mywildlifeyear-blog

[mywildlifeyear-blog]

Today I ran to and from Whippendell Woods so I could get some snaps of bluebells coming into bloom. I have managed to log a few more animals and was lucky to see three new mammals, one of which I definitely didn't think I would see! I'll be posting what I found soon :) 

[mywildlifeyear-blog]

This is the same site that I visited in my previous blog post. It demonstrates a bit clearer the extent of the floods. A beautiful March sunset taken this evening during my run (13/03/14).

[mywildlifeyear-blog]

Fields, footprints and fowl play

Last week I did one of life’s simplest things - I went outside for a walk. Five minutes from my house and under two bridges (one for a trainline, the other for the mighty M1) is a small estate made up of a number of fields and patches of woodland. Currently the river Colne which runs through the estate has broken its banks and flooded the surrounding fields. This is an annual event which brings with it nutrients for the farmland but more excitingly an influx of animal activity.

Wading through the landscape you can see how dramatically the area has changed. Normally a small subdued river flows peacefully but now a temporary lake has formed. The flooding has been particularly heavy this year and has lasted for a lot longer than normal too. Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus), coots (Fulica atra), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and black headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) have all flocked to the area in search of refuge and foraging sites. All along the banks of the lake were hundreds of snail shells. I imagine they were the prey to the aforementioned birds, however I couldn’t resist and picked a few to bring home and clean, I aim to potentially ID them in the next coming weeks.

The mud along the banks was in such a perfect gooey state that footprints had been almost perfectly preserved, however some were easier to identify than others. We had our usual culprits, the not so uncommon Homo sapiens and Canis lupus familiaris, and what you would expect considering the lakes avian residents.

However there was a set of prints that prompted a bit of head scratching...

After much deliberation…not much improved! I discovered the prints are those of either the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus, or the water vole, Arvicola amphibious, but they look so similar that I need some help, so if there are any experts out there or you have a keen eye for identifying prints then let me know your thoughts. Naturally I would prefer the latter more charismatic species as I know there is a population not too far from this site, but a rats a good find too I suppose… :P

Not only did I spot a few animals but flowers are beginning to bloom too. Here is a beautiful lone crocus next to a few budding daffodils.

On the walk home coincidently we came across a tired bumblebee dozing on the pavement. Most probably a queen searching for the perfect conditions for her new hive. I don’t know a lot about the different species of bee but could tell instantly that it was a bumblebee due to its ‘fat and fluffy’ appearance. In fact, after consulting a guide provided online by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (link below) I was able to reliably identify her as a tree bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, due to her characteristic ginger thorax, black abdomen and white tail. Interestingly the species arrived in the UK from the continent in 2001 and has expanded to even colder climes and was discovered in Iceland in 2008.

I instantly registered the find by uploading the picture onto the National Biodiversity Network’s ongoing wildlife survey and had the species verified by experts. My first entry to a survey this year! It’s always good to help researchers know what wildlife you spot in your patch. Citizen science brings together the public and scientists allowing the professionals to carry out important research such as monitoring animal populations, emergence times, spatial distribution and animal behaviours. And probably what’s most appealing about citizen science to me is that you feel like you’ve helped out the animal you surveyed.

This all resulted from a simple walk which in all lasted only around an hour. It just goes to show how easy it is to begin your wildlife adventure. I’m aiming to visit heron nests in the next coming weeks and potentially Whippendell woods to see the emerging Spring bluebells, so check back soon to see some stunning blooms and hopefully some impressive nests too!

  Bird ID Count: 5

Mammal ID Count*: 1 rat/vole

Invertebrate Count: 1

Plant ID Count: 2

  *Note: I’m omitting humans and dogs from the count, I’m not that desperate…yet

  Bee Conservation Trust: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/

National Biodiversity Survey: http://www.nbn.org.uk/Submit-Data.aspx

[mywildlifeyear-blog]

My Wildlife Year

Yesterday (01/03/14) marked the first official day of spring here in the UK and after a long, horrible, wet winter, it couldn't have been more welcome. This also seemed like the perfect time for me to start a new project; I made the decision to document my wildlife year!

This project was in part inspired by an article I recently read in BBC Wildlife Magazine:

"Amy-Jane Beer set herself the challenge: to put down the car keys and spend a year exploring the wonders of her local patch”

Amy-Jane is a biologist and nature writer with a clear love for wildlife. She would travel both the UK and the world to see fantastic wildlife spectacles, however, these ventures can be extremely pricey! She swapped her jet-setting travel ideas for a year at home exploring her local patch in rural Yorkshire. She ended up experiencing some great wildlife encounters and gained an entirely new perspective on her local wildlife.

“I wasn't planning a mission – no particular species would claim my sole attention. I simply resolved to do more exploring and see what came up.

I took the local 1:25,000 Ordinance Survey map and drew a circle with an 8km radius (five miles) around my home”

I aim to do the same but in an entirely different setting. See, it's quite easy to walk outside in rural Yorkshire and see wildlife within minutes. However I live in Watford. A town with a population of 92,000 people situated just north of London. Not quite as green as the beautiful Yorkshire, ey? 

The urban setting of my project will obviously influence the animals and plants I see during my wildlife year. Although, I may not potentially spy energetic otters or lapwing ballets such the like Amy-Jane experienced, I have heard woodpeckers in my local area and there is currently a number of waterfowl species inhabiting a local floodplain; Watford isn’t completely devoid of wildlife.

During my wildlife year I’m going to be writing down my experiences, sketching my sightings, taking photos and sharing them all on this tumblr page. I aim to improve my ID skills of native UK species: mammals, birds, wildflowers, weeds, fish, invertebrates, trees, you name it! But most importantly I will be learning the true value of the daunting domain which of late people seem to be afraid of: the great outdoors.