Wildlife Reports for June 2006

Bob Redman’s father had a shopping trolley hanging on the wall of his garden shed.  Bob was asked to get the trolley down off the wall and was nearly flattened when it was taken off its hook.  There was over 20Kg of peanuts stored in the trolley.  About 2m away Bob’s father stored peanuts for his birds in an open topped box and a mouse over a long period of time had squirreled away the nuts in the trolley, obviously for a very long hard winter.
Celia Murton Dunmow Road, has had a Sparrow hawk just 7ft away from her window sitting on the garage roof watching the Blue and Great Tits feeding their young in the four nest boxes she has in the garden.  Celia also has a Magpie that waits for her to put out peanuts and Rooks and Jackdaws that devour her fat balls, even taking the top off the fat ball holder.
Lyn Sculley Shalford Road, had a Large Red Damselfly during the 2nd week of March on her tiny garden pond.  This beautiful red damselfly is normally associated with larger areas of water.  Lyn also watched a Sparrowhawk chase a Bluetit returning to its nest box, while the Bluetit managed to get into the box the Sparrowhawk crashed into it.
Yvonne Marsden while walking on the path from the Churchyard saw three Hares which allowed her to approach to within 20ft before running off.  Yvonne has also seen and regularly heard a Green Woodpecker in the Churchyard.

Wendy Moss Kidder Road, sent me a photograph of a Painted Lady on Valerian in her front garden.  This migrant butterfly comes from North Africa and large clouds of them migrate northwards through Europe in the spring, breeding on the way.  In some years the numbers reaching the UK can be very large and a few years ago we had a similar cloud migrate through Rayne.  The front was over three miles wide and they took over2.5 hours for the majority to pass, a sight I have only seen on this one occasion.  They migrate south in the autumn but most probably perish with the frost before reaching North Africa.  In Europe the Painted Lady only regularly over-winters in Southern Spain.
Joan and Dave Shuttleworth Shalford Road, invited me to take pictures of a pair of mating Privet Hawkmoths that they found sitting on one of Dave’s bean poles.  I had never seen a mating pair before.
Andy Goodey reports that there are 22 spikes of Bee Orchids remaining on the verge along School Road this is an increase from last year but only a fraction of the number that were present.  Unfortunately Essex County Council Highways decided to mow the verge not once but twice this year but as it was only a one cutter width mow they did not manage cut them all off.  The Parish Council has been trying to get this verge classified as a protected verge without success.  The lunacy of the County bureaucrats is beyond belief, as departments appear unable to talk to one another.  Next year is a two-width cut so they should be able to cut the lot off? Andy also reports the Spotted Flycatchers are still near Moors Farm and in the Churchyard.

David Hearn has counted about 10 pairs of Swifts using the soon to be demolished Enterprise Court buildings.  When they return next year there will be no nesting site for them!  Considerable thanks must go to David, Andy Goodey and Joanne Fish for their efforts in getting the buildings left for the Swifts to nest this year.  The Parish Council have recommended that artificial nest boxes should be built into the new houses that will be built on the site.
Ken Turner Shalford Road, the village slug specialist recently brought me a red form of the large Black Slug and before that a specimen of the Yellow Slug.  They were really a bright red and yellow in colour.  At Goulds the Short Tailed Voles have managed to ‘fell’ virtually all the Dianthus flowers and cart them away to their holes to eat.  They even pruned the leaves back this year.  For the fourth year running the Green Woodpeckers have nested in our Ash tree.  After using the same hole for three years they read the books that say they always excavate a new nest hole every year and this year did just that.  I suppose they were just taking it easy for the first three years.  Two Little Egrets flew over the garden W to E late one night.  These birds communally roost at night most of the year and a tree full of them is a marvellous sight.  They often use trees near human habitation so one in Rayne is possible in the future.  One recent evening we had Swifts feeding over the garden down to a height of below 2m and at times within a metre of where we were standing.  It was not possible to see what they were feeding on but it is the closest I have been to feeding Swifts that often feed at heights of 1000m or more.  This is the height that planes leaving Stansted should be when they fly over Rayne.

Roger Jiggins Telephone 01376 324 311