Sunday Working Party 02/12/12

Sundays plan was to remove as much of the rubble pile as possible, by using it to further develop the hibernaculum that we built in the summer. Then, to use the remaining material, to build another winter shelter for invertebrates and other small creatures, behind the fence, on the other side of the path, close to the rubble.

The day was cold and bright, in fact the night had been so cold, that we needed to take a mattock to the top crust of the rubble, in order to break it up ready for transporting. While this was going on, some corrugated iron which had been rescued from the bund (yes once upon a time you could actually get on the thing) was placed on the original hibernaculum in order to provide a waterproof membrane. This was then covered with more rubble and soil which will finally be topped off with grass and perhaps a few logs.

The revised original hibernaculum starts to take shape

 

As we started to work our way into the heart of the rubble we encountered a couple of small smooth newts, which were rescued and re-billeted in the new winter home. Then as more material was taken for starting the second hibernaculum, we uncovered a small community of voles. With care the nest site was recovered and it was agreed, that for the time being, we would form a pathway through the rubble but leave the rest of it in place, so that, whatever had decided to set up home for the winter, could remain in peace.

Access restored, but habitat left intact for this winter

Despite the disruption to the plan, sufficient material was moved to create a very usable second hibernation site. Which based on what we have seen a pile of dumped rubble can house, should provide a home for any creatures not yet laid up for this winter and certainly a place of safety for coming winters.

Hibernaculum 2 takes shape

 

As well as the work on the hibernacula, our ace bench building team (the now infamous Betty and Barney), converted the pretty useless bum rest in the near paddock behind the centre, into a fully operational bench.

Looks like the new bench is a good place for a yarn or two!

 

As always a good time was enjoyed by all and some really useful projects completed.

Thank you to everyone who turned out and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Please remember the last open Sunday for this year is on December 16^th, we hope to see you there (see Events and Projects tag for more details).

PS Thanks to Malcolm Stewart for providing the photos.

November Open Sunday Review

Our third Open Sunday was blessed with possibly the best day of the Month so far, weather wise, with clear blue skies, bright golden sunshine and just the right amount of frosty bite to make for an exhilarating day.

Three Mute Swans looking glorious in the Autumn sunshine

The word now seems to be spreading about the FoHESC Open Sundays and the combination of good publicity, great weather and our special guest for the day – Andy Harding (Bucks County Bird Recorder) – resulted in our largest turn-out so far with well over fifty visitors to the centre.

The morning commenced with Andy leading a posse of newly sworn-in deputies around the main lake to conduct his monthly water bird and wader survey. Prior to the count Andy explained the purpose and importance of the survey which forms part of The Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS).

WeBS is the scheme which monitors non-breeding waterbirds in the UK. The principal aims are to identify population sizes, determine trends in numbers and distribution and to identify important sites for waterbirds. More details can be found at http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/webs

During the survey, Andy kept our visitors involved in helping identify and count the many different species of water birds spotted - the whole experience was both informative and a lot of fun.

The principle species found and recorded on the reserve main lake were as follows –

Coot - .42 .

Pochard - 17

Wigeon - 353

Tufted Duck - 119

Canada Geese - 1

Great Crested Grebe - 11

Mute Swan - 52

Gadwall - 37

Grey Lag - 410

Cormorants - 16
 

this list is by no means exhaustive and other smaller numbers of species were also recorded.

In addition to the above we were also fortunate enough to spot 3 Kingfisher (the most Andy has ever recorded in a single visit to HESC), 7 Little Grebe and 5 Snipe, plus a few Shoveller, Teal and Mallard.
 

 

352,353 This pair of Wigeon make sure they are included in the count

Although the above represents a snap shot taken at that particular time and day, the results clearly demonstrate what an important site HESC is for these birds, as they move into and around the country.

Following the count, our visitors explored other areas of the reserve for themselves, visited other hides to do a bit of birding of their own (including watching our resident Marsh Tits at the Woodland feeding station) or relaxed in the centre with a cuppa and browsed our book store and displays.
 

Apart from the water birds there were plenty of other species to see including

Redwings in many of the trees and bushes

In the afternoon Andy graciously submitted to a well attended, open interview with Tony Bedford in a Q&A session, which covered his initial steps into birding, advice for newcomers into the hobby, the importance and reason for collecting data on bird numbers and movements, his thoughts on the proposed new wind farm at Haversham and included stories of his overseas trips and entertaining anecdotes.
 

Andy fielding another of Tony's Questions

and holding the audience's attention

 

Although it is impossible to cover everything discussed here; in summary, Andy advised that probably the best single thing that newcomers to bird watching could do, was to join a local club or organisation where they could get help and advice from fellow birders and partake in organised outings and trips etc.

Andy shared some of our concerns regarding the effect that the proposed Haversham wind farm may have on HESC and other local wildlife habitats such as Little Linford Woods and firmly declared his support and backing for HESC as one of the most interesting and important bird and wildlife reserves in the area.

Despite the amount of time he had already donated to us, Andy then kindly offered to accompany those who wished, out to the hides for a final birding session. An offer which many of our visitors gladly accepted.

Once again our Open Sunday proved a thoroughly enjoyable day for all concerned and as always we would like to thank the visitors who decided to join as new permit holders and or join the Friends Group, make purchases, give donations and contribute to making the whole day such a success. We would also like to specially thank Andy Harding who was key to making this our best open event yet.

Our next Open Sunday will be on December 16^th, please also feel free to join us at our next maintenance Sunday on December 2^nd (10am start).

Best wishes and I look forward to meeting with you all again soon.

 

Tony Bedford

 

Other Links you may find useful

Bucks Bird Club

North Bucks Birders

Stop Haversham Wind Farm

Reminder re Open Sunday

Great News For Birders at Our Next Open Sunday
18th November 2012

FoHESC are delighted to announce, that as part of our next open Sunday activities, Andy Harding (Buckinghamshire County Bird Recorder) will be conducting his monthly bird count at HESC and has invited our visitors to join him, in helping compile his records, which will go forward to help make up the national statistics. The count will start at 10.30am - please meet at the centre.

Redpoll - seen from the Woodland Hide last week
(photograph © Tony Bedford)

Then at 2pm in the centre Andy will be taking part in a Question and Answer session and will be offering tips and advice for those taking their first steps into birding, whilst helping those with a little more experience improve their identification skills

The Centre will be open from 10am untill 4pm, so that visitors can make use of the facilities (including light refreshments on sale, toilets, viewing balcony etc).

Within the centre we will have FoHESC members to answer questions, give advice on the wildlife to be found on the site, various displays, a large secondhand book stall and various gift items including our New Calendar will be on sale.

Everyone is welcome at our Open Sundays and Permit Holders are invited to bring family members, friends or guests. We will also be accepting applications from anyone who would like to become a permit holder and/or join the Friends Group.

Please note Children are welcome, but must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult

 

Berries and Bugs

                                                       Spindle Tree (Euonymus europaea?)

There is something irresistible about bright Autumn mornings, and I've been lucky enough to be able to spend the last few at The Reserve. I find them better than porridge for fuelling up for busy afternoons....

This morning I remembered to take the camera.
I'd noticed the little pink berries of the Spindle Tree on the Butterfly Bank and wanted to capture them digitally before they became a bird's breakfast. I'm fascinated by the way the orange seeds are exposed!

Pictures taken, I turned round to retrieve my bag from where I'd left it open. As I did, I noticed a wood mouse sitting up on it's haunches and eyeing the contents which had spilled onto the grass.
Wood mice have very beady eyes, and it was an extremely endearing pose!
I didn't shout: 'Oi, geroff...' in case I could get a shot of it, and anyway, I'm fond of  rodents and would quite happily have shared my food in return for that photo opportunity.

But it wasn't to be - by the time I'd raised my camera, this largish insect had landed on the lens...

It was much larger than a frog-hopper and much more narrow than a shield bug, and very unconcerned when I moved it onto my finger.

I haven't identified it yet - if you, dear reader, can, then do please leave a comment for me underneath here!
In the meantime I'll send the picture to BMERC with time and place of discovery.....

Our Second Open Sunday or

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Furball XL5

It was lovely to welcome both new and familiar faces to our second open Sunday and a big thank you to those that enrolled as new members or supported us with you kind purchases of refreshments, books, gifts and of course FoHESC calendars.

The weather was much kinder than on our first open Sunday and the majority of visitors enjoyed a decent amount of sunshine and blue skies, which contrasted beautifully with the dazzling white of eighty plus mute swans amassed on the main lake.

Substantial numbers of redwings are currently present on the reserve and were inhabiting the trees and bushes along many of the pathways – I fear that our bumper crop of berries will soon be diminishing if these guys hang around for long. Spot of the day, was probably a Goldcrest, close to the woodland hide, which brought a note of joy to a certain Lyrical Lady.

For the observers looking out from the centre viewing gallery and windows a Sparrowhawk was kind enough to perform an aerial duet with a feisty crow and first a fox and then a muntjac promenaded along the rear pathways in full view of the appreciative audience.

The morning session was quiet, but from lunch time onwards visitors started to arrive in earnest. Thanks to his superior deductive powers, our venerable secretary also timed his appearance to coincide with this busier period. Within moments of his arrival Hon Sec had spotted what at first looked like UFOs (Unidentified Faecal Objects) just outside one of the large observation windows. After combined peering through binoculars, the assembled throng concluded they could well be pellets coughed up by an owl or raptor.

The urge to investigate further was irresistible for our super-sleuth and armed with only a small plastic bag, the plucky committee man declared “I’m just going outside – I may be sometime”.

“Best go round from the left” I helpfully advised, “it’s much drier that way”.

As the crowd gathered to watch our hero make his assault on the north face of the centre someone asked, “Do you think it will be much easier and safer if he approaches from the left?”

“No”, I replied, “but there are a lot more stinging nettles that side, so we should have more fun”.

Soon our diminutive detective appeared moving through the nettles and tall grasses in what appeared to be “Supermarionation” – for those of more tender years (or who had better things to do with their lives) this was the technique used by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson in their famous puppet based shows such as Stingray,Thunderbirds etc. Anyway, there he was, gingerly moving towards his target in a series of high knee and elbow motions as if controlled by invisible strings. Guiding hand or not, our very own Chris Packham tribute act, was soon gathering up samples of the mystery substance for analysis back at the mothership.

The North Face

 

Safely returned, Sherlock deposited the small dark grey pellets into a tray of warm water and started stirring with a plastic spoon. As the highly unappetising pot noodle started to dissolve we discovered that the pellets consisted of about 95% fur with the odd tiny tooth, claw or indistinguishable piece of bone.

“It’s not an owl pellet”, was the first conclusion, I offered the possibility that it was from a Kestrel (having seen one perched above the spot where the pellets were found on several occasions), but my fellow researchers were not convinced. “Why are there so few bones?” was one of the main questions.

“Perhaps Kestrels and raptors are more efficient at digesting their prey and dissolve more of the bones before they produce the pellets” I offered. Having no takers on this theory, I wandered off to talk to some newcomers.

“Hey Tony, guess what” I heard, “these are Kestrel pellets and they contain mostly hair and not much bone, because Kestrels have stronger digestive juices than owls, which dissolves most of the bone before the pellet is produced”. Our state of the art CSI man (Chewed and Spat out Items), had a couple of things at his disposal that poor old Mr Holmes was sadly lacking – his iPhone and an internet connection to Google. Did I get any credit for my previously inspired guess work? - of course not.

Sorry no wildlife pictures this week - but it’s a bit difficult to fit in with our open day duties – but why not come down next month and see them for yourself. It’s a very friendly environment, we try to have fun and there’s nearly always something interesting to see on the wildlife front.

Best wishes

Tony

The Next Open Sunday is November 18^th and the next Sunday morning working party is November 4^th.

Penelope’s Pit Stop

Almost overnight it seems that the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness has come upon us, bringing with it a change of colours, a change of faces and a rekindling of old friendships.

The main lake which was the wildfowl equivalent of the Atacama Desert a month ago, now often boasts over a hundred Wigeon, whistling like a range of perky little copper coloured kettles, each coming to the boil at a different time. As each day goes by new arrivals of other familiar HESC species turn up. So far this month, odd numbers of Pochard, Gadwall, Shoveller and Tufted Ducks have been seen mingling in with the Wigeon and the resident Mallards.

Male Wigeon (Anas Penelope) and Friend

Large numbers of Mute Swan have also been present in the last couple of weeks including a group of about 70 gathered at one stage between the Bund and the Far Hide. Although we failed to record a single successful Great Crested Grebes nest this year, young GCGs have arrived from somewhere, they can be distinguished by their telltale humbug striped heads and can often be seen fishing in front of both the main lake hides.

Young Great Crested Grebe

The Woodland Hide, which is probably my favourite, has also started to recover from the virtually bird free state of the summer months, as last Spring’s diners return to their favourite restaurant.

Marsh Tit - a Woodland Hide Favourite

 

Along with the ever present Blue and Great Tits our pair of Marsh Tits can be seen making regular sorties to the feeders and tables. Robin and Chaffinch take their opportunities to grab some grub from the tables, before the Tits and pesky Grey Squirrels have snaffled it all and chattering Long-tailed Tits flutter in and out of the area in the company of the their blue cousins. A few Siskin have been spotted near the hide and those watchers that have been sitting quietly back from the viewing windows, have enjoyed close views of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jays in the last week.

Great Spotted Woodpecker outside Woodland Hide

As the lush growth starts to die back, the Bank Voles can again be seen snatching a few seeds spilt from the tables near the woodpile. But, BV take care, I spotted a Weasel not far from your home a week or so ago and confident young Foxes have been strolling around the meadows.

Young Fox in the Near Meadow

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”*  - and of the HESC naturalist too maybe.

PS Don't forget this Sunday (Oct 21st) is an Open Sunday, so please come along, new faces are welcome.

*From the opening lines of Autumn by John Keats.

Photographs by and © Tony Bedford

Saws, seats and sun

Sunday, 7th October 2012 dawned misty and damp, but it wasn't grey enough to take the edge off my enthusiasm as today was the first day of the Winter work party programme.

After a Summer (apparently) patiently waiting for all manner of wildlife to complete their breeding cycles, it felt a little like being let off the leash. As all good natural historians know, the 6 months of October to March are when we can carry out habitat maintenance on the reserve, with minimal disturbance to the residents. And we certainly have a long list of tasks ahead of us.

As advertised on the 'Events and Projects' tab above, today we were tackling numerous trees adjacent to the main path through the site. These were a mixture of standing dead wood or fallen boughs that required some attention.

Bench Test - Neil alias "Tommy Walsh" carries out field trials on his latest creation

A pleasing turnout of volunteers in double figures also meant we had sufficient numbers to  tackle a secondary task, converting the old slopey bum rests into proper flat seats. This project is the brainchild of Neil, our very own "Tommy Walsh". As of this afternoon, there are now three seats converted: at the first track junction along the main path; opposite the gate for the middle paddock; and, new for 2012, along the causeway by St Peter's Lake. We hope that less able visitors will now have the opportunity to rest as they make their way between the hides. To continue the Ground Force theme, by association, Neil's wife, Pauline, must be our very own "Charlie Dimmock". 

Seat of Learning - Steph Kimsey, Countryside Officer (Education)

gives official approval to one of the new FoHESC benches.

As well as removing obstructive trees, we were able to clear parts of the causeway, opening up new views and letting more light onto the path.

Bank Vole Logs On (Thought you needed a Mouse for that?)

The felled wood generated by this work was added to the log pile in front of the Woodland Hide, for the delight and delectation of numerous Bank Voles.

 

Many hands make paths and ponds lighter as Friends remove overgrowing Willows

And then the sun came out, though by that time, we were already warmed up!

Many thanks to those generous souls who freely gave of their time this morning, to help make the reserve a pleasanter and safer place. 

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, but perhaps not mightier than the bow saw.