Local Shorelife

A fantastic day on the shoreline in Brightlingsea on Saturday.. a large crowd of nature lovers, comprising lively pre-schoolers, mums, dads, scouts, BNA members and other interested folk, descended on the Hard in anticipation of a marine and shoreline wildlife walk with enthusiastic and engaging local expert and BNA chairman Roger Tabor.

And what a walk it was! Beginning with a full scale, hands-on crabbing experience, the day continued with a squelch-tastic marine mud session examining sea-weed and worms while hearing about the astonishing private life of the slipper limpet. Continuing along the front, we paused at the beach to examine a jellyfish at close quarters, before taking a well-earned break for lunch at  Bateman's Tower where youngsters who had come a cropper in the mud rejoined the group sporting clean trousers.

Fortified with bacon butties and ice cream, a small core of die-hard beginner naturalists set off along the sea wall with Roger for the afternoon session. Walking along the footpath with sea to one side and ancient grazing marsh to the other, the sun smiled on us and we photographed small copper and gatekeeper butterflies amongst the wildflowers. Meanwhile, the children listened with wrapt attention as Roger explained to them how Wild Carrot attracts insects and showed them seeds of the dock plant through a hand lens.

And the grand finale? A semi-dignified scramble down onto the saltmarsh to look at plants including samphire, sea lavender, sea beet and sea blight and, perhaps most importantly, learn how to use sea purslane as a guide for where (not!) to put your feet. A satisfyingly fitting end to what was a most incredible and memorable day.

BioBlitz

Well we had a go in the garden at the weekend.. I'm still looking up and trying to identify many of the things we found, which is great because I'm learning all the time. The little one loved it, and his determined bug-hunting meant that we were able to identify three different types of woodlouse in our patch, including this rosy-coloured one.. I have to admit that before the BioBlitz a woodlouse was a woodlouse, as far as I was concerned!



A really noticeable thing was that we didn't find a single ladybird. Our garden is usually full of them. I've looked again this week, and have only found one or two tiny creamy-coloured harlequins, no red ones at all.

However, we were blessed with a large red damselfly, basking on a rose leaf in the mid-day sunshine:



And as well as white and blue butterflies, we found this tiny daytime flying moth:



I think it must be pyrasta aurata.. during the week I have noticed masses of them: numbers of them fly up as I walk amongst the plants in my herb garden, and now I know why! They feed on mints, marjoram and lemon balm, so I have provided them with pretty much a perfect place to set up shop.

May

A May bank holiday trip to Arlesford today and this amazing view of bluebells and stitchwort..





Heavily laden boughs of may were incredibly fragrant in the sunshine and the grass was colourful with buttercups and drifts of sheep sorrel.





I had a wonderful wander in the ruined old church and its graveyard beyond, where the grass and wildflowers are left to grow, hoping for butterflies.





I was treated to these beautiful white star-like flowers peeping out amongst the grass, which I've been trying to identify... Star of Bethlehem?





We did get to see some butterflies later on, walking in the grass (and nettles!) down near the little streams. We think this peacock must have hibernated over winter, as they're not supposed to be about yet - in the second photo you can see how tattered it is.





This was a beautiful butterfly I've not seen before, a Speckled Wood, which we found in dappled semi-woodland very near to a large stretch of water.



And as a fitting end to a fantastic afternoon, we were lucky enough to see both a blue-tailed damselfly and several large red damselflies, one of which obligingly sat on a leaf in the sunshine for us.

Holly Blue

This year we're going to try to photograph / identify and record the butterflies we see locally.. which will probably generally mean those that visit our garden while I'm pegging the washing out or fetching it in!



I hadn't been overly optimistic about any butterflies sitting still long enough for me to get a halfway decent photograph, but while I was out gardening recently this Holly Blue came and sat very obliging in a puddle for around 10 minutes.. so here is our first record of the season.



I was really thrilled to get close enough for long enough to see the banded antennae and legs and the body was a really fluffy powder-blue .. beautiful!

It kept fluttering around and then coming back for another long sit on the wet paving where I'd been watering in some plants. I wondered whether it was attracted by the wet or by the bit of blue plastic nearby which was exactly the same colour ... see second photo?

Wild Herbs

Amazing, amazing experience at the weekend... a 'Wild Herbs for Food and Medicine' walk with no less than Roger Tabor, chairman of British Naturalists Association and former chairman of the Herb Society, who just happens to live in Brightlingsea! Couldn't believe my luck when I saw a poster up in a shop window in the High Street.. the walk was across the countryside and down to the saltmarsh at the tip of Flag Creek out the back of where I live. Down at the very tip of the creek we tasted Marsh Samphire and Sea Purslane and also saw Sea Beet, Sea Aster and Sea Lavender.

Apart from scribbling down a few notes on cooking Sea Purslane, I failed spectacularly to take any notes or photographs during the walk. I just wanted to be in the moment and give it all my fullest attention.. such opportunities do not come along every day of the week!

But the very next morning I went out on my own for a little countryside ramble near home while it was all fresh in my mind to see if I could find any of the new plants I'd been introduced to..

Mugwort

Can't believe this great Anglo-Saxon favourite is just growing everywhere around and I never knew it!

Wild Carrot

Can you see the purple-ish dot in the middle of the flower-head? This is in imitation of an insect feeding, which encourages other insects to land.

It folds up into this distinctive 'birds nest' shape when it forms its seeds.

Woody Nightshade















None of these pictures would win any prizes, but you get the idea! Very inspiring and feel greatly encouraged about going out and about and learning more plants.

Swans

I was just reading this lovely post about swans over at Comfrey Cottages, and it reminded me I took some pictures a while back that I didn't get around to posting.

This is at the boating lake down at the seafront where we live. We go down regularly to feed the ducks in the winter.. there are trillions of them, all sorts, all shapes and colours and sizes. The little'un loves it, because they take the bread straight from his hands... but we also usually see two or three beautiful swans. They glide smoothly along. But suddenly they are there - right there, at your elbow! They will actually try to nose their beak into your coat pocket if you've stashed the bread in there.

I have to confess this makes me very nervous! As well as being stunningly beautiful, they are big powerful creatures. I think that its only when they are protecting young that the parent birds can be scary, but I want to find out more about them and their behaviours. I like that they often pair for life.

On this particular day a lovely soft downy juvenile is wandering about with the ducks hoping for bread while a parent seems content just sitting on the grass off to one side keeping an eye.

Monday 13th Feb, UPDATE:-

Many thanks to MadHat for sharing this excellent information about the best nutritious food to feed ducks and swans, as too much bread is not the best thing for them.

Robin

Here he is .. our cheeky robin chappy!

Unlike the other birds, he lands on a twig right next the window (on the overhanging vine - you remember the vine?)and looks straight at you and cocks his head. I put some seed on the ground right outside and he tucked in quite happily and posed for us, too!

Snow

Yes, I know everyone else has snow too, and one back garden looks pretty much like another when covered in snow ... but its just so brilliant! Especially on a Sunday when you don't have to worry about trying to get anywhere and can just go and enjoy it.

Except I'm housebound with the start of a migraine and a painful swollen knee, doh! But I really do believe that every cloud has a silver lining (even if you have to poke quite hard to find it).

We were worried about the birds, so lovely hubby went out to clear and fill the bird feeders which were covered in snow .. all freshly filled and with a nice clear snow-free patch beneath for picking up the fallen food .. so I've been sat with tea and toast in my armchair enjoying the best wildlife show you could hope for: a pair of robins, a pair of chaffinches (I just love their colouring and they are new to me), a pair of blue tits, our resident flock of funny hoppy little sparrows, a squadron of starlings (whom I love - there were eight of them on the hanging table at once today! someone told me they were mainly ground feeders, so they are especially affected by the snow, is this right? also I saw one passing food beak to beak with another the same size .. a late chick??) Not to mention my friend mr. blackbird, who was valiantly doing his territorial thing, seeing off a thrush nearly twice his size.

If I hadn't been forced to sit in the armchair completely still, I would have missed the show! And I'm still learning .. today I've found out that male and female robins are identical, that chaffinches don't usually use the feeders but prefer to pick up seed from the ground (today the female chaffinch was doing this, sneaking in to the cleared patch of ground for some seeds when mr. blackbird's back was momentarily turned, but the male chaffinch was occasionally taking his turn on the feeders .. needs must in the snow, I think?) Still got some looking up to do to identify the big thrush-type bird, though. A happy evening with some books to come.

Please check out the RSPB's advice on how you can help your birds during the snow (I found out plenty, including not using those little mesh bags that fat balls come in, for example) and leave a comment to share any tips that others might not know?


Update Monday 6th Feb:-

Well, the armchair wildlife warrior was in action again today .. still feeling crock and housebound, but sitting at the kitchen table having a coffee I noticed a starling trapped behind the glass of our neighbour's lounge window across the street. Lovely hubby went and rang the bell, but no reply. Denis next door came to see what was happening and he knocked next door over the street but one, who had the key for Joan's house with the trapped starling. They went in with an old towel and the starling shot out the door to freedom! Teamwork, huh? Well, while watching the rescue I was reminded of that favourite poem by Pam Ayres..

We're starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We don't go round hopin', we walks.
We don't go in for this singing all day,
And twittering about, we just squawks.

We don't go in for these fashionable clothes,
Like old Missel Thrush, and his spots,
Me breast isn't red, there's no crest on me head,
We've got sort of, hardwearing...dots.

We starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We'll eat anything that's about,
Well anything but that old half coconut,
I can't hold it still. I falls out.

What we'd rather do, is wait here for you,
To put out some bread for the tits,
And then when we're certain, you're there by the curtain,
We flocks down and tears it to bits.

But we starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We reckon that we're being got at,
You think for two minutes, them finches and linnets,
You never sees THEM being shot at.

So the next time you comes out to sprinkle the crumbs out,
And there's starlings there, making a noise,
Don't you be so quick to heave half a brick,
It's the misses, meself and the boys!

Hope you're all having a good day :-)

Recycle for Wildlife

Just wanted to share this request I received today for us all to donate our old mobile phones to FFI who can get a £5 donation for each phone received to put towards their wildlife conservation work..

"Did you know your old mobile phone could help FFI to save gorillas and other endangered wildlife around the world?

FFI is today launching a campaign calling for individuals, companies and schools to send us their old mobile phones. It is designed to coincide with Recycle Week, the official UK campaign to encourage people to recycle more.

For every phone received, FFI will receive about £5. It's a great way to support our vital conservation work without spending a penny."




Full information on where to send your old phone at the
Fauna and Flora International website.

Woodland Appeal

I'm wondering whether anyone in the UK who sees this in time might be able to help - The Woodland Trust are appealing for people to ring up and vote for their project to create a new wood near Colchester, Essex to win lottery funding (see details below).

The phone number to ring is 0871 626 8803 and the call must be before midnight tonight (Wed 26th November).

Many thanks for your help!


****** FROM THE WOODLAND TRUST WEBSITE ******

We need your urgent help. Our appeal to create a new wood at Elmstead Market in Colchester Essex has the chance to win nearly £50,000, as part of the Big Lottery Fund's People's Millions contest - but only if it gets enough telephone votes.

As well as protecting ancient woodland and providing habitat for endangered wildlife, like barn owls, buzzards and water voles, the new wood will provide people with more green spaces - if we can raise enough funds.

If you'd like to help, please call the voting number which will be released during the ITV Anglia East evening news and on the Big Lottery Fund website from 9am until midnight - on Wed 26th November.



Thank you in advance,

Mark Brown
Woodland Trust grants officer

Oak Galls

This morning I stumbled across these photos lying forgotten on my phone since a wonderful late summer walk in the Essex/Suffolk countryside back in August. There were lots of these galls on the oaks we passed, along with lots of healthy looking acorns.





I particularly liked this (slightly blurry!) one, where you can see the tinge of red..



I didn't know anything about oak galls, except that they were used for making ink in medieval times and had a lot of tannin, so I did a bit of reading up and thought other folks might also like to see the links I found. I had no idea that there were so many different types and was glad to discover that the wasps that make them don't pose any real threat to the trees.

Here's what the RHS have to say, here's a picture of a 'Knopper Gall' which seems the closest to my photos (double click to enlarge)

Here are Wikipedia entries on the 'Knopper Gall' in particular and Gall Wasps in general

and here is a link to the British Plant Gall Society with instructions for recording oak gall sitings.

Green Fair

A wonderful thing - I've just been to the Better Haringey Green Fair which was held just over the road from our house this afternoon.

It was so nice to see the green space outside Tottenham town hall being used for such a great purpose - it used to be behind railings, overgrown, full of litter and only frequented by vagrants and winos. But a year or two back the council put money and effort into sorting it out, opening it up and adding broad paved access paths and lovely old-fashioned street lights to make it safer. It is used a lot now and looks great.

But I digress! Back to the Green Fair ... lots of stalls with local campaigning, wildlife and recycling groups. I chatted to some lovely people, including the local Friends of the Earth group who had a bloke dressed up as an orang-u-tan to launch their campaign about Bio-Fuels: the EU is proposing a directive requiring 10% of petrol and diesel be made from biofuels by 2020, but using land for palm oil is causing food shortages and accelerating rain-forest destruction .. find out more here and contact your MEP about blocking the proposal.

It was great to visit the stalls and I signed petitions and MP letters on a number of issues and picked up lots of leaflets.

Thought I'd share some of the info and links, in case anybody's interested?

I got a wonderful 'STOP! Don't bin it, recycle it!' sticker which I'm going to stick on the lid of our kitchen bin to remind everyone to think twice about whether something can be recycled. This was from Recycle for London whose website tells you where to find your nearest recycling facilities and has lots of info on more ways to recycle kitchen and garden household waste.

At the BBC Breathing Places stand I was given a free CD 'tune into the dawn chorus: audio guide' which has the songs of different birds on it plus a quiz at the end.. brilliant! I can only recognise one or two, and would really like to learn some more so that I can listen out for them. We have a pretty good dawn chorus here, despite being in a built up city area. There's a little booklet to go with it which has pictures of all the birds and advice on encouraging birds into your space. You can hear and see some of them here and also download a beautiful kingfisher screensaver. Apparently, once a year in May there is an International Dawn Chorus Day.. shame we just missed this year's one, but definitely something to get involved with in 2009! Some more bird links you might like are British Trust for Ornithology and the RSPB.

I was also given a 'tree party' pocket guide - which has tree-planting tips plus spotting tips for common local trees. You can download your own copy here and, if you have kids, you might be interested in the Tree For All initiative, too?

Well, I hope you found something to interest you somewhere in all that! I'll add the links to the side bar in my continuing quest to develop Earth and Tree as a sort of resource centre for information on all these earth friendly types of thing.

Bees

The herb garden is at its finest, with a whole host of flowers opening and doing their thing. We had glorious sunshine yesterday afternoon, and the bees were busy working away on all the blossoms.. I've never seen so many. And I'm glad I put a pot of chives on the kitchen windowsill, because I get to see the many bee visits at close quarters while I'm cooking or washing up!











Also, this year, the valerian and sunflowers are about eye-level height.. so I can get a really good look at the bees (who don't seem to mind as they are so busy in the flowers!). I've seen big fat bumbles, but also longer narrow bees and I've decided to try and find out a bit more about the different types of bee that might visit an English garden.

Wildflowers

Here in London we had a lovely warm day .. and I visited a local nature reserve, the WaterWorks in Leyton, East London. It was so peaceful there, and it was great to be amid nature in all her glory. Today I saw a heron, red admiral butterflies and lots of enormous bumble bees!

There are little hides to watch the birds on the old water filter beds and a nice place to have a picnic. Also, they are having a wildlife open day this weekend .. if anyone is interested and in the area, these are the contact details:

The Waterworks nature reserve, Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7NU (020-8988 7566). Open daily, 9am-9pm. Entrance free. Nearest tube Walthamstow; nearest railway station, Clapton. Buses 48, 55 and 56 stop outside.

I didn't gather anything, of course, but some of these plants are valuable medicinally and have interesting uses .. and as they are growing wild within 2 miles of home, I like to 'learn' them by watching them grow, seeing what wildlife they attract and looking them up when I get home.


From top:
white deadnettle, red deadnettle, cowslip, speedwell, hawthorn

Ladybird

Since its been so cold and miserable, thought I'd post a photo leftover from sunnier times this month!

Remember I found lots of baby ladybirds on the clary sage? I was just reading somewhere that each ladybird eats somewhere in the region of 5000 aphids in their year-long life.. a good friend to have in the garden.



But I also saw a report about the invasive Harlequin ladybird on Gardeners' World on Friday night. This newcomer is becoming a threat not only to our native ladybirds but also to other insects, as it eats their grubs. Next time I'm up on the roof I will be making a careful examination to try and see which types I've got .. apparently it can be difficult to tell them apart.

Useful Links:

The Harlequin Ladybird Survey
UK Ladybird Survey


UPDATE:
I just went back and zoomed in on the photo so I could count the spots. I think it is a Harlequin, you know .. decidedly orange and looks like about 17 spots to me. Will have to measure the length next time, as the Harlequin should be significantly larger than the native ones.

Stop Global Warming

I just visited this website and found a list of tips for reducing carbon emissions. The list is long, but I have picked out things that are do-able for me and my lifestyle (or are, in fact, things I'm already doing).

I have always felt fairly powerless to make significant changes, as I live in rented accomodation so cannot do the major things our house needs like double-glazing or draught-proofing etc. But I was amazed by how many of the things on the list didn't apply to me in a POSITIVE way.. for example, the fact that I don't use a car or a dishwasher. And we don't have central heating. So it turns out I'm doing better than I thought, after all, which is heartening!

One day I'll hopefully live in an eco-house with solar panels, but until then, here are my little contributions..

Use Recycled Paper
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.

This is something I've been working on recently .. I have found an affordable supplier and from now on all Hedgewitch information sheets and newsletters will be printed on 100% recycled paper.

Buy Products Locally
Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.

This is a tough one in the city, but I am planning a visit to that local farmers' market I found so that hopefully I can buy less food from Tescos. I already get my fruit and veg in a box, which is delivered by van, but I know they source things as locally as they can within the UK.

Buy Minimally Packaged Goods
Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. Save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.

My fruit and veg box comes in a cardboard box which you return for re-use the following week. I re-use the corrugated card dividers to pack the ceramic pieces in Hedgewitch parcels and I re-use the string for tying up plants in the garden.

Am generally horrified how much packaging everything comes in! I recycle all the card sleeves and re-use the plastic trays for plant saucers and incubators. But finding places to buy less packaged products is something I really want to work on.

Reduce Garbage
Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

You know, since I've stepped up my recycling/re-using/composting, we've been amazed how little garbage we are putting out now. One black sack a week, rather than one every other day.

Plant a Tree
Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breathe. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

Hmmmm.. maybe I could think of giving the gift of planting a tree via The Woodland Trust for special occasions?

Unplug Un-Used Electronics
Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year.

I could (and must) do this!

Buy Organic Food
The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.

I do as much as I can, for health reasons, but this is an added incentive.

Bring Cloth Bags to the Market
Using your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

I was given the most fabulous cloth bag by friends of mine for Christmas.. it is tongue-in-cheek and features 'typical London wildlife' (a one-legged pigeon, a large rat etc!) Its great because it folds up small and weighs nothing, so I just keep it stashed in my handbag for any shopping I pick up while I'm out.

Ditch the Plastic
2.5 million individual plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour in the US. Start using a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic!

I could DEFINITELY do this, as I do sometimes buy small bottles of water when I'm out. I need to drink more water .. I'm really bad at this. I think I will fill a bottle with tap water each morning (whether I'm home or out) for use during the day. When its hot in the summer, I sometimes fill a water bottle with tap water and add a couple of ice-cubes with lemon balm or pineapple sage leaves in them, which is really refreshing.

Capel Manor

Today I went to Capel Manor Gardens for their Spring Show. It is a horticultural college and has 30 acres of beautiful themed gardens, including Sunflower Street - a series of spaces designed for the front and back gardens of normal houses. My favourite was called Rustic Garden and influenced by Tuscany..
















I loved this one, too, which had a formal area with a willow screen in front of a great space for growing veggies with a green house and shed...






And then this garden is just plain pretty..




There was a 'step towards Greener Living' marquee, which was great! I met a wonderful lady from the North London Organic Gardeners Society who pressed a packet of heritage peas collected from her own plants into my palm in return for my meagre 50p donation! How exciting.. she thought they would be OK on my roof and I could pinch them out once they were thigh-high without them minding.. watch this space.



I also picked up a moth and butterfly identification poster and some interesting information about making your garden friendly for wildlife. And I left the marquee with a letter to send to the Secretary of State for the Environment objecting to GM crops and a flyer for an open day at the national collection of hyssop and thyme garden in June.. not a bad morning's work!


















Here are my treasures from the Herbal Haven stall ... I thought I was very restrained, to be honest(!) I got another lovage plant, because its a favourite. I got a chicory, which I have never tried before but hope to use as a salad leaf. I got a bronze fennel, because its SO beautiful and I'm thinking of using the fronds as foliage in vases of cut flowers. And I got some Southernwood - the fragrance is amazing and I'm planning to use it to pack some punch in my herb sachets this year.





If anyone's in the UK and fancies going along, its on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and I'm putting the link here ... there's a real punch & judy show, sheep-shearing and a brass band at the weekend!