Butterflies and Moths. Public meeting. The use of colour in butterflies and moths

On Thursday 22nd January we have our first public meeting of 2009.

John Bebbington, Secretary of the Somerset Moth Group will be presenting a talk on how butterflies and moths use colour to give themselves protection from predators.John will be illustrating his talk with some of his wonderful photographs.

Despite the flooding in December we will be meeting in the Curry Rivel Primary School hall at 7 pm.

The school is in School Lane in the centre of Curry Rivel with car parking near by.

As a result of this very successful event with wonderful photos ( as you would expect from a Member of the Royal Photographic Society) and an appreciative audience, I can give two links to sites you can see even more of Johns photographic work in wildlife.
Nature Photographers Portfolio. Link here.
Somerset Moth Group. Link here.

The display of these photos on a large screen together with a very informative talk was even more impressive than just viewing the pictures you will see at the links given.

NERC

"NERC" is the "Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006"
This Act may well be useful in raising an awareness amongst Councillors about the importance of biodiversity.

Notes on the working of this act were produced by BBOWT.


Guidance Note 13 (GN13) - Parish Councils and Parish Plans

As of October 2006, Parish Councils have a new duty to conserve biodiversity under
Section 40(1) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (the NERC
Act). This should not be an onerous duty, but an opportunity to protect and enhance the wildlife assets within the Parish. Parish Councils can now spend money on biodiversity, managing their land for the benefit of biodiversity or enacting bylaws to protect it.

Parish Councils should consider biodiversity in their responses to planning applications and should set out how they wish to conserve and enhance the wildlife resource of the parish in their Parish Plan. BBOWT has produced some more detailed guidance on how Parish Councils can fulfill their responsibilities under the NERC Act. The document is available electronically from the Trust’s Wildlife Information Service (wildinfo@bbowt.org.uk).

"BBOWT" is the Berks, Bucks and Oxford Wildlife Trust


Many Parishes don't have a Plan!

Wildflower meadow campaign

My first post in 2009 is a few extracts from a letter I have written to my local Council which tries to give good reasons for keeping a 4 acre field as a local nature reserve rather than use it for building tennis courts, bowls club or just more football pitches.

"20 th December 2008

Dear Councillor,

Nature Reserve and Wildflower Meadow,

As the Council expects to be discussing the future of the old field at its meeting in January, may we remind you of the benefits of adopting the field as a nature reserve and wildflower meadow.

( local school children on a field visit on an adjoining farm during the Kingfisher Project)

A new path winds its way round all sides of the field providing a well cut, firm and reasonably level path. The path is intended to provide access for everyone including those with disabilities, so that all can appreciate the natural beauty of the meadow. It can also be used as a fitness trail. (Visitor numbers are rising steadily.)

( Oct 2008 view of walking / jogging trail round field)

Leading off the main trail will be smaller paths cut into the centre of the field, and from April through to July and usually into August you will be able to get close to both Pyramidal and Bee Orchids.

( Bee Orchid)

You will see many fine examples of the interesting and attractive Broomrape, looking similar to the orchids, and which grows and flowers as a parasitic plant, usually on the roots of clover.

(Broomrape)

Numerous butterflies of a dozen or so species will be seen all over the field and birds will be attracted by the trees. At the eastern end is a mature blackthorn hedge, which in the spring looks magnificent in a total covering of blossom, later to become sloes. This bushy hedge is a haven for birds and other wildlife including the scarce Brown Hairstreak butterfly whose eggs can be seen during the winter by close inspection of the young hedge growth. In the spring there are large clumps of cowslips to admire. The path loops round so that you can enjoy the full spread of the blackthorn in bloom and then turns along the southern side.

(massed white blossom on blackthorne)

Yellow Rattle has been introduced in the field, which has the effect of reducing the growth of the grasses and this in turn helps the more delicate wildflowers. However the grasses are home for the lovely Marbled White butterfly which in a good year can be seen in great numbers.

If you stop to look carefully at the grasses you will find several species of grasshopper, the very impressive Great Green Bush Cricket and no doubt many other insects and moths. There are small mammals in and around the edges of the field and from time to time larger birds can be seen such as Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels and Buzzards and even optimistic Herons. A survey of birds in the field taken in 2007 showed a total of 21 species which we anticipate will increase in coming years. Along the southern boundary, in the adjoining field, a new hedge with seven native hedging plants was created in 2007 and has taken well in its first year. This hedge will begin to flower and produce berries even during its second year and this will be an attractive addition to the landscape and a major boost to the bird population in particular. The hedge plant list is: Blackthorn, Quickthorn, Field Maple, Spindle, Wayfaring Tree, Wild Privet and Dogwood. The next few years will see the trees and new hedge adding to the attractiveness of the meadow and increasing populations of wildlife and wildflowers. Educational visits will be encouraged for all ages to experience this fine example of a rapidly vanishing feature of Somerset life."

Except where stated the photographs have all been taken on the field at various times.

Photographic evidence of diversity

While I'm on the subject try visiting this link here for some remakable pictures. ( a little bit better than mine)

Biodiversity

The Somerset Wildlife Trust has announced the publication of a new strategy document for Somerset.
The full document can be viewed and downloaded from the Wildlife Trusts web site, link here, or the County Councils web site. Link here.

Its quite a long 37 page document which seems very relevant to our local groups aims and objectives concerning wildlife particularly strategy Objective 8. Some highlights are shown below.

(From page 19)
Objective 8:
Enable community engagement with the natural environment and
biodiversity conservation
Current Challenges:
The relationship between the people of Somerset and our wildlife needs to be strengthened
if the natural environment and conservation are to become a part of everyday life for far more
people.

( From page 20)


Where we want to be in 2018:
For more people to have connected with wildlife, to have discovered the benefits that it can offer
and the ways in which they can help conserve it.
Key Actions:
8.1 Encourage all landowners to take biodiversity into account when managing their land.
8.2 Encourage landowners to take up access and educational visits option under the Higher Level
Stewardship scheme.
8.3 Declare suitable sites as Local Nature Reserves. Create and implement management plans
that focus on improving biodiversity value and sustainability, wildlife interpretation and
accessibility for all.
8.4 Explore the opportunities for disseminating local wildlife information. For example: Setting up
a dedicated Wildlife Information Service to provide expert responses to biodiversity enquiries;
organising road shows and practical activities in which people can participate and creating a
popular guide to exploring Somerset’s wildlife.
8.5 Facilitate and enable voluntary community biodiversity conservation projects and provide
support for local biodiversity champions. Develop the role of volunteers in the protection and
management of local sites.
8.6 Adopt Natural England’s Accessible Natural Green Space Standards - and ideally also the
Woodland Trust’s Access standards - as the minimum standard of accessible natural green
space to be achieved.
8.7 Include Local Biodiversity Action Plans within Sustainable Community Strategies.

This post is just a first reaction to the issue of this document which is supported by a long list of voluntary and local government organisations. It may provide an excellent basis from which to ask questions of our local councils to find out how they see themselves putting this thinking into practice.

Photographic competition result.

In brief , I didnt win any awards!
I did see how real photographers approach a subject like hedges. I hope the competition is run again next year so I can put into effect all that I learnt last night.
If possible I'll try to get the winners onto this blog.
I did learn about some of the sponsors including CPRE, FWAG and Exmoor National Park.
We had a very informative and motivational talk on photography by Pauline Rook whose work in the Blackdown Hills can be seen here

"Pauline Rook Photography"

Somerset Hedge photographic competition

Here are some photos of a new hedge with 1000 whips over 200 metres all planted this year by volunteers. On the left are the young whips soon after planting and on the right is a photo of a butterfly egg ( a small white dot in the fork of the branch laid by a Brown Hairstreak) on a young blackthorn bush in an adjacent hedge.


I shall be attending a presentation this evening to see who has won the competition to find good photos of Somerset hedges.
Here is a link to their web site.

I entered photos of our new hedge planted on our Private Nature Reserve 4 acre wildflower meadow and because hedges are so important for wildlife. Here is an extract from the Hedge Society web site on the subject. See link above for more detail.
***************************************************************************************************************
Hedgerow Wildlife

What is a good hedge for wildlife?

Well-managed hedgerows are valuable for wildlife supporting a rich diversity of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibian. In many lowland areas, hedges are the most significant wildlife habitat remaining. The health of hedgerows is crucial for the survival of many common as well as more rare species.

Native hedge plants such as blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, dogwood and field maple will support many more species than non-native plants such as garden privet, leylandii and sycamore. In general terms, the more kinds of tree and shrub a hedge contains, the more wildlife it can support due to different flowering and fruiting times. The most valuable hedges are those that combine a thick and bushy hedge with a sympathetically managed bank, ditch or grassy margin.

Hedgerow shrub wildlife species supported:

SPECIES	NO:
Hawthorn	209
Blackthorn	153
Hazel	106
Beech	98
Field Maple	51

Mammals and reptiles A mixed species native hedgerow will provide a supply of fruit, berries, nuts, insects, slugs, snails and spiders for a range of mammals. Hedgehog, common shrew, pygmy shrew, wood mouse and stoat will all use hedges to feed, next or hibernate. Other species such as dormouse and adder are more likely to be found in hedges that link to other hedges and features such as scrub, woodland or ponds.

Amphibians and insects Certain hedge features are favoured by certain species so a variety of hedge shrubs and management is important. Amphibians (frogs, newts and toads) favour hedges with ditches and dense ground cover. The caterpillars of the Holly Blue butterfly, will only be found in hedges containing holly, spindle or dogwood. Another butterfly, the Brown Hairstreak butterfly will only lay its eggs on the young shoots of blackthorn in a hedgerow. Birds Birds use hedgerows to feed, find cover, establish breeding territories, nest and raise chicks. Birds commonly associated with woodland such as blue tit, great tit, wren, blackbird, robin and chaffinch are more common in taller, wider hedges. Birds that favour scrubby or open woodland, such as dunnock, yellowhammer and whitethroat are more common in poor, gappy hedges. A taller hedge allows nests to be built out of the reach of predators and will therefore be more likely to fledge chicks successfully.

Hedgerow trees Hedgerow trees and uncut hedge tops provide important song posts allowing birds to establish territories in the breeding season. It is important to select sapling in hedgerows to grow on into the next generation of trees for wildlife and for landscape value. Oak and ash are valuable, long-lived hedgerow trees supporting a wealth of wildlife species but other native trees can also be left. Bats, songbirds and lichens, which favour undisturbed conditions, can thrive on mature hedgerow trees.

*********************************************************************************

Starlings hotline for roosting information

I called the hot line number today to check for their advice.
There is a longish intro giving advice about the problems of parking in the area and suggesting that visitors should be there early in the week as it gets very busy at the weekends and to arrive at least 1 hour before dusk. Choose a fine day which is more likely to produce the aerial displays with a million birds in the air performing their dramatic formation flying.
It concludes by saying the birds are roosting at the RSPB Ham Wall reserve at present.

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the RSPB Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142.

PS. It is not unusual for the birds to change their roosting sites from time to time.

Bees and climate change.

Last Thursday we were given an entertaining and very informative presentation on the subject of climate change and its impact on honey bees. As usual a good talk raises our level of interest and awareness in the subject. My own interest has led me to some interesting web sites. Here are some extracts from several sources related to the subject.

Defra, UK - Bee Health - Introduction

"Bees make an important contribution to the sustainability of the countryside, contributing both to agriculture and horticulture and to biodiversity. They also produce honey and other hive products.

The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) plays a dominant role, being the major managed pollinator available for field and outdoor fruit crops, while species of bumble bee (Bombus) are commercially reared for the managed pollination of a number of protected crops, including tomatoes. The economic value of crops grown commercially in the UK that benefit from bee pollination is estimated at around £120m-£200m p.a.. By contrast, the value of honey production in the UK fluctuates between £10-£30m p.a.. Honey bees also play an increasingly important pollination role in respect of many wild species of flora. The economic value of bees to wild plant pollination is thought to be substantial but impossible to evaluate because the pollination requirements of most species of wild plants in the UK are unknown."

There are thought to be some 44,000 beekeepers in the UK who maintain around 274,000 colonies of honey bees. Of these, around 300 are commercial beekeepers who are members of the Bee Farmers' Association; they manage around 40, 000 colonies. The remainder are small-scale beekeepers, many of whom are members of national and local beekeeping associations, such as the British Beekeepers' Association in England. There are around 33,000 beekeepers in England, who maintain some 230,000 colonies.

Here is an extract from the Independant newspaper. Here is a link.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-big-question-why-are-honey-bees-disappearing-and-what-can-be-done-to-save-them-813971.html

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Wednesday, 23 April 2008

But surely all bees do is make honey?

Far from it. They certainly do make honey, but more importantly, they are an essential agent of pollination for a vast range of plants, many of which are important human foodstuffs. Without the presence of bees, much of agriculture would be impossible, and this is a sobering thought right now, as feeding the world is suddenly becoming more difficult because of rising demand and the transfer of much crop production into biofuels, especially in the US.

Most of the pollination for more than 90 commercial crops grown throughout the United States is provided by Apis mellifera, the honey bee, and the value from the pollination to agricultural output in the country is estimated at $14.6bn (£8bn) annually. In Britain alone, pollination by bees of a suite of just 10 crops, ranging from apples and pears to oilseed rape, was calculated to be worth £165m per annum in 2007.

The BBKA points out that this is £800m-plus over five years – and the research programme they are calling for over the same period would cost a mere one hundredth of that. Yet the Government pleads poverty.

Here is an extract from the Somerset Beekeepers Association web site.

http://www.somersetbeekeepers.org.uk/About%20Pollination.htm

When the varroa mite was first discovered in Somerset, the Somerset Bee-keepers' Association foresaw the problem, which the growers were going to face and the important role which our craft would play. A Pollination Officer was appointed at that time, to act as a link between beekeepers and growers. A list was drawn up, of beekeepers who would be prepared to move their hives around, and contact was made with growers who required the services. This liaison has continued every year and is now an important feature of the Association's work.

Some crops are pollinated by wind, and insect pollination is not essential. Such a crop is Oil Seed Rape, but it has been found that even with this, the presence of honey bees results in yield increases. This is because the pollination period is shortened, resulting in quicker, and more even ripening of the seed. The crops where honey bees play a major role are

• Top fruit: apples, pears, plums etc.
• Field beans.
• Borage.
• Raspberries.
• Strawberries.
• Blackcurrants.
• Runner beans.
• Courgettes.

Because of the importance of the cider industry in Somerset, beekeepers and cider makers tend to work closely together.

If you would care to add your name to the list of beekeepers interested in pollination, or if you are a grower requiring hives for pollination, please contact the Somerset Pollination Officer whose contact details can be found in the About Us section.

There is a great deal of information about bees on the internet which can easily be accessed.

To finish this post here is a short extract from the web site of the Bee Farmers Association where they are debating the problems facing bee keepers in the face of changing weather patterns or in other words climate change.

Bee Farmers Association News 091007 By John Howat Published: Sunday 28th October, 2007 The question now, is what can we expect in the future? The British climate is notoriously unpredictable, but has never been extreme. This seems to be changing. Last year in the very south where I live, the crop was low because the weather was too hot and dry, although not much further north some rain meant a bumper year. Between May and late July this year has been cool and wetter than since records began. West France suffered the same conditions. Yet the Eastern European mainland has suffered the hottest and driest year ever. Whether or not Global Warming is man-made, the fact remains that climate change is happening, and the I fear that the results will not be a warmer Mediterranean climate for the UK but will be disrupted weather patterns of the type we are now seeing, worse each year. Add to this the problems with Varroa and maybe small hive beetle and CCD (if it is in fact a new disease), and making a living from beekeeping will be more of a challenge than ever.

Starlings hotline for roosting information

Somerset Wildlife Trust provides information on its web site linked here

Here is a service provided by the RSPB.

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142.



RSPB Ham Wall reserve, showing area of open water and reed

Parking Disabled access

Here you can enjoy a newly created wetland, which provides a safe home for many rare species including water voles and otters. In spring the reedbeds are alive with birdsong and in autumn you can see kingfishers flashing up and down the ditches. Bitterns are seen regularly in winter.

Opening times:

Open at all times.

Entrance charges:

Free, but donations to help us continue our work here are welcome.
Starling roost information:



The starlings use sites managed by three different organisations - the RSPB (Ham Wall), Natural England (Shapwick Heath) and Somerset Wildlife Trust (Westhay Moor). There is very little parking available at any of the sites, so avoiding the weekend rush will greatly improve your visit.

Whenever you come, please follow any parking instructions given and AVOID stopping on narrow verges or blocking gateways. There is NO PARKING FOR COACHES other than at The Peat Moors Centre situated between Shapwick and Westhay villages. Parking for the western end of Shapwick Heath is also at the Peat Moors centre.

Please take care not to disturb the wildlife or other visitors, by keeping noise to a minimum and obeying rules about dogs and restricted access.