Rants, theories etc

Three times in the last week I found myself making emergency trips to the Springwell Veterinary Surgery in Tring. Twice I came across Wood Pigeons, probably struck by cars, floundering helplessly on the pavement and then, worst of all, a Grey Squirrel, it's back broken after having being tortured by a cat. It can be very distressing but I am unable to leave an injured animal without doing something about it – I know that if I did nothing It would haunt me for days.

Wood Pigeons and Grey Squirrels? A lot of people might say, why bother? After all, they are both common and many would regard them as pests, but surely every creature has the right to any care available and should not have to suffer a second more than necessary if anything at all can be done to help it. I have often seen pedestrians stop and stare at an injured bird before hurrying on, probably putting it out of their mind straight away. I find this hard to understand, but I think a lot of people simply do want the responsibility or the hassle. After all caring is easy but getting involved is much harder. Understandably there are many who would like to do something but are frightened to touch or pick up an injured creature. Sadly, far too many people just don't care.

Last year I remember finding a stricken Blackbird, sitting stunned in the middle of the pavement in Tring, after having hit a shop window. Shoppers were virtually stepping on the bewildered bird, barely giving it a glance as they rushed past, yet when I picked it up, a women came up and thanked me for caring and doing something. Perhaps everyone is waiting for someone else to deal with the problem. Maybe that is just human nature. Thankfully, there are thousands who will take responsibility for the injured wildlife the find regardless of how inconvenient or distressing.

Whether it's a Kingfisher or a Crow it doesn't matter – everything suffers equally and deserves the same care. How many people would walk past an injured bird but instantly rush a cat to the vet? One of the many problems that conservationists have to deal with is convincing the public that slimy, crawly creatures are just as important and worth saving as cute, fluffy and colourful ones. After all, who want to save a snake or a spider?

In our increasingly isolated urban lives we have become so divorced from the natural world that we view the it in the same way that we watch television. We try to tame nature, influence it, watch it, mess with it, sometimes even try to save it and of course we can switch it off at any time. We are not part of the natural world any more, we chose to leave it behind and now we watch wildlife through windows. We find it harder and harder to engage with the natural world. Its easier keep nature at a distance and walk on by.

When their cats kill a bird, many people will say, “it's just nature”, but of course it is not. Domestic cats are not part of nature, they have been created by us for our own purposes and introduced into the environment at a terrible expense to the natural world. Cats are a convenience pet for people who don't want to have the responsibility of truly caring for or worrying about an animal. Let's face it, a bit of food and water is all a cat requires and after that it can be forgotten about. Often people haven't a clue where their cat if for most of the day or night and all that time it can come and go, wreaking havoc on the local wildlife. Many cat owners would not like to admit it, but their pets do not need them to survive and of course it is this that makes cats so damaging. Research has shown that a bell prevents about 50% of kills, yet how many cats do you ever see with bells on their collars?. It's such a simple thing, but it seems that most cat owners can't be bothered, which makes me wonder how much they really care about the problem.

In my work I often come across the depressing sight of gardens littered with the dead bodies of birds and small animals. Latest figures suggest that cats kill 55 million birds and 275 mammals in Britain every year. These are terrifying figures and are inevitably having a huge impact on our embattled wildlife that already has so much to contend with. I realise that many of the birds taken by cats are weak or sick and probably would not survive the winter. In fact research has suggested that cats have little effect on bird populations, but I find this a bit hard to accept. Birds are in a decline across a broad front and there are many factors involved so I find it difficult to believe that the loss of such a vast numbers every year is having no effect. The millions of young birds snapped up each spring, whether weak or healthy will not have the opportunity to survive the winter and to breed the following year. They are as vulnerable as a small child on a busy road. They don't stand a chance. And surely the loss of so many small mammals each year must have an effect on the feeding opportunities of predators such as Kestrels and Owls, especially in a hard winter.

Prey and predators populations control each other's size, but an introduced predator like the cat, that does not rely on it's prey for survival, has a terrible effect on wildlife that is already struggling. Effectively, whether we like it or not, cats are vermin. Many people who happily claim to love and care about the wildlife in their gardens also keep cats, but I am sure that many cat owners do not want to face the truth about their pets. It is surprising how often that it is the neighbours' cat or the cat from down the road that causes all the mayhem!

Those 'nasty' avian predators, the Sparrowhawk and the Magpie are often blamed for the decline of our 'nice' garden birds, but humans will always find something else to blame rather than turn the mirror on themselves. The painful reality is that almost all the problems confronting wildlife and the environment in this country can be laid at our door. We just don't want to hear it.

Ok, I know this is a bit of a rant! After all, I grew up on a farm and I am not squeamish and really shouldn't let an injured Squirrel get to me, but sometimes things get through a chink in the armour, burrow inside and won't leave you alone.

Frost

Here are some seasonal images taken at Weston Turville Reservoir at the end of a bitterly cold, sunny day in early January. As the sun went down and the temperature, which had struggled to rise much above zero, began to plummet, the frost clad vegetation was bathed in a soft afternoon light that enhanced it's subtle rusty hues, creating an almost impressionistic effect. It was a beautiful and memorable scene but for sake of our already embattled wildlife (and my heating bill!), I hope that this winter will be a little more benign!

Frost on dead vegetation, Weston Turville Reservoir, (04/01/2010)

Bohemian Waxwing

I'm still waiting excitedly for my first Waxwing of the year. It's a big invasion year but so far the vast majority of birds are still lingering in the northern half of the country and although there have been a few brief sightings reported locally as yet no birds have chosen to stick around. Driving through the country lanes I've been scanning the berry laden hedgerows and as I work I have been listening out for that beautiful shivering trill, but so far without success. These lovely birds always stir the imagination with romantic images of the vast Northern Coniferous forests, so it seems ironic that we usually end up seeing them in the grim surroundings of a business estate or supermarket car-park. These photos were taken in February 2009 in the slightly more upmarket environs of Woburn town centre, but sadly they do not really do these stunning birds justice. Waxwings seem to soak up the cold winter sun and positively glow, but sadly the Sorbus (Rowan) that these birds favoured remained in shadow despite it being a clear bright day. Fingers crossed for some better shots this winter!

Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus, Woburn (21/02/2009)

Comma

Outside the weather is in a foul temper. The wind is gusting and hurling of rain angrily at the windows and venturing out to work seems madness. It's the sort of day when I wonder if my decision to quit an office job for a career in gardening was such a clever idea! Then I think back to the long, hot days of summer spent working in gardens full of birdsong, butterflies and buzzing insects and realise how lucky I am!

The ragged, torn outline and rapid gliding flight of the Comma Polygonia c-album is a common sight in gardens and orchards throughout the summer. They are especially fond of Budleias and Sedums and are often found feeding on rotten fruit along with other butterflies preparing to hibernate, such as Red Admirals. After hibernation Commas emerge as early as March and produce two broods, one in July and another in August or September. The photos below were taken in September at Bernwood, near Thame and show what I am fairly sure is a female Comma nectaring on Devilsbit Scabious Succisa pratensis. The sexes are tricky to tell apart but the outline of the female is slightly less ragged than the male and the marbled underside is plainer.

Comma Polygonia c-album on Devilsbit Scabious Succisa pratensis

Comma Polygonia c-album on Devilsbit Scabious Succisa pratensis

Comma Polygonia c-album on Devilsbit Scabious Succisa pratensis

This second brood butterfly is destined to hibernate on a branch or in buried in leaves and the dark, cryptic underside will camouflage it perfectly keeping it safe through the winter. The Comma takes it's name from the small white 'C' on the underside hind wing.

Comma Polygonia c-album f. hutchinsoni on Wild Teasle Dipsacus fullonum

In warm, dry early summers large numbers of the brighter form Hutchinsonii appear in July and mate to produce a second brood that emerges in late summer. As these butterflies do not hibernate and therefore less reliant on camouflage they are paler on both sides with a more variegated underside. The female Comma above, pictured on the dead flowerhead of a Wild Teasle Dipsacus fullonum in July, displays the paler markings and orange upperside of f. Hutchinsonii.

They are now so familiar in our gardens and woods that it's hard to believe that by the 1920's the Comma had declined so dramatically that it was almost extinct in Britain. Since then it's been all good news, with a recovery in numbers and a huge range expansion in the last twenty years.

October

Early October brought strong Easterlies and with them the first waves of Redwings quickly followed by large flocks of noisy, chattering Fieldfares swooping greedily onto berry heavy bushes. The last Swallows soon drifted away and Autumn was suddenly upon us. Bramblings gathered with Chaffinches and Greenfinches and feasted in the Whitebeams and Beeches near Ivinghoe Beacon car park and a few Northern Wheatear lingered on the sheep cropped southern slope of the Beacon feeding up before eventually heading south.

Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, Ivinghoe Beacon (04/09/2010)

Ring Ouzels were regularly reported from the hills throughout the first half of the month but despite several attempts I managed only a shadowy glimpse of one of these enigmatic thrushes, skulking deep within a Hawthorn bush. Marsh Tits were conspicuous and vocal in some of the gardens where I work and overhead, small bouncing flocks of Siskins were a regular sight. A pair of kronking, playful Ravens were a frequent and welcome sight in the St Leonards area along with the usual Red Kites and Common Buzzards. In early October we spent an exciting weekend birding on the North Norfolk coast. Migration was in full swing and Redwings, Starlings and Bramblings were pouring in from Scandinavia on the back of a stiff East wind and the bushes were alive with Robins and Chaffinches. We found a Great Grey Shrike as well as a smart Hooded Crow, and twitched an Olive-backed Pipit, a long overdue British first for me. Despite low water levels and vast expanses of mud, Wilstone Reservoir attracted few waders of note. Nervous flocks of Golden Plover began gathering with Lapwing on the causeway and the occasional bold Water Rail ventured from the safe haven of the reed bed into the open to feed. A Black-necked Grebe was present in the latter half of the month and the regular pair of feral Whooper Swans graced us with an occasional appearance. The month ended with the incongruous sighting of a lone Gannet flying south over Rammamere Heath a few miles north of Dunstable.

Mammals activity stepped up with the approach of winter. Grey Squirrels were industriously burying nuts and digging up freshly planted bulbs and Badgers began their annual destruction of lawns as they searched relentlessly for Leatherjackets and Chafer grubs. The rut was in full swing and Ashridge Forest echoed to the gutteral cries of Fallow Deer stags as they postured and swaggered through the rusty Bracken against a vivid backdrop of Autumn colours. I had a close encounter with a nervous Roe stag in Whiteleaf Woods and a few sightings of Chinese Water Deer knee deep in the mud on the far side of Wilstone Reservoir.

As October progressed Butterflies and Dragonflies faded away, although some warm spring-like weather late in the month provided the cheerful sight of a few Red Admirals and a very late Small White.

Common Bonnet Mycena galericulata, Whipsnade Heath (30/10/2010)

Much of the month was spent in the grip of Fungi fever. I made several forays into the woods in search of Mushrooms and Toadstools and attempted, often in vain to identify the bewildering array of species I came across. It is certainly a battle and one I am currently losing! As I found out many are virtually impossible to identify without dissection or the application of various chemicals to determine the colour they turn, neither of which I have the patience or inclination to do!

The Autumn colours have been stunning this year and the month ended bathed in warm sunshine that sparked a forest fire of red, yellow and gold.

Crab Spider

The Crab Spider Misumena vatia will sit on a flower for days, even weeks, patiently waiting for insects, often flies and bees, to land close by. It will then pounce, and gripping it's prey with long crab-like front legs will paralyse the unfortunate victim with a venomous bite. Mature females have the ability to vary their colour to match their background, varying between yellow, white or tints of green and so can be easily overlooked despite being 10mm in size. The male is only half the size and browner in colouration and spends much of its time moving rapidly from flower to flower searching for females to mate with. It would appear that the yellow female below, photographed on the white flower of Hogweed Heracleum spondylium has not got to grips with the concept of camouflage, but in fact it it takes about 6 days to change colour from yellow to white and much longer in reverse. Mind you the common sense of the fly could be called into question!

Crab Spider Misumena vatia on Hogweed Heracleum spondylium (09/07/2008)

The Crab Spider Misumena vatia is found in Southern Britain and Wales but has a Holartic distribution and in North America is known as the Goldenrod Crab Spider due to it's habit of spending long periods of time on the yellow flowers of Goldenrod Solidago sp.

The photograph was taken whilst I was searching for Purple Emperors and White Admirals at Finemere Woods near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire on a very hot and sunny day in July 2008.