Monthly Archives: April 2014

Conservation

Hunt that Frog

Down at the reserve, it was time to strim the meadow, which meant a frog hunt. A conservation frog hunt, to dislodge any frogs that might otherwise get permanently strimmed. I walked up and down, sweeping through the cow parsley – it’s a major reason why cutting is now necessary, it needs to be held back to allow more delicate flowers like garlic mustard through  – but no frogs hopped out. I looked under the mats placed there for amphibia – there were no frogs, just three small toads sheltering in the cool darkness.

On the woodland edge of the meadow, brambles have been spreading in their looping way, bending down to the ground, striking root and springing off another few feet into the grass. I pulled up some dozens of them, cutting roots where necessary to leave nothing that could regrow. Some people just quickly clip them off above the ground, which slows them down for a little while: pulling, digging or root-clipping is far more effective.

Down at the pond, the heron was waiting silently, watching for frogs to eat. Since it has arrived, frogs have been much harder to find. I wonder how many of the dozen large frogs I saw mating a few weeks ago have finished up in that enormous dagger-shaped beak.

Environment

Desert Dust in Britain … all the way from the Sahara

Desert Dust on Car
Desert Dust on Car

Yesterday the BBC explained that a high pressure zone over eastern Europe was bringing polluted air in on a southeast wind, picking up what smells like a sharp and acrid sulphurous dusty mess from the Ruhr. The same wind picked up desert dust from the Sahara and carried it straight across Europe. The dust has arrived with the dew and has formed a sandy smudge all over everybody’s car: it’s most obvious where the wetting has collected it towards edges of roof panels, as in the photo. Today the forecast is for very poor air quality, at warning levels 8 or 9 (out of 10 for worst possible), making life uncomfortable for asthma sufferers. The map shows it stretching from the tip of Kent in the southeast all across England to Dorset in the west, the Wash in the northeast and the North Wales coast in the northwest. Levels are ‘Very High’ along the south coast and up to Cardiff, and in a patch in the midlands.

Natural History, Nature Reserves, Wildlife

Spring has sprung

Ramshorn pond snails
Ramshorn pond snails

Today dawned foggy and cool, but the sun soon burnt its way through and it became a hot spring day. I spent most of it reroofing the tool shed at the Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve. It was in tatters after at least one hard winter, and it was an interesting exercise peeling off the layers hopefully tacked one on top of the leaky other. I then removed three full boards from the roof, complete with what I’m sure any mycologist would have found a fascinating colony of wet rot fungus, together with several wriggly centipedes and a lot of woodlice.

As it grew hotter on the roof, I was joined by at least two species of hoverfly, one large, dark, and almost unstriped. A brimstone butterfly chased around with a smaller white, perhaps a green-veined or an orange tip. A comma butterfly wandered about. Down below, the stinging nettles, hops, and garlic mustard (ideal for orange tips) are coming up nicely, but there’s too much cow parsley and some volunteers are pulling a lot of it out.

Newly-Hatched Tadpoles
Newly-Hatched Tadpoles

At lunchtime I walked down to the pond. Chiffchaffs were singing all over; the pond was suddenly covered in pond skaters (Gerris) with one or two whirligig beetles. The tadpoles have hatched out into a wriggling mass.
Spring has sprung.