You've probably noticed! A scorching March, followed by a cold wet April and May has certainly had an impact on the reserve. It's not been all bad - the rain has helped some heather to germinate in the blocks we cleared in 2010. However the bluebell display has been a bit below par - the plants seem a little shorter, and more spindly than last year. Nevertheless, there is still a carpet of blue in places, and, when the wind drops, you can still fill your nostrils with that sweet scent. Marvellous. Of course, being out on the reserve just reminds me of the work we'll need to do, come the winter. The plan is to coppice some more of the chestnut woods. This will create temporary clearings, letting in a lot more light, and hopefully boosting the bluebells for next year.
My big worry was whether the cold conditions had killed off the field crickets. Re-introduced populations are most vulnerable in the early years of the programme, before the numbers have built up, and conditions this spring have been far from ideal. However, this afternoon I heard 6 calling males, so some at least have survived. Now all we need is some decent weather for egg laying.
This is the 10th anniversary of the Farnham Heath reserve. Happy birthday to us! The site has changed from a commercial conifer plantation to a rather nice bit of heath, even if I do say so myself ! More importantly this year there are 9 pairs of woodlark, 8 pairs of tree pipit and 5 pairs of stonechats that agree! Too early to tell how many nightjars this year...
As part of the celebrations, we've put together a "video blog" about the place. You can find it at http://youtu.be/8QI83ry4R_I
There are still crossbills around at the moment. They're no longer in the flocks they were in either, now you are more likely to come across pairs, and, as well as their distinctive call, males can be heard singing from the tops of pines. Crossbills breed very early - I've had a report of a pair with eggs from a neighbouring site more than a fortnight ago! Birds have been seen carrying nest material here as well, so I'm hopeful that they are breeding on the reserve.
Another early breeder is the woodlark. They have been singing and claiming territory for a couple of weeks as well. It is very early days, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say that we are going to have more pairs this year than last...Time will tell. Not to be outdone, stonechats are also making their way back to the heath here, from wherever they have spent the winter. They aren't really migrants, but many stonechats will spend the winter down on the coast, where it is generally slightly warmer. It's good to see them back.
While stonechats are arriving, we've said farewell to the Exmoor ponies that have spent the winter here. We "borrowed" them from the Surrey Heathland Project, and they did a great job for us. We will be releasing some more field crickets here in the spring, this time in one of the areas open to the public, and the ponies have been preparing the ground by getting the grass short, breaking up the bramble patches and creating small bare areas. However, as the saying goes "their work here is done", so they've been taken off to do good elsewhere.
This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the reserve. I'm really hoping that 2012 will be a memorable breeding season for all our heathland specialities, those with feathers, and without, to really commemorate the occasion!
Sorry to come over all "Bah humbug" as the festive season looms, but I (and I suspect a lot of other heathland managers) am really hoping for a mild winter. The poor old Dartford warblers in particular would really struggle if we had another period of prolonged snow cover. Looking at the figures for the Thames Basin Heaths, which are scattered across north Surrey, east Berkshire and north east Hampshire you can really see the impact of recent harsh winters - in 2008 there were over 600 pairs, but in 2011 there were less than 50 pairs. It's a similar picture on some other heathland areas in SE England as well. Fortunately they weren't hit quite so badly elsewhere in their UK range, so there is a good chance of recovery, provided we get some mild winters. We have been here before - after the famously severe winter of '62/'63, there were less than 20 pairs in the country! They came back from that, so they'll bounce back again IF the winters stay mild. Of course my entomologist friends are hoping for a cold winter, because that will increase the chances of the field cricket nymphs successfully overwintering. It seems that you can't win with wildlife! Still, no-one said this conservation lark was supposed to be easy....
As might be expected it's pretty quiet out on the reserve at the moment, except for the crossbills. It seems to be a very good year for them here, with flocks of up to 20 regularly seen. Other winter visitors include large numbers of siskin (only a few redpoll this year), often in the larches. There was a very brief visit from a Great Grey Shrike on the 19th of November. It was only around for a morning, but it was a wonderful bird to see. Ironically, just the previous week I had been joking with one of the volunteers that this year we'd get the first shrike for the reserve!
The unseasonal warm sunny weather seems to have left our Farnham woodlarks a little confused. They are singing as if it's the spring - not that I'm complaining, as I think the woodlark has one of the most beautiful songs of any British bird. It's a pure mellow, "fluting" kind of song. The scientific name for this songster is Lullula arborea, and the first part of the name is based on the song. The french name for woodlark is Lulu, again, based on the song. I wonder how many fans of a certain popular female entertainer are aware of the connection with this heathland bird?
Whatever the woodlarks might think, it's very definitely autumn. Despite the dry weather, there are lots of fungi about, including one of the rarest species at Farnham, a little thing called Spathularia flavida.It doesn't have an English name, but you'll have to imagine something like very small yellow teaspoons sticking out of the ground. It's more often found in Scottish pine forests, but we usually see a few here each autumn. Another conifer associate currently making itself very obvious is the crossbill. Parties of up to 20 can be found moving around the areas of pine woodland that we have kept on the site. Because they have a very dry diet,exclusively conifer seeds, crossbills are often attracted to puddles and ponds to drink, so the area around our small pond is a good place to see them.
Autumn is also the start of the busiest time for the volunteers on the reserve (not that I don't try to keep them busy the rest of the year as well!). This is when we can tackle the all - important scrub control work. This season we will be clearing scrub from about seven hectares of the reserve. The regulars have been assisted by two teams from HSBC, each of 25 people, and there is a third HSBC group booked in for later this month. The scrub won't know what hit it!
I'ts sometimes said that "the RSPB is only interested in birds". It isn't actually the case - our reserves provide a home for a huge variety of wildlife, and our reserve management work aims to protect all nature. Here at Farnham we've been busy protecting scarce plants, creating homes for reptiles, and watching butterflies.
The plant concerned is Heath Cudweed. Frankly, it isn't much to look at, but it is scarce, so we need to look after it. Last year was a bit of a disaster, as every single flowering head was eaten off by something (possibly muntjac deer). So, this year my trusty volunteers build a barricade around a group of plants, to ensure that some of them at least would be able to flower and set seed. So far, it seems to be working, but Heath Cudweed flowers late in the season, so we'll have to wait and see. We'll also have to wait and see if our reptile work is a success. One possible factor in the national decline in Adder numbers is a lack of suitable places for them to hibernate, so we've built one for them here at Farnham. Essentially it's a pit full of rubble, topped with logs, then smaller branches, and finally soil, with a few openings so that the animals can get in and wriggle their way down to the nooks and crannies between the stones and logs. If it is used, we'll be able to find the snakes basking around the hibernation site in the spring.
The butterflies have been Silver washed fritillaries, just one of the 25 species that have been recorded on the reserve (so far - we keep finding new ones!) They are the largest of our fritillary species, with a powerful, swooping flight. They roost high up in trees but come down to the ground to feed on bramble flowers and for the females to find patches of violets. This is their caterpillar's main food plant, so when a female finds a good patch of suitable violets she will lay her eggs on the nearest tree.
Of course, I couldn't write a blog piece and not mention birds at all...so, I've been especially please to have confirmation of not just one, but two successful pairs of redstart this year. We had one pair on the southern section, Tankersford, and one on the main block. Both have been seen feeding recently fledged chicks. Brilliant.