Wildlife Reports for July 2006

Pat Hart, Capel Road watched a juvenile Great Spotted woodpecker fly to a metal post in the garden, land and then in an undignified manner it slid down the post.   Even young woodpeckers have to learn the hard way.   Pat has also had two imprints of a Sparrow Hawk on the bedroom windows.   The Sparrow Hawk was lucky as it probably only suffered a headache, on many occasions it often results in the death of the unfortunate bird.
Anthea Pierson saw a Hedgehog scurrying at great speed in Philips Close, at least a few still survive in the village, and also a Cuckoo in the nearby Bakers Field development.   Anthea also reported seeing bats foraging along the hedge bounding Bakersfield and on checking I found they were Natterers Bats, the remnants of the large colony that was destroyed.   The bats were flying at head height along the footpath.

Andy Goodey had sightings of a pair of Yellow Wagtails in the bean field opposite the barn conversions at Haverings.   We also had a single bird at Goulds.   Andy also found the Turtle Dove on the Flitch Way at the same site as last year.   Andy has also found White Letter Hairstreak butterflies in the Elms by the allotments at Duckend Green.   This is a first for the Parish and is very exiting as it is a species that has declined sharply since the Elms have declined because of Dutch Elm disease.   Andy has also found Purple Hairstreaks in many of the Oak trees in the parish.   This species like the previous one lives in the tops of the trees and is difficult to see.   They do however come down to nectar on plants such as bramble and can then provide good photographic opportunities.   The Purple Hairstreak appears to be expanding both its range and numbers.   Greg Bond found Pyramidal Orchids and Andy increased the number to seven on the highway verge along School Road.   This is the verge where Essex County Council mowed off the Bee Orchids and this latest find might at last mean the verge will be given protected status.   It is sad that in an age where rare species are given protection the Highways authority can still mow them into extinction because they are unable to inform their contractors of their existence.
Matt Wilson the Flitch Way manager watched a Kingfisher for five minutes fishing newts out of the Rookery Ponds.   I hope the bird knew it had to have a licence to handle a protected species namely a Great Crested Newt.

Jack Fuller and Mrs. Olley Dunmow Road heard a Muntjac calling for about 45 minutes one afternoon.   This was probably a mother calling to its fawn to reassure it possibly because the mother thought it was in danger.   The youngster will have been sitting tight in cover and they rarely move even when you are standing over them.   This was in the field to the south of Dunmow Road and when investigating the Muntjac I found a large number of the grassland butterflies and also a lot of dragonflies.   Jack also described a Magpie taking young Blackbirds from his lawn.
Trevor Wright New Road emailed me about a Jay in his garden that has learnt to use a Squirrel feeder.   The hinge on the feeder broke so there was no lid on the feeder for a while.   Trevor repaired the feeder and over the next few weeks he could hear the lid closing but often there was no Squirrel near the feeder.   This mystery was solved when one day he saw a Jay lift the lid and take one of the peanuts.   It usually takes five nuts before flying out of the garden and Trevor thinks the bird learnt about the nuts when there was no lid on the feeder.   He also poses the question 'are Jays intelligent' the answer is yes though this is the first time I have heard of one mastering a feeder like this one.   Trevor also has a pair of Red Legged Partridges cleaning up under his Niger feeder.
Ken Turner at the beginning of July reported a large number of small frogs crossing the lane to the church.   Frogs and Toads often leave the water where they were born over a few days this is probably because there is safety in numbers.   Predators will take their fill but the majority will survive whereas if they left in small numbers over a long period of time the total mortality would be much higher.

Trevor Rippingale, Dunmow Road while watching the football on TV saw a Barn Owl land on the large apple tree in the garden.   Trevor also reports bats flying around his house early in the evening.   This usually indicates that their roost is quite close.   He has also had Partridge and Lapwing from the nearby farm set aside come into the garden.
Ken Turner Shalford Road also produced a pair of mating Buff Tip Moths that looked just like a stick.   Last year Ken saw what were possibly Glow Worms on setaside by Rayne Church.   I would be very interested if anyone has seen 'bright lights' around Rayne this year.
Mark Giles found a Little Owl caught in a net.   I thought it had little chance of survival but Sheila Bearham took it into care and though it has had to have a leg amputated it will soon be on its way to a refuge at St Ives where raptors are captive bred for release back to the wild.   It is sad to report that probably another fledgling from the same nest was found dead nearby on the road.   These small owls can often be seen on roads where they feed on worms, insects and other small prey.

At Gould's our son Chris saw a young Grass Snake, almost certainly one of last year's brood disappear into our Pampas grass.   Since then both Syl and I have seen a large Grass Snake almost a metre in length under the carpet on our compost heap.   Last year we had two egg 'bundles' laid in the compost and we hope we have a repeat this year.   We have had several sightings of Queen Hornets this summer.   They have to do all the foraging for the colony until their first workers have hatched and can take over the work.   We have had scaffold round the house and a squirrel tried to climb one of the poles but lost its grip and slid back to ground level.   For over a week we had two Humming Bird Hawk Moths feeding on Valerian and when this started to go to seed they move on to the Delphiniums and two weeks later they were back nectaring on Pellatory of the Wall.   At last I was able to get a good photograph of this amazing insect that migrates to this country in varying numbers each year.   The Green Woodpeckers have fledged three youngsters this year, the youngsters stayed in the garden for several days still being fed by their parents before departing.   Juvenile Herons have visited our garden recently, if you have a garden pond with fish beware as they can soon empty a pond within days.   They visit just as its getting light in the morning and at this time of the year I suspect that means most of the night. Roger Pether found a Common Lizzard in an old bath that was full of water and was waiting to be skipped in the farmyard.   It must have climbed up a wall and dropped into the bath or else a human had put in the water.   It was lucky to be rescued, as they do not live in water like newts.

Roger Jiggins Telephone 01376 324 311