May 2008 - Posts
Ye gads the Heat! You know it has got hot, because people are wearing funny clothes that they weren’t wearing a few weeks ago. Odd length trousers which look like the wearer has experienced an unplanned growth spurt overnight. A few misguided chaps are even walking about with their tops off, as always happens when the thermometer climbs above 15 degrees, when did that become ok? Which reminds me, I must cancel the milk…
But this social observation aside, the real reason to smile is that summer is officially here, and it’s heralded by a much nicer sight than acres of pallid flesh wobbling along the esplanade.
Swifts are once more overhead, screaming their exuberant welcome in our skies and brightening up even the most stormy summer sky. They are the last migrants to arrive and the first to leave, and they make my heart soar every time I see them. My little house in Exeter is right beneath a colony, so their noisy banter is the soundtrack to summer BBQs, and they have returned to their roosts at the Knowle, so my office is filled with their clamour too as they tear about between the buildings.
There is no getting away from swifts, and there is no way I would want to either. As well as being a special indication of the long days of summer and embarrassing afternoons of cricket, swifts are also amazing animals too.
No other British bird is quite so perfectly built for a life on the wing, when the swift chicks first fledge the nest in a couple of months time they will be taking leap of faith which is pretty much unconceivable. Imagine, you have never flown a yard before, you are miles from the floor, peering from the eaves of a tall building and your only assurance that you can fly is a niggling suspicion in the back of your mind that perhaps you can. You wriggle to the edge of the ledge and allow yourself to fall over the side, you unfold enormous wings, catch the air beneath them and begin a non-stop flight that could last for the next 365 days!
Swifts, once fledged, will not touch a solid object, like the land for example, for up to a year after leaving the nest. They do everything on the wing, eat, sleep, procreate! They only stop flying to lay or incubate eggs, and then they are off again, soaring through the skies like a tiny fighter jet.
They travel vast distances every day on feeding forays, often chasing storm fronts for the insect bounty they provide. And at the end of the day they return to the colony and celebrate a day well spent with some acrobatic flying and tuneless screaming; tuneless maybe, but still music to my ears.
If they do land on the ground they are somewhat stuck, and unlike swallows or housemartins, swifts never ground themselves deliberately. They have no legs to speak of, their lower limbs have shrunk in proportion to their long sickle shaped wings. Little clawed feet are OK for gripping rock faces or the sides of buildings, but no good at powering yourself into the air.
If you do happen upon a swift that has got itself stuck, the chances are it’s a young bird or and old sick bird, either way its life will be curtailed by cats if left to its own devices. If the bird looks healthy then you can try gently launching it into the air – cupping its tiny body and tossing it upwards and away from yourself. If the bird struggles to the floor once again, or worse plummets straight down then you have more of a problem on your hands and you should try and get the bird to the safety of an animal rescue centre. There might not be anything anyone can do, but professionals are best placed to decide this.
Other summer flyers are on the wing again this year, and well worth getting out to look for. Green tiger beetles are abundant on Fire Beacon Hill’s paths and bare ground, patrolling stretches and chasing other tiger beetles with dazzling speed. Chose a sunny morning to go looking for them, and pause anywhere you find a sunny aspect and notice small round holes in the ground. The chances are your approach frightened off the beetle, but it will quickly be back if you wait patiently. On the wing they are easily mistaken for small butterflies, on the ground they look like small emeralds that have sprouted legs!
More about those later in the summer though!
Wow! Stop what you are doing immediately, which means stop reading this column, don’t worry I’ll be here when you get back. Get yourself down to Holyford Woods immediately, I assure you it’s well worth it…
…See, I told you, magnificent isn’t it? For those of you who have resisted the temptation to drop your newspaper and dash out of the door in your slippers heading for the hills, here’s a bit of an explanation and perhaps that will be enough to encourage you.
Things are a bit early in the woods this year. Spring is in the air and the whole world is a vibrant, verdant vista. The bluebells are blooming on the sunny southern facing slopes and this azure spectacle always seems to be a little more dazzling every year. The dark green of the ivy and ferns offsets the blues and provides a magic carpet which Aladin would be proud.
The leaves are just budding from the branches and are still a juicy lime green, yet to develop their darker more sombre tannin-filled green. And because the canopy hasn’t closed over yet, which is why spring flowers blossom early after all, you can see the powder blue sky overhead and hear its residents as clear as a bell.
The woodland is alive with bird song, not just early in the morning and last things at night, but constantly as birds proclaim ownership of territories and advertise their appropriateness as mates. As much as the flitting trill of a chiff-chaff may sound wonderful to our ears, if we were able to translate the calls it would make any of us blush!
There is an ever growing colony of ravens living in the woodland and spring is the time of year to see raven in their pomp. They are incredibly intelligent birds, having been shown to effectively ‘play and at this time of year their urge to frolic reaches its zenith.
You will probably hear the raven before you see them. Listen out for a deep throated croak, almost saying the name of the bird; “raaa-v’n, raaa-v’n” look up and watch for a large shape to momentarily block the sun! Raven are enormous birds, with big females having a longer wingspan than some of the smaller buzzards in the area. They have a very characteristic shape too, having thin wings with tapering ends and a large wedge-shaped tail. As they fly over the tree tops the raven twist and turn in the air, displaying superb aerial ability. This mock fighting can be seen in other birds here too, and last week I witnessed a jaw-dropping moment from the local buzzards.
Three buzzards were tussling over the trees just above my head. There is a wonderful area to the south of Holyford Woods where you climb a bare hill and can look down on the roof of the woodland for a really special view of what’s going on, I was just along here and the buzzards were swooping within a few metres of my head. One came particularly close and pulled up in the sharp banking manoeuvre, so close in fact that I could hear the wind rushing over its wing feathers, ripping at the trailing edges and sounding like the air itself was tearing apart!
The spectacle continues beneath the canopy too, although this area is the domain of the smaller birds. I would recommend finding a little glade and settling down either sitting or leaning against a tree, and soak up the full show.
Firstly you will probably see the blue and great *** in the outer branches of the oaks. They are tirelessly searching for food and collecting nesting materials to line their nest spaces. As flit of brown caught my eye and brought my attention to focus on a diminutive wren. This little bird was dashing back and forth to her nest site within the fungus damage of an oak tree, never returning with an empty beak. Another brown streak, this time characteristically flitting from high up, to the base of a tree – treecreeper. They climb vertically up the trunks of trees, searching for small insects in the fissured bark. They always climb up, and so they always fly down. Nuthatches on the other hand climb down the trunks of trees, reaching the bottom and flying to the top of the trunk to begin again.
Great spotted woodpeckers were drumming out their rhythmic message of hostility, proclaiming that tree to be theirs, and yet again I failed to hear a lesser spotted woodpecker in this woodland. I fear this could be the writing on the wall and a dash might have to put against LSW and Holyford Woods, at least for the time being.
What was supposed to be a quick fifteen minute dash down to the woods for a couple of photos, turned into a morning soaking up the spring, but it was worth every second and I would seriously recommend you drop everything and go!
Trapping animals, humanely might I add, is a source of debate within ecology circles. Whether its bird ringing or insect pitfalls, is it right to interfere with an animal’s ‘business’ in order to learn a little more about it?
If done well, and by that I mean carried out with little or no stress to the creatures involved, I think it can be an invaluable source of information.
I have been laying out reptile traps on a couple of East Devon District Council’s Local Nature Reserves recently, and it might come as a surprise to you what this entails. Reptile trapping is possibly the least intrusive form of surveying reptiles. Far from physically trapping an adder, slow worm or common lizard within ensnaring clutches, a reptile trap is merely a sheet or mat put out to entice reptiles to sunbathe!
This form of ‘trapping’ uses the animal’s own behaviour to lure it into a specific spot. Corrugated tin is widely used but can become discoloured or dangerous, so we use simple sheets of roofing felt. The felt is laid out in sunny positions and acts as a solar sink, warming in sunlight more quickly than the surrounding landscape. Reptiles, with their inherent desire for warmth will seek out such sunny spots and warm their bodies beneath or on top of the heat trap.
When surveying the traps each is inspected from a distance using binoculars to see if a reptile is on top of the sheet and therefore easy to survey without causing disturbance. This is the easiest method and it is often adders which adopt this position, so there’s another good reason for not venturing close!
If the sheet is clear, I will then gently make my way up to the trap and quietly lift from a corner to see if anything is taking refuge beneath. I tend to lift towards my body, so that if a well-warmed reptile lies beneath and wants to shoot off, they can do so without bumping into my bodily obstruction. If one lifts the sheet carefully the reptile beneath will often sit quietly, giving you a chance to identify its species – well, there’s only 6 possibilities to choose from and two of those aren’t found on any of the Council’s reserves, more’s the pity. In some cases, such as slow worms, adders and grass snakes its possible to tell the sex of the individual if its an adult, and number of occupancy is also noted.
So far this spring there have been plenty of common lizards and slow worms under the traps, but I have yet to find any serious numbers of adders, something which other reptile ramblers have noted too. There’s a regular basking spot for adders on Beer Head and the guys up there have had some luck, but on the heathland reserves I have only had a single sighting. Could this be because of the sudden cold snap we suffered in early April? Or because of the really wet weather we have endured since then? Does this represent the current situation or is it just a surveying blip – are my traps in the wrong places for adders? They weren’t last year!
These are questions that might be answered through continued surveying, or it might pass and be an previous curiosity to be pondered over a pint. Whatever comes, I will continue to keep an eye on the reptilian life on the reserves, trying to build up a picture of their heath and wellbeing through familiarity.
Birds are sometimes a much easier quarry for the surveyor. By their very nature they are identifiable either by eye or ear, and most of them are active at a convenient time of the day. Birdwatching is undoubtedly the form of surveying with the highest participation in the UK, with initiatives such as the Big Garden Birdwatch, bringing it to people’s attention how important their sightings can be.
Down on the Axe Estuary, records noted in the bird hide log books, combined with local birdwatcher’s private records, provide a wealth of information about bird numbers and seasonality. This is collated into a fabulous yearly report. This tome is put together by a few local birding stalwarts, with a bit of help from Fraser and me at the District Council, and what is produced is, in my opinion, a wonderful reference for local interest.
The Axe Estuary and Seaton Bay Bird Report, should be a feature of anyone’s reference library, and I don’t just say that because I helped write it – honest! Not only does a report such as this give you an insight into where and when birds were seen over the previous 12 months, but it is a complete guide of how to see birds within this location. Where to go, when to go and what to look out for, is the sort of insider’s knowledge I am constantly being asked for – well here it is in one publication. Get in touch with Diane at the Countryside Service on 01395 517557 to reserve your copy now!
Yuck, that was in danger of becoming a sales pitch, so I will quickly move on…
The final form of surveying is one which courts most controversy and therefore has the highest degree of licensing. Bird ringing involves trapping a bird in one of a number of different nets, removing them unharmed and recording a number of statistics before setting them free with a lightweight ring on their leg for future identification.
The number of times the same reed warbler, or kingfisher has got stuck in a mist net at Colyford Common has lead me to the conclusion that the process has little or no ill effect on the birds involved. Also, the data collected is so valuable that a few minutes inelegance on the birds’ behalf is worth it in the long run. From recaptures we have records of bird longevity, health and even breeding status in our patch. As easy as it is to recognise species of bird, it is very difficult to tell one from another, and so ringing birds gives us the potential to identify individuals and therefore understand more about them.
Over the winter more than 100 shelduck were ringed on the estuary, as the years pass, we will be able to recognise whether the population of these impressive ducks is a local one, or are we a staging post for European birds?
The more you dig beneath the surface of the local ecology scene, the more individuals and initiatives you find going on. The people involved are often volunteers and all give a considerable amount of their time in the quest for knowledge. As changes to our climate loom on the horizon, this knowledge base will prove invaluable in guiding our responses and dealing with that change.
A couple of weeks ago, I sang the praises of the volunteers who gather valuable information about wetland bird numbers in the monthly WeBS counting. Well, there’s a couple of dates for your diary on the horizon, so I’m going to talk about the valuable contribution volunteers make to the local patch in this column as well, and hope this encourages a few of you to come along and get stuck in!
If you are a kitesurfer, then one of your favourite places locally to practice your sport is on the estuary. Hopefully too, you are well aware of the voluntary exclusion area which is in effect between September and December each year. The exclusion zone was drawn up in collaboration with local kite surfers and covers the area to the East of the Imperial slipway, up towards an area known as Kings Lake.
This zone was selected for its importance to birds returning to the estuary for the winter, as beneath the water here, grows their favourite food, eelgrass. Everyone agreed that this would have a negligible impact on kitesurfer’s enjoyment of the estuary, and would have great benefits for the bird life too. In the first couple of seasons this voluntary code has worked well-ish. But hopefully next year we will be able to fully demark the zone with buoys, ensuring everyone knows where they should or shouldn’t be. If anyone can help me with buoyage on the estuary, please get in touch!
Sooner than that, there is another chance fro local volunteers to come out in force and help remove rubbish from the Local Nature Reserve. The District Council have teamed up with the Exe Estuary Partnership and other partners to organise a morning of beach cleaning at venues around the estuary, helping to remove strange things stuck in the mud.
Last year was a great success with lots of dross pulled clean. However a few winter months later and there’s stuff out there again, so if you’ve got a spare hour or so on May 3rd, come along to the Imperial Rec from 11 o’clock and join us in bagging up the booty. The good news this year is that we won’t have to physically haul each piece across half a mile of soft sand, as Miles from Exmouth Mussels will be collecting all the bags of waste on his barge the following high tide – what co-operation!
In the past all sorts of local groups and organisations have turned out to help, from the Local Group of the Devon Wildlife Trust, Kitesurfers, local businesses, members of the Devon Wildfowlers and local Scouts and Guides – it is a genuine community effort. There’s as many reasons for getting involved as different people who turn up to help out. Some people are pleased to be able to help local wildlife, some people are happy to tidy up local rubbish and some people don’t like to stub their toes on sharp things when the fall off their surfboard!
Another group activity which will be taking place soon is a litter pick on The Maer, on Tuesday 13th May at 10 o’clock. This will be a much less strenuous activity, just come along to help remove the wind-blown rubbish which tends to collect in the longer grass of the nature reserve.
Litter pickers and gloves will be provided, along with collecting bags, and by the end of the morning we will hopefully have the place looking spotless for the coming summer period. As well as this being a wonderful Local Nature Reserve which is frightfully underused, I have other motives for clearing the litter this spring.
Later in the summer I am hosting a busy bees morning at The Maer, a chance to get a personal introduction to the solitary bee species that call The Maer their home. No-one would want to crawl round on the sandy grass if it was covered in sweet wrappers and cans of drink.
There’s plenty of events going on through the summer period, so to pick up your copy of the Countryside Service events programme, pop into the Tourist Information Centre and ask for it by name.
Ask any 6 year old child on Boxing Day, and they will confirm that the problem with really looking forward to a single date, is that the moment has to pass and it leaves you feeling empty.
For the last three or four months a really big deal loomed large on my horizon. The Easter holidays, or is it now called spring break, was full of events for me and it was something I was really looking forward to. Firstly there were the Local Nature Reserve family events.
I have somewhat reduced the number of events that I offer on the East Devon Local Nature Reserves, as I had found a saturation point and wanted to revert to offering quality events rather than getting bogged down in quantity. With any outdoor activity, you are at the mercy of the elements, and a number of factors, including publicity and date can conspire against you to make for a perfect or not so perfect attendance.
On Monday 7th of April I trotted down to the Bowd Inn at 9am to meet with what I expected to be 12 or so people to go on an early morning retile ramble. I pulled into the car park and saw more cars than I was expecting people! The sun was shining, it was the first day of the school holidays and 63 people wanted to join me on a walk to find some reptiles on Fire Beacon Hill!
I can’t say I blame them, I was looking forward to the event for the exact same reasons, but I suddenly felt a wee bit of pressure to entertain these folks as they had taken the trouble to join me so bright and early. As it was we found a happy medium, with children coming to the front if they were interested in a particular find, and otherwise cavorting about if they were happy just to be outside – I hesitate to say that I think the event went rather well. We found common lizards, a slow worm and in the circumstances, I was rather relieved not to find an adder!
After that nice surprise I was glad to have specified a strict upper limit on numbers for the following day’s event, a wild cook-up in Holyford Woods. I had enough home made bread and ingredients with me and 15 of us wandered off into the woodland to gather ingredients for a quick and easy wild soup. Nettle and wild garlic – delicious.
Back at Fire Beacon Hill on Thursday morning, I finally found the secret of producing insects to order - give yourself an unrealistically short time limit. I had to rush off for a second meeting at 11, and so we set off for the heathland in double time, with another record turn out of people. The bugs didn’t stop coming, and I found none of them!
Firstly a minotaur beetle was spotted on the path by a sharp pair of eyes. This huge black shiny beetle has three horns projecting over its head and is one of my absolute favourite UK beetles. It was incredible that about 25 pairs of feet had walked past/over this big, rotund individual without noticing it, sometimes it is better to concentrate on the journey rather than focussing on the destination!
Next we found an unidentified beetle grub, big, with powerful centipede-like jaws I didn’t know exactly which group this grub came from, let alone which species. And I was similarly puzzled by the next finding, a solitary wasp, with long flowing antennae and a rather dramatic looking ovipositor.
The last beetle we found was shoved under my nose as my alarm was beeping away in my pocket. I knew I might get carried away with the insect finding, so had set a reminder and now it was an unwelcome intrusion into the morning. A little girl had found a beetle almost as big as her hand! A violet ground beetle, heavy with eggs, was proffered into the circle of expectant faces.
As with the other big beetles, I took a few photos and explained a little of what it was we were looking at. We then attempted to get the beetle to crawl over as many pairs of hands as possible, before she jumped off into the heather.
I was enjoying myself so much it was terribly difficult to tear myself away. I left a little later than planned and hurtled down the path, risking a turned ankle or twisted knee, luckily I had been ultimately lazy and parked my car at the bottom of the hill, so was able to jump in and drive off to my less exciting engagement, leaving the hoards of Junior Ranger bug-hunters up on the hill continuing with their discoveries. Considering that it was them, and not me, who had found all the really good stuff, I wonder what they found after I left – probably a Keugelann’s ground beetle!
After the Local Nature Reserve events I put in some time cooking on stage at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink – not the natural habitat for an Education ranger, but you know me, I’ll give anything a try! Three days of sustainable fish recipes, Sunday roasts and healthy eating was exhausting, but great fun and allowed me to showcase the District Council’s Food 4 Thought project to a foodie crowd at the festival.
The problem now is that I have reached the other side of this big diary date, and have spent Tuesday afternoon off work, rolling the cricket square. Not to worry, the schools silly season is about to kick off and this year we are making a particular fuss about the Exe Estuary, so plenty for me to write about in here over the next couple of months. Next thing you know it will be the summer holidays!
It’s that time of year again. School has chucked your kids out and they’re home all day, under your feet. But living in this part of the world there is no excuse to be stuck for something to do or somewhere to explore in the spring sunshine. Heck, there’s even stuff to do when its lashing down with rain, just make sure you’ve got a good mac! It needn’t cost you anything either – the best visitor attractions in my opinion are free: our fabulous countryside.
I’ve concentrated the Ranger events on offer from East Devon District Council this year into the school holiday periods and if you can’t think of something off your own back, perhaps you would like to join me on one of these organised events.
Kicking off the fortnight’s holidays get up early and join me for a reptile ramble on Fire Beacon Hill. You need to get going early at this time of year to spot dozy lizards before they have a chance to charge up the batteries and whiz off out of sight.
We’ll be meeting in the far end car park of the Bowd Inn at 9am, and walking up onto the hill from there. It’s a lovely walk in itself with early spring flowers like dog violets and vetch poking into life and the first fronds of ferns sticking through the soil.
On Tuesday morning I’m organising a wild cook-up in Holyford Woods, which is an event where booking is essential as I need to know numbers and more importantly, I need to be aware of allergies. Although, come to think of it, how many of you reading this know if you are allergic to nettles?
Actually, nettles have an amazing antihistamine quality, although I wouldn’t recommend following my advice on prescriptive medicine. If you are interested in supping on some woodland fare, depending upon what we find it could be almost anything you need an adventurous palette, get in touch with the Countryside Service on 01395 517557.
A few more standard events follow the gastronomic tour of Holyford Woods; on Wednesday we’ll be looking for Birds Bugs and Beasties on Trinity Hill and the following day Fire Beacon Hill will be the setting for an insect safari, an afternoon and a morning event respectively. If you are interested in either of these, get in touch with the service for more information. We’ll hopefully find lots of interesting bugs, from labyrinth spiders to early caterpillars, last year we even came across a glow worm larva!
And finally, a more sedate event to finish off the programme, but once again I’m back on the food trail. Come along for an introduction to the newest Local Nature Reserve in East Devon, Knapp Copse and bring a picnic as we’ll be starting with a bite to eat in a (hopefully) sunny woodland glade. This is a fascinating site near Honiton, but it’s in a very steep valley, so you will need lots of energy-giving food in your picnic to get you up the steep hills!
Whether you join me on an organised event, or pack your own picnic and set off for a cliff-top walk on the coast path, or an inland meander along an interesting river, there are so many things to do and places to see in East Devon, you need never be stuck for something to do – having the kids along can be just the excuse you need to go out into the fresh air and enjoy it!
One of the nicest things about my job is meeting lots of different people and having the time to chat to them about their countryside experiences.
Last week, at the last meet the birds morning for Seaton Marshes Local Nature Reserve until Autumn, I was chatting to a local birder who grew up in the town. He was reminiscing about how different the valley is now, to how it was then. Specifically about how easy it used to be to find birds nests when he was a boy.
These days, mention birds nests and a room of conservationists goes icy cold. Nests equal eggs, and eggs equal nutters.
The fact was that this chap was telling me about the, then, legitimate way in which his love of birds manifested itself. He was interested in birds and wildlife and so he collected specimens, some of which were eggs. What was sad was not that he used to partake in what is now a highly illegal act, but that the same valley he has grown up in over these last 60 years no longer holds the diversity of bird life it once did.
Attitudes change and instead of an eggers box round this particular chap’s neck, there rests a pair of rather swanky binoculars, and he is as passionate about his local birds as ever. But there are still a few obsessive collectors, who ignore the law in their pursuit of collections they can never sell, trade or even display at home for fear of imprisonment.
Recently a painter and decorator from Cleethorpes was imprisoned for 23 weeks for having one of the largest collections of wild bird’s eggs ever discovered in the UK, over 7,000 eggs. He represents the pinnacle, or should that be trough, of what is a destructive and selfish obsession, worryingly confined to men. An obsession with less to do with the subject matter, and all to do with the act of collecting.
His collection contained some of the rarest birds in the Country and it is a positive step for our natural heritage that these people are now dealt with in the strongest terms possible – a prison sentence.
Historically, I would suggest ignorance was a valid defence, but now we understand the detrimental impact of disturbing birds’ nests, it is now in every way an unforgivable thing to do. Which is why the new generation of wildlife enthusiasts have to find other outlets for their passion.
When I was a boy, I was forever collecting things from my countryside forays. Badger skulls, sloughed snake skins, an entire fox carcass; my mother was forever banning a new exhibit from the house! And to a certain extent I still find myself doing this. In front of me now on my workstation, I am looking at a pine cone eaten by a red squirrel, a few hazelnuts nibbled by dormice and a mummified pogge (a type of fish).
The other modern way to collect, which was not available so easily 60 years ago, is with a camera, and it is this which has greatest potential to influence new natural history practices. There is an interesting adage when visiting the countryside to “leave only footprints, take only pictures” a motto which is supported whole-heartedly by the East Devon Junior Rangers!
On Monday morning we explored Fire Beacon Hill Local Nature Reserve, on a ramble for reptiles. A combination of fantastic weather and the beginning of the school holidays meant that the event attracted a great deal of attention, and the landlord of the Bowd Inn, near Sidmouth was a little nervous at the sight of his car park filling up with cars at 9 in the morning!
He wasn’t half as flustered as I was by the sight of them all! Off we set, myself and 63 Junior Rangers with parents, grandparents and family friends in tow. I was immediately thankful that the weather was bright but cold, as this held the only potential chance of all of us getting a look at a reptile this morning.
Sure enough as we explored the site together a few common lizards and slow worms were sluggishly warming themselves beneath squares of roofing felt and I was able to safely pick them up and let all 126 eyes scrutinise closely.
What took me a little by surprise, was when about 40 camera phones were shoved through the crowd and pictures were taken at all angles! Most of the groups visiting had either a digital camera, or a phone camera and these were used with gusto by the kids to snap away and record this important moment, when they came nose to snout with a slow worm.
With the expansion of networking sites, such as Myspace or Facebook, these interesting wildlife finds will soon be shared with friends through the District, across the Country and through the world, as word spreads of the fantastic wildlife encounters the children of East Devon make every day – well, its all how you present these things isn’t it?
As you are probably well aware, all of us officers here at your Local Authority work tirelessly to ensure we share good practice, resources and promote efficiencies whenever possible. We do, I promise.
With that in mind, Mark Pollard, Parks and Garden’s Development Officer here at East Devon District Council, came bounding into my office a couple of days ago. Now, normally I am able to hear Mark’s characteristic footsteps from the end of the hallway, and make the necessary evasive actions beneath my desk. But this time he took me by surprise and I was rooted to the spot, like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
I jest of course, but Mark does have that wonderful ability to pop in and substantially fill my ‘to do…’ list. This time was no exception. We’ve been working together in the on-going successful Green Flag Awards for Manor Gardens; me by providing a bit of biodiversity input, complimenting Mark’s extensive horticultural speciality.
Amenity parkland awards seem to be putting an increasing importance upon the wild animals which can be found in a well managed park, a significance I am particularly glad about. Now just to change their minds that ‘well managed’ always means ‘neat and tidy’ but one step at a time…
So, I’ve been spending a little time in the formal parks in Exmouth, keeping an eye out for birds prospecting nest boxes and evidence of the daytime occupants of bat boxes. But the amount of time I can commit to this observation is very limited, which is where you step in, dear reader.
By the mere fact that you have got to this point, suggests you have more than a passing interest in the subject matter; well, here’s an opportunity for you to get involved yourself.
Mark and I are looking to bring together a group of local residents to carry out casual surveys in Manor Park and Plantation Walk, monitoring bat boxes, nest boxes and other wildlife sightings. Don’t worry about your depth of knowledge or prior ecological experience; we’re not looking to man a Royal Geographic Society expedition! We will provide all the information you need and get you started with the survey techniques – ‘survey techniques’ being an overly technical term for sitting and watching.
So we’re looking for people who are interested in helping us out, if you would like to know more contact Mark Pollard at the District Council, on 01395 516551.
For those of you who won’t be able to get involved, but will be interested in our findings, worry not, as I will no doubt publish an article all about it in this column in future months!
The nest boxes and bat boxes in question were all made by local children involved in EDDC’s Junior Rangers club, and have been in the parks for a couple of seasons now. If they do indeed prove to be providing increased nesting opportunities for local birds, what a great result for volunteer effort!
One area locally that benefits from a very skilled level of volunteer observation is the estuary. There is a national programme of monitoring which is highly co-ordinated, called WeBS or the Wetland Birds Survey. Each month a dedicated band of few gather at set times and set places to record the number of birds of many key species. This on-going programme provides immensely important information about bird numbers and how they change, upwards and down, over time.
I’d like to share a few interesting observation this year from the Exe, and my sincerest thanks to David Price and his team for putting this data together. Brent goose numbers peaked on the Exe Estuary in November at 1,800 birds, a count slightly up on recent years. However, juvenile numbers were counted at 7% of population total, which, considering it is estimated that the Brent goose population needs an annual recruitment (a rather cold scientific term for new babies) of 15% is a worrying statistic.
Wigeon on the other hand peaked at 4,000 birds, which is again up on recent years, however numbers fell off quickly to 2,500 birds by December. Mallard, the ubiquitous village pond duck much loved by all peaked at 400 in November, but only reached two or three hundred at other months, a decline reflected in National figures.
It is only with these immensely valuable protracted surveys that long-term trends can be noticed. Indeed, all of us who get some level of life-affirming happiness from our internationally important bird populations, need to be grateful to David and his team of volunteers for getting out there come hellish winds or mean High Water, and keeping an observational eye on the flocks.
Last week we witnessed an incredible meteorological exhibition. At the time of writing this, the extent of the storm’s damage is not fully known, but initial indications would suggest we got away with it by-and-large this time. I write that while touching a large chunk of driftwood.
A combination of storm force winds and incredibly low pressures, coinciding with a cycle of very high spring tides, was a recipe for widespread flooding in low-lying areas throughout the South West peninsular. If we can be glad of anything it is that an important member of the flooding trinity, swollen rivers, was not present or the impacts could have been far more severe.
So what lies behind last week’s drama? Well, just like a shampoo commercial “you’re worth it” sorry, not that one, “pay attention; here comes the science”.
Firstly, what causes the tide?
If you think of the planet’s surface water as a skin covering the globe, then that ‘skin’ is pulled by the gravitational forces of the moon, creating a bulge in its surface. This pulls the ‘skin’ into an ellipse with two bulges and two thin sections – the bulges are high tides and the thin sections the low. As the moon orbits the earth so the bulges circum-navigate the world, creating the twice daily rise and fall of the tides, a cycle of four states completed in a little less than 25 hours.
Don’t be fooled by the name, a spring tide happens every other week due to the lunar cycle combining with the extra (but much smaller) gravitational pull of the sun, with every other spring tide being a super-high spring. It’s got nothing to do with the time of year, but rather that the sea level ‘springs’ up. That said, to confuse everyone further the biggest springs normally occur in the Spring and Autumn! Last Monday’s forecast high water level at Exmouth was 4.1 metres above chart datum, which is as big as the predictions get for this area.
Tides can also be exaggerated by low pressure, as the surface of the sea is ‘sucked’ even higher relative to the land. High pressure conversely pushes down sea level. On Monday the pressure dropped below 960 millibars, one of the lowest readings ever recorded.
Finally, the winds created by this mega low pressure were a major factor. Not only did the ferocity of the storm force winds whip the sea up into even bigger waves, but the action of wind physically pushed a greater volume of water toward the shore, and into the estuary mouth. We were fortunate that the wind direction was from the west, Exmouth benefited from a sheltered location at the apex of Lyme Bay. Had these winds been due south, the Bay might have acted like a giant funnel collecting water on our doorstep.
So, Exmouth weathered the storm, as it has weathered many through the centuries of its maritime history. Perhaps we should spare a thought for those less fortunate… or perhaps not, you be the judge.
A little further east, on the south Hampshire coast, a large static caravan park had been given permission to construct large sea defences to protect its low lying location. Now to build these defences, heavy machinery was driven over a SSSI coastal habitat, leading to its deterioration, and the defences themselves were dumped on top of SSSI geological features of the coast. A couple of environmental infringements I find exasperating, not to mention woefully short-sighted.
However when last week’s storm hit the site the defences didn’t work. Instead they created something resembling a lagoon behind the beach, in which the static caravans were photographed bobbing about like monstrous white hippopotamuses.
The fact is that coastal squeeze is a very real issue in our little island Nation. Pressures, both natural and man-made, are greater than ever before on our coastal fringes. More and more people want a house with a sea view, while increased storm activity and predicted sea level rise mean that some areas of the coast are being nibbled away, while other areas are being gobbled up.
Historically our reaction to the natural process of coastal erosion was to confront nature, and bung in a load of ugly and impotent features like groynes and gabions. Where defences were put in place to preserve beach materials, in spite of the clawing forces of long shore drift, the immediate area might indeed benefit; but normally this was at the detriment of another site further down the coast.
The policy now being promoted is one of ‘managed retreat’ which broadly translates as admitting when you’re beat and allowing the process to take its course. So is this a terrifying modern strategy? Not really, especially when you consider it was over a thousand years ago that King Canute realised no-one can control the oceans, no matter how powerful a person you may be.