Off Human Bundage

Sorry about the pun on the title of Somerset Maugham’s literary masterpiece, but purely by accident his planned alternative title “Beauty from Ashes” may also yet prove appropriate.

For those of you, who by now, are thinking that finally, I have completely lost the plot, I am of course, referring to the excellent work carried out last Sunday, by the group of Friends, whose ages may have differed by 60 odd years, but whose aim was united in ridding the bund of the dreaded Willow growth.

Bless 'em all - The Long and the Short and the Tall

The plan was simple; following on from the excellent work carried out by the Conservation Volunteers (MK Green Gym), in restoring access to the bund, and starting at the far end, our aim was to pull out as many seedling Willows that we could and cut back close to the base as many young trees as possible. Once our work is complete MKCs Contractors will treat the willow to prevent regrowth. This we hope, should keep the bund relatively tree free, for at least a few years.

Many hands make light work - some of the team in action at the far end of the bund

The cut trees were piled up in stacks and when dry will be burnt, to prevent the cuttings taking root and the problem starting all over again (that’s the ashes bit).

When dry the cut willow will be burnt to prevent it taking root

By the three organisations working together in co-operation, it means that vital habitat maintenance can still take place, despite the severely restricted funds available and in this case, the bund returned to a suitable habitat for the ducks and waders, for which it was originally designed. In turn, we hope that permit holders and school visitors will benefit from improved views and increased numbers of waders and other migrating birds.

Examination of the roots show that willow can regrow from the smallest twig

The bund is of course strictly out of bounds to permit holders and day visitors unless they are part of an official Friends Working Party. It was, therefore, very interesting for the members of the team on Sunday, to see how the habitat has changed over the 20 months since we last carried out similar work. Yes, a lot of the Willow growth had returned, but in between the small trees, we found large patches of chamomile and wild water mint which was giving off a heady scent and providing food to many bees and butterflies.

Some of the young willows had incredibly long roots

We also discovered a couple of giant caterpillars which were carefully relocated to give them the best chance of survival.

Our Moth expert Gordon Redford has now identified this
as the  Caterpillar of the Poplar Hawk Moth

As always, everyone worked hard, but thoroughly enjoyed the morning, making new friends and enjoying each other’s company and of course the chat over a cuppa in the centre once we finished for the day.

If you are part of the Friends Group and are thinking about joining us one Sunday to help with habitat maintenance, but are not too sure what to expect, or maybe are thinking of joining the Friends Group and getting involved in one of our activities, but are not sure if it is for you. Why not come along to one of our Open Sundays (the next one is this Sunday the 15^th September) and have a chat with myself or one of the other Committee members and find out a bit more about us?

You will find we are a very friendly bunch and there is a place for everyone irrespective of age, ability or experience.

Tony Bedford
Chairman FoHESC

All photos taken by Malcolm Stewart

Butterfly Update

You may remember that during the Open Sunday on July 21st, we invited our visitors to take part in the UK "Big Butterfly Count", which of course many of you did and our Secretary Jane, then duly posted the results on the Big Butterfly Count Website.

Small Tortoiseshell

A summary of the species seen on the day is as follows:

Large White, Small White, Green-veined white, Marbled White, Large Skipper, Six-spot Burnet Moth, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Comma.

Not seen on the day but other species which have been positively identified as present on the reserve this summer are: Brimstone, Common Blue, Small Copper, Peacock, Painted Lady.

Small Copper - Picture by Jon Evans

So that's 18 species recorded this year, which is pretty healthy and of course, some of you may have recorded further species which we would also love to know about and officially record.

Common Blue

 

Please therefore keep us posted with any sightings of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, dragonflies and damsels or butterflies which do not appear on our annual species list (to see this years list please click on the species list and notable sightings tag), so we can make sure that our records for the site are as complete as possible.

Bat and Moth Night
Wed 17th July 2013

The increased numbers of visitors to our Bat and Moth Night this year, perhaps reflects the dramatic increase in our membership, but also indicates just how popular these events are.

Some of our visitors listening to Gordon

Once again, our favourite Moth Man, Gordon Redford, kicked off proceedings with a very interesting and informative talk about the life cycle of the moth and his experiences in getting certain species to breed in his back garden. This year, however, Gordon had brought along samples of Moth eggs, pupae cases and some very active caterpillars.

Gordon explains one of his exhibits

Following Gordon onto the stage came our new Bat expert Colin Savage - Colin works for the Parks Trust by day - but by night, he becomes a walking encyclopedia of Bat knowledge, with over 25 years experience of working with and studying British bats. Colin told us about the different species to be found in Britain and also gave as us an interesting insight into the lifestyle of the bat.

Colin in full flow

Both our speakers were incredibly well received and kept their audiences totally engrossed with a mixture of fascinating facts and amusing anecdotes.

Unlike last years damp Summer, this year the delightfully warm evening allowed for our visitors to sit outside for the presentations, which was just as well given the numbers of attendees.

As Colin closed his presentation the Bat Detector Boxes were handed out to our keen Bat seekers. Thanks to support from not only Colin, but also Carla Boswell from the North Bucks Bat Group, Martin Kincaid from the Parks Trust and Diane Evans from MK Council there were plenty of detectors to go around and our thirty plus group were well equipped, ready to go into the night.

Checking out a Moth Trap before it gets dark

Our intrepid photographic team, have not yet been able to invest in infra-red equipment, so, I'm afraid that you will have to take my word for it, that we saw and heard many bats that evening. Mostly we encountered Common Pipistrelle, but, as last year, we also picked up on the calls of a few of Noctules as they whizzed overhead.

Not a Secret Coven Meeting - Just Keen FoHESC Moth Hunters

Back at the Centre Gordon's traps had attracted an eclectic variety of Moths including the strikingly beautiful Scarlet Tiger, the intricately patterned Peppered Moth, a couple of Swallow-tailed and some bright yellow Brimstones.

Swallow-tailed Moth

We also had one of Gordon's favourite moths the Drinker.

I don't know what it is but something about Gordon's and Drinker seems to have struck a chord in me?

Brimstone

Peppered Moth

I have asked Gordon to forward me a list of his top finds on the night and will add it to our species list on this blog as soon as it arrives.

Scarlet Tiger Moth

The evening finished around 11.30pm when just like the bats and moths, our happy visitors faded silently into the night.

  

Best in Class
FoHESC at the Great Linford Eco Festival and Dog Show
Sunday 14th July

As part of our campaign to bring the Hanson Centre to a wider audience in Milton Keynes, FoHESC decided to go out and find our public, by taking part in the Great Linford Eco-Festival.

Our pitch neighbours for the day were the Conservation Volunteers (MK Green Gym) - to who we owe a massive debt of thanks - not just for all the great work they do at HESC - not just for lending us a gazebo for the day - but most importantly showing us how to put it up (and all the little bits and pieces we borrowed).

The weather was clear blue sky as far as the eye could see and hot, hot, hot.

The day started slowly with just a few visitors taking an interest, but as the day went on our tent was definitely the place to "bee".

Soon, our stand was full of youngsters, completing colouring challenges and wildlife word puzzles. Our pond-life tank proved very popular and many keen young (and not so young) eyes peered into our microscopes to discover life in another world.

Our, slightly more mature audience, took a great interest in our wildlife photographs on display and perhaps most importantly, many of our visitors were amazed to hear about the fantastic wildlife reserve, that is right on their doorstop and promised to visit us, on one of our Open Sundays soon.

We even had a visit from the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Brian White, who was delighted with the work that FoHESC is achieving and urged us to continue building our Friends Group and encouraging the people of Milton Keynes, to enjoy their local nature reserve.

A great success, well done and thank you to everyone who helped on the day and supported us with equipment etc.

July Events

Great Linford Eco-Fest.
Sunday 14th July.
10:00- 16:00

FoHESC have a stand at the Great Linford Eco-Fest, being held at the Marsh Drive Sports Ground. Please come along, say hello and find out about the fantastic nature reserve, right on your doorstep. We will have photographic displays, mini-bugs under the microscope and various competitions.

Bat & Moth Evening.
Wednesday 17th July
20:30- till late.

Following last years format we will have a dusk guided walk equipped with Bat Detector Boxes lead by Colin Savage. On last years walk we saw many bats swooping around the reserve (and our heads at times) including Britain's largest bat the Noctule.

We will then return to the centre after around 40 minutes to examine, with guidance from our Moth expert Gordon Redford, what we expect to be (if last year is anything to go by) an impressive array of moth species attracted to the light traps.
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Free to Friends of HESC, guests welcome, £2 ea.

Open Sunday/ Big Butterfly Count.
Sunday 21st July,
10:00- 16:00

As part of our regular Open Sunday activities we are inviting our visitors to take part in the National Big Butterfly Count. At least 14 species of Butterfly have been recorded on the reserve during the last year, so please come along and join in and maybe, together, we can record some new species for the site.

There is also a good chance of spotting at least one or two of the ten species of Dragonfly that breed on the site.

Help and advice will be on hand during the day to help you identify the Butterflies and Dragonflies seen on the day.
   





              



 
 



























      

                 














 

Flying Tonight

A couple of weeks ago a small group of Friends were fortunate enough to witness the emergence and metamorphosis of a Broad Bodied Chaser Larva from one of the small planting ponds in front of the Centre.

One of the lucky group, Peter Hassett, has kindly sent me a fantastic set of photographs, recording the entire process. Sadly, space prevents me from publishing all of Peters pictures, but I hope the following will give a good insight into the sequence of the events and demonstrate Peter's skill in capturing the moment.

The Dragonfly starts to break free from the larva cuticle

Nearly out - the new adult pulls it's body out of, what will become, the exuvia

Now completely free of the larva case (exuvia), 

the dragonfly starts to pump fluid into it's wings

The wings are almost formed and the fluid used to expand them, 

will now be used to help inflate the abdomen. 

The wings have flicked open and the teneral (newly emerged) dragonfly, 

will soon make it's maiden flight. 

The whole process has taken over three hours.

All pictures kindly supplied by and © Peter Hassett

June Open Sunday - Change of Date

Please note that this month we are breaking with tradition - our Open Sunday will not be on the third Sunday as usual - we have moved it to the following weekend the 23rd June, so as not to clash with the Great Linford Water Festival.

We apologise for any inconvenience and hope to see you there.