Country Matters and Wildlife Reports for September 2007

I sit writing this on perfect sunny, misty autumn morning one of the few we have had this autumn.  For the last month the birds have stopped using our garden feeders which makes it easier on ones pocket.  Where are they all foraging?  There must be considerably more food in the countryside this year, and food requirements are less than normal due to the continued high temperatures into October.  Another important factor is the large number of birds that migrate to this country every winter because of our milder winters compared to northern Europe.  This migration has yet to start as Europe also still has warm weather.  Our orchard is strewn with fallen apples which the badgers seem unable to clear, preferring to eat the fallen fruit from an ornamental crab and forage for worms under our garden mulch.  Judging from their droppings this abundance of fruit has the same effect on their digestive tract as it does on mine.

They have also taken to eating the fallen hazel nuts this year as the Grey Squirrels were unable to eat the heavy crop of nuts before they fell.  As children we always collected and ate nuts but the increasing Squirrel population put an end to that as normally they eat them well before they are ripe.  The Blackberry crop has been good and long lasting this year.  I hope you all finished picking by Michaelmas day, 29th September as this is the day when the Devil spits on them making them inedible.  I must admit they still tasted OK to me.

At Goulds we had a single visit from a Jack Snipe.  They are regular visitors to a reservoir on the edge of the Parish.  The Goldcrests are still around the garden after successfully breeding and September was very good for Migrant and Southern Hawker dragonflies.

Harold Giles reported two Hares on the stubble field north of Shalford Road and a fox in the garden of his neighbours Mr. and Mrs. Brunning at Duckend Green one morning.
Ken Turner one evening saw a Barn Owl near Pods brook and has often reported on the large number of bats foraging round the sewage works.  Last month I wrote about how bats had suffered this year because of low insect numbers so places like sewage works can often provide a guaranteed supply of food.
Andy Goodey The Street, heard his dogs barking in the garden and found a Hedgehog under the bird feeders.  It is encouraging to have had several Hedgehog reports this year. Andy also saw a Hobby over the School.  I also recently watched a Hobby chase a small bird which dropped like a stone into a bush in our garden then it switched to chasing a swallow which after a short while out manoeuvred it.

Sid Littlechild Capel Close, found a 10-12 inch Slowworm crawling along the pavement, the first he had seen in his 20 years of living in Rayne.  He sensibly transferred it to his garden.
Roger Martin had a Chiff-Chaff calling in his garden up to the middle of September and last year one called till the beginning of October.  He has had two Swallow nests in the garage after a spell of 15 years without a nest.
Keith Rawlings Bay Tree Close, has had larger bats that have few if any echolocation calls flying round the large oak near their house.  These are probably Brown Long-eared bats that have very large ears and sensitive hearing.  They often locate prey by listening to their movements as they walk on leaves or even on the ground.
Mr Salmon Shalford Road, reported bats in their garden just after sunset as have several of his neighbours.  Syl and I have tried to find their roost with no success.  It must be in one of the bungalows or houses along that part of the road.

Barry Wooton Moores Farm, saw two Muntjac and two Roe deer socialising together in a group near their house.  It is unusual to see these two species together.
James Bateman walking from Rayne to Panfield had close sightings of a Roe Deer over several minutes.  Despite being visible to the deer it ignored him as it approached closer.  The deer circled round him and then must have picked up his scent as it disappeared across a ditch.  We assume that many animals depend on their sight to anticipate potential danger but it is often scent that is their most developed sense.  James also mentioned a past sighting in 2005 of a large white heron which he was able to compare in size to a Grey Heron that landed near it.  He had seen the Little Egrets that were along Pods Brook at that time.  When it took to the wing its flight was 'heavy and lumbering like a heron'.  Later he learnt a Great White Egret had been seen on the north Kent Marshes, did it venture as far north as Rayne?  This year he watched a Tawny Owl hotly pursued by a Chaffinch as it flew from tree to tree on a sunny afternoon.

John Taylor brought us several colour forms of the Harlequin ladybird which he had found near his workplace in Chelmsford.  John reckoned there were in excess of 1000 on one wall and we have since had further reports of large numbers elsewhere in Essex.  This ladybird comes from Asia and was introduced to America and some European countries as a biological control for aphids.  It has reached Britain naturally from Europe and has spread rapidly in the last three years.  It not only eats aphids it also devours our native ladybirds.  This year several have been found in Rayne.

Roger Jiggins Tel. 01376 324 311, email r.jiggins@btconnect.com (please put Wildlife as the subject)