WILDLIFE IN AND AROUND THE GARDEN



JANUARY 2024

Warning: this report is almost exclusively about birds so if they are not your thing, you may wish to look away.

The end of the year is a traditional time to look back at the last 12 months. This is already pretty much done. See my AGM report on the G+F website.

So what has happened since then?

Not many wildlife incidents to report at G+F per se but East Horsley has been a-twitch with birders over the last 3-4 days. I was first alerted to the commotion by John Whitlock, our esteemed head gardener who shares my enthusiasm for all things feathered.

Why the Fuss?

Waxwings! A flock of 7-8 has arrived to feed on the heavy crop of berries on an ornamental rowan tree opposite the Medical Centre. Beautiful and remarkable! These are starling-sized Scandinavian birds with only around a 100 visiting the UK in most winters, making them a rare sight for most casual birdwatchers. But every 10-15 years, large numbers arrive in so-called irruptions, possibly due to adverse weather or lack of berries in Scandinavia. 2023 is one such year resulting in lots of sightings around the UK.

Here are some reports from Surrey and Sussex (courtesy of Google Image search).





















In just half an hour looking at our Medical Centre visitors, I learned three additional facts. (1) They behave like flycatchers, shooting out from tree tops in a strange dance, momentarily hovering to gobble small flies and then return to their perch. (2) They have a soft high-pitched trilling call. (3) I should have taken my camera. Subsequent visits with the camera were an unsuccessful washout.

So be on the lookout in your local parks, streets and anywhere with berry trees such as hawthorn, holly, and rowans.

You may also spot these.

















These were taken in my front garden but I have seen similar at G+F. A small thrush with an orange patch under the wing. Redwing. They too are winter visitors from Scandinavia and northern Europe. Our visitors work methodically through the berries on our holly tree from top to bottom. They are a most welcome winter treat.

What Apps on My Phone?
































All these free apps will fit in your smart phone and should add to your enjoyment of wildlife when out and about. I use them all and find them authoritative, easy to navigate, but not overly complicated or too detailed. You can always try them out and then delete if they are not for you.

British Trees: The Woodland Trust’s Identification app. Can you identify most of the 35 or so common native British Trees? How many types of oaks are thereI. If you are like me, distinguishing the more anonymous ones can be a challenge. This app has no gimmicks, just enough information and photos to ensure you can identify your old favourites and more.

iRecord Butterflies I have a blindspot when it comes to identifying butterflies. This basic app has helped a lot. I don’t use the location recording function but it does work contrary to one of the reviews in the App

store! eGuide to British Birds: (mydigitalearth.com app) This is a cut down e version of the RSPB handbook of BBs by Holden and Cleeves. Like the Woodland Trust’s guide it covers everything a non-specialist would like to know about the topic. It does include quality sound recordings but does not have the ability to identify bird calls (see next app).

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab. Being able to pick up on birds’ song and calls is really helpful in the field but it takes practice. Some birds make lots of different sounds! Text descriptions and pre-recorded snips are all well and good but this app does more. Point your microphone in the direction of a calling bird and it can identify around 1200 species by sound, including British ones. It identified a tawny owl in my back garden in around 15 seconds! Not bad.

BirdCall Xeno If you really want to be a bird call nerd, try this app. It is the app version of the massive online international resource Xeno Canto which is effectively the Wikipedia of bird song, contributed to by members of the public. An amazing resource which has more recently added Orthoptera (grasshoppers etc) and is now adding bat calls!

X (formerly Twitter) There are many aspects of X that I don’t like but it is a good way of getting newsflashes about local bird sightings (like waxwings!) as well as snippets from regional and national wildlife organisations. There is a danger though that it may turn you into a twitcher. Please let me know if you have your own favourites.

“….I Know A Hawk from a Handsaw.”

Like Hamlet most of you will agree that this infrequent visitor to our garden is nothing like a handsaw. A female sparrowhawk, one our sneakiest birds of prey, apt to fly rapidly parallel to a hedge and then swap sides, swooping down on unsuspecting small to medium birds. Blink and you will miss it. Apologies for the photo (courtesy of Pat Robbins) but they don’t stop long!



















Keep looking up and down

Gerry
































































































































Enjoy!

Gerry Robbins






February 2023



























Enjoy!

Gerry Robbins
July 2022



Wildlife Report July 2022

Anyone interested in gardening or wildlife will be well aware of the recent lack of rain. National statistics show rainfall in the South East in June was only 60% of the long term average. Lawns are turning brown, soil is dry and dusty so it is all to easy to worry about the impact on wildlife, not to mention our vegetable cultivation. In reality most plants and wildlife adapt well and will “bounce back” following a good spell of rain.

Hedging

In spite of the above the northern boundary hedge is looking lush…..due to impressive weed growth! Most of these have been removed by hand. The newer, eastern boundary infill hedging has lost around 5% of the initial planting. These will be replaced over the coming winter season. The rest of the hedging looks very healthy following a couple of good soaks with a hose, it being its first year.

The Pond



















Not much new to report here. The water level has dropped significantly during the dry spring. This has been addressed by repeated, small top-ups with mains water. This approach allows chlorine to gas off and maintain normal pond water chemistry.

Blue and red dragonflies and broad bodied chasers have been in evidence. The chasers are quite large, stubby dragonflies that, as their name implies, can be easily spotted coursing around the pond perimeter looking for trouble!

Nest Boxes

Following the previously reported survey in mid April, the boxes were resurveyed on 19th May and 26th June. As in recent years only blue tits, great tits and stock doves have nested successfully. We have plenty of other birds on site, including robins and wrens, but they seem to prefer natural nesting! Here are the headlines from the census. Twenty two boxes are currently in place. Of these,11 were occupied by nesting birds. This is a similar proportion to last year.





























At least 22 blue tits (possibly 30) and 16 great tits fledged. Great tits are down on last year (when we had 26 fledglings). The two photos show the difference between blue tit and great tit chicks in the nest. I’ll leave you to work out which is which!

Here is a photo of one of our cute stock dove squabs. Stock doves usually lay two eggs which are incubated for 16-18 days. The young take around 20-30 days to fly. There may be second or third broods.

This year one box was used by wasps, producing a beautiful egg-shaped nest made of delicate parchment-like chewed wood fibre. (see photo). Apparently nest boxes are commonly used for wasps’ nests, something I need to consider carefully when checking our boxes!





Kestrel Excitement

A pair of kestrels have been frequenting the garden this spring, raising the exciting prospect that they might use our nest box. On inspection it has been almost filled with oak leaves between mid May and June. But I think this is the work of a grey squirrel rather than a kestrel! The box may need to be placed higher in a tree to attract a kestrel or owl. Something to consider this winter. In the meantime we can enjoy the elegant aerial acrobatics of these very attractive falcons.









Other Sightings























We seem to have more than our fair share of toads this year. These are usually discovered whilst working in the vegetable beds, moving sheets, stones and other items. They are obligingly sedentary and so easy to photograph in close up. We always replace them carefully as close as possible to where they are found.

This mouse sadly ran across mypath just as I was chopping weeds with a sharp spade. A brief squeak was followed by death even though I could not see any external injury. RIP






Insects of Note

This impressive mosquito-like fly was found perched on one of our nest boxes. It measures around 15mm in length. Does anyone know what it is?






















This next insect strikes fear into the heart of any gardener with box plants.





















This Asian box moth has caterpillars that hide in box plants and slowly munch their way through the leaves leaving a denuded plant. This moth was found in our lounge! I am not aware that they eat vegetables or flowers so Grace & Flavour should be spared, but I thought it too good a photo not to show you.

I will leave you with two other photos. First the newly planted lavender corner next to the pond notice board. It features Hidcote lavender, and a single Buddleja “Lochinch” raised from a cutting. Second, a small tortoiseshell butterfly on one of Helena’s beautiful astrantias.





















Enjoy!

Gerry Robbins
July 2022


April 2022

A recent warm spell with clear blue skies has ushered in a fine spring and raised our spirits. It has been great to hear the cacophony better known as the dawn chorus even though it has stopped some from getting back to sleep in the early hours. From a wildlife perspective this has been a fairly uneventful season with one worrying exception. Read on to find out.






































Hedging

First a quick update on our two newish sections of hedging. The northern boundary hedge has come through its winter ordeal by horse bites with flying colours. It is showing good new season growth. We will shortly be removing the protective netting as it is required elsewhere in the garden. We will be monitoring very carefully in case our neighbours put livestock back in the adjacent paddock and they take a fancy to the hedge again.

The east wall infill hedging did get rather battered sideways by Storm Eunice in February but no serious damage was incurred. This shows the advantages of planting whips as opposed to larger maiden trees and the importance of good quality stakes. The damage was quickly rectified by straightening and heeling in. Its great to see the new season’s growth already appearing on most of the plants. We may need to water the hedging given the current dry and warm conditions.

The Pond

Many thanks to Ashley Brown for helping me clear a great deal of excessive plant material (mainly Iris pseudacora) from the the pond. It is now easier to see the smooth newts frolicking in the spring sun! We have also removed most of last season’s excess / dead growth from the surrounding bed.

The corner by the notice board has been cleared and replanted with a single Buddleja Lochinch and edged with lavenders chosen and planted by Tom Suffolk. This should make a nice nectar corner, close to the pond, for bees and butterflies during high summer.

Marsh marigold (Kingcup) is a very reliable early spring marginal native with bright yellow flowers that amplify any sunshine available.









Nest Boxes

The annual clean up, repair and replenishment of boxes was carried out in February. No unusual winter lodgers were found. The large dove box formerly on the ash tree by the pond was moved to a large lime at the north west corner of the plot just in case the NT decide to remove the ash tree because of ash dieback. Similarly two tit boxes, removed from the large old silver birch in the allotment area, were redeployed to the limes outside the west wall. This is because the birch may need to be removed for safety reasons and nesting would force the work to be delayed. An additional robin box has been placed in a very secluded spot to see if we can have more luck than in previous years. In total we now have 24 boxes in situ.





















A nest box survey was carried out on 17th April which showed only one tit box with one solitary egg, one with a great tit sitting on the nest and one dove box with two fairly mature stock dove squabs. (I was unable to get a good photo of these). An additional 11 boxes showed evidence of nest building. These figures contrast sharply with the same time last year when we had 2 blue tit nest with eggs and 2 with a brooding adult, 2 great tit nests with eggs and 1 with a brooding adult. Let’s hope that the difference is just down to a “late” spring this year and we will see catchup over the next month. Several of the boxes in the general allotment area were found to have their catches undone, even though they had been left closed after their previous inspection by me. This is a worrying finding which we will be investigating further. In late March one of our sharp-eyed members spotted a large bird going into one of the large boxes in the lime tree. Was it an owl? With some excitement, I placed a wildlife camera close to the box. It recorded a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. A typical shot is shown below.



Not a bad image of one of our stock doves! It shows the lovely iridescent nape feathers and blush in the throat. At night it also caught a large slug happily inching along a branch some 15 ft off the ground. What they find up there is anyone’s guess!

I mention this incident to remind me to encourage everyone to report any wildlife “spots” or events. You never know what you are going to find, but it is usually interesting.

A Pheasant Meal?

While carrying out the above survey we came across this collection of beautiful pheasant feathers. No carcass was found. My guess is it may be the remains of a cat or a fox’s supper as it would be too large for local birds of prey to carry off to a perch or nest.

Its Not a Trap!

After further investigation and for a number of different practical concerns, we have decided against placing moth traps in the garden.

Time to Move

Now the risk of heavy frosts is past it is time to move our painted frog mascot from his winter quarter in the potting shed, back out to his summer residence by the pond. He should enjoy the change of scenery in spite of the vastly improved appearance of the potting shed following the massive clean up a month ago!



Dawn Chorus and Bioblitz Event 14th May

At least once a year in spring or early summer I rather masochistically arise at around 430am and head off to Grace and Flavour or some patch of local woodland to be aurally saturated by the dawn chorus. It should be on everyone’s bucket list. This year Surrey Wildlife Trust and West Horsley Place are hosting a special dawn chorus at 5am on Saturday 14th May, followed from 10am onwards by a 24hr Bioblitz event at which Grace and Flavour will have a presence. Booking is required. Please see https://mailchi.mp/149230b22e20/lunch-dec-5828733 for further details.


Keep looking up.

Gerry Robbins
April 2022



January 2022













































Wildlife Spots

The main spectacle has been the recent breathtaking aerial displays by red kites, up to four at a time, close to the north wall. We have been afforded some excellent views of their aerobatic skill and wonderful plumage colours particularly apparent when the afternoon sun is low in the sky and illuminates the underside. It makes a welcome change from the usual dark silhouettes. John F has been trying to photograph them but without luck so far. Watch this space.

Its a Trap!

Later this year we would like to set up a moth trap to survey what types of moths are present locally. If anyone has a trap (for moth appreciation not killing!) or knows anyone who has one, please let me know.

Birdsong It may be wishful thinking on my part but, even through the current relatively cold snap, there seem to have been more birdsong than expected at this time of year. Could they be thinking of establishing territories for breeding already?! I better get on and clean out all those nest boxes. More photo's have been added to the wildlife gallery (click the Wildlife button) if you would like to take a look here.

Click Here to read more about wildlife in the garden.

Click Here to read previous wildlife updates from the garden.


Enjoy the wildlife the rest of the summer has to offer, no matter how wet.

Gerry Robbins
January 2022


Wildlife Report October 2021










































































































































































More photo's have been added to the wildlife gallery (click the Wildlife button) if you would like to take a look here.

Enjoy the wildlife the rest of the summer has to offer, no matter how wet.

Gerry Robbins October 2021