LET'S TALK NATURE

.................. with Gary Fenwick

THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE

Mel (my wife) and I recently went on a cruise. Whilst on board, I can't resist getting up early and looking outside. It's always interesting to scan around and see if I can see any birds of interest. If we are out at sea, I look over the waves for seabirds. The thing is birds fly over oceans and get tired. So, when they see a big cruise liner, all they see is a land mass that they can use to have a rest. I have therefore seen a fair number of birds on board over the years. Our latest cruise, to the Baltics, surpassed all my expectations! 

Firstly, the cruise company hadn't advertised it, but the wildlife presenter Nigel Marven was on board and giving some talks about his career. Obviously, I had to go along and listen! At his first talk he said if anybody saw anything of interest, they should let him know. The next day we were at sea and I was walking around the ship, binoculars in hand. Suddenly I saw a bird in flight which seemed to be ‘of interest'. Ten minutes later I located it at the front of the ship and was amazed to find that it was a rare Red-backed Shrike. I showied it to about 20 interested people and found Nigel and told him. He was delighted! 

Nigel had organised a birding trip in Helsinki a couple of days later and invited me along. We shared the taxi and had a great day birding, interrupted by a local birder who said he recognised Nigel from the telly!

Gary Fenwick Dec

I wonder how much we miss when we are out and about in nature? The first picture is of an unremarkable tree in Middle Rasen plantation. The second picture is of a Pine Hawk-moth, which is in the middle of the first picture but extremely well camouflaged!

The point is, animals, birds, insects and even plants, often don't want to be seen as it helps with their survival, aiding predatory tendencies or reducing the risk of being predated. We therefore need to be tuned in and focussed on what is around us when we are in the countryside. Just the day before writing this, I picked out a Comma butterfly, sheltering in my garden when the weather wasn't warm….and I had been stood in front of it for five minutes before I saw it! I also remember showing a group of people a Nightjar, sat in the middle of a bush, when it took about ten minutes for all of them to be able to actually see it from my description, because it was so well camouflaged, not because I couldn't articulate well its position! However, you can get caught out, I once spotted a Barn Owl on a post…which turned out to be a Tesco shopping bag!

Gary Fenwick

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I hope you have all been following Gary's musings about his wildlife experiences in previous editions of the Community Spirit. Our grandchildren have recently stayed with us. One evening, they saw Gary installing his Moth catching equipment in his garden. (All Moths are released once counted!)

We asked if he could set one up the next night in our garden. He duly arrived with the equipment and asked the grandchildren to be ready early the next morning to see what had landed in the night. Despite the weather not being ideal, we managed to count 19 different species and about 48 Moths. The names ascribed to the Moths were varied and interesting, including “Willow Beauty, Flame Shoulder, Large Yellow Underwing” and 16 more. We were all suitably impressed; and we now look at Moths in a slightly different way. Gary has now identified in excess of 350 species of Moth; with only another 2,150 to go!

Ron Myland

WHERE ARE THE BUTTERFLIES?

I don't know about you, but we are in late July as I write this and I think there seems to be a dearth of butterflies about. I have a lovely flowering buddleia in my garden and hardly a butterfly on it. Hopefully by the time this is being read things have picked up and you are seeing lots of these beautiful insects fluttering around your garden. I guess the shortage could be because of the exceptionally wet spring we had this year or perhaps the hot weather and drought conditions last summer, which resulted in a reduction of plants as a food source for the caterpillars in the winter, or where eggs could be attached. Whatever, we will get proper data from the Big Butterfly Count, organised by the British Butterfly Conservation society. The count is a UK-wide survey aimed at assessing the health of our environment simply by counting the amount and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) we see. It happened between Friday 12 th July and Sunday 4 th August. I await the results with interest (and some trepidation). If you missed out this year, why not take part next year, it takes just 15 minutes sat in the garden!

Gary Fenwick

July ... Frampton Marsh RSPB Reserve

If ever you wanted to travel somewhere not too far away to enjoy lots of special birds, then Frampton Marsh RSPB Reserve would be hard to beat. Situated on the Lincolnshire side of the Wash, just a few miles from Boston, it really is wonderful for birds, but also crucially for bird watchers, with its hides meaning that you can get really close to the birds. It also has long looping walks if you feel energetic, or you can stay close to the car-park on wheelchair friendly paths and still get in on the action. It has multiple clean toilets and a lovely little café with superb views. If you are not a member of the RSPB it costs just £5 for the car!

On 14 th April I enjoyed a wonderful day there. It's very rare for me to see a species I haven't seen before, but on this day, I had two ‘lifers', a much coveted Red-breasted Goose and then a Bonaparte's Gull. I saw other great birds like three Cranes high overhead, a Black-winged Stilt, Black Tern and Lesser Yellowlegs which has spent months there! Depending on the time of year, you can see thousands of ducks, geese and waders, the Avocets and their chicks in the summer are a particular favourite.

Gary Fenwick

June .... in Willingham Woods

We shouldnt under-appreciate the complex set of plantations that makeup Willingham Woods. It's a local resource that is available to us all year round and at any time of day. We can all simply enjoy a walk in the woods,with its therapeutic qualities, or take the dog for a walk in natural surroundings (please don't allow your dog to run loose off the path between March and October, as there are breeding birds, (some of which bulld their nest very Iow to or on the ground). I used to regularly go for a run through the woods, indeed my favourite run was a 10K circular run from home through the woods. Last autumn I enjoyed taking my grandson to play and learn about nature - pooh sticks is always great fun.

But recently l found another reason to visit the woods. After I applied for, and was granted a permit, i have been doing some moth trapping in the local plantations. It's very early in the season,but so far l have seen some moths that I haven't seen before (not too difficult as I have only been mothing since early last year). But these moths are wood dwellers, unlikely to visit my light in the garden.

They have evocative names such as Pine Beauty, Purple Thorn, White Ermine ard Scalloped Hook-tip and they are wonderful creatures to see close up. I can't help wondering what else is out there in the woods, I guess I'll be finding out over this and future summers! Gary Fenwick.

May Avian Arrivals.

There are lots of species of birds that we can only see in the summer, and so we should treasure their presence because, before we know it, they will be flying south to spend the winter in milder climes (southern Europe and Africa). I always find it really pleasing when I see my first Swallow or Cuckoo or Willow Warbler. At the time of writing, I have seen my first hirundine, a Sand Martin on 22 nd March. Slightly smaller than a Swallow, I saw two on the east coast and I marvelled at the fact that these two tiny birds will quite possibly have literally just flown over the English Channel and 2,500 miles overall!  

Locally, in a woodland only a couple of miles from Middle Rasen, there have been breeding Turtle Doves for a decade or more, until the last couple of years when all I have seen is a lonely individual. Sadly, the Turtle Dove has reduced by 99% between 1967 and 2020. In 1993 I saw six together on some wires near to West Rasen, now I have no chance whatsoever of seeing such a sight. And when did you last see or hear a Cuckoo locally? The last local one I saw was a juvenile at Toft Newton Reservoir in 2020, although I was amazed to hear at least half a dozen in the lovely Coedydd Aber valley, North Wales in May last year.  

On a positive note, any hedgerow in any of our local country lanes, could host a Whitethroat, with its hoarse drawn-out call and stand-out white throat! And one bird which surely everyone notices are the Swifts in August, screeching over-head with scythe-shaped wings, take notice of them because by the end of August they will be gone!  

MAKING A HEDGEHOG HIGHWAY  

It's the time of year that hedgehogs will be waking up from their hibernation, so I thought that I would make a plea. Given that hedgehogs can walk up to two miles in a night to find food or look for a mate, the ability to roam freely is really important. They therefore need gaps in garden fences or a space under gates to get around. What they actually need is a space 13cm x 13cm to walk through, which fortunately would be too small for the majority of cats and dogs. You and your neighbours could create a hedgehog highway by cutting a hole in your fence or removing a brick or two from the bottom of a wall, you could even purchase a hedgehog friendly gravel board if needed.  

My own boundary has natural gaps under my fences, and I am sure that will be the case for many. Interestingly, the only hedgehog I saw last year was in a strip of garden that I left to mow until after May….no mow May! You could also put out a saucer of meat-based pet food, to supplement their regular insect diet, but always ensure that a dish of water is also available. Additionally, do please try to avoid using Slug Pellets and if you have a garden pond (a great idea) make sure that there are several gently sloping slipways around the edge of the water to allow animals to escape if they fall in.

Gary Fenwick - April 24

45th RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

On 27 th January the community focussed Market Rasen library participated in the 45th RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and I was invited to help identify the birds (and take along my binoculars and telescope!) The event had been publicised for children, even though the national event is citizen science for all ages, but it was wonderful to have lots of primary school children's eyes excitedly looking out for the birds and being disappointed when the many Gulls just flew over, so we weren't able to count them!

In the hour we spotted eight species of bird, but the aspect of the morning which I enjoyed the most was to see the wonder and interest that the children had for the birds. I had Logan, who was thrilled to see a Woodpigeon through the telescope, he said it looked so close and he thought he was “picking up food for his family” and I had Bobby, who went through the ‘Birds of the British Isles' book and was intrigued by the fact that I had seen so many of them! One child got upset when he couldn't see a Dunnock in a tree, and I thought I know how you feel! But the Mums and Dads who brought their children along, will be taking their children out and about, notebooks in hand, and they will be recording the birds they see…and we therefore have another generation who care about the natural world around us. Priceless!

MOTHS ARE BETTER THAN BUTTERFLIES!

So, moths are all dull, plain, brown pests that chew through the vegetables, or even your clothes! If that's what you thought, then think again! And if you like nature and think you need to travel far and wide to see living creatures that you've never seen before, then I can tell you that's not the case! In all but the coldest winter nights, put out a white sheet, shine a torch on it and creatures you've never seen before will appear as if by magic. Scientists don't really know why moths are attracted to light, but I bought a moth trap in March and since then I've identified 1,286 moths of 191 different species. There are around 2,500 moth species in the UK and only 59, at a push, butterfly species. So, I've got a lot more to see!

Science has proven that moths pollinate our plants more efficiently than butterflies and they come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Look at the pictures of two common moths below, both from my garden this year. But moths only fly at night I hear you say. Well, no - there are approximately 130 species of day flying moths, more than double the number of butterflies.

Don't get me wrong, butterflies are great too, but there is a whole world out there, in your garden and elsewhere, of stunning insects to delight and intrigue. As my 2 year-old grand-son said when I showed him a Canary-shouldered Thorn - ”Wow”.

Gary Fenwick Feb 24

Often, when in the countryside and if you're vigilant, something can surprise you. In mid-October I was walking around Covenham Reservoir (looking for and finding an uncommon Slavonian Grebe), when I spotted something peculiarly white in some trees close to the reservoir. Looking through my binoculars I could see it was a rare albino squirrel, amazingly after a couple of minutes I spotted another one close by!  

Albino squirrels are incredibly rare, with estimates suggesting that there is only one albino squirrel for every 100,000 regular squirrels or just 50 in the UK. They have white fur with red eyes because they lack melanin (the pigment that gives your hair and skin colour). Albinism is an inherited genetic mutation, so it's clear that the two I saw must be siblings. They should be able to live the normal 3-5 years for a squirrel, although their brightness does make them more visible to predators!

Gary Fenwick dec 23

When I was a very young man I remember my dad took me to a slideshow about the birds of the Highlands and the expert speaker showed some footage of an Osprey diving into a loch and catching a fish. I was mesmerised by what I saw and I vowed there and then that one day I would see an Osprey in the wild. I even hoped that I might one day be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to see the holy grail….an Osprey hunting!  

Fast forward 45 years and I have achieved that ambition multiple times. The last time was on 7th September when an Osprey showed the fishermen at Toft Newton Reservoir (TNR) how to do it, after it emerged from a plunge into the cold water with a sizeable trout (see picture). I now know that the bird in question was a 5-year-old ringed in the nest in the Scottish Highlands and a bird which this year bred in the Tweed valley. It was migrating from there to West Africa, obviously using TNR to refuel. It will take 20 flying days to get to its winter destination.  

Strangely I saw an Osprey at TNR in 1994, 95 and 96 and then there was a 25 year gap before my next one, on 2nd Sept 2021 and then I saw one last year and again this year! I wonder when the next one will be!?

Gary Fenwick Nov 23

I have been asked to follow up my article last month with some further musings about my wildlife experiences. The request came the day after a very exciting encounter with a rare bird, so there was no need to think about what to write about!

I have been going to my local patch, on and off, since my first visit on 15 th  November 1992.   The concrete bowl which is Toft Newton Reservoir doesn't immediately strike you as a productive place for birds, but when you watch the same place time and again, you get lucky and see interesting birds passing through regularly.  In the past three years (semi-retirement has wonderfully given me more time), I have visited at least 150 times each year. On 31 st  July I was present on the patch, nice and early, and had walked more than halfway round without anything of note to see. Then out of nowhere, under the gathering grey skies, a Gull appeared, but it looked a bit strange. I lifted my binoculars to my eyes and immediately saw that the Gull was actually a large Tern, with a prominent red bill, a rare Caspian Tern. The British Birds Rarities Committee have already asked for photographs and a description, something in a lifetime of birding I've never been asked for before ! 

MOTHS

This morning I found the impressive Privet Hawk-moth (picture attached), with a wingspan of up to 12cm, which I caught in my moth trap (all moths are released unharmed!). The picture doesn't really give justice to what is a fearsome looking moth! (The moth is on an egg box because that's what I put on the bottom of the trap).I started mothing, to add to my birding and butterflying, only in April this year and I have seen 69 species of moth in that time. It's amazing to discover what's lurking in our gardens at night, you can attract in a trap tiny micro-moths, beetles and macro moths in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and colours.

The Privet Hawk-moth generally flies in just June and July and is Britain's largest breeding moth. In the north of Lincolnshire, we are towards the northern limit of its range. They feed on, wild and garden Privet ( Ligustrum ), Holly, Honeysuckle, Snowberry, Vibernum tinus, Forsythia and a few other plants. Who knows what I might find next time!

Gary Fenwick (August 23 ed)

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