AWAKE

NatureWatch Review

January 2017 - Waxwings

The Waxwings are back in Hull. There was a photo in the paper of one in Hessle a few days ago, and Mark heard an unusual noise late yesterday morning and came to look out of the front bedroom window on to Kingston Road. There were 25 on the nearest tree and gradually this increased to around 50 as groups left the tree, flew around and came back. They were obviously looking for berries but did not come down as the blackbirds (the ‘continental’ ones who have migrated into this area for winter, all with very dark instead of (British males) yellow beaks, have stripped all the top layers of our bushes and there are none on the neighbour’s bush either now. The waxwings came a month earlier last time but surely they couldn’t have remembered our garden, could they? Or the minibus, by which some people locate us? Unfortunately the light was totally against us and I only have pictures of dark silhouettes in the tree. The most I can see is that a couple of these have the yellow end to their tail and some had the suggestion of a crest on their head. Mark walked around back and forth past and under them but could not get a decent picture. I even phoned two of our Group with super cameras and the skills to go with them, (Ann B and Chris), but they were both out. One lucky passer-by (further down the road) had a super view as they were lower and all round him. We saw him stop to watch them. I hope that he either knew what he was seeing or had the interest to look it up. The obvious characteristics we noticed, regardless of the light, was that they are bigger than sparrows, ( not that we have had a flock of sparrows around here for years),but smaller than starlings. Their call in flight is different to anything we recognise and they are much more tolerant of people getting closer than our wild birds would be. They stayed around for at least half an hour, maybe a lot longer as we left to do other things.

The waxwings came back both Thursday and this morning but have stayed high in the trees and have not come down to ground / bush level. If you are lucky to see others try and look at their legs as over 300 were ringed in Aberdeen before xmas and reports are showing that as they move to different food sources they are appearing around the country. The nearest to Hull so far was across at Sheffield.The bands are 3 different colours, and the organisers are keen to get reports.

May 2016

Welcome to our new members whom we met at the last Anlaby Open Day and join just as we have moved on to our Summer Programme with 2 outdoor meetings a month.

When is a Bullrush not a Bullrush?

While I was sitting by Leven Canal yesterday, as members were walking along the banks, I spotted a note in my old Wild Flower book which explains the problem we were having over the naming of these at Noddle Hill Way at least 2 years ago. Those who were there at the time will remember that the plant most people call Bullrush was being identified as a Club-Rush in the Pond-life book I was using at the time. That threw me, as I have also always called it a Bullrush, and the issue was compounded when we started checking out other books on later outings all of whom identified the long, sausage-shaped, dark brown species as Bullrush !!

I think that the following explains this confusion. (The book I am quoting is The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers ( they clearly had bigger pockets in those days!) by David McClintock and R.S.R Fitter, published by Collins and seen as one of the best identification books of its day. Hilary has a slightly older version of the same book and it was widely used in the 1950’s ? and certainly 1960’s.)
So, I quote :-
“Reedmace Family, Typhaceae

False Bullrush. Typha latifolia. A familiar tall aquatic perennial, which ever since Alma Tade painted it surrounding the infant Moses in his basket has usurped the name of Bullrush from Scirpus lacustris which is called Bullrush” and is a type of Club-Rush.

There is also a smaller and slimmer version of the False Bullrush called the Lesser Bullrush, Typha augustifolia.

Clear ? or clear as (pond)-mud ??

I think that all this means that once upon a time there was a plant known as a Bullrush which was a type of Club-rush, i.e. The one I was showing people at Noddle Hill with several small brown seedheads in twos and threes coming out of one growing point at the top of the stem. Then this artist (that I have never heard of) came along and caused chaos in the botanical world by painting a picture of Moses in his basket but surrounded not by these rather fragile looking Bullrushes but by the tall, wide, strap-type leaved plants with seed-heads packed into thick sausage-shapes. This may have produced a pretty picture, with Moses basket well hidden and relatively safe, but how do they resolve this confusion of names. Answer : Call the big sausage-shaped seedhead plant False Bullrush, the smaller and slimmer one Lesser Bullrush and keep the simple name Bullrush for that one specific Clubrush. Well that was McClintock and Fitters’ solution. However before we finalise this, I need to check out a book by one of the modern authorities. I will let you know if they have kept to this or given in to popular useage.

Any clearer ? Well I have tried………..and I am going cross-eyed from checking back and forth. Celia

In March, members insisted that I join them in my wheelchair for a wander through Ferriby Long Plantation, them being adamant that the path was dry and firm throughout. Jan took on the majority of the pushing, insisting that she was “Fine”, (although I am sure that she wasn’t,- I am no Twiggy!) while we looked for signs of Spring. Sure enough there was plenty of evidence of Squirrel activity whilst the the number of Sycamore seedlings already growing from last year’s “keys” showed just why this tree species will predominate when any clear land becomes available locally, being so successful in the race for light and food. Already the Bluebell shoots were appearing as were those of the Arum Lily,(variously also called Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Pint and my personal favourite: Jack-in-the-Pulpit, which will soon open its hood to entice unsuspecting insects that it will then trap long enough to spread its pollen and fertilise its flowers. Readers may know this as the plant which, in a few months’ time, produces a stem of bright orange berries, very pretty but also poisonous.

For the majority of our walk the path was indeed dry, but it deteriorated as we came towards the river. Initially my very caring and sharing Group were determined to get me through the mud, hauling and then physically supporting me to walk to drier parts but, as it got worse, common sense prevailed and I sent them ahead to check out the river while I collected items for a Quiz . It was really rewarding when members who had, on joining, declared that trees all looked the same to them, were now able to identify broken twigs and to point out the identifying features.

Our April visit to Tophill Low, the local Water Authority’s large Reserve near Driffield, gave us views of Golden-Eye and several other breeds of Duck, most of the Tit and many of the Finch families, and a very close view of 2 Roe Deer grazing just ahead of us as we rounded a bend. On this occasion we concentrated on the woods beyond the car park but did check out the first couple of hides before we left and watched a variety of Ducks, Waders and other Water-birds, including white Egrets preparing for the breeding season. The males were in good form, showing off their new plumage to potential mates, not all of whom fell for their charms at the first attempt!

Then on May 5th we found a new way to reach the bank of Leven Canal, where we could eat our Pack-ups whilst watching the natural life around us including 2 male mallard, who kept swimming back and forth, as if looking for company. The weather was glorious, another new member had joined us and it was wonderful to have one of our earliest members, who is not in good health, come along in her usual cheerful manner to enjoy the countryside. The birds were certainly competing to impress current or potential mates, more flowers are now appearing, to the delight of our Botanists, we saw several different butterflies and one large dragonfly, which came and went too quickly to be identified. Yes folks, Summer is coming.

If anyone else wants to come out with us, they would be welcomed, whether or not they have their own transport. The only cost is a payment towards the fuel, if you are not using your own car, and any entry fee if we are visiting a staffed Reserve. No previous knowledge is required, and none of us are “Experts”.

January 2016

Thankyou to those brave enough to turn up yesterday. Although It was raining while we ate our hot sausage butties, the rain stopped and, as one person commented, "you would never think it was the same day" later in the afternoon. We saw an amazing 40 different species of bird including a Marsh Harrier and our afternoon was concluded by a beautiful Barn Owl who quartered the fields and sat on a clearly marked post right in front of us for well over 10 minutes. The water level was much higher than I had seen before, the usually grassy banks and islands visible from the furthest hide on the track being totally underwater as were some of the raised areas visible from South and Turret hides. However I know that, even without all the rain we have had recently, they raise the water level at this time of the year to stop plants growing on the islands designated as gravelled areas for the Avocets and other birds that prefer this surface for nesting. Many of the birds were in their brighter plumage with clear expectations of Spring. Indeed 1 Mallard was, shall we say, well ahead of the game with his fancy courtship rewarded. There were a lot of Long-tailed Tits in the Alders around the "Pavillion" ( as I call it) and tame enough to eat from the feeders just a yard or so from Mark and Chris. As there was, for once, food in the feeders there, a lot of birds were making the most of it with many sparrows and other birds underneath. A few times they suddenly flew off for no reason that we could see, only to return minutes later - until, in a flash of wings, a SparrowHawk pounced and made off with dinner.

On the plant side, there were a lot of young plants coming through and we saw one lonely daisy in flower and one branch on which the "Pussy Willow" buds were breaking. There were also open catkins on one of the Hazel bushes.

So what some of us admitted to expecting to be a not very fruitful afternoon, turned out an interesting and enjoyable one. If you are interested, I have attached a Bird List, and Mark has attached photos that may not be up to Anne's standards but prove our claims !

2015

Over recent months we have visited not just the well-known sites of Tophill Low, Bempton Cliffs, North Cave Wetlands, Potteric Carr and Blacktoft but also less busy places suggested by members or drawn from local handbooks and news publications. From the latter we discovered Easington Wetland where we watched a fox trying, (and failing miserably), to creep up on the many different ground-nesting birds. In Hodgson’s Field which, as its name suggests, is simply an area of fields being left for nature to reclaim, we heard Cuckoos calling in stereo ! First one started calling to the West of us, a second then started up to the South and then a third, clearly not wishing to be outdone, declared his presence from the East . Yes, there are less cuckoos around nationally but not, obviously, around Patrington.

If you have never been to North Cave Wetlands, you are missing a treat. Only a short distance from Hull, and just beyond North Cave on the road to Cliffe, this Reserve has a new roofed but open sided viewing area, equipped with tables and chairs and with views over the lake. Being just inside the (Free) entrance it also happens to be adjacent to a mobile canteen which sells hot drinks (often in pottery mugs), hot bacon/egg/sausage butties and slimming cakes and biscuits – (well, that is what our members claim!) Here the ducks congregate around the van to clear any edible litter and birds such as Robin and Chaffinch come into the hide to check that your lunch is suitable.

(For anyone who has mobility problems, North Cave Wetlands are a good place to visit as you can access not only this first “Hide” but also drive on down the recently re-gravelled track, to park right outside South Hide then drive on to what is currently the far end of the developed area, parking outside Crossland Hide which is accessed by steps or a sloping path. (This very modern Hide looks out over both the lakes they are still digging and the fields which are already being used by various ground-nesting birds.)

Only a short distance from North Cave Wetlands is another of our popular sites, North Cliffe Woods. This year, we got the right week for the bluebells as well as so many other flower species but again didn’t see the Grass Snakes that we know are there. Of course we had stopped off at North Cave Wetlands en route for lunch so everyone was happy.

On our visit to the old Kiplingcoates Station , Kiplingcoates Quarry and Rifle Butts Quarry, we identified well over 80 different plants in flower, including all 3 of the orchids that grow locally, as well as 7 different butterflies and a Cinnebar moth, the latter just after watching its distinctive caterpillars feasting on the Ragwort plants.

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Updated 13/01/2017 SLM