned with invertebrates, all gathering the harvest and unwittingly pollinating, as they worked.

A Bee Fly feeding

Conditions have clearly been spot-on for the orchids this spring and they have never looked better – healthy, vibrant and everywhere.

Without question the most extraordinary thing I saw in those two days, was tens of thousands of small bees or flies (I have not been able to ID these but my friend Merrily has - they are Hawthorn Flies), gathering particularly around the young lime trees – I assume to gather pollen from emerging flowers. It was truly amazing - the sky full of winged invertebrates, in numbers that I have not seen before at UWNR.

Two other things, which caught my attention. At dusk both Barn Owls sitting on their balcony before setting off for a night of hunting - I would imagine that they have young owlets to feed by now. Just before this, the Sparrow Hawk, which hunts at UWNR regularly, tore the air apart as it ripped down the hill from the west, over the lake, and into the woodland. This scything flight accompanied with various alarm calls. Scary power and pace.

They don't think it's all over - it is now!

Last weekend UWNR hosted the Wiltshire Mammal Group – the county affiliate of the national British Mammal Society. (Please check this charity out – they do amazing things, as does the local group, who need support and participation – join?). Gareth Harris and Lisa Wade, both friends and champions of UWNR, ran the day – it was a huge success.

The focus of the day was to deploy 43 Dormouse nesting tubes and 11 newly built nesting boxes. I noted in an earlier blog, that in the autumn of 2019, we had visual confirmation of 2 Dormice at UWNR. By deploying more nesting tubes and boxes the hope is that the population not only increases, but disperses further into the Reserve. Male Dormice move slowly into new ground – up to 100 meters each year. Prime habitat, which has been created over the past 5 years, awaits.

Interestingly we carried out this seasonal work early – climate change is pushing spring earlier into the year and it is likely that the Dormice are emerging from torpor earlier, in search of mates and breeding opportunities. (As a footnote here – it could be the case that Climate Change drives this wonderful small mammal to extinction – warm, very wet winters are not what they need to survive & thrive…).

We had to have a fabulous lunch – the highlight, delicious moist doughnuts! Around lunchtime we noticed Gareth gently poking and probing around the edge of the lake. He came back to the barn and reported that there were significant numbers of male toads lolling about in the aquatic vegetation, waiting for the females to arrive. Sure enough, there were vast numbers of male toads – significantly exceeding what I had observed in 2019. Another sign, that the cosmic clock had ticked over into spring.

A day or two before this I had noticed a Heron meticulously stalking the lake edge – in the way, that only they can do. The discovery of the male toads fitted with the arrival of this wonderful avian predator - it feasting.

A knab of toads.

The tone & feel at UWNR has shifted over the past 2 weeks. The birdsong suddenly has taken on the energy, volume and vitality of spring. (Stephen Moss, in his book on Robins, notes that spring bird song occurs earlier and earlier in the year now. Another consequence of Climate Change). Mid-last week, my good friend Pip and I, watched 2 Blackcaps dancing their aerial mating dance, through the coppiced hazel near the stream that dissects UWNR. Male and female we assumed….

With this seasonal change came the completion of autumn and winter (2019 & 2020) tasks. I have hijacked E. O. Wilson’s idea of ½ Earth and incorporate this into the work patterns at UWNR – as soon as any of the signs of spring occur, I halt work and let the flora and fauna have its head. This feels right – UWNR is about them, not us.

Wow we got through a pile of work, from October 2019 on:

 1. Shaded woodland pond. The autumn was kick-started with this project. I wrote this blog in late Oct, which gives detail of this project….for more about this, please click on this link:

2. Roadside hedge. I replanted this long hedge, which sits atop its Dorset bund, to provide additional habitat. The previous owner had killed off the original hedge, making a hash of hedge-laying.

3. Change the Barn Owl perches & construct a spring / summer roosting box, in the Barn Owl barn. Rick Lockwood, from the Barn Owl Conservation Trust, advised me to remove the original perches, which had been constructed from re-used bought timber, to something more naturalistic. I selected hazel poles, and once mounted, these were used almost immediately by the Barn Owls. Result! The other thing that Rick suggested, was the construction of a spring / summer day-time roosting box for the adults. For more detail about this, please click on this link:

4. Remove young trees from the Soft Rush marsh. The Soft Rush marsh has developed significantly over the past 3 years – it is now home to wintering snipe, such is its density, which provides thick cover. The removal of saplings, which should never have been planted there, has helped advance the growth of this unique habitat. (These habitats are threatened in the UK).

5. Main woodland - fell maturing trees. The main woodland at UWNR is looking healthier, now that light and air is able to penetrate what was a cloaking canopy. As noted previously, this 5-acre woodland was never thinned and many trees had become diseased. Selective thinning over the past four years has corrected this. I reduced the amount of extracted timber this year, so we have dramatically increased the numbers of woodpiles, brash dead-hedges and standing timber…yet more habitat. For the first time this year I ring-barked trees (too big to safely fell) – they will rot in situ and provide valuable invertebrate habitat.

6. Conservation hedge lay. This has become another annual task at UWNR and this autumn / winter we again carried out this hugely challenging work. The results of this are astounding, producing hedges which are impenetrably dense, wide at the base (up to 15 feet, which is considered ideal) and pyramidal in shape, from top to bottom. Just maybe these prove attractive to the Dormice. They are frequented by a range of bird species.

7. Expand the southern Barn Owl field. We removed a number of ash, riddled with Chalara (ash die back), and by doing so, increased the amount of ground the Barn Owls have to hunt over.

8. Tree thin north and east wood. The goal is to create a mosaiced landscape at UWNR. A key element of this has been to carefully manage the saplings stands, to the north and east of the lake. In time, these areas will become distinct small woodlands, fringed by wilder open grassland. The structure of both these woodlands has now been established, with wide snaking rides dissecting each. They are looking good and will now grow on, at-a-pace.

9. Rotational cutting of all glades & the lake bank. This is an annual task - I cut all the south-facing invertebrate glades, the lake bank and the snake basking glades.

There are a few lovely folk to thank, for all the graft that was expended throughout the autumn of 2019 and the winter of 2019 / 20. They are, in no particular order; Harry, Pip, Patrick, Matt, Rose, Dan, & Jack. Jamie, Dragan and Jeff you were all willing, but not able – your time will come! All the flora and fauna at UWNR thank you!

Last, but way from least, I need to mention (shouting from the rooftops) the amazing work the Wessex Home Education Group (who do the John Muir Award) have done, over the course of the autumn & winter. We upped our game and embarked on completing an iGCSE in Environmental Studies, covering topics like Oceans & Fisheries and Natural Ecosystems & Human Activity. Along the way we have visited an organic farm (thank you to Liz & Hugh at Kenson’s Farm), interviewed Graham ,my fishing skipper from our days in Ireland (thanks Graham), made volcanoes from icing sugar, explored the rock types at UWNR and modelled an oil spill, with cooking oil and a bucket of water! It has been hard work, but we have learnt a lot…..thank you to the lovely people who make up the WHEG!

Packed in like....umm....honey bees!

Last Saturday about 60 people crammed into the barn at UWNR, for our annual nature talk. We listened to my mate Matt Somerville talk about (rewilding) honeybees, and it simply blew everyone away. Someone wrote in an email that, ‘The talk was bloody amazing”. I have mentioned it before, but what Matt is doing is revolutionary and it compels us to look at this extraordinary invertebrate anew, with fresh eyes. With new wisdom we can look at this insect as a wild animal and provide habitat for it to be just that, wild. Rather than a species to be intensively and commercially exploited. For further reading, please check out Matt's website:

Before Matt started his talk and presentation, Jack Sanford was awarded his ‘Conserver’ level, John Muir Award. This is the highest level John Muir Award and therefore is very special! For more than 2 years Jack worked with me at UWNR applying what he learnt, to practical conservation projects. If you wish to read what Jack achieved over this 2-year period, please click on the Education and Engagement tab of the UWNR website and scroll to the bottom of the page. It is a stupendous list.

Before Matt’s talk and Jack’s award presentation, Annie who also does the John Muir Award at UWNR, took a group of people (those who had not been to the reserve before) on a guided walk. The feedback from this was phenomenal, such is Annie’s understanding and knowledge of the ecology and conservation projects, which we are doing & have done. Thank you Annie, you knocked them out!

And one last thing….Matt forgot to mention a key text, called The Buzz about Bees by Jurgen Tautz. If you found Matt’s talk enthralling then get this book, it covers the same ground. I read it and highly recommend it.

Because they're worth it!

This week I finished developing and enhancing the Barn Owl barn…..I think.

During the summer months, when the adult Barn Owls are tending their brood, they roost outside the nursery box. It inevitably becomes too crowded, with 3-5 large owlets taking all the space. This new roosting box, situated in their barn, provides them with an alternative daytime roosting site. It doesn’t have a floor so cant be used as a nesting site - the pic to the left shows perching bars, made from hazel.

Additionally, this new box provides potential shelter for a Barn Owl, which has UWNR within its range, but is not resident. Adult Barn Owls can have ranges up to 5000 hectares and UWNR has abundant prey species, so is an attractive hunting habitat. Barn Owls are not territorial. In the winter, older more experienced birds exploit all their range and boxes scattered throughout this range are hugely beneficial to the Owl - particularly if weather conditions change. A port in a storm….

On the same day, this happened….

I was working near a thicket of dense, old, wild rose and found this Robin completely entangled - in fact crucified. It had been in a territorial scrap with another Robin and come off second best. The extraordinary thing, was how passive the bird was, as I snipped it free of the spiky, entrapping vegetation. This is the end of a delicate operation, which took the best part of 15-20 mins. And yes it flew away freely….

Barn Owls and Dormice

I first became aware of The Barn Owl Trust when I read their authoritative book – the Barn Owl Conservation Handbook. This has informed most of the measures I have taken at UWNR, to create conducive habitat. (The other text, which has been hugely influential, is JR Martin’s The Barn Owl). About 3 years ago, I made contact with Rick Lockwood – one of the Trust’s amazing Ecologists. Over this time we have spoken about things like topping heights, to ensure the grass sward is not disturbed, heights of hunting perches & when and how to clean out the Barn Owl box. 

 About 12 months ago we talked about holding a Barn Owl workshop at UWNR and last weekend we did just that. It was a resounding success! Rick taught us all about Barn Owl ecology - behaviours and habitat needs. Armed with this new knowledge we then built boxes - for situating indoors and outdoors. We finished this extraordinary day by looking at all the measures, which are taken at UWNR, to ensure Barn Owls thrive and survive. I loved Rick’s line when he described the new Barn Owl barn at UWNR as ‘extreme Barn Owl conservation’! Ka-ching! 

A week before the workshop, helped by the wonderful young people who do the John Muir Award at UWNR, I decided to gather in the Dormouse nursery nesting tubes. The persistent and heavy rainfall of the past few months was beginning to damage the tubes, so retrieval seemed like a great idea. Everything was going perfectly to plan until I came to the nesting tube, where Jack had found a Dormice nursery nest last year. Very inelegantly the retrieval of this gave me, for the very first time at UWNR, visual conformation that there are Dormice here. In fact 2 Dormice! 

Lets run that again – IT IS CONFIRMED, THERE ARE DORMICE AT UWNR!

Friend & Ecologist Gareth Harris tells me that Dormice have not been recorded in this part of South West Wiltshire for decades – THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL!

Another habitat is created…

2 years ago, in mid-summer, Gary Powell from Amphibian and Reptile Conservation came to UWNR - we did a long slow walk of the land, ostensibly on the look-out for Adders. There is a resident pair, but they are very elusive at the best of times & that day Gary and I drew a blank. At the end of our time together I asked Gary what was missing - what habitat should I consider creating, to benefit amphibians and reptiles? His suggestion was to dig a pond in the middle of the woodland. Last week, Patrick Carew (my helpful and lovely brother-in-law, driving the dumper) and I (operating the digger), did just that….

The logic underpinning this project……

The lake at UWNR has become a very significant breeding habitat for Frogs & Toads. One night, late last March, I stopped counting when I got to 92 blinking-eyed-faces, beaming back at my head-lamp. The lake was a mass of gently swimming Frogs - they going about their mating rituals. Mating and spawning, for both Frogs and Toads, is regulated by water temperature. The lake at UWNR is directly south facing with abundant shelter to the north, east and west. So it warms quickly with the onset of spring.

The missing habitat for Frogs at UWNR - a winter pond to hibernate in, set in the main woodland - cold, calm, dark & with a bed of rotting leaf litter. Frogs breed and hibernate in different ponds & lakes - now UWNR has the optimum aquatic variety for this under pressure species.

Once spawning is completed, frogs slowly migrate back to their hibernating pond, eating and gaining weight as they travel (sometimes up to 3 miles!). They submerse themselves in late-autumn and begin their hibernation consuming fat, laid down over the summer. They bury themselves, deep into the watery leave litter, breathing through their skin. They re-emerge in early spring. UWNR now has a perfect range of habitats enabling Frogs to complete their life cycle.

A burgeoning amphibian population will support the grass snakes, kingfishers & herons who all predate on these creatures, and it is likely that the new woodland pond will provide additional habitat for bats and dragonflies.

How Good is This?

Over the past couple of years Harry has worked at & visited UWNR. Recently he wrote this email, which completely knocked me sideways…..How Good is This?

Hey Jonathan,

I know mum has already told you, but I wanted to let you know that I'm now going to study wildlife conservation at Aberystwyth. I felt you should know seeing as you played a huge role in my decision. Showing me and my family around Underhill was an amazingly eye opening opportunity for me and I cannot thank you enough for helping me discover my interest in the world of conservation. I hope you're well and fingers crossed I'll see you around Christmas when I get back!

Kindest regards, Harry

*****

How Good is This?

As autumn gets its hands on UWNR and activity levels tail off, I have been reflecting on the summer just gone. This for me was a highpoint…..

My good friend Pip and I, had been working in the heat of a summers morning this year and we had returned to the barn, for lunch. We sat in the shade overlooking the lake, letting our food settle, when a flash caught our attention. A raptor. At first, I thought it was either a kestrel or sparrow hawk, but its behaviour didnt fit either of these predators. We quickly concluded it was a Hobby. For the next 20 minutes it hunted over the lake, stooping into hunting dives at such blistering speed, it was difficult to follow its trajectory. It seemed to make a kill with each stoop - snatching dragonflies. (This small raptor predates on fauna like dragonflies, swifts and house-martins). Having made its kill, it ate from its talons, on the wing, and at the same time, returned to altitude readying for another fierce and athletic stoop. It was spellbinding and for me the highlight of the summer. And great to have shared this with Pip.

I wonder, having now found favourable habitat at UWNR, if this small raptor will return to nest and raise young next spring….fingers crossed.

I think the people in this country have had enough of experts.

Someone once said that….but at UWNR we just can’t get enough of them and this week Hugo Brooke (from Butterfly Conservation) and Jenny Bennett (from the Wiltshire Bat Group) visited. Both ran sessions with the young people, who are doing the John Muir Award. And both sessions were just superb.

Jenny ran her session on Monday night and armed with bat detectors (which pick up and translate the hunting echolocating calls of the bats) we stalked UWNR - listening in amazement as the bats squawked and barked their way across the lake, through the woodland and down secluded rides.

We detected these species - a reasonable count, given the night was lit with a full moon. Bats are reluctant to hunt under a full moon - they are more vulnerable in these conditions to predation.

• Common Pipistrelle

• Soprano Pipistrelle

• Brown Long Eared

• Serotine

• Noctule

• Myotis (this genus contains Daubenton’s, Natterer’s, Whiskered and Brandt’s. With sound detectors it is impossible to differentiate between these species - their calls are almost identical).

Without an expert (Jenny) none of this would have been possible….

On Tuesday morning Hugo Brooke ran a moth identification session with the John Muir group. Hugo and I had set up the moth trap on Monday afternoon, in the north field at UWNR. On our way back from setting the trap we spied this extraordinary butterfly. On first glance, I thought it was a very common Meadow Brown, but Hugo knew better. Hugo reckoned it was a Purple Hairstreak and he was bang on the money. While not uncommon this species is mesmerising to observe - the purple flashes flick on and off as sunlight catches their irridescent purple hairs, which run across each wing. Truly staggering!

Again while not uncommon the star (for me anyway) of the moth identification session, early Tuesday morning, was this stunning Blood Vein.

Last Tuesday was Jack Sanford’s last proper day at UWNR. He has now completed his John Muir ‘Conserver’ Award and is embarking on an apprenticeship as an Arborist and Woodland Manager. This next step is a great fit with the work he has done at UWNR. He has been a constant presence at UWNR for just over 2 years and many of the habitat developments have come from ideas Jack has offered. While we will still keep in touch, I will miss him hugely.

This spring & summer UWNR has been bountiful - some highlights; a Hobby arching across the pond at speed in pursuit of dragonflies, then eating them on the wing, countless Grass Snakes warming themselves in the sedge marsh, little Grebes foraging on the lake, Barn Owls in full hissing nighttime cry the brood now fledged, the fledging Buzzard mewling to its parents, they riding the thermals above the land, Emperor Dragonflies hunting deep into the woodland, the vixen calling, young Badgers poking about in the long grass searching for worms and the kingfisher darting across the lake in pursuit of prey.

Finally a bit of horn blowing….this recently from the lovely folk at the John Muir Trust:

Just a further note to say I’ve had a read of the pages you’ve sent (I couldn’t resist doing it now with a cup of tea) and it’s wonderful to see so much activity and the hands on, joined up, meaningful activity your participants have been getting involved in. I’m wondering about pulling together the various strands of your activity so far into a Case Study which we could share with others through our website, to inspire people about the different things they can undertake on their Awards.

Sweating the Assets!

Two of the bigger investments at UWNR have been the lake and the Barn Owl barn.  Both were done for very specific reasons. The lake was built to provide habitat for a range of species including grass snakes (perhaps they should be called water snakes), dragonflies, toads, frogs, aquatic invertebrates, damselflies, house martins & swallows, waterfowl and a drinking supply for mammals. It can be thought of as an ecological kick-start, for UWNR. As I have written in earlier blogs, the open barn was built to provide built habitat for the UWNR Barn Owl pair. 

Just in the last week, two things occurred which indicated that these habitats are being used to a degree, which is exceeding expectations. 

This happened….

With the Wessex Home Education Group I ran a 1-day session, focusing on the lake. During the afternoon slot we poked and scooped with our nets, seeking aquatic invertebrates – they came in an abundance, that was truly extraordinary. The clear highlight though – juvenile newts! 

For years, each early March – May, I have searched in vain for newts. So finding this juvenile with its external frilly gills (they develop internal lungs as they mature) was momentous. The lake habitat now feels complete. 

 ***

And then this happened….

When I arrived at UWNR last Friday, I was greeted by Jack his face beaming with excitement. His first words – ‘I have just had the most amazing experience, really unbelievable’! In a rush, he then told me that as he parked his motorbike in the Barn Owl barn, he caught sight of both adult Barn Owls perched tightly in the southwestern corner. They stock still, facing the wall, sound asleep. (They are feeding their brood at the moment, so working hard all night and sleeping soundly all day)!  They then awoke and fled, winging their way north-eastward. So the Barn Owls are using their barn to both hunt & sleep, and given this run of poor weather it is likely that this habitat is sustaining the adults and chicks. A great return on the investment!

Do we ever get this right?

In 1949, Aldo Leopold (one of the founders of modern conservation) compiled his essays into a book called A Sand County Almanac. One essay describes a lesson, which is hard to learn.

In the early 1900’s, Wolves were cleared from many areas of wilderness in the USA. The underlying view being that wolves predated too heavily and man could manage the deer herds more effectively, and by doing so, increase numbers for hunters. This move was predicated on a belief, that humankind knows best. The result of the intervention was catastrophic at an ecosystem level, and in time the wolves were reintroduced. From this historical episode came the key ecological concept of Trophic Cascade.

Leopold was in my mind, over the last weekend and early this week, when we tried to relocate a swarm of wild honey bees into a new wild-beehive. The entire process took 3.5 days, and with hindsight, I am really not sure this was the right thing to do. Our intervention felt so cack-handed at times and it wil be instructive to see if this swarm thrives. Throughout Matt Somerville was amazing, sharing advice and insights!

I have always believed that natural processes are best left! Why don’t we trust in nature to know best? Why are we compelled to intervene? What arrogance to think we know what is the correct course of action, when it comes to a system as complex as nature. What mistakes this arrogance leads to….

The beautiful swarm, which I found hanging from a young oak at UWNR. It had been exposed for too many days assaulted by cold winds, driving rain & cold nights - my concern was it wouldn’t survive, even in the short term.

Chris Nicholson, Keggie and I moved the swarm to the new log hive using a borrowed skep. With Matt guiding us, we positioned the skep underneath the virgin log wild-hive. The expectation was that within a 12-36 hour window the swarm would walk up the hive to security, safety and warmth. It didn’t!

36 hours after moving the swarm I returned to find this! The bees had started to build comb into the skep itself and hadn’t shifted upward, as expected. It was just so wrong! Another phone call to Matt. The decision was made to slice the new comb off, so I could fit the base plate on the new hive. The thinking - exposed, the hive woud probably survive the spring and summer, but would perish in the harsh weather of the winter. With the base plate fitted the swarm would be secure and protected. But longer term??

It really has worked!!!!

Building the Barn Owl Barn was a bit of a punt - click on this tab to read the reasoning that gave rise to this project.

Recent camera trap images show that this habitat is now being used by the UWNR Barn Owls, as hunting territory. Dates on the images also show that the bird is repeatedly using the barn on nights when the weather makes open field hunting impossible. For example, there are multiple images on the night of April 26th, as Storm Hannah swept across the UK.

Build the Wall, Build the Wall, Build the Wall, Build the Wall.....

Last week Jack, my good friend Pip Morgan and I built a dry-stone wall at UWNR. This south facing, sheltered habitat will provide basking places for the resident Adders and Grass Snakes, homes for invertebrates like 'Masonry' (or 'mortar') Bees and perhaps even habitat for small mustelids (stoats or weasels). UWNR doesnt have this habitat within its bounds, so this is a valuable addition.

The dry-stone wall is situated beside the raised bank, which the Adders occupy, and close to the Grass Snake haunts - they favouring the lake and sedge marsh.

A Revolutionary!

At the end of our wild beehive-making workshop, at UWNR last Saturday, someone described Matt Somerville as a revolutionary – I think this fits! Matt is turning the honeybee-keeping world on its head, in the best possible way, forcing us to re-think how we see these creatures.

Modern commercial bee keeping exploits this species, extracting honey for our consumption, with dire consequences. Our harvesting interferes with too many of the bee’s natural processes & needs – some examples;

• Life giving & sustaining honey is extracted and replaced with sugar and soy solution - this replacement is seriously sub-optimal

• Hives are built to enable honey to be easily extracted, but the design places stress on the bee - they lack insulation and are configured with internal panels, which runs counter to their wild & natural hive design

• Swarming, which is a natural part of the bee life cycle, is suppressed

• Queens are killed and replaced before they live out their natural lives

• Hives are placed in close proximity to each other - doing this enables the spread of disease

Modern commercial bee keeping is akin to modern dairy farming – exploitative, with not enough regard for the well being of the animal.

Matt’s hives and his overall approach, redresses these issues – bees are treated as wild animals. In the wild honeybees naturally home in hollow trees and these hives replicate this. And the honey is theirs, not ours. There is 1 species of honeybee in all of Europe and Africa, and these wild hives may help this lone species survive & thrive.  A hands-on revolutionary leading a revolution!

These pics show us at work making 7 new log hives, which will be placed in Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset…

Atilio close to completing his work, gouging out his larch log hive. A competed log hive stands behind Atilio…..

Matt working on the hackle, which sits on the top of the log hives.

The team at work…..

Good things just keep happening.....

About a year ago Jack Sanford starting doing the highest level (Conserver) John Muir Award, at UWNR. In many respects, this is an apprenticeship with a small A. Over this time he has achieved so much - Jack has learnt about the ecology at UWNR and completed practical environmental management tasks – a few examples:

• Cleared trees from the largest bramble patch to enable more sunlight penetration and grow butterfly feeding habitat

• Felled and cleared large trees creating a sunny south-facing bug glade with shelter-belts to the north, west and east

• Brought in Dormouse test tubes - cleaned and sorted, ready for repair.

• Cleared south-facing adder glades

• Completed repair of all Dormice test tubes and put these out into the landscape

• Placed slate & stone slabs into the bug-glade. Prepared the ground by cutting turfs and exposing earth

• Removed large cut logs from the Barn Owl field to enable grasses to grow and support the field vole population

• Checked moth traps and identified moths trapped overnight  

Part of the John Muir Award stipulates that Jack act as an advocate. In sum, he has to communicate to others what he has learnt and what he has done at UWNR. To achieve this, Jack guides visitors who come to UWNR. Last week Peter Gulliver visited UWNR – Peter is a very experienced & knowledgeable local naturalist who specializes in Bat ecology. After his visit and guided talk, Peter emailed this feedback to me: 

Clearly Jack is passionate about all of the achievements and I was surprised at his depth of knowledge. He described so many aspects from the breeding and hibernation cycles of the lake, the grass snakes and the mice and vole populations. His understanding of the various methods of coppicing and pollarding associated with the needs of the crowded Oaks demonstrates a broad breadth of knowledge. Then the Bees, the Butterfly areas, the Owls and the Badgers. He was able to confidently answer all of my questions with sound responses and expand when necessary. 
He is a mature young man with acomprehensive knowledge of UWNR & understands the intricacies of managing a Nature Reserve. It was a pleasure to have him guide my tour.  

WOW!!!! 

 And the other bit of good news….the Barn Owls have started to use the new Barn Owl barn – another WOW! 

This image shows both Barn Owl pooh and a downy feather. I found about 6 other chalky, white poohs and downy feathers. So 3 months after completing the new barn, it is being used as it should – a valuable winter hunting habitat for the resident Barn Owls.  ,

Possibly, Probably, Definitely – Part 2

Last Thursday, Jack and I were doing another day of tree felling in the main woodland. This tree thinning is part of the natural winter cycle of sensitive management at UWNR and it produces woodland with more space, light and air. In turn, this gives rise to a healthier and more verdant woodland. A wonderful by-product of this thinning is the production of tons of brush – these we stack in long ribbons, which weave there way though the landscape (see pic below). These provide valuable habitat for invertebrates, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds.  An example of this is the growth of the Wren population at UWNR – as the brush piles have expanded so has the population of this wonderful small bird. 

As we were working, Jack noticed a woven nest deep in the middle of one of the old brush ribbons. We spent some time investigating it – we were concerned that it was occupied. We assessed that the leaves, moss and grass bark were old, dry and brittle – our conclusion; this was a nest from the winter of 2017 – 18. We very gently retrieved it and then slowly prized it open – it was empty. Given all the descriptions I have read and photographs I have seen, my immediate thought was that we had discovered a Dormouse (winter) hibernating nest. They are more tightly woven and bigger than their summer nests. Dormice favour situating these nests on the ground, in shade and amongst cover – this situation fitted all of those features. 

In 2009, Sue Eden wrote a groundbreaking book called Living with Dormice – this book challenges much of the orthodox thinking, around this charismatic species. She states that Dormice are probably equally at home in a woodland setting with species like lime, ash and oak, as they are in hazel coppice or hedgerow.  The nest Jack found was in the heart of native deciduous woodland – a mix of ash, oak, lime, and field maple. A fit with Eden’s findings. 

The next step is to have expert verification of both Dormice nests (the summer nursery nest and the winter hibernating version), which have been found at UWNR in the past 6 months. Friends and ecologists, Gareth and Lisa, will do this in due course...so more to come! 

Fighting for Nature….

Fight 1: 

Jack and I have now finished a key task of our seasonal winter work. After 3 days of really demanding work we have conservation-laid this stretch of hedge, which was last touched perhaps 20-30 years ago.  The larger hawthorn trees were 30 feet in height and they put up a fight! And it came at a cost – I have two very badly infected fingers (one still partly paralyzed), a decent sized gash across the palm of my left hand and multiple nicks on my face. Somehow, Jack is unscathed! But the payback will be huge – now another hedge at UWNR is deep, broad, dense and complex. It will grow quickly to offer a rich habitat to a variety of species.  I love this method of hedge management – it just makes sense – despite the fight!

 Fight 2: 

I received an email this week from Mark Avery, announcing the launch of Wild Justice. Mark is working with Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay to bring the law to bear on those who flout it and bring destruction to our species and our land. Mark fights relentlessly for nature and I would ask each of you to read about what Wild Justice is aiming to achieve, and in turn, support them. (I would also recommend reading Inglorious, Conflict in the Uplands, by Avery. This book lifts the lid on how a very small number of elites (wealthy white males) assault our environment, for what is called country sports. I have included a disturbing pic below, which illustrates just one aspect of this destruction.).  

This is what Packham writes on the Wild Justice website: 

‘Wild. Justice.  Because the wild needs justice more than ever before. The pressures wrought upon our wildlife have reached a crisis point and this is an essential response…Our wildlife has been abused, has been suffering, exploited or destroyed by criminals for too long. Well, no longer. Wild Justice will at last be the voice of those victims and it will be heard . . . and justice will be served.

Write here…

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Winter happenings...

In his legendary book, Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape, Oliver Rackham writes about the importance of dead and rotting standing wood, in the UK landscape. This specific habitat provides territory for a range of invertebrates & fungus, many only found in decaying standing timber. Birds like woodpeckers and tree creepers take advantage of this habitat, for food and nesting. This habitat is far less prevalent now - many woodlands are overly cleared of diseased & dying trees and our Health and Safety culture designates these trees as dangerous. (At time of writing this blog, Surrey Wildlife Trust is felling 100’s of Ash trees, which may or may not have dieback, in the name of Health and Safety. And the timber is being sold for bio-electricity generation - SHAMEFUL on every level! Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd are fighting to halt this crime against nature).

The great Ted Green (who grew up with the ancient Oaks of Windsor Great Park, knows everything there is to know about ancient trees and woodland, and set up the Ancient Tree Forum) developed a simple innovation to help redress the loss of this valuable habitat - strap boughs to trunks and leave them to decay and rot.

Each winter at UWNR I thin the main woodland of some trees, to enable species like light hungry oak to thrive. The timber which is produced is used as fuel and is stacked on the ground in piles to rot - providing habitat for fungus, invertebrates and amphibians. This year, these methods have been complimented by creating multiple dead standing trees - slow decomposition will draw in yet more species to UWNR.

Thanks to Jamie and Jack for their help with this….

I stayed over-night at UWNR last week, to maximise the length of my tree thinning day, and on Thursday morning, in the pre-dawn dark gloom, I observed this from the barn. I took this shot through the window, in near darkness, so the quality is poor. Heartening that there are two Barn Owls - so far so good this winter, for these precious birds.