Nature around Watlington
Something to look forward to. Buttercups everywhere.
Nature Notes
As usual our weather has been somewhat mixed since the last ‘Gossip’ was distributed. In March we had several days that started with a frost. We had days and nights with light rain and beautiful days of bright sunshine with unseasonably high temperatures. These lovely days meant that our gardens, allotments and the farmers’ fields were becoming very dry. This was alleviated by quite heavy rain during the night and morning of April 15th. We then returned to unseasonably high temperatures for the rest of April.
The spell of warm dry weather meant that all the plants in our gardens, on our allotments or in the fields have grown well. There was a lovely show of Daffodils in and around the village and they were followed in early April by the Magnolia’s and various flowering trees and shrubs in people’s gardens and the green spaces within the village. Some of the flowering Cherry trees were spectacular. The wild Blackthorn was also wonderful to see covered in its clean white blossom which was followed later by the blossom on the Hawthorn. In fact the village and surrounding countryside has been a riot of colour. The yellow of the Forsythia, Gorse, Laburnum and the dazzling fields of Oilseed Rape, the purple blossom of the Judas trees and the dazzling blue of Ceanothus bushes along with the delicate pink and white of the fruit trees all helped one to forget, just for a little while, what was going on in our troubled world. Whilst each spring, and I have seen a few, I am amazed by the number of different greens that the trees produce as they come into leaf.
Whilst working on our allotment I noticed some rather strange looking spears growing out of the ground. These brought back memories for me of over fifty years ago, April 1974. I was working on a farm at Stoke Ferry at the time and noticed these same strange looking spears growing out of the ground. Not knowing what on earth they were I consulted all my books on plants and wild flowers and could not find them anywhere. There was a local naturalist, who older members of the village may remember, called Ted Ellis (A.E. Ellis). He appeared regularly on local television and wrote a regular piece in the ‘Eastern Daily Press’ as well as several books. I therefore drew a sketch of this strange plant and sent it to ‘Ted’ and asked if he could identify it for me.
I received a lovely letter back from ‘Ted’ telling me that the plant was Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and was related to Ferns and so would not appear in books on wild flowers. He also returned my sketch calling it admirable, you can imagine how pleased I was to receive his letter. Of course now I know this plant to be a bit of a nasty weed in our garden and on the allotments and is very difficult to eradicate. The Horsetails are a very old group of plants that predate the age of the dinosaurs.
I heard the first of our summer migrant birds, the Chiff Chaff, on 21st March near to the railway station. Krys Coe of Runcton Holme told me that she observed two Swallows on the 13th April and Maggie McCutcheon informed me that she had seen one in Watlington on 27th April. However at the end of April I have yet to see one. I did however hear the Cuckoo on the 28th April which sounded to be somewhere near to the church. Our resident Great Tits began inspecting our nest box on 19th March and subsequently were busy nest building. Now at the end of April they are busy feeding their young. Our resident Blackbirds have also been nest building. On 29th April whilst visiting the Angel Field/Millennium Green a hen Pheasant made it very clear that I was getting too close to her chicks, which I had not even seen. She successfully drove me away and told me quite clearly in Pheasant language to clear off.
I saw the first signs of our Hedgehogs coming out of hibernation on the 16th March, so have been putting food out each evening. I saw the first butterfly of the year, a Brimstone, on the 19th March and have subsequently seen Peacock, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Speckled Wood and Large White. This means that I have already seen many more butterflies this year than I saw during the whole of last year. I hope that this bodes well for the rest of the year.
On a visit to Titchwell R.S.P.B. Reserve on 30th April the Norfolk Moth Group were showing some of the moths caught in their moth traps at the reserve and in some of their gardens. There was a large variety of species, some of them quite beautiful like the Pease Blossom, Emperor, Eyed Hawk-moth and many of the others on view. We were able to observe them up close to enjoy their beauty and to marvel at their camouflage techniques. The Buff Tip moth when at rest looks just like a piece of broken twig. Other species are disguised to look like a bird dropping, the Chinese Character Moth being one example. If you would like to see them the moth mornings are on at Titchwell Reserve every Wednesday starting at 9.30 a.m. and continue until the autumn.
As usual our weather has been somewhat mixed since the last ‘Gossip’ was distributed. In March we had several days that started with a frost. We had days and nights with light rain and beautiful days of bright sunshine with unseasonably high temperatures. These lovely days meant that our gardens, allotments and the farmers’ fields were becoming very dry. This was alleviated by quite heavy rain during the night and morning of April 15th. We then returned to unseasonably high temperatures for the rest of April.
The spell of warm dry weather meant that all the plants in our gardens, on our allotments or in the fields have grown well. There was a lovely show of Daffodils in and around the village and they were followed in early April by the Magnolia’s and various flowering trees and shrubs in people’s gardens and the green spaces within the village. Some of the flowering Cherry trees were spectacular. The wild Blackthorn was also wonderful to see covered in its clean white blossom which was followed later by the blossom on the Hawthorn. In fact the village and surrounding countryside has been a riot of colour. The yellow of the Forsythia, Gorse, Laburnum and the dazzling fields of Oilseed Rape, the purple blossom of the Judas trees and the dazzling blue of Ceanothus bushes along with the delicate pink and white of the fruit trees all helped one to forget, just for a little while, what was going on in our troubled world. Whilst each spring, and I have seen a few, I am amazed by the number of different greens that the trees produce as they come into leaf.
Whilst working on our allotment I noticed some rather strange looking spears growing out of the ground. These brought back memories for me of over fifty years ago, April 1974. I was working on a farm at Stoke Ferry at the time and noticed these same strange looking spears growing out of the ground. Not knowing what on earth they were I consulted all my books on plants and wild flowers and could not find them anywhere. There was a local naturalist, who older members of the village may remember, called Ted Ellis (A.E. Ellis). He appeared regularly on local television and wrote a regular piece in the ‘Eastern Daily Press’ as well as several books. I therefore drew a sketch of this strange plant and sent it to ‘Ted’ and asked if he could identify it for me.
I received a lovely letter back from ‘Ted’ telling me that the plant was Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and was related to Ferns and so would not appear in books on wild flowers. He also returned my sketch calling it admirable, you can imagine how pleased I was to receive his letter. Of course now I know this plant to be a bit of a nasty weed in our garden and on the allotments and is very difficult to eradicate. The Horsetails are a very old group of plants that predate the age of the dinosaurs.
I heard the first of our summer migrant birds, the Chiff Chaff, on 21st March near to the railway station. Krys Coe of Runcton Holme told me that she observed two Swallows on the 13th April and Maggie McCutcheon informed me that she had seen one in Watlington on 27th April. However at the end of April I have yet to see one. I did however hear the Cuckoo on the 28th April which sounded to be somewhere near to the church. Our resident Great Tits began inspecting our nest box on 19th March and subsequently were busy nest building. Now at the end of April they are busy feeding their young. Our resident Blackbirds have also been nest building. On 29th April whilst visiting the Angel Field/Millennium Green a hen Pheasant made it very clear that I was getting too close to her chicks, which I had not even seen. She successfully drove me away and told me quite clearly in Pheasant language to clear off.
I saw the first signs of our Hedgehogs coming out of hibernation on the 16th March, so have been putting food out each evening. I saw the first butterfly of the year, a Brimstone, on the 19th March and have subsequently seen Peacock, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Speckled Wood and Large White. This means that I have already seen many more butterflies this year than I saw during the whole of last year. I hope that this bodes well for the rest of the year.
On a visit to Titchwell R.S.P.B. Reserve on 30th April the Norfolk Moth Group were showing some of the moths caught in their moth traps at the reserve and in some of their gardens. There was a large variety of species, some of them quite beautiful like the Pease Blossom, Emperor, Eyed Hawk-moth and many of the others on view. We were able to observe them up close to enjoy their beauty and to marvel at their camouflage techniques. The Buff Tip moth when at rest looks just like a piece of broken twig. Other species are disguised to look like a bird dropping, the Chinese Character Moth being one example. If you would like to see them the moth mornings are on at Titchwell Reserve every Wednesday starting at 9.30 a.m. and continue until the autumn.
Cherry Laburnum Hawthorn