From May into June a striking sight in hedgerows and scrubby areas is the elder. This large shrub or small tree is common throughout Britain and is easily identified by its large creamy flowerheads or umbels which smother it at this time of year. Elders rarely grow as tall as 15m, and are quite short-lived; a 60 year-old elder is a veteran. Elder generally has a short trunk with corky, furrowed bark and relatively few branches. It will grow back vigorously when cut, which allows it to survive repeated cutting in a hedgerow. New growth has soft, bright green stems.

Those big flowers provide a nectar source for many insects and are eaten by some of the smaller mammals. Later in the year they turn into glossy, purple-black berries which hang down in big bunches. These provide food for birds and mammals and the seeds, when deposited in the droppings of the animals that ate the berries, germinate easily on disturbed ground. As a result, elder is often found around badger setts or fox earths.

Elder wood is very poor for burning and its smaller branches have a pithy centre. This can be hollowed out, and, in the past, hollowed stems were used with bellows through which to blow air into the centre of a fire. Consequently, it has been suggested that the name elder comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'aeld', meaning fire.

A number of ornamental varieties have been developed with purple or black leaves, coloured flowers, or deeply cut leaves. Because of their modest size and good response to pruning, these are popular in gardens and support wildlife.

In the past, leaves, bark and berries were used to make different coloured dyes used in the production of Harris Tweed. These days, the most common reference to elder comes in the ubiquitous elderflower cordials on sale everywhere. But the flowers and berries can be used in a variety of ways, as long as you avoid the raw berries, which are poisonous. Cooked berries, which are rich in vitamin C, can be used to augment blackberries in a pie or used to make cordials and wine.

The flowers, which should be collected when fresh – before they start to smell unpleasant – and shaken to remove insects, and can be dried for later use in cordials or wine. I’m sure there are many in the village who will have marvellous recipes. My favourite is elderflower champagne, although I haven’t made it for a while after too many exploding bottles brought a degree of customer resistance in the kitchen.

​Andrew Graham

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.
​
Peter Shallcross

In the long hot summer of ’76, I was working on the gunnery ranges at Lulworth. I seemed to get home every night either white with chalk-dust thrown up from the parched tracks or black with soot from fighting fires on the heath. At the time it felt like a never to be repeated heat and drought but now we are growing accustomed to annual, albeit shorter, heatwaves. Looking at things positively, it was believed that the heath fires across Purbeck weren’t entirely a bad thing as encroaching scrub was burned off helping heath habitat to recolonise. Now though, such fires are so frequent, some less mobile species are wiped out without time to re-establish.

At the other extreme, we have all been talking about the wretchedly wet winter we have just endured but surprisingly it wasn’t a record breaker. Martinstown in Dorset still holds the UK record for the highest rainfall in one day (July 1955: 11 in) but this was far exceeded more recently for any 24hr period at the Honister Pass in Cumbria (Dec 4/5:13.4in). These torrential downpours are becoming more common as warmer air can absorb more water before depositing it and if the storm cell is slow moving that can cause flash flooding.

If we are asking ourselves what is going on with the weather, imagine what it must be like for wildlife. Their life cycles, feeding habits and preferences are geared to less variable seasons so rapid changes or extreme conditions can have a severe impact. Even healthy, sound looking trees which have grown up over decades with their form and roots adapted to a prevailing south-westerly wind can be uprooted by a “freak” storm from another wind direction. 

There are species which CAN cope, and they are the ones which can flourish in these new circumstances. Species of birds, insects and plants are colonising from the continent, and some are extending their ranges northward as the climate warms. At the same time, global trade has allowed the introduction of species from afar, although all too often these to become pest species when they flourish without their native predators.

Many of these are attractive and exciting additions to our fauna, but unfortunately, over the last 50 years, our native biodiversity has in general declined. It is only by visiting sites of my youth and remembering what they looked like then, what birds and butterflies could be seen and in what numbers, can I recognise that I too am subject to the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’. This is where we either are unaware of, or forget what things were like before and accept the current situation as normal when in fact it is diminished. Rewilding projects show how wildlife can recolonise and flourish given the right conditions but on their own these will never be enough. Much needs to be done to ensure that the decline in biodiversity since 1976 does not continue for the next 50 years.

​Andrew Graham

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

Everyone is prone to overindulgence over the festive period so in the New Year many of us feel the need to get out and exercise more to work it all off. January can be a great time to look for wildlife. Unless the weather is really harsh, many species will be preparing for spring  either by setting up territories or feeding up ready for the breeding season. As we step carefully through any wet and muddy ground, it’s worth keeping an eye out for footprints of deer, foxes or other more elusive animals still active in the countryside. 

By now, all the leaves have come off the trees, so in hedgerows and woodlands everything receives more light and becomes more visible. Take a closer look at the varied mosses and lichens, clothing branches and logs, and keep an eye out for splashes of colour from fungal fruiting bodies. Woodland birds also become easier to see. Tiny species which at other times of year we might only hear or catch a fleeting glimpse, are now easier to spot. Treecreepers can be seen working their way up tree trunks and branches, searching for prey items in the bark before flying back down to start their upward search once again. In contrast, nuthatches seem as comfortable searching downwards as upwards, which is helpful for identification purposes. Clearer visibility brings the chance to differentiate the varied tit species and spot the less common marsh tit. It will feed in mixed foraging parties with blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, and these may be joined by goldcrests and even one of the increasingly numerous overwintering chiffchaffs. Sometimes, these foraging parties can be so intent on feeding, on which at this time of year their lives can depend, that if you keep still, they will fly over and around you offering really close up views.

With the right weather and the gradually lengthening days, a number of birds will be singing preparatory to setting up territories, so aiding identification. Woodpeckers may be clearly visible on the dead branches they strike to create their drumming sound. Grey squirrels can start breeding in January, so you may encounter them chasing around in the woods or gardens. Owls are also early breeders. You may have heard tawny owls hooting after dark on still nights for some time now. This lets other owls know of their presence to declare exclusive “ownership” of their territory prior to breeding. As their territories are quite large, to project this message over long distances, their calls can be surprisingly loud (as I learned after one took to calling from the roof above the bedroom window for a few nights).

Andrew Graham

A full Victoria Hall heard a talk entitled “What’s in the Nadder”, where speakers from the Wessex Rivers Trust and the Nadder Valley Farmer Group presented the results of recent testing for phosphates, nitrates and bacteria. In addition, silt traps were used to check for the impact of soil runoff, which can smother in-river vegetation. All this focused on the Nadder, between Semley and Dinton, and included its tributaries.

The Environment Agency (EA) monitors water bodies to assign an ecological status based on biological, chemical, physical and hydrological criteria. In 2022, the Upper Nadder was rated as Moderate; while the Headwaters (up to Ludwell through the Donheads) were Poor. More recently, budgetary constraints have curtailed the amount of monitoring. So, the results of the work done by the Trust and Farmer Group allowed a reality check on the current situation.

Broadly, the results showed that the situation was little changed, but the good news is that there are improvement plans. Septic tanks are a feature of rural areas, treating sewage from one or more properties and then releasing it. But these discharges can sometimes be nutrient rich and pollute the river. Wiltshire Council is funding the replacement of old septic tanks under a project named “Revamp your Tank” to reduce that source of pollution. Farms are now inspected to ensure that farmers are complying with the regulations and given guidance on how to undertake improvements and best practice to minimise runoff into rivers.

But, as well as the contaminants mentioned above, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and other inputs get into our rivers. Sewage treatment works are designed to remove solids and return treated water to the river, but cannot deal with chemicals. Obviously, there is little we can do to prevent medications passing through our systems and into our wastewater. But it would help if we all thought carefully about what we put down our toilets, sinks and drains. For toilets, we should stick to no more than the three Ps (Pee, Poo, Paper). We have all heard about fatbergs created by cooking fats building up with solid objects (from cotton buds to nappies). The recent story about the woman fined for putting coffee down a storm drain is a prime example of thoughtlessness. Yes, it was only a small amount but if everyone did it…. All of us use water and all of us create wastewater, which eventually gets into the Nadder, so we all have a part to play.

​Andrew Graham

With the abundance of fruits, seeds, and berries in the countryside this autumn, the migrant birds which visit us during the colder months should be in for a feast. This may make them less reliant on our bird tables. Thrush species, especially the redwing and fieldfare will particularly favour the hawthorn and holly berries which glow red along the hedgerows and through the woods. Only when they have exhausted all that supply will they move onto the open fields to look for food there. These birds will have travelled large distances from their breeding grounds to wintering areas; other species make much shorter journeys. Solitary birds, small groups, or whole flocks may arrive in an area overnight and then just as quickly move on.

By keeping an eye on the skies for a while on a regular basis it is possible to pick out those movements which are local – for instance short flights by cormorants between lakes in the area – and longer distance – for instance the continuous movement of swallows gradually working their way south at the end of summer.

Birders call watching such movements visible migration, or vismig for short. This contrasts with nocturnal migration or nocmig.

If you want to experience some nocmig for yourself at this time of year, keep your ears open when walking through the village after dark. Especially on nights with low cloud, one can often hear the calls of redwings passing over-head. Their distinctive, high-pitched “tseeep” call is easy to identify but they are by no means the only species to migrate at night. Many others, of which we may be blissfully unaware, will pass through under cover of darkness. Increasingly, recording devices are being employed, especially at coastal bird observatories, to monitor birdcalls through the hours of darkness. Then, with the help of the ever-improving bird call ID applications such as Merlin, it is possible to pick out which species have been passing over while we are asleep. This is telling us more about bird movements than we could previously determine from daylight observation and bird ringing.

Abrupt and significant changes in weather or food supply can prompt major movements of birds. It is always worth looking, listening, and considering where the birds around us have come from and are going.

​Andrew Graham

​How is The Nadder doing? This is a question I ask frequently, as I am sure you do too. Often, after heavy rain the river is full to overflowing, its water is brown and muddy. For months during this summer, it has been clear but with reduced flow. Are local sewage works discharging polluted water into it?

The Environmental Agency (EA) reduced their testing some time ago, so it's difficult to get a clear idea. The quality of river waters are measured in different ways, taking account of biological factors (such as invertebrates and fish), chemical (harmful to humans) and hydromorphological elements (such as flow and depth and habitat quality). Ours, overall, is categorised as moderate to poor.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust recently won some funding to train volunteers so they can go in pairs each month to count water invertebrates of the eight main groups of pollution-sensitive invertebrates (or Riverflies); such as Caddis flies, Stoneflies, Blue-winged Olives, Shrimps and Mayflies. If the numbers drop suddenly from the baseline then a pollution event may have happened and the EA is notified.

In fact, so far this monitoring is showing that numbers are quite good. This is reflected in the abundance of life we can see above the water. Salmon are present and spawn lower downstream from Tisbury. The fishing clubs, instead of releasing farmed Rainbow Trout, are concentrating instead on enhancing the habitat on their stretches of river to encourage wild native Brown Trout to breed.

All this is encouraging, but what about the muddy water? Where is it coming from?   What’s in it? Who to blame?

Farmers and some farming practices are certainly at fault, so the local farmer’s group The Nadder Valley Farmers Group (of which I am Chair) decided to set up a water quality testing programme. We obtained a year's worth of funding from a grant from Farming In the Protected Landscapes grant scheme and set out to sample our river at 20 sites, weekly, for 52 weeks. The Wessex River Trust provided the expertise all the way through from its inception and Tracy Adams, our conservation advisor, tested each week for Phosphates and Nitrates, and less often as well for E. coli and sediment.

Well, we have completed the year, and would like to present to you the results on October 23rd in Tisbury, at 7pm in the Victoria Hall. Booking is essential. Please see Focus magazine p32 or contact us for details.
​
Peter Shallcross

This year’s long warm and dry summer has been mostly favourable for dragonflies and damselflies, which together are known as Odonata. In contrast to butterflies, many odonata species have long flight periods. The emergence of adults from their aquatic larval stages is not synchronised so, in the right weather conditions, some species can be seen at any time between March and September. As long as the nights do not get too cold, and there are no long periods of wet weather (when they cannot hunt), the larger dragonflies can keep flying well into the autumn. Warm, dry days and evenings will give them plenty of time to feed and mate. As the males often fight over breeding territories, and dragonflies may be attacked as potential food by the hobby falcon, by late summer they can look so badly damaged and worn out that you wonder how they keep flying. Unlike several species of butterfly, dragonflies and damselflies do not hibernate as adults. Eventually they will become too damaged, or a sharp frost will bring their lives to an end. By then they should have mated, and the females laid their eggs in a suitable water body. The resulting carnivorous larvae will then spend months developing underwater, before emerging as flying adults in the following summer. Unfortunately, extended dry spells such as we have had this year can dry up their breeding habitat and the larvae lost, so the “good” summer is not necessarily all good news for odonata.

At 57 species, the list of odonata recorded in the UK is about the same size as that for our butterflies. A number of these, with very exacting habitat requirements, became extinct last century. However, the list is undergoing a period of unprecedented change as, in recent years, a number of species have been discovered for the first time. Some of these have gone on to become breeding species. This is largely a result of climate change, which is allowing a number of insects to expand their range northwards through Europe and across the channel. Notably, this summer has seen increased numbers of the strikingly marked Jersey Tiger Moth being seen in southern England. Once only plentiful in the Channel Islands, since 1990 this day flying moth has spread north and east from its mainland strongholds in south Devon, and several have been seen in and around Tisbury. It has become sufficiently numerous to be added to the list of target species for the national Big Butterfly Count.

And now, news comes that a species of butterfly from Southern Europe has been spotted in the UK for the first time. The Southern Small White, which even on close inspection doesn’t look that much different to a Small White, a Green Veined White or, er, a small Large White, just makes life more difficult for the butterfly recorder. It’s easy to see why most of us lump them all together as “cabbage whites”.

​Andrew Graham

I really struggle during heatwaves. At home, I do all I can to keep the house cool and to make sure there is some shade into which we can retreat at the hottest time of the day. But, how is wildlife, which has evolved over long time periods to be adapted to our normal climate, impacted by the increasingly frequent hot and dry spells? Well, in numerous direct and indirect ways.

We will see in our gardens how fruit and veg may mature too quickly and drop fruit prematurely. In the field, this can mean that crops of berries, nuts, and fruits that birds and animals normally rely on in autumn, may be gone by the time they need them. Although we can water our wilting garden plants and seedlings, in the wild they may perish, and a new generation will be lost. If the plants provide food for the larvae of insects like butterflies and moths become desiccated and die, the larvae won’t be able to grow sufficiently to progress to their overwintering stage, diminishing the numbers that emerge next year.

Anyone trying to dig into their flowerbeds will know how rock-hard the soil can get. Well, imagine if you rely on muddy soil with which to build a nest, or on digging into that soil to get food – as badgers, hedgehogs and many birds do. Life becomes very difficult for them. And things are just as bad for the creatures in that hardened soil, making it an inhospitable place. The worms and invertebrates that moles feed on are harder to find, so they must dig deeper to find moist soil and food.

While every creature needs to drink water in some way, amphibians such as frogs and toads rely on being able to keep moist, but as cool damp areas become increasingly rare, they risk death from dehydration. During heatwaves, water temperatures in ponds and rivers rise, resulting in reduced dissolved-oxygen levels, which in turn can kill fish. At the same time, the warmth encourages algal blooms, which can smother other wildlife and become toxic. If ponds dry out completely before tadpoles have competed their transition to froglets or toadlets, they will die.

Added to all these problems is the increasing risk of wildfires, or, even worse, deliberately started fires. This is a particular problem on our southern heathlands, many of which are close to built up areas, which seems to increase their vulnerability.

Obviously, it is not all bad news. Some species undoubtedly benefit from the heat and drought. But cumulatively, repeated heatwaves will favour the more resilient species, which can adapt in the short term or can move to more favourable locations and are able to recolonise later. Sedentary species, or those whose population take many generations to rebuild, may become locally extinct, eventually leading to a reduced flora and fauna of robust, adaptable species. Unfortunately, many of these are what we currently think of as pests. In future, our flora and fauna may be less diverse, less interesting, and significantly different to what we are comfortable with.

Andrew Graham