Soon after we moved in, I planted some gorse at the back of our garden. It soon established, so I now must cut it back annually to keep it in check. It does, though, bring colour and fragrance at a dull time of year. It has been blooming since December and as the year advances the number of flowers increase to become thick masses by late spring. As soon as some sun gets onto the flowers, they emit a wonderful coconut scent and are attractive to insects.

It is not commonly found in the Nadder valley, but on the downs you will find thick clumps of it. Further afield, in the New Forest and on the Purbeck Heaths it is extremely common and can be invasive, forming impenetrable thickets. Volunteers spend many hours keeping it under control for the benefit of other flora and fauna, which gets shaded out.

Gorse leaves are thin, sharp spines which animals are only able to graze as young shoots. With its thick spiny thickets, gorse provides shelter and nesting sites for birds and animals. Birds such as stonechats and dartford warblers can often be seen singing from atop gorse bushes where they feel safe from mammal attack.

Dead leaves lower down the stems are highly flammable, so making dead gorse is ideal for kindling and fuel. In the past, gorse may have been prevented from dominating the UK’s southern heaths by commoners regularly harvesting gorse for fuel.

Gorse is a member of the pea family of plants, as can be seen from the shape of the flowers and the pea-like seed pods. Like other legumes, it can fix nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria around its roots. This helps it to colonise and enrich poor land and sandy soils. The common gorse, Ulex europeaus, is the most frequently seen species but there are two others found in the UK, western gorse, and dwarf gorse, both of which are lower growing. They both flower later in the summer than the common, helping to separate the species.

Some say that folklore has it that you should not kiss your loved ones when gorse is out of bloom. I prefer my mother’s saying “when gorse is in bloom, kissing’s in season” which I think puts a more positive spin on the fact that at most times of year, you will likely be able to find gorse in bloom somewhere.

​Andrew Graham

As the leaves begin to fall from the hedgerows, the fluffy, spherical blooms of Clematis vitalba become ever more noticeable. This is known as traveller’s joy or old man’s beard, an extremely vigorous climbing plant which scrambles through hedgerow and woodland. After flowering in late summer, the plant is clothed in silver grey seedheads, which last into the winter. At a time when the countryside can become a bit featureless,  these clouds of silver can catch the sun and brighten things up for any kind of traveller.

The seed heads are made up of a collection of seeds, attached to each of which is a silky, feather-like, appendage. These catch the wind and help to spread the seed, which also provides food for birds. The thousands of seeds each plant produces each autumn, combined with such an efficient means of distribution means it can be found almost anywhere in southern Britain. It does, though, favour lime-rich soils, which explains why it is so common hereabouts. Traveler's joy is the food plant of a number of moths, including the pretty chalk carpet and small emerald moths, both of which are common hereabouts.

The rapidly growing stems are ridged and become tough and fibrous as they age. You can often find tremendously long stems hanging down to the woodland floor from where they have clambered up to the light in the canopy. These are very strong and make ideal ropes for children to play at being Tarzan. This strength led it to being used in the past for weaving, making rope and other bindings.

Unfortunately, traveller’s joy was ill-advisedly introduced as a garden plant to New Zealand. Its seeds were soon blown out into the native forests where it has become a menace, growing rampantly through the canopy, shading out the plants on the woodland floor and in some cases breaking down trees with its weight.

​Andrew Graham

One plant that seems to have done particularly well this year – perhaps it likes the rain - is hedge bindweed. This is a very distinctive plant with its numerous, large, bright white, conical flowers which clamber through hedgerows and small bushes. It is a member of the same family as Morning Glory, which I grow from seed each year; I only wish my plants were as vigorous and prolific as their wild cousins. We take bindweed for granted because it grows so well, or hold it in contempt because it can be such a pest, but its blooms, which keep going all through summer, really are fantastic. They provide a great source of pollen for bees and the plant’s ample foliage provides food for the caterpillars of the convolvulus hawk moth. This splendid insect has a 10 cm wingspan, a pink banded abdomen, and an extremely long proboscis. This allows it to feed on flowers that no other British moth can, so watch out for them on the long tube-like flowers of tobacco plants (Nicotiana) if you have them in your garden. It is a frequent migrant that visits us in late summer, but does not overwinter successfully in the UK.

The field bindweed, has smaller, pink, or pink-striped flowers and is more a plant of farmland, waste spaces and roadsides. Rather than climbing, it is more likely to spread and scramble laterally, but doesn’t develop into the all-engulfing tangle of the hedge bindweed. The roots of both species spread far underground, are brittle and can regenerate from the smallest sections. This is what makes them so difficult to eradicate once they have become established in the soil; when all else is dug up, the smallest piece remaining can start the reinvasion. Indeed, if you google bindweed, you will get a lengthy list of links offering advice on how to get rid of it.
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Bindweed may not produce a great deal of seed, but these can remain viable for years. So, combined with regeneration from broken roots, and the ability to grow rapidly by using anything it can lay its tendrils on for support rather than wasting resources on strengthening its stem, this makes it a highly successful plant found virtually anywhere. We just need to overlook the problems it causes gardeners and appreciate it for its flowers.

Andrew Graham will lead us on a walk around Arne RSPB Reserve where we will pass through varied habitats of heathlands, woods and wetlands with views over Poole Harbour. Arne is a terrific place for wildlife and BBC Seasonwatch has been broadcast from here a number of times, it is so good. It would therefore be a shame not to see a good part of its varied habitats. So, weather permitting, we will aim to spend the day here and we will be walking 4-5 miles. 

Please let us know if you are planning to join the trip and where you will meet us. No dogs. 
 
Meet at the Nadder Centre car park at 9:30am or at the Arne car park at 11:00 am    (OS Grid reference SY972 878) or What3Words wings.poetic.crown. The car park (charges for non- RSPB members) is located on the right at the beginning of Arne village from the Stoborough direction.
 
Distance, Difficulty and Footwear: There is relatively easy walking on paths and tracks with some slopes. Stout shoes should suffice unless wet. Bring binos, a packed lunch and refreshments.

Anticipated end time: Conclude at Arne by 3pm returning to Nadder Centre by 4pm.
 
https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/arne/location

Please can we have some helpers at the Community Field (below the Skate Park, Tisbury) next week for a 6pm start. You will need to bring some gardening gloves and if you have a gardening fork that makes it easier. We have found that ragwort numbers have diminished with the regular pulling over recent years, so it shouldn't take long. This is in preparation for the hay cut and removing ragwort is necessary due to its toxicity to animals.

A distinctive and common flower of rough grassland at this time of year is ragwort. It has a fine head made up of bright yellow daisy-like flowers, held on a tall stem with deep green, much divided leaves. Where it grows, it is often numerous and can create impressive seas of yellow in a field.

Ragwort attracts numerous insects to its flowers: 200 different species have been recorded. Gatekeeper butterflies are often seen nectaring on the flowerheads. Ragwort is a foodplant for the distinctive black and yellow striped caterpillars, or larvae, of black and red cinnabar moths. Often, the larvae are present in such numbers that they soon strip the plant of all leaves and have to troop off to an adjacent plant to keep feeding. The leaves have an unpleasant taste which transfers to the feeding larvae. The distinctive markings in them warn potential predators that they are unpalatable and, although some birds do take them, the larvae make no effort to hide as they feed.

The unpalatability of the plant is due to a number of alkaloids in its tissues, making it poisonous to some animals, notably horses and cattle, although proven poisoning cases are rare. Because of the unpleasant taste, animals will avoid eating the live plant, but a problem arises if ragwort gets mown and picked up in hay, which is subsequently fed to stock.

This is why, each July, members of the Tisbury and District Natural History Society (and others) get together to remove ragwort from the Community Meadow before seed sets and the hay is cut. Leaving the ragwort in the hay would make it worthless and only fit for disposal. We pull the whole plant up by the roots which, as it is a biennial, are relatively shallow. The technique is to get good grip with gloves, low down on the stem, and then lean back to extract the plant. Many hands make light work, and it does seem as if there are fewer plants to pull each year.

As the annual mowing and removal of hay depletes the fertility of the soil, so the floristic diversity of the meadow increases, giving more flowers for us to enjoy. This in turn can reduce the amount of bare earth between the plants in the sward, which restricts the opportunities for ragwort seed to germinate and grow next season. Hopefully, this is a virtuous cycle which will make life easier each year, but ragwort will always be there to provide colour for us to enjoy and flowers for insects to feed on for several weeks before removal.

​Andrew Graham

On Saturday 6th July, we have a visit to Wild Woodbury, Bere Regis, with a walk of approximately 4km/2.5 miles across uneven ground around this rewilding community project guided by Dorset Wildlife Trust Ranger, Seb Haggett. There is a portaloo on site at the car park.

If you are used to walking poles it will be worth bringing them. Walking shoes/boots are advised and please bring a packed lunch and refreshments. The weather is looking good for Saturday, with dry, sunny spells forecast. There are ticks on site, along with longer vegetation, so trousers are recommended. Also bring along any wildlife spotting equipment, binoculars, cameras etc. 

Please let us know if you are planning to join the trip and where you will meet us. No dogs. 

Meet at the Nadder Centre car park at 9:30am or at 10:30am up a short track off Southbrook Road, opposite Eldon Road in Bere Regis.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/qXbC482vgk4pZ6Qt6
What3words:  permanent.kings.chef

Those of you that came along to our meeting in January will recall the fascinating presentation by Rob Farrington of the work he has been leading for the past two and a half years to re-wild the 170-hectare site, south-east of Bere Regis. The plot acquired by Dorset Wildlife Trust was In September 2021 with plans to return what was previously intensively farmed arable land to its natural state. The goal was to create an example of sustainable land use, contribute to tackling the climate and ecological crises, reduce high nitrate levels in the area (and prevent them from entering Poole Harbour), and to engage the local community.

In the first year of the project, the land was allowed to naturally regenerate: there was an immediate increase in biodiversity and abundance, with the site list reaching 1300 species. During 2023, the second year of the project, work was carried out to ‘re-naturalise’ the headwaters of the River Sherford that run through the site. More information: https://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/tag/wild-woodbury

Anticipated end time:  Returning to Tisbury by 3:30pm

Mike Read is a wildlife photographer and he (and his wife) have spent many hours traversing the Somerset Levels recording the flora and fauna of this ancient land. For over 5,000 years, people have visited this area. Bordered by the sea at Bridgewater Bay, receiving the rain run-offs from the Mendips, Quantocks and Blackdown Hills, and being the flood plains of several low gradient rivers (the River Parrett, for example, declines by 11.5 inches over a stretch of 11 miles) the water levels are now more controlled than in ancient times and a variety of nature conservation organisations manage the land to support and encourage a wide and varied array of wildlife.

Having set out the parameters of the area, Mike introduced us to an ancient walkway, said to date from 3806 BCE precisely! This raised boardwalk was known to our ancestors as the Sweet Track and helped them to navigate their way through the reeds and vegetation, above the water while hunting and gathering their food and resources.

Peat continues to be cut from the nutrient rich soils and reeds harvested for use in basket making and for thatch. Mike’s favourite product of the area is the apples used in cider making and having been drunk by everyone instead of the unclean water.

Our talk started with a photograph of a telegraph pole with a curious carving of a bird on top. The bird was a dalmatian pelican. Remains of this species have been found preserved in the peat and so they must have lived there.

We were treated to a selection of superb photographs of the Somerset Levels through the seasons, starting with spring and alder catkins, marsh marigold, lapwings, 6 species of heron, egrets, marsh harrier, peregrine, the heronry at Swale Wood (visited by several members last spring), the early nesting mistle thrush while it’s cousin, the song thrush, is still singing to attract a mate, and the first migrants, chiff chaff and blackcaps. Nestled down in the reeds, we saw images of bittern and then a series of shots of great crested grebe doing a cat display followed by a weed dance, all part of their courtship rituals. The number of curlews has increased since the nature bodies have had a say in the optimum level of the water. The first butterflies and dragonflies were photographed among the water lilies and iris while a hobby was captured with a dragonfly in its beak.

In summer, the bees are swarming and the yellow and white flowers of spring are superseded by the darker, richer colours of great willowherb, purple loosestrife and tufted vetch. Swallows arrive and the great egret chicks fledge. Kingfisher, moorhens, mallards and others are hunted by buzzards and marsh harriers. Towards the end of the summer, apples ripen, ditches are cleared and migrants pass through including the whitethroat and osprey.

Hops, hips, elderberries and blackberries glisten in the autumn sunshine and provide food for speckled wood and red admirals. Fungi appears including fairy ink caps and glistening ink caps. Flocks of lapwing grow in number day by day. Golden plover arrive from the northern UK and Iceland. Mike told us about the successful reintroduction programme of the common crane and how many pairs are now breeding on the levels and some pairs have moved away to South Wales.

In winter, lapwings, golden plovers, black-tailed gobwits and cormorants can be seen and wetland fowl of all kinds will be displaying and wing flapping in order to attract a mate. During the winter months, it is the best time to see bearded tits, short-eared owls and barn owls and also the now world famous murmurations of starlings.

All captured through Mike’s lens and accompanied by interesting and amusing anecdotes, we are eagerly anticipating our visit to the levels this summer.

The society’s visit to Ham Wall is on Saturday June 8th, 2024.

​Emma Procter

As the weather warms and the days lengthen so we begin to see more wildflowers in the country and along the roadside. After the spring equinox is referred to as the vernal period. Late winter before the equinox is referred to as prevernal. Classic prevernal flowers are those that bloom before trees and bushes come into leaf and throw shade over the plants. An example is the primrose which we will find blooming in woodlands and under hedges before the leaves break.

The primrose spreads its leaves in a rosette against the ground around the flowers. This allows it to maximise the light that they can absorb while the sun remains relatively low. This gives them a competitive head start, allows the flowers to be fertilised and set seed early in the year before other taller plants shade it out. At this time, its bright yellow flowers are hard to miss and are a welcome source of nectar for any early emerging insects. Later in the year the leaves become pallid and die back.

Another flower providing nectar at this time of year is Coltsfoot. This plant looks like a small dandelion but in contrast to the primrose, it flowers before its leaves appear. Each composite flower is held on a short scaly stem; quite different to the dandelion’s smooth one and similar to sedum flower stems. As the flower’s centre is dense, it also looks like a large all-yellow daisy. It is a creeping perennial weed of rough ground and field edges and as it spreads by rhizomes underground if it gets into your garden, it can become a pest. The leaves emerge after the flowers have died back and are shaped like a heart or horse’s hoof, hence the name. Historically it was used as a remedy for coughs and colds.

​Andrew Graham