Appreciate the Little Things in Life (by Max the Wildlife Watcher)

A shortened version of this article will appear in the Summer newsletter:

As spring turns into summer and the temperature rises, slow down a little and appreciate the natural world around us, while we can.  Recent news has shown the younger generation demanding the policy makers take climate change seriously with their extinction rebellion protests.  Hopefully the policy makers will start to listen as these protesters are the voters of the future.  In the last year there has been some frightening long term scientific reports printed, one from Germany studying insects on farms and one that looked at trends in 353 wild bees and hoverflies in Scotland, England and Wales over 33 years from 1980 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47698294.  They both lead to sobering reading.  A third of British wild bees and hoverflies are in decline, according to a new study.  The study found 'winners' and 'losers' among hundreds of wild bees and hoverflies, which pollinate food crops and other plants.  Common species are winning out at the expense of rarer ones, with an overall picture of biodiversity being lost.  Lack of biodiversity in our countryside, means a lack of resilience to climate change and lack of insects to pollinate our crops and wild flowers, with a knock on effect on the animals that feed on them e.g. birds, fish, amphibians etc.  A recent scientific review of insect numbers around the world suggested that 40% of species were undergoing 'dramatic rates of decline', with bees, ants and beetles disappearing eight times faster than mammals, birds or reptiles https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47198576.

So what can we do?  The researchers say actions such as wildlife-friendly farming and gardening can have a positive impact on pollinators in both towns and the countryside.  Use less insecticides and herbicides in the garden (at last the British government have banned neonicotinoid chemicals that harm bees, much later than other European countries, but other chemicals will follow).  Get your new elected councillors and politicians to care about the environment, supporting farmers stewardship schemes that encourage more biodiversity on the farms, such as growing longer grass strips around fields to encourage insects and birds, such as ladybirds and skylarks.  Some local scientists are experimenting with the best combination of wild plants species to sow on grass verges to help bees etc.  They are not ‘messy’, it is uplifting to see orchids and oxford ragwort etc on my drive to work.  Encourage schools and work places to have wild areas.

More importantly encourage the next generation to appreciate ‘the smaller things in life’, whether it is a ladybird (the poster star of the insect world), a hoverfly mimicking being a wasp ( they prey on small flies), a bee with its ‘yellow pollen legwarmers’, the wonderful shield bugs from a conifer tree or wonder at ‘cuckoo spit’ on grasses.  Cuckoo spit is a mass of frothy bubbles on stems of plants to protect the froghopper insect inside  (when I googled ‘cuckoo spit’, it said that the frog hopper rarely does much damage, but can be unsightly and so spray with a broad spectrum insecticide)!!!  That reminds me of the summer there was a wonderful tree near to the Crown and Thistle pub, that was decorated with tiny silver and white threads, which had been produced by thousands of spindle ermine moth caterpillars hatching and had spread out on to the bench and bin https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/8187248.silk-moth-tree-is-axed/.  We went back as a family to take pictures, and two days later the tree had been chopped down and is now replaced.  The newspaper article said the caterpillars had spread into the building, if this is true then it is a shame, hopefully the council has planted more spindle trees away from town centre.

Education and appreciation is the key, making the next generation love their nature and wildlife,  maybe sign them up to a charity such as buglife.co.uk or get them involved in some local conservation talks or events.  It would be lovely to think a future Britain may return to the ‘windscreen phenomenon’ of too many insects at night on our car windscreens.  Environmentalists are concerned that each generation has limited experience of what’ biodiversity in the countryside’ really is.  With the correct policies this can be reversed.

The final word is by our Natural History champion who is sometimes criticised for his tv programmes that show a positive view of the world around us, but always have a strong hidden environmental message.

‘If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world's ecosystems would collapse.’

Sir David Attenborough

Otters

Regularly voted the nations favourite mammal, but how many of us have seen a wild one?  My interest in Otters has lasted over 30 years.  As a student I volunteered at an Otter sanctuary in Derbyshire and it was here I got to admire this skilful semi-aquatic predator, who also has a playful side, and it was here where I watched the otters who loved sliding down the banks to play in the water.

European otters (Lutra lutra) can live up to 10 years, and have a body length of around 60-80cm and tail length about 32-56cm, with the average weight of 8.2kg for a male and 6.0kg for females.  They have small ears, webbed feet and a streamlined body, and their diet is mainly fish and crustaceans, but they are opportunist feeders also eating birds, molluscs and frogs.  They build an underground holt into the banks of rivers and are often found near water, but do travel on land normally at night and can travel up to 20km in a day.  A female will have one litter a year between May and August of 2-5 cubs.  This was the late 1980s when many of our rivers were highly polluted, but are slowly recovering with stricter pollution control and laws to back them up.  At the time the Otter haven was very excited that they were secretly releasing some captive bred otters into the wild.

When I moved to Oxfordshire 13 years ago, I knew this should be the perfect otter habitat, and I volunteered to do some otter survey work once a month, first on the river Windrush and then at Culham Lock.  This entailed looking for footprints on muddy riverbanks (often confused with dog footprints), you have to look for the distinctive webbing and size, forefoot is about 60mm x 65mm, though juveniles and females have smaller feet.  The more distinctive clue is finding a deposit of faeces (spraints) with a characteristic musky odour.  This is deposited on prominent trees and logs on the river banks, to act as a calling card to mark territories ... and yes, I have collected otter poo!

Unfortunately I never got a positive recording around Culham, though I did get sightings of water voles and mink, though I did hear some rumours of sightings, often by people fishing, and fortunately these rumours are now becoming more factual.  Thirty years on, our rivers are much more cleaner, Otters are no longer persecuted and their numbers are on the increase.  There has been YouTube videos of otters at Radley lake.  When swimming on the surface, they have a distinctive V shaped wake, and when swimming under water, you have to follow the line of bubbles to see where they will break the surface.  Sadly a dead otter was spotted near Didcot in Autumn, killed on a road, one of the biggest causes of death.  However, roadkill is a good method of seeing how animals are dispersing around the country.

I recently contacted the TVERC (Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre) to ask about their most recent data.  They informed me they were definitely on the increase in Oxfordshire, with more sightings on the Thames and River Ock.  In the past I have had to travel to Skye and Devon to see wild otters, often on a dawn morning walk where otters were regularly seen.  It would be a dream come true if I saw a wild otter around Abingdon ... maybe you have been one of the lucky ones that this is a reality.

by Max (the Wildlife Watcher)

A Walk on the Wildside - Butterflies & Moths

With the warmer, sunnier weather my partner and I look out at our garden from different perspectives.  He tuts at the size of the buddleia and how it is taking over the garden.  I look at it and sigh at how many butterflies and other insects I can count in one go.  He is happy to humour me.  When the weather is calm and hot, take time to look for these essential pollinators when out and about.  I have been amazed at the variety of species I have spotted along the hedgerows around the fields of Mill Road.  Last year I took part in the Butterfly count http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/  and logged the species I spotted in one hour (15^th July- 7^th August 2016).  I was impressed with the number of people who had logged onto the website in our area.

You could make some ‘moth candy’, to get your children interested.  What you need is ; a big pan, a jar/pot, spoon, thick paintbrush, torch, brown sugar, treacle, fruit juice, water and cola.  Heat the ingredients in a pan on a low heat, stirring constantly until everything has dissolved, adding more water if it looks like sticking.  Stir until the ‘moth candy’ is thick and gooey.  When it has cooled, put it in a jar and using the paint brush add it to various objects around the garden; walls, tree trunks, fence posts or even an old sheet/towel or rope on a washing line.  When it is dark, go out with your torch and you hopefully will be amazed at the variety of moths.

Moths and butterflies are part of the order Lepidoptera, which means scaly wings.  Fossil records show moths date back to 140 million years and butterflies 40 million years.  Moths tend to be more plump and robust bodies and when at rest most keep their wings spread flat or folded like a tent over the bodies, whilst most butterflies fold their wings straight up above their back.

The local Wildlife Trust has lots of exciting children’s events in the summer including a Happy Valley picnic (8^th May), Oxford Festival of Nature (1 -14^th June) and Night Time Safari ( 10^th June).  Visit bbowt.org.uk/whats-on, for the full list of events.

Finally Dry Sandford nature reserve is a great place to spot butterflies and other insects around the ancient fossilised rocks that were once under the sea. You could even pop into the local pub afterwards to sample their ‘local nectar’.

By Max the Wildlife Watcher

A Walk on the Wildside - wildlife secrets

by Max the Wildlife Watcher - Being new to this area I was quickly amazed by the range of habitats on our doorstep. Whether it was the farmland off Mill Road, the meandering River Ock with its reed beds, to the tree lined River Ock Valley Walk. I soon got to wondering what hidden wildlife secrets would be revealed. Some of my nature highlights spotted so far are hedgerows brimming with butterflies and moths, a quick blue flash of a kingfisher skimming the River Ock on the valley walk and spotting a family of four fallow deer between the ‘pooh stick’ bridge on Mill Road and the superstore. Not forgetting the iconic call of the red kite as it patrols our estates on a daily basis. Please let the Newsletter Editor know if anything new catches your eye on tfl_ra@zoho.com or on 07732251334.

Wishing you a wild Autumn.