Day 23, #30DaysWildCreativity: Conservation Collage

'Will we permit the rewilding of our hearts and minds, 

that is so needed now?' 

Dr Miriam Darlington

for today's #30DaysWildCreativity meme 

I wanted to remind myself of some of the threatened wildlife I have encountered over the years, and I hope you may also enjoy seeing my pictures of these fine creatures. 

I recall seeing a whale washed up on a Cornish beach several decades ago. It was dead, and the memory stays with me. The 'Save the Whales' slogan certainly made an impact on me as a teenager, even if I did not know how these magnificent mammals might be saved. 

Picture 1: Otter

Many of us read about otters as children and teenagers in books like The Wind in the Willows, Tarka the Otter and A Ring of Bright Water. I visited the Otter Trust near Bungay in the 1970s, but I did not see an otter in the wild until I visited Skye some thirteen years ago. I have also watched them off Mull and the Kintyre peninsula. Miriam Darlington writes about otters she has encountered and observed in Scotland (and also in Devon, Cornwall and other quiet corners of the British Isles) in her wonderfully evocative book, Otter Country.  

Picture 2: Purple Emperor Butterfly

We were visiting Chedworth Roman villa in Gloucestershire when we were called over to see an unusual butterfly. It seemed to be in need of a little sugar and water, which the cafe supplied. I took this photo, and sent it off to Matthew Oates, who confirmed that we had been looking at Her Imperial Majesty, the Purple Emperor (you can read his upbeat reply in the Postscript to my post here). The fact that this resplendent, if slightly dehydrated, Emperor was visiting a Roman villa made us smile. I hope she revived and lived her butterfly life to the full.  

Picture 3: Bittern

When I was growing up, one of our family board games was Conservation, a game produced by the RSPB to encourage young people to learn about endangered birds in Britain. The Bittern was one of these species, and it was a bird I never thought I would see despite the fact that our home was only about a mile from some of the Norfolk reedbeds. It was only when I moved to Suffolk some eight years ago that I finally saw, and heard, my first Bittern at RSPB Minsmere. I remember the wave of excitement that rushed through me when I set eyes on a sight I thought I would never see.

Picture 4: Water Vole

Speaking of The Wind in the Willows, I believe I was in my 40s when I first realised that Ratty was in fact a Water Vole. The photo above was taken (with zoom lens) at RSPB Minsmere. You can read about the conservation status of this delightful species here. 

Picture 5: Red Squirrel

Like thousands of other children, I first encountered the Red Squirrel in the pages of The Tale of squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter. Later on, when I was about eight, I saw one or two for myself on Brownsea Island. More recently I have watched them in the Cairngorms and in Dumfries and Galloway. You can read about their situation here. 

Pictures 6 and 7: Grass Snake and Adder

I had seen very few snakes in the wild here in the UK until we moved to Suffolk. Since then I have seen a handful on a couple of reserves, namely RSPB Minsmere (Adder and Grass Snake) and SWT Carlton Marshes, where I photographed the Grass Snake in the picture above. The adder in the photo was on the Minsmere Adder Trail: an RSPB official pointed us in its direction, and there were in fact two snakes coiled round one another. What a privilege to see these reptiles.

Picture 8: Swallowtail butterfly larva

Ah, I had been longing to see a Swallowtail butterfly, and here at last was a Swallowtail larva on the NWT reserve at Hickling! I had spent my teenage years in Norfolk at the edge of The Broads at a time when these butterflies were practically non-existent so the thrill of seeing this magnificent caterpillar was almost overwhelming. 

 

*

I hope you have enjoyed my 'conservation' selection. The lockdown has certainly allowed our wildlife to experience a more peaceful few months than usual. Let's acknowledge that there may be lessons we can learn. It is wonderful when people join together to put measures in place, whether political or environmental, to enable threatened species to fight back. 

 

Isle of Wight (6): Mottistone, Newtown NNR and Wildlife Areas

Those of you who have followed the winding path of this blog will know that I find an unusual sign hard to resist. Sadly, as I have mentioned in a previous post, we failed to catch a glimpse of one of these beautiful Red Squirrels. We came across the sign near the Botanic Garden in Ventnor en route to St Lawrence, where one of the churches has Pre-Raphaelite stained glass. I had hoped to visit the gardens, but by this stage in the week the weather had turned against us. I would love to return in summer to watch the native or naturalised Wall Lizards.

Earlier in the week we had spent a glorious afternoon exploring the gardens at NT Mottistone. The manor here was first mentioned in the Domesday Book. The gardens, by contrast, were planted and restored by Lady Nicholson in the 1960s.

The manor provides a wonderful backdrop to the gardens, but is not open to the public. John Seely, 2nd Lord Mottistone, restored the manor house in 1926.

What a joy to see a bank of primroses as we approached the garden. 

There were more signs of spring in the grounds, even if these were of a more cultivated kind. 

The photo above shows the Manor as you see it on arrival. 

This is the view from further round.

Some of you may remember that I like to post photos of the shepherds' huts I encounter. The Shack above is not one of those, but it reminded me of them in a way. Architect John Seely, 2nd Lord Mottistone, designed it with Paul Paget in the 1930s and, according to the National Trust, it was used as a country office and rural retreat. It began life at Freshwater and was built along the lines of a two-berth cabin on a boat.

We were surprised not only by the number of corvids on the island but also by the number of raptors. I was rewarded with this sighting of a Buzzard while David climbed to the heights in search of the Long Stone.

It was cloudy, but apparently the views from the top of the down were wonderful. You can see the Long Stone standing proud in the photo below. 

The name, Mottistone probably, probably derives from 'moot stone', a stone to mark the meeting place, or moot, in Anglo-Saxon times. The stone itself predates these days and is thought to be the entrance to a neolithic Long Barrow, or burial chamber. It was excavated in 1956. 

We had an exceptionally good National Trust tea in the garden and made our way across the road to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. 

The churchyard was a wonderful wildlife habitat, apparently attracting butterflies and bats, though we were too early in the year to see these creatures for ourselves.

 Sadly we also missed the chirruping, chirring grasshoppers and crickets!

We went inside to have a look around. Some of the roof timbers in the chancel had once been part of the 'Cedrene', a Bermudan barque that had been wrecked off the coast. 

The seahorse banners were beautiful. I suspect they are linked to the Seely family as, according to The Oldest House in London by Fiona Rule, Paget included two seahorses as a memorial to 'John Mottistone' (John Seely of Mottistone) in a niche in a clergy house they had renovated together in Westminster Abbey's Little Cloister.  

There was a little sunlight shining through the stained glass below as we left the church. 

We headed off to East Cowes for a sunset picnic, watching the hovercraft, cruise ships and ferries on the Solent. 

*

It was lovely to see corners of the Isle of Wight given over to wildlife. In addition to the nature reserves and the wildlife churchyard at Mottistone, we discovered a wildlife garden in the NT grounds of Bembridge Windmill. 

We visited the mill on a particularly chilly morning, and were lured inside by the enticing aroma of hot coffee. 

I had a quick look around the ground floor of the mill, and was particularly taken with the only owl I saw on the island...

I left David to climb the mill and ventured outside to see the sheep. 

What a magnificent face.

The photo above shows the sheep high above the flat lands that are such a feature of this corner of the island.

I mentioned wildlife gardens, and while this was not a garden, it was good to see that land around the mill had been kept aside and given over to wildlife. The first nettles of the season were beginning to spring up.

I imagine this fungus will feed and play host to a huge variety of species. A previous post featured the Roman villa at Brading, and up above on Brading Down we had noticed more wildlife provision, as the board explained ...

Having looked, all too briefly, at gardens and wildlife provision on the island, I must move on to the nature reserve at Newtown. But before I do, I can't leave the Bembridge area without posting this photo below of Holy Trinity church: the palms that had been used on Palm Sunday a few days before had been laid out on the path, a practice we had not seen before.

And finally (in this post) to Newtown Nature Reserve! 

We went via Yarmouth where we stopped for a quick look around and, having seen the horsetails on our way, noticed the board below advertising not only charabanc rides but also coal from the north east. We don't often see horsetails in our part of sandy Suffolk; but when I see them, they take me back to junior school and the work we did on early times such as the Carboniferous Era when these vascular plants were prolific. We know this because they have shown up in coal measures.

We moved on to the nature reserve at Newchurch, run by the National Trust. 

As you can see, we came across two boards listing recent sightings. Our own list was far less impressive, but we thoroughly enjoyed watching the birds we managed to see. 

The Mute Swans below greeted us on arrival. It was early evening by this time, and a rather murky evening at that.

We spent some time in the hide, looking over Clamerkin Lake. We noticed some geese in the distance and large flocks of Black-headed gulls.

There was some useful information in the hide, like the map-diagram below. We learned that the lake was situated on the East Atlantic Flyway, and was therefore a key spot for migrating birds.

You can see the gulls in the distance in the photo below.

The Solent area is renowned as a good place for sailing.

Once again it was the corvids who tried to steal the show: what a fine Jackdaw!

We always love to see Little Egrets so were very pleased when this one came into view. I recall the first one we ever saw, soon after our arrival (and, I believe, their arrival, too) in the Swansea area. That first one we spotted was on the Gower peninsula at the edge of the Loughor estuary back in the early 1990s.

My last photo in this post shows one of the Redshanks we watched. These birds probe in the shallows for their food.

Thank you for reading this far! My final post in this Isle of Wight series will include some of the sites we saw in and around St Helens (no apostrophe as I understand, like the city of St Davids in Wales; but please correct me if this is not the case). I will complete my tour with a few miscellaneous items that took my fancy along the way. 

Holiday 1: Red Squirrel Quest ...

We have just returned from a holiday in Dumfries and Galloway. We had looked in vain for Red Squirrels in several places where they were known to live, but had failed to see more than a chewed or discarded pine cone.

We had perched in a Red Squirrel hide, ordered coffee in a Red Squirrel cafe and asked and asked for suggestions, but our quest continued.

We ended up at Eskrigg Reserve, a beautiful forest near Lockerbie. We sat patiently, watching a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Jay, a Mute Swan, a Treecreeper ... but no sign of a squirrel.

We were beginning to think that we would have to move on when we came across a hut, and there, just outside, hanging from a nut feeder was ... a Red Squirrel.

We went on to see three more, and thoroughly enjoyed watching these magnificent animals as they interacted with one another, sat up on their haunches and ran up and down the pine trees.

I have reported our sightings on the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels site. What a privilege to be able to watch - and log - these exquisite creatures.

Home Patch (19): Squirrelympics

While I was counting birds in the garden, a pair of competitive Grey Squirrels ...

... decided to have a rough-and-tumble at the Starting Line.

This one decided to join the relay race ...

... but he lost his baton

... and decided to withdraw from the competition

... as it was time for elevenses.

There are two kinds of Squirrel in the British Isles. These Grey Squirrels are the dominant but non-native species. They are great characters and good fun to watch. I have included the pair in the photos above in my RSPB survey, as part of the form is about mammals.

The Red Squirrel is a delightful animal. It is shy of humans and can only be found in certain parts of the UK. I have watched Red Squirrels in Scotland and on Brownsea Island.