Category: Nature Notes

Peregrine Falcon Order

 

 

The Destruction of Peregrine Falcon Order

 

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falcon02In 1940 the Government issued a Destruction of Peregrine Falcon Order because this most successful of predators was taking out the pigeons that were being used by bomber command if the crews had to bail out in order to get a message back with their location. Around 200,000 pigeons were supplied by private breeders as message carriers.but maybe 600 peregrines were killed as a result of the order. In areas like Cornwall and Devon peregrines were almost completely wiped out. By the 1960s pigeon-fanciers in South Wales were complaining that the peregrines were causing major losses but in the investigation that followed it was found that there had been a massive decline in the numbers of this falcon and this was primarily down to the use of DDT. In 1962 they reached a low point with only 350 pairs left in Britain. Our ancestors revered the falcon – the male was known as a Tiercel from the French for 'la tierce' as it is a third smaller than the female. They would have been horrified to hear how we have been persecuting a bird that has been descibed as the Ferrari of the bird world, 'our most splendid bird of prey' and 'of all wild creatures the peregrine is the most truly symbolic of freedom'. Fortunately egg collecting became illegal from the 1960s and persecuting the birds is illegal. That however does not stop it being shot and poisoned as regular reports of killed birds appear in the newspapers. Last year a Peregrine nesting on the roof of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's headquarters building was shot and killed. But they are resilient birds and it is wonderful to be able to publish this photo of a peregrine taken in the parish of Wenvoe in late November.

 

 

 

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The Harlequin Ladybird,

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dec-harlequin-nnNovember in the parish saw an invasion although you might not have noticed it. The Harlequin Ladybird, which only arrived in Britain in 2004, is now well-established over most of Britain, even having been spotted as far north as the Shetlands. Less common in Scotland and North and Mid Wales it is very common in South Wales and during November would have found its way into many buildings if a window was left open. Whilst they are generally harmless to humans they are a major threat to our native species. With huge appetites, once they have run out of aphids to eat they move on to the eggs and larvae of other ladybirds as well as moths and butterflies. In the 1980s it was introduced to North America to help to control aphids on crops but quickly became the dominant species. Its introduction here was probably accidental. It took the Grey Squirrel 100 years to colonise Britain, the Harlequin just 10. Whilst they are bigger than our native ladybirds they come in a huge range of colours and patterns, the one featured in the photo being a common form spotted in both the Village Hall and Community Centre last month. You can help by reporting sightings to the Ladybird Survey – http://www.harlequin-survey.org/ – where you will find a lot more information on what they look like and where they have been seen.

 

 

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Tree Planting

 

Tree Planting in Wales

treescolo02We have been going on about trees in recent issues, firstly how good they are for our physical and mental well-being, but equally, how many are being cut down and how few planted. A few years ago a UK Government think tank set a reasonable target of planting 21,600 hectares across the UK each year. So, how well are they (or we?) doing. In 2013/14 they achieved 59% of their target – not too bad a start. But in 2014/15 only 48% of the target was managed and last year (2015/16) the figure had dropped to 25%. UK tree planting is now at its loweswellingtonia01-1-of-1-2t level for 45 years.

And how are we faring in Wales? With over 8% of the UK's land mass Wales managed 900 hectares in the first year, around 7% of what was planted. By the second year Wales had dropped to 100 hectares, less than 1% of the total and last year it remained at 100 hectares which was actually 1.8% of the total because everywhere else was well down. Put another way Wales's total of 100 hectares last year compares with Scotland's 4,600 hectares of tree planting. Scotland is just under 4 times bigger than Wales but managed 50 times more tree planting. Northern Ireland is two thirds the size of Wales but managed the same level of planting. It can come as little consolation that England proportionately was even worse than Wales and was described as 'appalling' by the conservation director of the Woodland Trust.

Of course virtually anyone can do something about it. You can lobby your elected people-planting-trees-clipart-1representatives, join the Woodland Trust or even go and plant a tree. If you have children or grand-children get them involved in the planting. You do not need acres of garden (which you would for the Wellingtonia in the photo) – there are plenty of small trees that will help both mankind and wildlife.

 

 

Ancient Trees

 

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Possibly the oldest in Wales? Recently we wrote about Citizen Science – how anyone can contribute to what we know about our world by recording what they see. One example is the Ancient Tree Register managed by the Woodland Trust. The Wildlife Group is registered as a recording group so if we come across a tree that is likely to be particularly old we take measurements and send the details off. So far we have recorded 18 trees, many of them in our parish. These would be regarded as 'veterans' – to be 'ancient' a tree has to be at least 400 years old – the likeliest candidate being the yew in St Mary's churchyard facing Old Port Road.oct-tree-near-tretower

However, whilst walking near Tretower recently members of the group came across a massive oak. It measured over 10 metres around the trunk and details were sent off along with photo, grid reference and lists of the mosses and lichens growing on it. The response we received from the Ancient Tree Register was encouraging. "This is a most remarkable ancient oak you have recorded in the Brecon Beacons… What a great find and thanks for adding it to the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree inventory. Although the girth could be exaggerated by the tree's condition, falling open, it still suggests that this is one of the biggest and possibly oldest oaks in Wales"

oakleaves01It was as recent as 2014 that was is considered to be Britain's oldest tree was discovered in a churchyard in Wales, a yew in St Cynogs churchyard at Defynnog near Sennybridge which is thought to be 5,000 years old. The Pontfadog Oak was believed to be Wales's oldest oak at 1,200 years but it fell over in 2013. It will be interesting to see how our oak comes out when investigations and surveys have been completed

 

 

 

September Nature Notes.

Wander into the countryside and you can easily spot birds and wildflowers. Even if you cannot see the birds you can often hear them calling despite being hidden in trees and undergrowth. But how many mammals will you see? Deer are not yet seen around Wenvoe but you might spot the odd fox or badger. Evidence of moles comes with the molehills often visible in early Spring before the vegetation gets too tall. And if you venture out on a warm summer evening you will see bats whether in the centre of the village or out in the countryside. But what about the many small mammals that we know are out there – the voles, mice and shrews? Not only do we not know how they are faring locally but even nationally there is very little information on how well or badly they are doing.

We do know that the UK has lost 500 native species of wildlife in the last 200 years including the extinction of 12% of our land mammals. Hedgehogs are down in the last 40 years from 30 million to 1.5 million. To our children and their grand-children Mrs Tiggy Winkle and Ratty (the water vole in Wind in the Willows) will be as remote as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood (officially Britain's last wolf was killed in 1680). Here is a quote from the Act for Wildlife website:

‘Conservation must start at home in our back gardens, parks, cities and open spaces. The wildlife we have in the UK is fascinating and diverse and it is our heritage and responsibility’.

So what about our small furry friend in the photo? It is a field vole found alive and well on the Upper Orchid Field. They favour tussocky grasslands and orchards. One of the reasons the grass on the Community Orchard has been allowed to become tussocky is to encourage them and we know that they are establishing themselves there although whether there are 2, 10 or 100 we really do not know. Hopefully one day someone with the necessary survey skills will be able to give us a clue.

Citizen Science

Citizen Science is a phrase that we hear more and more often these days. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun and in many ways this is simply a return to times past when there were no field ecologists, Wildlife Trusts or Biodiversity Action Plans and most wildlife observing and recording was done by amateur enthusiasts. So what do we mean by Citizen Science? This is as good a definition as any:

‘The collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public typically as part of a collaborative project with professional science’.

In practice this could mean you wandering out into your garden, seeing a sparrow and reporting it. A popular misconception is that you have to be an expert and only report rare species. But it is the most common ones that are often under-recorded. The South East Wales Biodiversity Recording organisation (SEWBREC) have a species of the month for which they are seeking new records and recently these have included moles, garden spiders and house martins.

And so to the image shown here which is of a small spider perched under a pot on a patio table in Wenvoe. Taking a photo and checking in books or on the Internet indicates that this is the Toad Spider. It is not rare – simply under-recorded as this example turned out to be the first in the Vale of Glamorgan on two different databases.

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Bluebells

It has been a pretty good year for Bluebells and we are well blessed in the parish for the number of woods that are carpeted with them. With over half of the world's population of Bluebells being in the UK it is vital that we look after them but they are under threat from a number of directions. In the past many woods were stripped of bluebells by people selling them on to gardeners although with the current legal penalties on uprooting the bulbs this may have diminished recently. Then there is development either by removing woodland or planting it with conifers as bluebells struggle under the permanent shade of evergreens. However, possibly the major threat is from the Spanish Bluebell which is very commonly planted in Wenvoe.

The two species, ours and the Spanish hybridise easily and the resulting plant is no longer our native bluebell. The two do not have to be growing close together – all it needs is a pollinating insect to fly from one to the other for hybridisation to occur. As we are surrounded by woods with bluebells all of these are at risk from the Iberian interlopers which are well within a short bee flight. So how do you tell them apart?

The native Bluebell is curved at the top and the flowers tend to grow on one side of the stem. The Spanish Bluebell is bigger and more vigorous (which is why gardeners like them) and the flowers grow on all sides of the upright stem. Our native species has a distinct, sweetish scent; the Spanish virtually no smell and the leaves are much broader. The native Bluebell tends to be a much deeper blue colour. Is it an issue?

A survey by Plantlife found that one in six woods in Britain now contains hybrid plants. What can you do to help matters? If you have Spanish Bluebells the only thing you can do is to get rid of them and that does not mean driving out and throwing them out of the car window. That is precisely how so many clumps are appearing by the roadside. They can go out with the green waste collected by the Council as the heat in the composting process effectively kills the bulb and seed. And why not plant the native bluebell? They can be readily obtained online from reputable suppliers and can be bought as bulbs from Garden Centres.

The Wildlife Group has planted quite a few in the orchards that have been bought locally and experience has been that it is better to plant bulbs in late Summer and Autumn than potgrown plants in the Spring as the latter seem to be particularly favoured by small mammals who love to dig them up.  

The Marble Gall

Quite common on Oak Trees in and around Wenvoe is the gall shown in the photo known as the Marble Gall. It can be found on the Community Orchard, the Welsh Orchard and the Upper Orchid Field.

It is often confused with the Oak Apple but these are uncommon in this part of the world. The marble gall is caused by an insect which lays an egg on the Oak and the ‘marble’ which soon grows provides a living space for the young larva. Most of the galls at this time of year will have a small, neat hole in the side through which the young insect has escaped.

Galls have a surprisingly important role to play in our written records as they were used to make the ink which most of our important documents were written in for over 1,000 years. From the 5th century through to the 19th and even into the 20th century, tannin was extracted from galls and mixed with other chemicals to produce the ink used in key documents such as the Magna Carta and American Declaration of Independence. Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Victor Hugo also used it.

The charter on the left-hand wall as you enter the Bear Hotel in Cowbridge would probably have used Gall Ink. Articles on Gall Ink often feature the Marble Gall but therein lies a problem as that gall was only introduced to Britain in the 18th century and it needs the presence of another type of oak, the Turkey Oak, which is not native and has only been around for last 200-300 years to complete its life cycle.

It would be interesting to know if before the 1700s British Gall Ink used other types of galls or whether European Galls were imported and used to make the ink. If you think you know, why not drop a line to Whats On.

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