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Country Matters September 2004
Writing this in early September there is already a change taking place in the countryside. Many of the Martins and Swallows have left for their wintering grounds in South Africa. A week ago we had an enormous gathering of Martins about the farmyard, a rough count made it over 400 birds. This is the largest gathering I have seen for a very long time, they may not all have come from the Parish but it is an indication that their numbers are still increasing in this part of the country. Just before this when the sun peeped from between the clouds on a dull day there were about 80 Martins and Swallows clinging to the side of a 60 degree sloping barn roof obviously benefiting from the rays of the sun and the warm metal roof. They looked like miniature vultures or cormorants as many had their wings outstretched as they clung with some difficulty to the sloping roof. A friend who has seen them in South Africa said the flocks are vast and the sight of them coming into roost in the evening is quite an attraction locally.Many seed eating birds are returning to the feeders in the garden after forsaking us for the last two months though the berry eaters will still find plenty of food in the countryside. The squirrels have been burying the last of the cobnuts that I did not find and a Jay has been doing the same to the acorns. It is said that they can remember where they buried them when they come to dig them up in the winter. Judging from the large number of oak seedlings that keep appearing throughout the garden all our Jays must be very old birds suffering from a fading memory like me. Harvest has been late and difficult this year but one farmer had a good crop of 17 foxes coming out of one field when it was combined.
Last month I reported what a good year it has been for insects especially butterflies. We have several bushes of a late flowering buddleia called Beijing. Clive Farrell brought this back from Beijing and though its blue flowers are not of a brilliant hue it has a strong scent and does not need annual pruning. If you have a corner that needs filling call for a slip as it is easy to root and attracts a wide range of insects. I counted over 40 butterflies of eight species, on two adjoining bushes. There were Large and Small Whites, Green Veined White, Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Painted Lady. Two Humming Bird Hawk Moths crowned a marvellous display. This insect hovers in front of the flower while its long proboscis probes into the floret for nectar. Like the bird after which it is named, it has a very rapid wing beat that is clearly audible.
Last year there were practically no fungi to be found but this year they are everywhere. When driving along one can see Boletus fungi on the verge some as big as buckets. I have never before seen so many. Every piece of grassland, dead wood and even live trees seem to have fungi growing from them. We had a very impressive ring of fungi near our house growing on a footpath. A neighbour brought us a sample to identify as he thought it might be the edible mushroom, which is very similar. In fact it was the poisonous Yellow Stainer, which can be identified by cutting and bruising the base of the stem whereupon it turns chrome yellow. Though not one of the most poisonous of fungi it should avoided when picking edible mushrooms. I have always wondered how many of these fungi it would need to produce a fatality; perhaps we should have encouraged our neighbour to try a few for breakfast. For anybody thinking of trying this mushroom on a troublesome spouse I have some bad news, by the time you read this they will have died (the fungi that is). But there’s always next year.
Our neighbour should have known that if they had been edible I would have picked them long before he found them. As a small boy I knew where to look for mushrooms, as did many other residents in the village. There was one meadow with rank grass that the cattle never ate which grew numbers of the large Horse Mushrooms. The secret was to find the mushrooms while they were quite young and cover them with grass so they did not become visible when they became large. Other residents did the same so one also had to look out for any wilting grass covering their finds. One also had to be about early in the morning to beat any rival to mushrooms that had grown overnight. With all this training in my youth I’m not likely to let a feast disappear from my back door. Perhaps in future we should identify all mushrooms as Yellow Stainers or even the more lethal Death Cap or Destroying Angel. That should discourage anybody from eating them while I could pick them at my leisure.
Roger Jiggins
Wildlife Reports for September 2004
Jo Gipps, Shalford Road found 9 dead frogs sitting as if alive in her garden. Mrs. Digby opposite the war memorial found dead frogs on the Flitch Way and in her garden; they had their legs stretched out. Both these occurrences are probably due to Red Leg disease. This is a widespread disease of frogs and causes reddening of the hind legs and sometimes lower back of the frog, which often ulcerates as well. In this country it is said to be the result of a virus infection but other work suggests it is a bacterial septicaemia caused by a range of organisms that are normally present in frogs. It appears that it is triggered by stress and by the time symptoms are noticed the frog has no chance of survival. The most common stress that frogs are subject to is over population and as frogs appear to be more common in the Parish now than they have ever been in my lifetime this is probably the main cause.Betty Childs, Dunmow Road reported an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar as did David and Rosemary Whitehurst, Capel Road who had at least 8 on their Fuchsias. They defoliated several fuchsia plants and one found it’s way onto a Water Lily leaf in their pond, which it then devoured. It was rescued from the water after going for a swim and put back on some remaining fuchsia leaves. These impressive caterpillars are 8-8.5cm long when fully grown, coloured brown or green and have a voracious appetite. They also eat Willow herb and Bedstraw. Most years I have reports of them locally, nearly always on Fuchsias since they usually get noticed when only the flowers are left on the plant.
Vivienne Mathews Long Lane had two Humming Bird Hawk Moths on a Buddleia.
At Goulds Farm we had a Kingfisher after the Sticklebacks in a small pond. A large number of Small Tortoisehell butterflies went into apparent hibernation in one of our farm sheds at the beginning of August. They must have known the wet cold weather was coming, and like Vivienne, we have had two Humming Bird Hawk Moths on Buddleia.
Andy Goodey at the end of August reported a large number of Chiffchaffs passing through the Parish. Two Oak trees on the Flitch Way held about 12 birds and a walk along the Flitch and Pods Brook produced about 200 in total. A number of Spotted Flycatchers and Yellow Wagtails have also been on passage. Andy also had a good view of a Hobby as it flew slowly over Century Bridge, School Road.
Roger Jiggins Tel. 01376 324 311. email
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