Andrew Graham is leading a walk through Bentley Wood, West Dean with a focus on butterflies. Meet at the Nadder Centre car park for a 9:30am departure or at Bentley Wood Eastern Car Park, West Dean, for a 10:30 am start. (GR SU 258 291. What3Words: filled.village.screeches) There is no limit on this field trip, but if you could let us know beforehand it helps with organising car shares and knowing if you plan to meet us at West Dean. Bentley Wood is a 1,700 acre (688 ha.) nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest, roughly 7 miles east of Salisbury, that has been worked for at least 2,000 years (and is still commercially managed today, though with a view to conservation). If you want to read more about the wood ahead of the visit, go to this blog on the Hidden Wiltshire website: https://www.hiddenwiltshire.com/post/bentley-wood Path west through Bentley Wood (c) Brian Robert Marshall, Wikicommons
We've heard recently that some of the messages sent through the Contact form haven't been received at the website admin account. I'm sorry about that and I'll be rebuilding the page this week. Once we're confident that the new form is working properly, I'll put another note on the Blog to say it's all sorted.
Julia Shaun Leonard, Director of The Wild Trout Trust came to talk to us last month. The subject of rivers and water quality has risen towards the top of society’s interest recently and that was borne out in the good turn out for this excellent speaker.
Shaun started by outlining the organisation whose aim is ‘helping and inspiring everyone to protect wild Trout and their habitat.’ The Trust partners many other likeminded organisations to pack a bigger punch for conservation, with a nationwide team of conservation officers. He then outlined the various problems that rivers are facing ~ Quality: namely pollution from sewage spills and from farming especially. Quantity: water extraction, especially in the South East of England and abuse, such as canalisation, obstructions, straightening, and dredging where the river is separated from its flood plain. Shaun then went on to present some interesting, thought-provoking interesting facts on trout especially on trout parasites. For example, on dissecting one he found the entire digestive system filled with worms. Another had choked on another fish whilst trying to eat another trout nearly as big as itself! Apparently eating other Trout is normal behaviour and trout fry can form a major proportion of their diet. Shaun finished his talk by showing us some practical projects The Trust have been involved with, from Scotland to Somerset. Locally this is the construction of a bypass channel to Daslett hatches at Sutton Mandeville, working with Nick Lawrence and David Holroyd, and habitat improvement on the Nadder. Trout fishing has progressed from manicured banks and stocking with large Rainbow Trout towards a completely different way of thinking where improving habitat to aid the recovery of wild Brown Trout in a wilder more natural environment. The Trust works with volunteers in practical demonstrations and fun days out as well as helping in restoration projects to remove weirs and reducing bunds for example. Shaun took questions throughout his excellent presentation and again at the end, covering subjects of close interest to the audience, so we all came away wiser and more informed. Peter Shallcross The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme has recently released its report for the 2023 season and it was a mixed bag. The results provide a picture based on recording at more than 3000 sites nationwide. Some species had very good years while others had a particularly bad year. In some cases, it was easy to put the poor showing down to the impact of the summer drought of ’22. Those butterflies associated with damp conditions, such as the Green Veined White and the Ringlet, did particularly badly last summer. Their larvae probably found it difficult to find sufficient plant material on which to feed in the parched landscape. Particularly disappointing is the continued decline of the Small Tortoiseshell, a lovely looking insect, familiar to most but becoming increasingly uncommon. As it is faring better in the moister north and west of the country, this decline could be a result of climate change. That impact may be expressed on the insect itself or it may be that the parasites that attack it are favoured by the changing climate.
One species which did well in ’23 was the Holly Blue. On my transect outside Tisbury, I recorded more than twice as many in ’23 than in any of the previous 8 years. I only saw one there in ’22. It is another butterfly that is regularly affected by parasites, and this leads to a boom-and-bust cycle every 4-6 years. The caterpillars may be attacked by two species of parasitic wasp, which lay their eggs into the larva’s body where they hatch and feed. When the wasps are rare, the population of Holly Blues is able to increase but soon, with increased numbers of caterpillars to prey on, the population of the parasitic wasps grows. Eventually, the parasitic wasps become so abundant that they cause the population of the host butterfly to plummet. That then causes the wasp populations to crash for lack of larvae and the cycle begins again. Now is the time to look out for Holly Blues in sheltered sunny gardens, hedgerows and woodland glades. They will often be seen flying amongst the tops of bushes and hedgerows, often where there is holly or ivy present. Although by no means a certain guide, if you see a small blue butterfly skipping around at height, amongst bushes and trees, it will be a Holly Blue; other blues are more likely to be seen close to the ground. In spring, eggs are often laid on holly flower buds. These give rise to a second brood flying later in the summer and, by contrast, the females of this brood generally lay their eggs on the flower buds of ivy. A Holly Blue flitting around the garden is a sure sign of spring and it will be interesting to see if the numbers of last year are exceeded or whether this season brings a crash. Andrew Graham For those of you have registered for the guided bird walk on Mon 6 May please note that the postcode is SP3 6NA if you are driving straight there for 5:30pm start, otherwise meet at the Nadder Centre for 5:15pm departure with car share. Follow the signs for the farm and park at the farm buildings. There is a limited number on this trip, so if you'd like to join it, please email us first, via the contact page.
This Saturday CPRE are celebrating Earth Day with three interesting talks in the beautiful surroundings of Langford Lakes. Earth Day talks
Lynn Trigwell Lynn is a Landscape Architect who has worked in both the private and public sectors. Since 2018 she’s been Head of Climate and Environment for Wiltshire Council. She oversees a wide range to services delivered by the Council in partnership with local communities and local interest groups, landowners and managers, statutory bodies and 3rd sector organisations such as Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and the RSPB. These areas include Archaeology, Landscape, Urban Design and Ecology and in February this year Climate was added. Lynn will be speaking about some of the activities that her teams are working on and share some of the exciting new pilot work they are supporting on the council’s own landholdings. Balancing the challenges and opportunities for our natural environment in Wiltshire. Alex Atkinson Alex oversees the management the Wiltshire Wildlife Trusts 20 southern reserves, including lowland bog, ancient woodland and everything on the successional scale between the two. Restoring natural processes - practical examples for a managed landscape. Peter Thompson Peter Thompson originally trained as an agronomist, advising farmers for 10 years. He then went on to work for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, as their Farmland Ecology adviser, giving guidance to land managers across UK farms. He covers a wide range topics on countryside issues in the talks he gives and leads many training events related to the management of habitats and the wildlife that lives there. He ran the pilot scheme looking into the potential of “Farmer Clusters” for Natural England – which of course has now been widely adopted across the UK. Now “retired”, amongst many other activities, Peter is Chair of the Salisbury & District Natural History Society. The countryside’s future – my shot at seeing the wood through the trees For the last in our winter series of indoor meetings, in the Victoria Hall, Tisbury High Street, at 7:30pm on Thursday 11 April, what more appropriate topic – after such a wet winter - than that of Wild Fish, and the work of the Wild Trout Trust? The Wild Trout Trust provides expert advice and practical project delivery across the UK and Ireland, as well as working to inspire others and give them advice and practical skills, to improve and maintain lakes and rivers for the benefit of trout and all wildlife. We shall hear from Shaun Lennard, an unashamed ‘fish bloke’ whose childhood was spent in and on the Indian Ocean and in the trout streams of southern Ireland. Shaun’s whole professional life, after degrees in marine biology and pollution, has been spent in fishery management; he was Head of Fishery Studies at Sparsholt College near Winchester until 2009. Since then, he has been Director of the Wild Trout Trust. The threat to wildlife from pollution of the River Nadder is not a new topic for the Society. We’ve heard previously from David Holroyd, one of our members, and last year we heard from the Director of the Wessex Rivers Trust. The issue matters particularly here in Wiltshire and Hampshire where most of the planet's chalk streams are located; the reason the River Nadder as a tributary of the Hampshire Avon is a 'Special Area for Conservation'. Shaun is the ideal person to tell us more on these things, about the continuing pressure on our rivers more widely, whether from sewage treatment, from farms or other sources, the potential role of the government’s recent initiative to create Local Nature Recovery Strategies and a host of other topics. As with all our events, this meeting is free if you’re a member of the Society or under 21, and you’ll be very welcome to come as a guest visitor for the payment of £2. Dick Budden I love to hear skylarks singing on sunny days above the downs and the fields around Tisbury. It must be one of our most well-known birds, as there must be few who do not recognise its song, delivered from high in the sky. An inspiration to artists, poets and composers, the skylark is often easier to hear than see, and when on the ground, its drab inconspicuous plumage can make it difficult to spot. It may only be up close that you can spot its distinctive crest, which clearly separates it from the somewhat similar, but less stocky, meadow pipit, which has a far less exuberant song.
Although there is a good handful of lark species to be found on the continent, there is just one other that you might see in the UK, the rarer woodlark. This is a bird of the heaths, so the best place to look for them near here would be in the New Forest. Slightly smaller than the skylark, with a short tail that makes it look a bit like a bat when in flight, the woodlark shares the same brown streaky plumage as the skylark. The plumage of larks and pipits provides effective camouflage for the birds when feeding and nesting on the ground. This is a common adaptation for ground nesting birds and serves well to protect them from conventional predators. Unfortunately, it does little to protect them from challenges brought by the loss of stubbles, and other changes to agricultural practices. Numbers have dropped by 15% over the last 30 years and the bird is now Red Listed in the UK. Ground nesting birds are particularly vulnerable to straying dogs. This is one of the reasons why the Countryside Code makes it a legal requirement to have your dog on a lead on open access land between 1 March and 31 July, and under effective control for the rest of the year. Responsible pet owners will help our endangered birds to have a successful breeding season. Andrew Graham Unfortunately, due to the stormy weather we need to cancel this event. We shall let you know if we are able to put it on at another time.
Peter Shallcross' page is now on the website, with handy tips of places where you might find certain butterflies and helpful information about their habitats and seasonal appearance. Go to the Butterflies section under the Resources menu, within Local Wildlife.
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Photo: Avocets (Izzy Fry)
The headers display photos taken by our members. Do get in touch via the Contact Form if you'd like to submit a photo for selection.
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