30 Days Wild - Day 30: Saving the bats til last

Well it's the last day of "30 days wild", what shall I post for our last wild activity of the month?....

Why not go for the obvious, which I've somehow managed to avoid posting until now?!

Tonight we'll be be undertaking a bat survey on a site in the hills above Huddersfield. Bat surveys are the mainstay of our work from the end of June through to the end of September, albeit with a scattering of other surveys and habitat management work in between. We usually get called in to survey a building when someone wants to undertake building work that requires planning permission as the planners need to be satisfied that the favourable conservation status of these European protected species will not be significantly affected by the proposals.

Its a habitat assessment and "emergence survey" tonight. 

First we'll be checking all around and inside the building in question for bats or signs of bat use which might be droppings, staining or even the sound of bat chatter if there is a big roost present - particularly on a hot day like today. We record all of the features that bats might use for roosting which could be anything from a single bit of missing mortar under a ridge tile, up to a large loft where bats could fly up and down until they're ready to come out after dark.

Once on that's done we set ourselves up in suitable positions outside the building, at least 15 minutes before sunset, waiting for any bats roosting in the building to emerge. Different bat species emerge at different stages of darkness starting with the larger bats (noctule and Leisler's bats), which often come out before sunset and can be easily mistaken for birds flying high across the sky. Then the pipistrelle species are next, which are usually all out within 30 minutes of sunset. At the opposite end of the spectrum the long-eared bats might not emerge from their roosts until 1 hour after sunset, when it's almost completely dark. We watch the building until 1 hour and 30 minutes after sunset to make sure we don't miss any emerging bats.

Every site can come up with surprises, sometimes we don't have a single bat, other nights we might have a soprano pipistrelle maternity roost of 200 bats! Who knows that tonight's survey will bring.

We don't often get to see bats this close up - this was taken during one of our bat box checks at Seckar Wood

Well done to everyone else who's being taking part in 30 Days Wild.

30 Days Wild - Day 29: Walkabout

Another office day writing a bat licence application, nothing wild about that!

With a letter to post and a visit to make 2 miles away I decided to ditch the car and get some evening air.

It's not a very picturesque walk but along the way I heard a green woodpecker over the horse fields, I didn't realise we got them so close to home.

There was even a bat circling the house when I got home, there's no getting away from them today!

30 Days Wild - Day 28: Being a friend to nature

Everybody needs good friends and nature reserves are no exception!

The Friends of Seckar Wood are a committed band of volunteers who help look after the various special habitats on this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near Woolley, south of Wakefield. 

Today's task was "balsam bashing". Another invasive non-native plant that rapidly colonises riverbanks and damp woodlands (Seckar falling under the latter category) where it shades out the native ground flora.

It's a very shallow rooted annual plant which makes pulling it up very easy, so perhaps balsam pulling would be a better way to describe it. The pulling must be done before the plant flowers and sets seed.

Despite being small in number we got a good area cleared today. The idea being that repeating the same area over 2-3 years should eradicate the plant from that areas.

We also put up a couple of my home made bird boxes on trees in the woodland too so something else to keep an eye on when we visit.

30 Days Wild - Day 27: For Peats' sake

What cracking weather to be out in the garden - catching up with all the jobs we couldn't do because we were too busy revising, about gardening!

We were running low on a few gardening essentials so off I went down t'shops. One of thing we needed was multipurpose compost to fill a couple of new hanging baskets (I know - we're not exactly at the cutting edge of garden fashion!). I noticed that B&Q were doing a very reasonably priced "peat free" compost so I thought I'd give it a go.

Normal compost is almost always peat, sometimes 100% peat, other times it's "peat based" with other stuff mixed in. The reason peat is so good as a compost is that it has just the right balance of moisture retention and drainage for raising and growing most plants.

However, peat is a raw material which takes thousands of years to form in the lowland raised bogs from which it is extracted. These bogs have a diverse flora and fauna that have evolved to survive in this unique and increasingly rare habitat. Once it's gone, it's gone. Is it really worth losing these habitats and all the species that rely on them just so we can have a nice hanging basket?!

So as conservationists we really should always be avoiding peat based composts in the garden. 

If it doesn't say "peat free" or "peat reduced" on the bag, then it almost certainly has peat in it, even if it says other things like "environmentally friendly" or "organic" it may still be peat based.

There are a small number of alternative peat products which you can buy with a clear ecological conscience; such as Moorland Gold which is made from peat gathered through water filtration rather than by digging it all up.

Peat free composts can be based on a range of materials, usually waste products from another industry such as composted wood chippings or even coconut fibres (coir).

This compost looks ok so far, but the proof will be in the growing I suppose.

p.s. if you thought this post was about reviewing whisky I can only apologise, maybe I'll try that this evening?

30 Days Wild - Day 26: Strimming in the rain!

Half way through mowing the lawn the heavens opened (completely un-forecast - well done met office!).

A bit annoying, maybe, but at least partially offset by this rainbow over the garden.

The award for "most resourceful bird of the day" goes to a wren at one of our bat sites near Doncaster. Rather than build its own nest it decided it would be far better to convert an old swallows nest instead!

30 Days Wild - Day 25: On T-woo wheels again

Another evening out on the two wheeled wildlife-mobile (the one with an engine this time).

Found myself riding alongside a tawny owl along the edge of a forestry plantation. 

Pulled up with engine off I could hear at least three calling, probably this year's owlets scattered through the plantation. 

As I put the bike back in the garage at dusk there were swifts screaming overhead - reminds me I must get around to making that swift box to go on the house!

30 Days Wild - Day 24: Nocturnal garden safari

Just been out in the garden with the torch to see what nocturnal creatures are lurking about:

Massive slug, massive snail, loads of tadpoles (most have got legs now) and our "patio frog" which we see every time it rains (we presume its the same one!).

its a good job the neighbours already know we're a bit "wierd", poking around in the back garden with a 1million candelpower torch at 11 at night! :-D

30 Days Wild - Day 23: Rattling on

Our next Habitat management job for Garganey Trust will be Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) control at Thunder Bridge Meadows near Kirkburton.

The site has a stream running through it which has this non-native plant all along its banks. As the site hadn't been actively managed for a number of years (no cutting or grazing) the plant has managed to take hold in some parts - it uses it's spring loaded "exploding" seed pods which can launch seeds several metres from the parent plant!

We'll be cutting the balsam over the next few weeks with a power-scythe and our brushcutter, the aim being to cut it before it sets seed, which usually happens in July/August depending on the weather. Cutting the same area over 2 or 3 years should rid that area of the plant as the seed is only thought to be viable for 18 months.

Himalayan balsam seedlings waiting to be cut.

So we went down to Thunder Bridge this evening for a recce to see how the plants were getting on. We don't want to cut them too soon as its more difficult to spot smaller plants, but we can't leave it too late either. It seems the relatively dry weather this year so far had stunted their growth a bit with only a few plants getting near to flowering height so I think we'll hold off for another week or two.

Whilst on site we checked out the meadow areas we've cut in previous years and noticed several developing patches of yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), a native plant of meadows which is hemi-parasitic.

Yellow rattle - helping us create a more diverse meadow

  It steals some of its nutrients from the grasses by tapping into their roots which reduces their vigour. This allows other broadleaved meadow species to germinate and grow, increasing the meadow's diversity and value to pollinating insects. And it works - I've never been to a site with so many bees, the place is literally buzzing!

We also spotted quite a few Marsh Orchid around the meadow, many of which were in the bits we've been cutting in previous years - proper job satisfaction.

If only every day ended with a pretty orchid like this one!

30 Days Wild - Day 22: Captive reading

Stuck in exams all day today at RHS Harlow Carr. Some mind bending questions in the  "pests and diseases" paper, what is the biological control method for rabbits!? :-/

Anyway, 4 down, 4 to go tomorrow! Spent all evening trying to memorise garden plant names so nothing particularly "wild" to boast about.

I did manage to work in some eco-friendly gardening into my answers today though, even "green walls" got a mention. I spent at least 10 minutes describing how to build a compost heap too!

Will try and do something a bit more wild once we're free of the exam shackles tomorrow evening. :-)

30 Days Wild - Day 21: A fortunate meadow

Ever since my grandma-in-law moved into a bungalow around the corner I've (quite voluntarily) acquired the job of gardener/lawnmower, usually with assistance from Maria or her dad.

I was doing quite well this year, keeping on top of the acres of grass, but for one reason or another it hadn't been done for a few weeks so it was getting on for a foot high in places!

Imagine my delight then today when my "customer" told me she'd like a bit leaving long for the wildlife! Good for the bees and for my back :-D

So I managed to leave an area uncut underneath two mature apple trees. It'll be interesting to see what comes up. Maybe we can get hold of some plug plants to diversify it a bit too.

30 Days Wild - Day 20: Buzzing hazels and biking with bugloss

Loads of bees today on our hazels, they seemed to be eating the honeydew off the surface of the leaves. Honeydew is the stuff that covers your car if you park it under a tree - it's secreted by aphids.

This bee is loaded with pollen - doing a great job pollinating all our plants!

 They were accompanied by these ladybirds. I'm no entomologist but I think they are all Harlequin ladybirds (Unfortunately another recently colonised species which threatens to out-compete our native ladybird species);

 

 Later on I took a quick bike-ride out along the Chevet Branch line and came across a mass of vipers bugloss (Echium vulgare), it has stunning spikes of blue flowers which were also covered in bees.  

30 Days Wild - Day 19: Bean there

Really struggled to fit in anything really wild today. The best we could muster was to book our autumn break in Skye; otters, eagles and isolation - can't wait!

I did have a good look at the broad beans (Vicia faba) in the veg bed this evening (my attention was caught by a very busy bee down there), surprisingly pretty flowers on close inspection and hopefully some nice homegrown beans at some point thanks to our pollinating visitor.

30 Days Wild - Day 18: Making tracks

No surveys planned today (we had a dusk bat survey in North Yorkshire last night) so a bit of paperwork in the morning then another afternoon ride along the Trans-pennine trail from Penistone. A bit breezy for most of the wildlife but a refreshing ride nonetheless. It was all worth it for a bargain cup of tea and a hobnob at Julie's Cafe. I also took the opportunity to leave my old bike in the Cycle Penistone workshop for a service and cable change, I think it's earned it after almost 17 years of relatively trouble free riding! Its a community interest company too, so I get my bike fixed and contribute to a good cause while I'm at it, good work.

On the way home I spent some time envying the variety and sheer number of birds visiting the in-law's bird feeder - only a couple of miles from ours but it's like another world. A constant stream of chaffinches, goldfinches, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, blackbird, dunnock, housesparrow, robins, bullfinches and plenty of others. The standout bird today was this juvenile great-spotted woodpecker (you can tell by the red crown and dull plumage) followed a few minutes later by an adult:

 Spotted this bug on the tomatoes as I was watering the garden this evening - think its probably a type of hoverfly? Hopefully it'll predate some of the greenfly while its around!

30 Days Wild - Day 17: Stepping up

We were back at Denby Delf near Upper Denby today, a nature reserve we help manage for the Garganey Trust. Our task was access improvements in the form of some steps up a rather steep and tight corner of the site.

This, along with the path clearance we did last winter, should be a great improvement for visitors who can enjoy the many breeding birds at this end of the site such as robins, bullfinch, whitethroat, kestrel, yellowhammer and garden warbler.

 Maria also re-enacted a classic comedy film on the way back to the car.......

If you've never seen "the plank" you should definitely give it an hour of your time one rainy day, it's got nearly every old school British comedian in one film!

30 Days Wild - Day 16: Getting buzzy

Found myself having a wander around RHS Harlow Carr today, particularly the teaching garden. The RHS education staff use this area to teach school children about horticulture with a strong emphasis on sustainability and ecology. The focus at the moment, and rightly so, seems to be on pollinators with lots of helpful info boards dotted around like this one:

 This has inspired me to start bee spotting wherever I go too. So I was quite excited when I found this bee recording app, but it's been disabled as they only want records in May, I don't bee-lieve it! Back to the pencil and notepad then.....

30 Days Wild - Day 15: Remotely exciting

It's not glamorous, I don't even get to be outside in the sunshine, but its got to be done; trawling through 12 nights of bat detector data from a site we've been working on in Herefordshire.

One of the types of survey we do involves placing remote ultrasonic recording devices on sites. These record the echolocation of bats as they pass by. We use the recordings to identify what species are present and the level of activity over several nights (or months in some cases).

Amongst the usual pipistrelles and myotis species I had a run of Barbastelle and greater horseshoe - if you don't know what they are, I'd compare it to finding a Ferrari and a Lamborghini in a barn full of rusty ford fiestas! 

The characteristic call of the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum)

 We don't get these species up here in Yorkshire, so it's a proper treat for a northern bat worker even if I did have to spend all afternoon staring at a computer to get to them.

30 Days Wild - Day 14: Rolling by the river

With Maria needing some peace and quiet to get a report done I decided it was about time to dust off the old push-bike and go for a ride in the rain. Even better, I could combine it with a visit to the folks' house (about a 16 mile round trip) rather than going in the car as usual.

Bicycles make excellent platforms for nature spotting, as you glide silently along quiet country lanes you never know what you might surprise around the next corner. They also get you access onto off-road cycle paths which often go through more natural areas and along river banks.

Nothing particularly exciting on the nature front today, although I did have a close call with a stand of giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum - now that's a proper scientific name!) as I pedalled alongside the River Calder on my way back. 
 
This non-native plant is not only highly invasive, rapidly spreading by generating thousands of seeds, it is also hazardous to human health. It contains chemicals within its sap that cause painful, light sensitive skin blisters, which can persist for months or even years after initial contact.


So please be careful if you come across this beast of a plant - admire it from a distance!

And don't forget - you can record it's location using the excellent Plant Tracker app on your phone. Help scientists understand how far it has spread and figure out what we might be able to do about it. 


What is 30 Day Wild - find out here!

30 Days Wild - Day 13: Coming home to roost

A new "house bird" to add to the tally; whilst taking a well earned rest on the bench in the back garden this evening, I spotted a blue tit going into the house sparrow box (which the house sparrows have yet to take up - don't they read the books?!).

It went in there to roost for the night, maybe it'll decide to nest in there one day....

30 Days Wild: Day 12 - Good weather for....... newts!

Tonight sees us doing our last great crested newt survey of 2015.

For those who aren't familiar with this highly protected amphibian and its survey requirements; the survey season runs from mid-March to mid-June each year, the breeding season for newts, which sees the adults returning to ponds where they get busy creating the next generation.

A great crested newt egg - the female lays these on leaves under the water and folds the leaf over it.

We've been spoiled this season with lots of fine weather, so it was only fair that tonight's survey was undertaken in-between rain showers. While it might be a little uncomfortable for us it will be a welcome relief for the amphibians - all this dry weather of late has meant that ponds have been steadily shrinking, so this should top them up nicely. Being mild and damp also gives these porous skinned, cold blooded creatures the best conditions for moving around on land too, as we saw tonight. Once the first shower had begun we started seeing frogs and toads moving around near to the ponds, 
 

Common toad on the move

followed by several palmate newts which have probably been waiting patiently in the pond for the opportunity to move on.

They can move surprisingly fast on land considering their small size, especially when they get to open ground.

What is 30 Days Wild? Read all about it here.

30 Days Wild: Day 11 - Up with the lark

This morning we were "up with the lark" to do a breeding bird survey at dawn.

Breeding bird surveys in woodland are mostly done by identifying the calls and song of the birds present, you don't often get to actually see them in the open. Maria is the birder in our outfit, I'm just the apprentice / sherpa!

Most notable birds of the morning were wood warbler, cuckoo and tree pipit (see very distant photo below!).

A bird of woodland edge and grassland with scattered trees, they are similar (and related) to meadow pipit but have a distinctly different call. They call from tree perches and also launch their song flight from these perches as opposed to meadow pipit who tend to launch themselves from the ground/low vegetation.

30 Days Wild: Day 10 - Along for the rode

Tonight we've been on the hunt for woodcock and nightjar which involves a bit of a twist on the standard breeding bird survey, in that it's done at dusk rather than dawn.

No nightjar tonight; the habitat we were surveying is good in places but not extensive. A few woodcock "roding" towards the end of the survey though.

"Roding" basically describes the activity of the male woodcock patrolling along woodland edges and over scrubby areas where there may be female woodcock looking to mate. They perform distinctive squeaking and grunting calls as they do it in an effort to woo the ladies.

Maria scans the treeline for woodcock - listening out for their distinctive calls

Again no photo of the birds in question - woodcock are really tricky to photograph in flight, especially on a phone!

Anyway, must dash off, we'll be back up in a few hours to go and do a normal breeding bird survey at dawn.

30 Days Wild - Day 9: Caught short

After another day stuck indoors it was high time for some motorcycle therapy in the evening sunshine.

So off I went, accompanied by Parkinson Senior on his bike, to some of my favourite local hill-top roads for a gentle pootle around.

I find motorbikes make ideal mobile platforms for bird spotting and quite often find myself riding alongside swallows, swifts and even the occasional sparrowhawk on country roads.

I usually have Maria on the back as my expert bird spotter (the international signal for an interesting bird usually involving several jabs in the ribs followed by furious pointing) but not this time, I was on my own. I had to fit it in around all of the usual observations involved in manoeuvering 220kg of Japanese engineering (plus me) around these scenic country lanes.

But it seems I managed just fine, as I rose over the crest of a particularly quiet moorland road a short eared owl passed over right in front of me at just above head height. What a sight. By the time I'd performed a skillfully executed stop into a nearby gateway to get a closer look it was gone.

I've seen several of these in the winter at local sites but this was my first in the uplands where these fine birds of prey choose to breed in the warmer months.

No photo this time, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

30 Days Wild - Day 8: Back for more?

Being stuck in the office on such a sunny day is generally quite depressing, until I heard a familiar rustle above the window.....

It seems our resident starlings - who have already fledged one brood this year - are back for a second go in our 1970's roofline.

 Every time I look at our increasingly shabby looking wooden fascias and contemplate spending at least two days at the top of a ladder re-painting them, the uPVC fascia leaflet on the doormat does seem very tempting. But then I think about our visiting feathered friends and decide that a bit of leg ache is a small price to pay for the in-office entertainment they provide, on what would otherwise be a rather dreary day of paperwork. The woodwork stays!

30 Days Wild - Day 7: A flying visit

After our long and arduous journey on Friday, followed by our dormouse packed Saturday, we were in need of a relaxing stop on our way back up north today.

We settled on Shuttleworth, near Bedford. Home not only to a recently restored Victorian "Swiss Garden" but even more importantly (according to Gareth anyway) the best collection of vintage aircraft in the UK, if not the world! Even better than that, today was an airshow day so we could even see them flying.

You might think that an airshow isn't particularly "wild" in the natural sense - but you'd be wrong. Lots of the planes on show today had wild names; "Tiger Moth", "Martlet", Comper "Swift", Cirrus "Moth", Hawker "Cygnet"and "Hind", Sopwith "Pup" and "Camel", "Chipmunk", Piper Super"cub", the Mew "Gull" and Gareth's favourite of the day the Fieseler "Storch" (German for Stork!?)

The Fieseler Storch - Capable of incredibly short take-off and landings, seemingly able to hang in the air. A very apt name indeed!

Just to make sure we'd covered true wildness today we did spend some time in the Swiss Garden with the local wildlife, particularly the resident peacocks and watching dozens of bees busy pollinating these Nepeta.

So not all plane spotting then....

 

30 Days Wild - Day 6: Can we handle it?

So what did we drive 9 hours across the country for yesterday?

Dormice of course!

We spent today on a "dormouse handling and survey techniques" course at Wildwood in Kent.

They have a fantastic collection of native animals and have captive breeding programs for several of them including the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). This gives the perfect opportunity for trainees to practice dormouse handling techniques, especially us northerners who are beyond the present natural range of this endangered woodland rodent.

We've done plenty of nut searches and nest tube surveys for this species as part of our work in the past but have only actually seen a handful of dormice (and not all at once!), so we hoped to get some new skills and refresh some of our old ones.

Our tutor for the day was Hazel Ryan, Senior Conservation Officer at Wildwood, who took us through the classroom theory in the morning followed by a whole afternoon in the dormouse pens where we practiced safely checking boxes, removing, handling, sexing, weighing and returning dormice.

Into the bag and ready to be weighed. It is actually awake - it just decided to blink for the photo!

What amazing animals and a really interesting day. We hope to get to grips with this species more often in the future!

30 Days Wild: Day 5 On the road again

We spent nearly all of today on the road, paying particular attention to junctions 24-25 of the M25 in a 2 hour traffic jam!

As a result the best we could do for today's wild encounters were a particularly plucky magpie;

 And this rather impressive looking specimen.

Our initial thoughts were some kind of coastal/dune species but we think it might be a species of poppy? We weren't expecting to be botanising on this trip but will look it up when we get home.

We promise a much more exciting  blog post (to us anyway) tomorrow......

30 Days Wild - Day 4 Going off the rails

With a couple of hours between bat surveys this afternoon we decided to get some exercise (as well as some much needed vitamin D!) on a bike ride along the transpennine trail from Oxspring to Dunford Bridge.

Its a steadily rising 12km ride along part of the former Woodhead Line, turning around for the return leg at the entrance to the Woodhead tunnel, which now only carries high voltage electric cables, not trains, under the Pennines to Manchester.

There are lots of opportunities to experience nature along the route as it passes from town into pasture and eventually heather moorland. The local volunteers do a great job of maintaining the habitats along the trail too with some nice wildflower areas developing.

As I was busy cycling I didn't actually get any photos during the ride, but I did get this one in the garden at home whilst mowing the lawn by the pond;

When we built the pond about 4 years ago I put that rock there, hoping that one day I'd get a photo of a frog sat on it - and there it is!