Recording wildlife.

Updating my last post, I have started to use the SERC system and hopefully I have recorded a couple of "ordinary" sightings this week. Here is a link to the web site and the instructions you need to follow:http://www.somerc.com/submit-your-sightings/ You need to live in Somerset of course!!

Visiting a friends garden this week we were amazed to see a Blackbird somehow catch a Newt from the pond and fly off with it. Couldn't see more clearly than that and it all happened in a split second. It took its prey into some bushes and was obviously having difficulty dealing with it. We left it to it!

Will look more carfully at our own garden pond now where we know we have newts.

Curry Rivel Wildlife Survey Group report. Cranes on the Levels

I'll try to add the photo soon,

Curry Rivel News

A  West  Sedgemoor  Wonder

Photo attached

Timmy and Michaela with their two young hatched on West Sedgemoor in 2017.

Photo courtesy of John Crispin

This year, for the first time for in four centuries a very special event took place on the West Sedgemoor reserve–  five golden, fluffy chicks were hatched.  Three pairs of Eurasian (or Common) Cranes successfully reared four chicks to the point of fledging.  They, with their parents, are now with the general flock and can be seen at times within the bounds of Curry Rivel village.  The juvenile birds are almost as big as their parents now but they don’t quite look like them yet.  They have rusty coloured heads and necks unlike the adults who have black and white heads and necks with a bright red top to their heads.  The young stay with their parents for around a year until the breeding season starts and then they are chased away so that the adults can get on with their important breeding work.  Local schools and businesses were encouraged to champion the released birds so they all have pet names though they are properly identified by their leg rings.

The best place to observe a flock is from the Parrett Way between Oath and Stathe but they do move around quite a lot.  They can be seen in the air in their V shaped pattern and can be heard ‘bugling’ (a bit like yodelling).  The released birds still wear their coloured identity rings which are on their legs and this helps to record their progress.  Out on the Levels they are remarkably difficult to see considering they are now one of the largest wild birds in Britain.  Nature has ensured that they melt into the background whatever it is.  Also they love feeding in ditches and where the vegetation is tall.  However patience is rewarded by the sight of them peacefully feeding or preening.  It will be some years before the project is considered a success because Cranes are quite long lived (around 20 years) and take time to establish a sustainable flock.

The project to re-introduce cranes to the Somerset Levels, where they used to be very common until hunted out of existence, started in 2010.  After 5 years around 100 birds had been released after eggs from  Germany were hatched at WWT Slimbridge.   93 birds have survived and all are capable of breeding now.  So far these beautiful birds have produced 11 young  in locations as far away as Wiltshire and South Wales  but this year the successful rearing took place on West Sedgemoor – the event we were all waiting for!  This has confirmed the wisdom of releasing them on the Levels where hopefully they will stay for a long time to come.

If you would like further information you can visit the Crane website: 

www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk

Liz Antliff-Clark

RSPB Volunteer

and member of our CR Wildlife Survey Group.

Curry Rivel Wildlife Group activities 2017 / 2018

The Curry Rivel  Wildlife Survey Group  put together this programme of events for 2017.
We hope to do something similar for 2018

We had a short meeting of our small group this week and started to plan a few activities for 2018 similar to this years programme, See below.

This was full of good intentions and some of the events didn’t happen but we hope to do something similar for 2018. We see it as a contribution to the 2018 CR in Bloom entry as part of the community and environmental part of our entry.

Month. 2017	Web site and  CRN articles and information	Event title	Event date .	Event  Leader and time	Comment
March	Catherine  on  Village birds		No event
April	Deon  on Otters in Somerset	Bird walk	Friday 14th	Catherine , 7 – 9am,  start by St Andrews Church	Good Friday
April	David on Survey progress and publicity for talk in May.	Bird walk, Nightingales and Owls	Friday 28th	Catherine , 8.15 pm to 9.30 pm Meet by the gate in Eastfield	Sunset is 20.25
May	David on Wild flowers and butterflies in Eastfield and Batty Piece.	Walk in Eastfield and BattyPiece to survey the wild flower meadows and ancient and new hedges	TBA	David Mid May- TBA	Sunset about 20.55
May	Check event details	Evening talk on Otters around Curry Rivel?	Friday 19th.	Deon. Venue and time TBA
June	Elizabeth on Owls on Henry Lang’s farm and the Kingfisher project	Picnic in Eastfield	Saturday 10th	David and Catherine.  Sat 10th June 12 to 2 pm	Bring some food and a sheet to sit on.
July	Catherine on Gloworms	Walk on Henry Langs farm.	Date  TBA	David. Time TBA
August	Elizabeth on Dragonflies	Walk to find gloworms	Friday 11th	Deon,  8pm. Location TBA	Sunset 20.35
September	Elizabeth on Fungi	Walk on South Drove near Dewlands Farm to search for Dragonflies	Saturday 9th	Deon, at 2pm
October	Summer review of programme and survey data.	Walk to find Fungi	Sunday 22nd	TBA  3pm

Glow worms search

Just posted a comment on Curry Rivel facebook page to report on our Glow Worm search. Better than I dared hope!


Curry Rivel David GermanWe were searching for an hour and a half and it was getting dark and bingo we found our first female glowworm, eventually we had seen a dozen and after two hours we finished happy at our successful walk. We also listened to bats out hunting through out our walk. A real nature ramble and a great success! With Curry Rivel Wildlife Survey Group.

Glow worm search

The Heart of the Levels Group had a successful search a few weeks ago and found 15 insects  near Somerton. This walk hopes to find the insects in Curry Rivel parish.

Curry Rivel News August 2017

Gleeful Glow worms in Curry Rivel Catherine Mowat

Family event - We’re looking for glow worms around Curry Rivel on Friday 11th August. Come and help us find them! Meet outside West Field play park at 8pm. Bring torches and stout footwear; children must be accompanied. We will split into groups, some walking a short distance on easy terrain, some further – up to 2 miles – who will explore steep uneven terrain. This will be in the dark, and people can choose their group.

As we travel in our cars at night with their glowing headlights, we fail to notce the little magical glow worm, shining about as bright as a hi-fi LED indicator. Yet we are fortunate to have these unusual beetles in our parish. The adult female has glowing segments on her tail; she sits in open grassland and holds up her tail after dusk to atract a mate. She can’t fly, and repeats this for several nights until a male – who can fly – flies in and mates with her. She then turns out her light, lays her eggs and dies. She is called a glow worm because she looks a bit life a caterpillar, with segments and no wings. The eggs hatch into larvae which spend two summers or so, feeding on snails which they paralyse before sucking them empty.

If you find a glow worm, admire it but do not disturb it and, most importantly, leave it where it is. There are very few about indeed, we need to let them get on with their life. 

National Meadow Day , Curry Rivel

National Meadows Day - Saturday 1st July.

Curry Rivel Wildlife Survey Group

To mark this day we invite you to visit our own local meadows located in Holdens Way for a guided walk.

Eastfield Community Meadow and Batty Piece, a private nature reserve and wild flower meadow.

Car parking by Westfield Recreation Field.

Contact us for details of guided walks between 2pm and 5pm.

Please contact me for alternative arrangements

Contact David German 01458 259688 or email at davidgerman555@gmail.com

               

        Pyramidal Orchid                                            Marbled white butterfly                       Grass vetchling and   Goat’s-beard

"Meadows, once a feature of every parish in Somerset are now an increasingly fragile part of our national heritage but all is not lost. National Meadows Day is the perfect way to explore and enjoy the flowers and wildlife of Somerset's magnificent meadows and understand their special place in our shared social and cultural history.

 "Beyond being a quintessential sight of summer, meadows' value to our wildlife cannot be overstated — a single healthy meadow can be home to over 80 species of wild flowers, such as cuckoo flower, yellow rattle, orchids, knapweed and scabious, compared to most modern agricultural pasture which typically supports under a dozen species."

Claire Parton, ‘Save Our Magnificent Meadows’   Project Manager for Somerset Wildlife Trust