Late Spring on the Local Patch

At the moment, whilst I write this blog, its strange times we live in, a one in a life time event, one for the history books. Looking back from the future, we might ask what all the fuss was about, or maybe what a tragic time it was. Lockdown really has brought the country to a full stop, yet nature carries on regardless, and spring has come and sped past as we sit indoors.

LONG TAILED TIT

It really is a frustrating time, compounded by the fact that the only area of countryside I can visit is the Local  Patch, an area within walking distance. Somewhere I only used to visit once a week is now the place that I visit every day, going out spending hours wandering the footpaths that cross this landscape. Keen to get out of the sterile homestead it feels so good to be out, to breathe in the fresh country air, something good for the soul as well as the body.

River Meadow

Nature means so much more when its rationed, something precious now we no longer have much access to it. People are now becoming aware that nature is good for the soul and that too much of today's society is isolated from it. After this lockdown it seems that its not a case of returning to a world run on economics, but one run on people's wellbeing. And nature is a key part of people's wellbeing.

With Brexit happening, its now a time to create a greener society, to create an agricultural policy that actually has the importance of nature at its core and that recognises that nature is important to people. Its quite simple, food can be grown alongside nature, the two existing in the counrtyside together, they are not opposing forces.

Suffolk Punch Field, the bushes white with HAWTHORN flowers

At the moment the countryside is so lush, so green and verdant, life really has fully come on with such power that it can be quite staggering. Its such an amazing time of year, my favourite. With life supercharged at the moment, its quite difficult to realise at the same time, nature is finding it difficult out there in the general countryside, that we have destroyed a lot of our natural world, in an insane drive to overproduce food, based on world war two ideology, one so dated and out of context with our times. Things need to change and maybe lockdown will help turn things in a better direction.

Looking across from Second Field

Over the late Spring, the weather has in general has been quite hot. At the end of April there was a week of rain, after which everything just grew and grew. In mid May, for a week. the temperature halved to 10 degrees as a cold wind blew down from the Arctic, and there was frosts in the mornings, but that didn't affect things too much.

LINNET in dappled light, subtle colours, but still pretty

Despite visiting the Patch every day, not a lot was forth coming, bird wise. A NIGHTINGALE was heard singing for a couple of days from the scrubby area behind the church. I don't know whether it just quietened down to breed or just moved on, as I didn't hear it later on, but it was in suitable habitat.
Nightingales are one of those mythical birds, the greatest of our songsters. Their song, a variety of melody, comes out like a machine gun, hitting your ears with force, making it unmistakable. If you wonder if a song belongs to a nightingale, it probably isn't a nightingale. This bird, like many, is finding things difficult in the countryside, due to many varied causes, internationally, but Suffolk is a stronghold for the species, and there are still many to be found in the county.

female LINNET

The first WHITETHROAT appeared on the 18/4, with LESSER 'THROATS on the 23/4. These species are birds of the open, farming, landscape. 'THROATS prefer hedgerows and areas of grass with scattered scrub, and are quite common. LESSER 'THROATS, which aren't in fact smaller than their cousins, inhabit taller, overgrown hedgerows, and are a lot more secretive and rarer.

Flock of LINNET, First Field

LINNETS have been late to start breeding this year. They winter somewhere else than the Patch, and so I don't see them for half the year. This Spring there have been two large flocks, a flock peaking of 60 on the First Field and one of 30 near Rise Hall. The flocks would fluctuate in number as birds come and go, with pairs breaking off to find a territory. This bird had been in decline but I think their numbers have now steadied, and as you can see are plentiful on the Patch.

Most of  the Patch is given over to agriculture and crop growth, which isn't productive for nature, but put food on our plates.

Towards the end of the period, bird song slowly began to curtail as most of the resident, early singers, were now busy rearing families, and so didn't have the energy to do sing anymore. By mid May, most of the Spring bird migration had mainly come to a stop, with only a few late birds passing through.

Brood of MALLARDS, miles away from the nearest body of water, they must have got lost

HARES haven't been that common on the Patch during this period with just one record in the Prairie Field north of the Suffolk Punch Field. A HEDGEHOG was found dead on Byron Road, the street I live on, crushed under the wheels of a car, just one of the many obstacles our wildlife has to face.

The Pond

Even somewhere as unremarkable as the Patch can still throb with the energy of Spring. There is so much life out there at the moment, anywhere, in any scrap of land. Nature really is a power, something humanity has been incapable of properly harnessing. Its always assumed that man has to tame nature, but that's not the case. I think humanity will have a better future if we can just regain some reconnection with nature, because I think its possible with a little bit of creativity.

Pipps Ford - 19/5/2020

With lockdown easing a small amount, the powers that be have now deemed it OK to travel to places for leisure activities. This means I can finally leave the Local Patch, a place I have been visiting everyday for two months, and I was finally able to explore somewhere further afield. So with this inaugural leisure activity day I decided to travel to Pipps Ford, for a mornings birdwatching. This is a good local birding spot, and with few other people there's no need to worry about social distancing and transfer of Covid-19.

River Farm Lock

I haven't visited the area for a couple of months now and things have changed. The glorious Spring we have been having, has galvanised the birds into life, with a huge quantity of bird song and calls belting forth from every tree and bush. Pipps Ford has a good variety of habitats, something which makes the area a local hotspot. And for a local site, it has a good mix of wetland habitats, something rare in inland Suffolk.
Part of the site is an active quarry, with another area already worked out, which is now being restored, and there are two small lakes as well, all adding to the mix.

BANDED DEMOISELLE, a kind of damselfly, are common on the river

Water levels were still high at Pipps Ford, despite the long months of heat. By this time of year, the water usually subsided by now, leaving areas of grass, but this year the water was still lingering, lying on the land. This has been a boon for wildfowl, but has been less good for waders.
The footpath splits its way through the quarry, between the worked out area and the active part. The worked out area of the quarry, held decent numbers of COOT with brood of 2 from one pair, with another pair nesting, with other birds lingering. There was also a GREYLAG GOOSE brood of 5, which were paraded about by their wary parents. There were four TUFTED DUCK, and one LITTLE GREBE, the latter usually nest here, so maybe there is a female sitting on eggs somewhere. Five LAPWING were about, tumbling around in the air, seeing off any crows, which is a sign some will have chicks, or are maybe late nesters. A ROE DEER, was present at the back, taking a drink from the quarry, a mammal I see here fairly regularly, I think one lives in the area. In the surrounding rough grassland there are good numbers of SKYLARK, most had stopped singing and were now looking after chicks, often seen carrying food to their hidden nests.

BANDED DEMOISELLE, these insects have newly emerged

The active quarry, which shifts in shape from year to year, was just a deep lake with little mud this year. A LITTLE RINGED PLOVER was present, this is the only site in Suffolk where they nest, there isn't much suitable habitat in the county. There were three TUFTED DUCK and three GADWALL, birds which may stay to nest here. The sand quarry, is a good inland site for SAND MARTINS which nest in the sandy walls that form part of the active quarry. Large numbers of birds hawk over the landscape, dashing here and there as they catch insects in the air. The constant changing in habitat, as the quarry evolves mean the birds have to build out new nesting sites each year, but the birds don't mind, they come back to nest every time.
The martins, the plovers and lapwing are all birds of habitats in transition, they like places that change from year to year. The martins nest in constantly eroding sandy cliffs, whilst plovers naturally nest around rivers, that change from year to year, whilst lapwing favour areas that are newly flooded. In a natural environment, dynamic natural forces create these transitional habitats, and those species would  be common. In today's tidy, overly manged countryside they are restricted to a couple of sites such as Pipps Ford.
As soon as the quarry at Pipps Ford becomes exhausted and becomes unprofitable, then the transitional nature of the habitat will end, and once the diggers leave, so will those birds. Even if this place becomes a nature reserve they still won't be able to replicate the quarry habitat those birds need.

Pair of GREYLAGS, River Farm Pit

A bit further on from Pipps Ford are two other, smaller, pits, which had a small number of birds. Pippins Lake had a SWAN brood of 5, as well as two pairs of GADWALL accompanied by a TUFTED DUCK, the ducks may nest this year. River Farm Pit had a CANADA GOOSE brood of 5, but the SWAN pair seems to have decided not to nest.

Having been in lockdown for two months any place other than the Local Patch is going to seem like a birding hotspot. Pipps Ford is probably the best site in Suffolk for the active quarry habitat, and so is good for the species associated with it. Being inland also adds to its importance, as inland Suffolk is lacking in many wetlands. All we need now is for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to take over management of the site, once quarrying ends, to turn this into a regional hub for wetland birds. I can only hope, but more likely it will be turned into a fishing pit like every other lake in the area.

A year on Byron Road Part 1- Jan-June

Nature is all around us, we might not notice it, but its always present. Among the parked cars and tarmacked drives many species thrive, going about their business just as we do, their lives in parallel with ours. Lots of wildlife inhabit our gardens, nest in the eaves of our houses, share the same landscape. Wildlife inhabits every house and garden in every city and town, everywhere nature still abounds even in the least wild of places.

These HOUSE SPARROWS used the feathers from a dead pigeon as nesting material

Byron Road is no exception. A non-descript road in Whitton, a suburb of North West Ipswich. Built around the middle of the twentieth century, the front parts of the street are mainly concreted over, not offering too much habitat. But behind this grey facade the street has large overgrown leafy gardens, with large hedgerows and trees providing a great environment for birds. However this is still an urban setting so the numbers and species are fairly limited, and a lot of the vegetation is alien to native wildlife creating little food to feed young families, but the gardens are still better for birds than the surrounding farmland.

STARLING

The gardens together form one large habitat beyond the borders of each house. Whilst working in my garden the birds will be around me, they are so used to humans that unless I get too close, they are fine with my presence.
Like every house in the street I have a large garden, although it is shared with four people. Centre stage is the large sycamore tree, with various smaller trees growing around. The main weed, a wild plant I don't want to keep are little sycamore buds, which grow in profusion, and I often have to pick them out of my allotment plots.

A local pair of COLLARED DOVES

When we talk about urban birds there's one species that is characteristic of the concrete world. The formerly ubiquitous HOUSE SPARROW, is a species that lives only in urban areas, it is not a native species having followed civilisation out from the Middle East. There is a small flock in my area, numbering around twenty individuals. They descend upon my feeders, eat its seeds and strip it clean in one day. All the Sparrows in the area form distinct, separate flocks that don't seem to interact with each other, they are each different entities. They are resident birds spending all their time within a small area, that consists of a few houses. Although still common in a lot of places, such as Whitton, this species population has crashed. A lot of urban Ipswich lies empty of this charismatic species, a part of the city as any church or football ground.

WOOD PIGEON

During the winter months, a time of cold, the street is inhabited by a large flock of STARLINGS. Several hundred strong, this flock perches on a tree or a TV antennae and I can see over a hundred in my garden at any one time. In the evenings there are many small murmarations as birds roost in the area.
Their numbers decline around March until there is only the local breeding population left. One pair usually nests in the eaves of the roof of my house. They are one of the first birds to fledge young, around the middle of May, maybe raising a couple of birds. The locally bred birds form flocks for a couple of months before disappearing in the Autumn and thereafter returning in the winter.

Fledged STARLING

A pair of CROWS are resident in the area, although they change their nesting location each year. I have seen them predate the nest of a blackbird, as the adult birds looked on helpless. However they keep the large gulls away flying up to chase any birds away. Another resident species is the COLLARD DOVE, which are doing pretty well, I can often have 25 or more in the garden.

One of the local cats. Thankfully they are too fat and lazy to catch any birds

The garden I inherited was a just a grass lawn, which is so boring and sterile for wildlife. So one Autumn I decided to create an allotment bed, when I had time between jobs. This soon increased to two more. I now have enough to rotate crops, broad beans and potatoes which grow anywhere and can withstand anything the weather throws at them, to carrots and parsnips which are a bit more delicate. I also scraped away the top layer of soil nearby and planted with wildflower seed, which worked really well, and the area is now an overgrown mess, which is good as nature loves mess. Come mid-April, the first of the flowers to come out are BORAGE, followed by RIBWORT, RED CAMPION and SORREL.

Young BLACKBIRD

As the garden flowers start to bloom, so the dawn chorus comes to a peak, and I savour waking up to their music every morning.
The garden is bounded by a large conifer hedge which somehow has elder trees growing in the middle. This thick foliage is the man nesting area in the garden, attracting ROBINS, BLACKBIRDS and WRENS, where in a good year they can raise several broods.
Most years CHIFFCHAFFS and BLACKCAPS are enticed to sing in the garden but they only last a day or two before moving on.
I have several nest boxes around the garden, which often attracts the attention of the local GREAT TITS, who often raise several young.

RED ADMIRAL

By late April the leaves appear on the trees, it often takes me surprise, they tend to appear as if overnight. This makes bird watching a lot more difficult as the birds are now hidden under the dense foliage. I have one BLUEBELL plant growing in my garden. I rope off the area immediately under the tree, to protect from being cut, allowing flowers to grow and apart from the bluebell, its an overgrown mishmash of RED DEAD NETTLE, CLEAVERS and COW PARSLEY.

BLUEBELL

In the first week of May attention is shifted to the skies to look out for the first returning SWIFTS, and there can be as many as thirty birds reeling through the skies before they settle down to breed. Some still nest in the area, under the eaves of the rooves of a few buildings. Swifts originally nested in holes in isolated trees. But as the trees have been cut down and villages and town have grown up, the species has completely forgotten its natural environment and now nests exclusively in the urban environment.
However other urban birds like HOUSE MARTIN have all but disappeared from Ipswich.

MAGPIES drinking from the gutter

Come the spring butterflies emerge and there are plenty of the commoner species in the garden, but I think its the HOLLY BLUE,  a species which comes out mid-April, which I see as the quintessential garden butterfly, feeding and laying eggs on the profusions of ivy present. They have increased a lot since I let the garden grow a bit more wilder, their blue wings fluttering on the breeze.

HOLLY BLUE - the quintessential garden butterfly

Gardens form an area larger than all the nature reserves in the country. Just think what could happen if people allowed part of their garden to revert to nature. Sure its mainly the commoner birds that are found in this habitat, but a lot of our urban wildlife is under serious threat. Half of the bird population that has decreased since the 1970s is made up of one species - the house sparrow.

DANDELION seed head, one of the few flowers to grow on the lawn

The garden is one of those accidental  things that somehow benefited our wildlife. These private refuges of ours offer a home for animals just as much as it does to people. With such massive habitat loss happening in the countryside gardens are a good refuge for a lot of species, and they rely on us to help them.

This blog covers the first six months of the year. Another blog will follow, probably at the end of the year.