Whistley Wood: native woodland bouncing back

A short stop off at Whistley Wood near Brackley, Northamptonshire, on my way back to Banbury.  In recent years enlightened management by the Forestry Commission, who manage the wood, has enabled large areas of former conifer plantation restored to native woodland.  The woodland rides are also well managed by regular mowing and support a good variety of plants, they in turn attracting many butterflies.  It easy an easy place to visit with good roadside parking off the B4525 and a network of woodland rides to explore.

The sun is shining and it is a warm afternoon - should be good for butterflies.  And it is, but no hoped-for white admirals, their flight period may be over at this site or the population is low this year.  I saw several here in July 2006, then just a few days later, saw one fly through the garden in Upper Wardington.  These are my only white admiral sightings in our area to date.

great willowherb - profusion along the rides

a few white-flowered great willow herb are mixed in with the pink

rosebay willowherb

large skipper - king of a "rosebay willowherb castle"

brimstone butterflies gathered around a clump of betony flowers

cobnuts forming on hazel coppice

tufted vetch

A roadside "woodland for sale" sign prompts me to investigate.  Turns out 14.4 acres are for sale at £98,000.  This woodland is immediately adjacent to Whistley Wood and part of the larger ancient Shortgrove Wood.

white admiral at Whistley Woods, 15 July 2006

Cambridgeshire: Ouse Fen wetland taking shape

An early morning excursion into the fens just north of Cambridge to see how RSPB's Ouse Fen project is going.   Most of the project area is an active sand and gravel quarry operated by Hanson. Some parts of the quarry are now fully restored, full of exciting wildlife, and accessible to the public. It is still early days, but the potential of this site is enormous.

Walking in along a track from the village of Over, I pass cereal fields then spot cattle grazing the banks that surround the new wetlands.  Soon I'm looking across a landscape of pools, reed beds and grassy hillocks.  Common terns are hawking over the pools looking for insect prey as well as small fish.

Green woodpeckers are also much in evidence, the new grasslands no doubt creating good habitat for ants, their favoured food.  I follow a trail that winds through the reed beds before leading out to a viewpoint. Soon I'm hearing the pinging call of bearded tits from several spots and I catch some fleeting glimpses.  A bittern flights across on heavy wings, back and forth to a favoured patch of reeds.

 A male marsh harrier hunts quite close to the path then, with prey in talons, drops down into the reeds, presumably to feed chicks.

Reed buntings are busy gathering food so I stop only briefly to capture a portrait of the female with a beakful of spiders.  Perched attractively on dying flower stems of hogweed, this scene is a reminder that the summer is progressing

Twenty years ago I lived in Cambridgeshire and it is fantastic to see how much more habitat has been created for wildlife in the fens since then.  Really big projects like this one at Ouse Fen, as well as those at Wicken Fen (National Trust), The Great Fen (Wildlife Trusts) and Lakenheath Fen (RSPB) are transforming the county into one of our very best for wetland nature with charismatic species like the bittern, crane and bearded tit.

Oxfordshire: adder free zone

Last night's evening talk at the Banbury Ornithological Society was all about our local amphibians, presented by Rod D'Ayala, one of our local "Herp" experts and enthusiasts, and co-ordinator of Ox-ARG.  Oxfordshire still has good populations of our commoner amphibians and reptiles. The great-crested newt, a protected species, is actually quite widespread and doing well (though I have to admit I have not yet seen one locally myself.....but will now start looking!).

Sadly though the adder looks likely to have died out in Oxfordshire in very recent times. Rod does not know of any recent authentic records.  Historical records are mostly from the south of the county, where there is more extensive heathland and woodland.  So if you see a snake in the Banbury area you can be pretty sure it is a grass snake.  That is a real shame but a situation unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.  If you want to see an adder best to try Cannock Chase, Wyre Forest or Forest of Dean.  If you haven't ever seen one do try, they are exciting to observe and very attractive.

Glyme Valley SSSI: meadow clary

Sunday 13 July
An afternoon walk around the public footpaths that wind through the upper reaches of the Glyme Valley, including a long and narrow SSSI most notable for one of the largest patches of the rare meadow clary in the UK.  There is plenty more to see on a sunny summer's day, and though I am quite close to Chipping Norton, there is nobody else around.

the meadow clary meadow

meadow clary

The largest clary clumps are protected by squares of sheep netting; they look healthy and it is good to see plenty more smaller plants established in the field.

The meadows are very attractive with bright patches of ladies bedstraw dotted with tall meadow scabious and, in places, the more delicate small scabious.

meadow scabious

Butterflies are pretty common too and many are looking more worn and faded, especially the marbled whites.  One field is also a wildlife trust nature reserve.
Birds included red kite and buzzard, marsh tit and yellowhammer.  Plus a pair of ornamental black swans one of the small lakes.
Many of the flowers in these meadows survive in roadside verges across the area, especially meadow scabious and meadow crane's-bill.  Those species seem to be able to compete with the more vigorous grasses.  These meadows show us where those roadside specimens originated - from flower rich meadows long since lost to arable and improved grassland.

lady's bedstraw

A beautiful insect with long antennae attracts my attention, there are quite a few of them on the scabious flowers

Now I have time to do a bit of research I think the "beautiful insect" above is a longhorn moth  Nemomorpha metallica.
These moths can occur in quite large numbers, fly during the day in June/July and are associated with field scabious.

dwarf or stemless thistle

greater knapweed

restharrow

A great display of field bindweed brightens a grassy bank next to some farm barns.  Easy to forget what a beautiful flower this is.

field bindweed

bee orchid starting to set seed