We'll be looking out for the heathland birds and butterflies of the New Forest with Keith Lea, Consultant in woodland management and Vice Chair of Salisbury Natural History Society.

No dogs. Start time at Hale Purlieu 10am. Anticipated end time: 1pm

A mid summer walk in search of heathland butterflies, notably Grayling and Silver Studded Blue, heathland & woodland birds and heathland/bog flora. A moderate 3 mile circular walk within this beautiful part of the New Forest National Park.

Meet at the Nadder Centre for 9 am departure or meet at the National Trust Car   Park, Lady's Mile Rd, Hale Purlieu, SP6 2QZ for 10am start  What3words:///hardback.dices.cactus

Distance, Difficulty and Footwear - Please dress accordingly to the weather and bring water & snacks. Mostly flat walking but uneven.

If you would like to join us please contact us and let us know if you will be meeting us at Nadder Centre to car share or at the starting location.

At this time of year, there are many varieties of purple and violet flowers in bloom, and these attract many insects, especially butterflies and bees. This preference appears to be related to the way that they see light. While we see light in the red/green/blue spectrum many insects see it in the blue green and ultraviolet (UV) range. As purple and violet flowers, such as meadow cranesbill and meadow clary, naturally reflect more UV light, they will stand out in a sward, making them easier to spot by the insects.
 
Not only do many plants have flowers of a similar colour, many of those flowers are similarly shaped. Brown, black and greater knapweeds all have slightly spherical flowerheads topped with a purple flower. These are tall, tough plants that can be found in great drifts in rough grassland and on roadside verges. Easily separated from knapweeds by their spines, thistle flowers are nonetheless quite similar. There are many different species of thistle, adapted to different environments and with varied shaped and sized flower heads. Some have large upright flowers, others smaller or drooping ones. But all are recognizable thistle-like, just variations on the classic Scottish thistle flower. Thistles and knapweeds are members of the daisy family, and their flowers are made up of numerous individual florets, so they are known as composites. After flowering, the white or buff coloured seed heads, called the pappus, provide food for small birds, such as Goldfinches. As well as providing a great source of nectar for insects, thistles are the food plant for the Painted Lady. This butterfly can complete its life cycle within 3 to 5 weeks, given the right conditions, and comes to this country as a migrant from the Atlas Mountains. As the butterflies head northwards, successive generations keep the migration going until, during the best years, they may get as far north as Iceland before the final generation heads south again, perhaps using winds at higher altitudes to help them.
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There are good numbers of Painted Ladies around at the moment, so we may be in for a bumper summer. Look out for them on garden buddleia - another purple flower attractive to butterflies. Indeed, many of the garden plants we plant to benefit pollinators – nepeta/catmint, lavender, asters, borage, salvias, alliums – have purple/lilac flowers. But that is just the day flying insects. Moths are more attracted to the flowers that show up in the dark – white and bright yellow – for example, nicotiana and evening primroses. As always, variety is the key, so there are no hard and fast rules about what will attract insects to your garden, but these days many plants and seed packets indicate whether they are pollinator friendly to help guide us.

Andrew Graham

We have shared links to the uploaded videos and photos from two swift boxes in Tisbury where there are cameras installed. Please access from the Resources page or directly via https://www.tisburynaturalhistory.com/birds.html

Do have a look, there is some marvellous footage!

Not a call for help but to watch out - there may be swifts about!  Last Mayday was the first reported sighting of a swift in Tisbury.
 
And yes, we are excited.  Our Chairman, Peter Shallcross, got funding for 20 new boxes through the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme and these are already in place - that's five new swift hosts and more boxes on some existing swift homes. 
 
Highlights last summer include:
'Just seen the swift busy feeding its young in swift box' - Abby Eaton's photo clearly shows a parent bird's pouch full of insects harvested on the wing for its young
'What a show they put on tonight - they scream past so close to the house and also go right up to the nest'
'I was hanging out of my window watching the screaming parties and one made straight for me and went up into the eaves 3ft away with a thud!  I can hear them messing about when I'm lying in bed (such joy).'
'I counted 49 in a party ...'
'Young swift peeping out of box'
 
Just some of the reports sent in - Abby's amazing photos capture the thrill of those evening 'screaming parties'.
 
But we need more reporters!  To share the excitement, please do start now reporting activity to me - birds flying into nest holes - often invisible, looks like they're going straight into the wall - or boxes, screaming parties (how many, where?).
 
From June through early July, it's actual breeding we need to record.  Just sit somewhere unobtrusive (in a car is perfect for your comfort!) between 9.15 and 9.45 in the evening.  Fix your gaze on your chosen nest site or box and note the time and detail of comings and goings.  Of course you can do that for your own house, but if you'd like to help with somewhere else, please do just get in touch.
 
Have a screamingly good summer!

Elizabeth Forbes
(As appeared in May's Focus Magazine)

We have come to that time of year where we watch the skies for wheeling swifts and over the last couple of weeks have been thrilled to witness their arrival.

Here we have footage of a swift arriving earlier this week and the following day being joined by a mate. We'll update our camera findings as the season progresses.

Let us know if you'd like to join us a field trip led by Caroline Longley, Conservation and Wildlife Officer of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

The reserve covers 71 hectares where the WWT are managing the transition of half of the land from prior agricultural usage to chalk grassland. Five butterfly banks have been made to encourage chalk-loving breeding pairs and the location is rich with birds and wild flowers.

Further information about the trip can be found in the Field Trips Details document.

Don't forget that we have an additional talk this week from Inés López-Dóriga who helped to crew a tall ship across the notorious Drake Passage to Antarctica. She will be reporting on the wildlife and the unique flora and fauna found in this stunning landscape.

​As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests.  

Farmers deal with issues of succession as part of their job. Lately, it is the Family Farming Tax which has threatened a lot of family-owned businesses (not just farming) with unaffordable tax bills.

Another succession which we farmers deal with (and anyone with a garden) is Ecological Succession, which can be defined as ‘the gradual, often predictable process by which the structure of a biological community changes over time, replacing one group of species with another.’ It begins with pioneer species colonizing a new area and progresses through stages, often culminating in a stable "climax" community. Ponds are an obvious example, where a newly created pond with purely open water quickly gets colonised by aquatic plants which grow quickly to cover the surface with foliage and drop leaves, which eventually reduce the pond to a bog. The time it takes to go through these stages can be lengthened by human intervention, birds and fish (thinking Carp here).

Similarly, farmed grassland is prevented from rapid succession by regular cutting or grazing. Chalk downland, for example, has been maintained by grazing in a relatively stable shape for thousands of years, leading to a specialised rich plant and animal community. Cease or relax grazing and very quickly succession leads to long grass, over-competing specialist plants and, before long, scrub and trees take over. We need all these succession states to have the richest variety of wildlife. On either side of the Shaston Drove, we not only have variety of succession in abundance but we have extra variety of wildlife on either side; for example, on the colder north side we have Duke of Burgundy fritillary butterflies, and on the warmer south side, Adonis Blue butterflies.

At Chicksgrove, I have a species-rich hay meadow (created 25 years ago from a former arable field). This field has been kept in a stable state all that time by cutting it once at the end of each summer. The flora has increased in richness as new species, such as three types of orchids, have colonised. The drawback of cutting the whole field at one time is the decimation of animal life, so starting two years ago I left a strip uncut down the centre of the field. Straight away, succession kicked off with tussocky grass, suppression of the more delicate flower species and spread of scabious. On the positive side, the new habitat was perfect for rare and declining Marsh Fritillary butterflies, and a female found it straight away - probably flying from one of the Shaston ridge colonies - and laid hundreds of eggs on the scabious, the food plant of its caterpillars. As a result, in the course of two years, this spring there is a thriving caterpillar population.
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Peter Shallcross

Although not always appreciated by those who live nearby, the calls of rooks from a busy rookery are all part of the arrival of spring. Rooks are sociable birds and generally nest communally. From February onwards, they have been repairing damage to old nests or building new ones for the breeding season. Frequently, they will steal twigs and other nesting material from a neighbouring nest, leading to noisy squabbles over ownership.

​Although youngsters, with their all-black beaks, can be mistaken for crows, adults are distinguished by the visible, large area of white skin in front of the eye at the base of the bill. This makes the beak appear longer than it actually is and, to some, makes the bird look rather sinister. They also have somewhat shaggy plumage around their legs—something absent from the similar-sized crow. So sociable are rooks that they are usually seen in flocks. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but I remember being told years ago: “if you see a flock of crows, they’re rooks; and if you see a rook on its own, it’s a crow.”

In winter, they often flock together with jackdaws, but as spring approaches they go their separate ways, as jackdaws prefer to nest in holes and on buildings. A rook’s diet includes fruits, nuts, seeds, acorns, and berries. The strong, anvil-like beak is well-adapted for probing soil to seek out earthworms and insect larvae, which make up most of the rest of their diet. To find such food, they prefer open agricultural land, pasture, and arable land, provided there are tall trees nearby in which to nest. They appear more than happy to build rookeries in and around farms, villages, and towns, and are willing to fly good distances between rookeries or roosting sites and where they gather food.

However, they don’t seem to like large woodlands; while you will often hear crows and ravens in Great Ridge or Grovely Woods, rooks will only be found in the surrounding farmland. They also avoid heaths and moors and are generally confined to lowland areas. Like other corvids, they are clever and resilient creatures. There was a one-legged bird that frequented our garden for several years, but as the average lifespan is only six years, it may have led a full life despite its disability.

​Andrew Graham

Our first speaker of the new year was Jonny Cooper, from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, who gave us a presentation on the topic “Lapwing & Friends: Understanding and Conserving our Farmland Birds”.

The presentation covered WWT’s support of the Lapwing (or Peewit) under Project Peewit, and local conservation efforts for other farmland birds specifically the Tree Sparrow, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Kestrel and Barn Owl.

Farmland birds are defined as species that fit in the following groups:

• any species dependent on the complex bird landscape that makes up a farmland  habitat
• species that are red listed, such as Corn Bunting and Turtle Dove
  
• where there is a local priority, for example Tree Bunting in Cranbourne
• farmland health indicator species, as defined in the national dataset of 19 species.
  

Nationally, since 1970, farmland bird species have suffered a 60% decline, with “specialist” species (that is, those most closely tied to a dependency on agricultural landscapes) suffering the most, while “generalists” (those species able to adapt to a variety of conditions) have fared better while facing challenges of their own, such as the Greenfinch that has succumbed to disease.

The WWT’s strategy to support farmland birds begins with finding out what is going on, and understanding what is required to improve matters. The issues include the consequences of farming changes to which birds cannot adapt, unsatisfactory management of hedgerows, negative impacts of development, and post-Brexit uncertainty over farming policies, funding and clear guidance.

Project Peewit was started in 2024 to investigate the cause of the sharp decline in Lapwings, and began by collecting data to help target conservation efforts. Three key issues were identified as predation, food availability, and decreased breeding density.

Locally, long established farmers and landowners have reported Lapwings being commonplace on their land in the 1970s, but the decline has been noticeable, and the absence of the species from the farms is something that they lament. Indeed, some farmers expressed the pride they had felt in their land being associated with the Lapwing, and consequently have been very supportive of the project, with practical initiatives such as scheduling the timing of grass cutting to leave breeding pairs of this ground nesting bird undisturbed. With Lapwing chicks able to walk around from day one, they are vulnerable to predation by Red Kite, among others. The Lapwings are very protective of their chicks, and breeding in groups helps with defence. Lapwing can live 10-15 years, and will return to their nests year on year.

Other farmland birds face their own problems. Tree Sparrows, differing from Lapwing in being short-lived but breeding in high numbers, have declined by 95% nationally, with food shortage and lack of suitable nesting sites being key. Conservation initiatives include nest box provision and connecting existing colonies.

Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer have suffered significant national decline, but are doing well in Wiltshire with support from farm clusters.

Kestrel and Barn Owls have suffered from a lack of small mammal prey and suitable nesting sites. Nest boxes have been provided and work done to ensure networks of rough ground within the farmed landscape.

In conclusion, Wiltshire maintains a special place for farmland birds against a gloomier national backdrop, and while the outlook for Lapwing is bleak, conservation successes on sites in neighbouring counties suggest that continuing efforts engaging with farming groups and working with landowners gives some hope for the future.

John Procter