The End of British Summertime

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

To find Nature Notes and Records for Wildlife - click on :

HILLS FARM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Autumn has today (9th November 2018) entered its traditional blustery phase but it remains mild. The days so far have been spectacular with outstanding autumn colours along the Riverside brightening the landscape on the few cloudy days, and remaining brilliant in the lowering sunshine. Our October Meet was on 28th October - British Summertime had ended but most leaves remained on the trees, only the Ash trees were nearly bare, as the weather had been quite calm. The day was overcast with rain. This should have had everyone cheering - as much rain is needed to replenish supplies over the whole of the river catchment area after the hot, dry summer.

A look at the carpet of fallen leaves gives a good indication of the diversity of plants growing in the area. The large leaf here is from a young Hazel tree (9.11.18).

A Fresh Start to Autumn

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

To find Nature Notes and Records for Wildlife - click on

Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation

It was a cool start to the day of our our Meet on 30th September 2018 - Autumn weather at last. However it soon turned hot in the sun;  it was back to summer for a while. Fortunately the riverside plants and grasses had made a quick recovery from the long hot summer after rainfall the previous weekend. Nuthatches were calling loudly with robins singing and many other small birds actively foraging amongst the thickets surrounded by Rose hips, Spindle, Guelder Rose and Hawthorn berries. See the record for 25th September 2018 (click the above link).  

Guelder Rose berries and a blue sky

There was plenty to do on our meet as the previous meet had been more than five weeks ago but a very good turnout of people made short work of it, with a passer-by lending a helping hand.

Humid and Overcast - August on the river

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

To find Nature Notes and records of Wildlife here, click on

HILLS FARM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

19th August - our Meet was earlier than usual due to the Late Summer Bank Holiday the following weekend but summer holidays depleted our numbers nevertheless. Fortunately the task was not overwhelming today. It was good to see that both planted and self- sown fruiting plants had survived the unusual heat and lack of rain.

Surrounded by the cool damp shade of wild riverbank plants,

these apples did well.

Windfall fruits were quickly snapped up or pecked into by small mammals and many species of birds. It was a challenge to find a fruit which had been sampled by a bird or a mammal by the teeth marks or beak marks in the fruit. The largest mammal sampling the fruits was easy - humans!  but were the tiny scrapes on the skin made by a field mouse or bank vole - or maybe a small bird? Some were easy as birds had chosen a certain sheltered tree where they remained all day, for many days, foraging on its fruits. These were blackbirds and song thrushes with blue tits joining in. Most were reluctant to fly away when spotted.

Welcome Rain

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

To find Nature Notes and records for wildlife - click on

Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation

Our scheduled Meet was on 29th July 2018 and the weather forecast was right - rain all day - rain at long last. Would this mean an end to worrying about fruit trees and riverside berries and nuts surviving into the autumn and winter to provide food for wildlife? After a few more odd days of rain - this now seems likely, grass has quickly turned green again, new shoots are rapidly appearing on riverbank vegetation and berries are ripening.

Raindrops on Guelder Rose berries just ripening.  30th July 2018

Our Meet on 29th July was partially postponed, with an increasingly large haul of items left in the river and retrieved the following Sunday, 5th August,  including a bicycle, supermarket trolley and three traffic cones. The weather was dry and hot again by then with blackcaps  and a garden warbler singing.  Meanwhile on 29th two intrepid group members braved the rain and collected two bags of rubbish along the paths.

Skippers on Guard

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

To find Nature Notes and records for wildlife here, click on

Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation

Our Meet this month was on 24th June 2018 - another very warm and dry day. A Mallard family with  about eight ducklings was spotted on the river, heading downstream in the dappled shade and there were many butterflies in the long grass and on the river banks. The majority were Meadow Brown butterflies but there were several Large Skippers on the warm dry embankments and Ringlets ranging along the damper margins. Bright Comma butterflies were seen flying as well.

Here is a Large Skipper (Ochlodes venata) on bank side vegetation.

Always very alert, they will often chase other butterflies away from their patch.

In addition to our usual meet, some members of the group went out on a sortie on the evening of 7th June when they found a sewing machine amongst the usual litter.

The mist clears and damselflies emerge from the river

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

To find Nature Notes and records for wildlife here, click on:

Hills Farm Wildlife Conservation

Our meet was early this month, on 20th May 2018, a fine day after early mist, later becoming partially cloudy. Good numbers of Banded Demoiselle damselflies , males and females were seen, together with some Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies and a few Large Red damselflies along the river. Speckled Wood and Orange-tip butterflies were ranging along the banks as well. A buzzard was gliding round on the thermals above the river and below,  blackbirds, a song thrush,  and common whitethroats were singing strongly. 

A male Banded Demoiselle damselfly perching on a riverbank grass.

Note the black 'band' on the wings. When open the wings appear to have a black 'thumbprint' on the metallic blue wings.

Oak before Ash this April

Our April meet was on 29th, a typically cool day, very damp and overcast as most of the previous week, but trees had suddenly come into leaf. It was clear that this year would be an 'Oak before Ash' year but it remains to be seen if the rhyme will be true and that summer rainfall will be light. There was to be 10mm of rain overnight however.   

At last the river was low enough for some members of the group to pull the deflated inflatable boat out to the collecting point. It had been washed downstream from an unknown location and had been embedded in the river for a long while, mostly invisible. There's more to be done next time, the river level allowing.

It was good to see that all the fruit trees were in blossom now:

Each tree is a different variety and blossoms at a slightly different time.