The end of March, calm after the storm

The short-lived Storm Katie rushed through on the night of Sunday 27th March 2016, leaving the riverside flooded and one tall Poplar tree flat on the ground. The true river-bed is much wider than the steep-sided meandering channel which people usually see as the river - and traditionally, when heavy rainfall saturates the ground, the narrow river quickly fills with rushing water and overflows its banks, spreading out onto and filling the real river bed, as it should.

The water receded on Monday after rushing over our new planting but no harm was done.

Birds were singing as usual, with chiffchaffs dominating and several song thrushes were heard.

Very loud yaffling came from a green woodpecker on the partially flooded wild field and a buzzard was seen flying low over and amongst the trees, harassed by a crow for a short while - but the crow soon gave up.

The river in flood Monday 28th March 2016 - normally it is a narrow but deep stream.

The following day the water had receded but was still running fast and muddy.  Chaffinches were calling and singing, more numerous than usual, competing with the newcomers, the chiffchaffs,  then loud calls from two buzzards were heard. Looking up they were seen following each other, circling over the river course and the wild field in hazy sunlight. Suddenly a small dark shadow moved low across the grass on the bank and settled on a Lesser Celandine flower. It was a Peacock butterfly, clearly hungry as it stayed for some time nectaring on the flowers, now carpeting the verge - a sign that spring is definitely here.

Monday 28th March 2016, the river fills its natural river bed,

with storm winds blowing against the flow.

The usual river course is in the background to the right.

The First Day of Spring - 20th March

OUR AIM IS TO PROTECT OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE HABITAT IT PROVIDES  FOR WILDLIFE  ALONG THE RIVER

Our meet was on 20th March 2016   'The First Day of Spring'

and the riverside landscape looked like more like the last day of winter with the cold, windy and overcast weather continuing.

The riverside sounds, on the other hand, were definitely springlike, with quite a 'fall' of spring migrant Chiffchaffs now singing their unmistakable song from the trees, in competition with the loud song of resident robins and wrens.

Areas under the trees were populated by numerous blackbirds, a few song thrushes and a mistle thrush foraging as here the ground was still damp although the cold wind was fast drying out the earth in less sheltered places.

Nesting is now well underway along the riverside for some birds with others prospecting for nest sites. 

The scheduled work has been carried out on trees and hedgerows for the summer, and for ever on the remaining development site, we have been assured, leaving birds to nest undisturbed throughout the spring and summer. 

Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation - click here to see The Wildlife Reports for our area. 

A young Hornbeam planted by the group, doing well, keeping its old leaves well into spring

when the new buds will burst into green leaf.

Photo taken on 20th March 2016

The Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) keeps its leaves all year and provides continuous and valuable roosting and nesting shelter for small birds. In the autumn its seeds provide food for birds and

small mammals of the riverside as well. Note that the undergrowth is used all year too, forming part of the riverside wildlife habitat.