May 21   Mercia Marina – Wildlife Walk

At the Toyota roundabout (A50/A38) take road left to Willington. At traffic lights at edge of village just before canal bridge turn left. Note brown sign to Mercia Marina. Proceed for about a mile, drive over railway crossing, marina on left. Park inside entrance on left.

Grid ref  SK 303 296              Postcode  DE65 6DW

Walk Leader:  David Boddy

Close to the old Willington Power Station, Mercia Marina has been created from an former gravel pit and is on the peaceful and tranquil Trent and Mersey Canal, halfway between Fradley Junction and Trent Lock/Sawley in the heart of England’s canal country. Twelve islands/promontories were added to the existing Willington Lake, creating a series of mini-marinas in the 24 acre waterspace, surrounded by soft banks planted with wildflowers and reeds.

View across part of the site – disused Willington Power Station in background

On a warm still evening David introduced the site and led a walk around the marina, through the gated enclosure. He showed the great variety of native trees that had been planted, these included oak, alder, aspen, balsam poplar and several willow species.  Jubilee Wood close by had also been planted in honour of her majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

 The soil was poor and this has resulted in many wildflowers, including bee orchid if you are lucky.  There are also varied waterside plants such as great bittercress, water dock and water hemlock.  The plants are a mixture of plantings and natural occurrences.  Near the road are more formal plantings but great care has been taken throughout to plant species varieties where possible.

Some strange scale insects were found on a hornbeam.  Leaf beetles, weevils and soldier beetles were abundant.

Strange scale insects on Hornbeam

Possibly Altica lythri

We paused for a long time at one of the islands which was hosting a pair of yellow wagtails and other birds.  What a wonderful sight.  As the binoculars dragged themselves away, a small hedgehog came into view.

The Chandlery had a bright red sedum roof which provides a green niche for wildlife which is low maintenance and provides insulation.  There were few flowers on the butterfly bank and no butterflies were seen but purple hairstreaks have been recorded flying in the oak trees and so another visit in the month of July would be a good plan.

Sedum planted on Chandlery roof

Downloads;

Walk Guide (pdf document)

Mercia Marina species sightings (doc format – recorded by Marion Bryce during the walk)

Related Links;

Mercia Marina Wildlife

David Bellamy Gold Award

In aid of the Mayor’s Charities, a guided tour of the Trent College Arboretum will take place on Saturday 19th May 2012 (2pm – 4pm).

This is one of the best school Arboretums in the UK and includes the ‘Bishops Spinney’ which is mentioned in the Royal Record.

Tickets are £5.00 including refreshments, and are available from;

Ilkeston Town Hall, Wharncliffe Road, Ilkeston, DE7 5RP

Long Eaton Town Hall, Derby Road, long Eaton, NG10 1HU

or call Sue Dunkley on 0115 907 2244 ext 3441

•  Please click here to download event poster in pdf format (3.5MB)

•  Trent College is situated off Derby Road, Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 4AD

On Saturday 28th April, LENS members visited the Cromford Canal and Lea Wood area for a 2 mile spring bluebell walk led by Marion Bryce. The group met at High Peak Junction car park off Mill Road/Lea Road from Cromford (Grid ref  SK 314 560).

The weather had been so miserable in the preceding week that we jumped for joy when the sun came out and the sky brightened as we watched a buzzard circle over the car park.

LENS members at Lea Wood. Photo © David Pinney

After crossing the fast flowing River Derwent and the railway line to the Cromford Canal at High Peak junction we leaned on the black and white lock gates and saw broad leaved pond weed floating on the water surface but the water voles had been flushed out of their usual haunt and were not seen all afternoon.

The construction of the Cromford Canal was completed in 1794. It is 14.5 miles long and joined Cromford with the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill. The site has a wealth of industrial heritage and lies in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site.  The Cromford Canal was last used as a working waterway in 1944 and is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its entire length from Cromford to Ambergate. The designation was for key species such as water vole, grass snake and little grebe but also for the wealth of water associated plants which grew in, and near the canal.

As we walked towards the Butterley Tunnel we could see the bright green spears of reed sweetgrass emerging and also the pink (male) and white (female) flower spikes of butterbur with its huge leaves which were once used to wrap butter pats. Pale lilac cuckoo flower and the fluffy seeds of coltsfoot vied with large stands of pendulous sedge and some lesser pond sedge. The crinkled leaves of yellow flag also promised a good display.

Tufted ducks, moorhens and nesting coots were seen but the whinnying call of little grebes, in summer plumage with bright chestnut throat and cheeks, teased the photographers as the fluffy rear end disappeared into the water only to surface some distance away.  There was a convenient bench. A pair of treecreepers showed off on the standing dead wood across in the wood.

Little Grebe. Photo © David Pinney (love the painterly background, David!)

 A lot of Himalayan balsam seedlings were just sprouting and there were large patches of green algae in the water which was quite opaque. There has been a lot of disturbance of sediment while major works have taken place to replace the viaduct. Isolated submerged plants of rigid hornwort and an unknown water plant were seen just before we quit the canal bank to climb over the tunnel.

Heading towards Lea Wood we used a Woodland Trust list of ancient woodland indicator species and the first plant we ticked was wood melick – it’s graceful stems ornamenting the gritstone.

An outstanding display of white greater stitchwort, yellow archangel and native bluebells lined the path through the birch woods which were ringing with birdsong.

As bracken replaced the woodland flora the luminescent moss refracting pale green light from fallen wood and old stone walls inspired more photographs. The red and black hairy wood ants (Formica lugubris) in the wood are attractive but as they sting we were glad there were not too many around.

Wood Sorrel. Photo © David Pinney

We photographed an isolated patch of oxlip under hawthorn, just off the track. A narrow slippery path led back to the Lea Branch of the canal which was covered with lesser duckweed.  An excited gulp of house martins arrived just as we reached the car park.

Related Links;

Bluebell fact sheet (Woodland Trust pdf)

Tiptoe through the Bluebells (Music video – Misty Miller performs the Woodland Trust’s charity single).

A walk along the Cromford Canal

Friends of Cromford Canal

Leawood Pumphouse and Cromford Canal (History video).

Marion

Groundwork with the Friends of Forbes Hole organised a bird box building session at Forbes Hole on Sunday 25 March.  Using a good design, pieces were sawn out with no waste wood. A 28mm hole was drilled in the front section and a pre-cut metal guard with 25 mm (blue tit) or 28 mm (great tit) hole was screwed on. The sections were then nailed together – we had seven work benches set up on the meadow.  The boxes were then weather proofed on the top with sections of old tyres and painted. 23 boxes were made. A very good team effort.  Thanks to Councillor Briggs (pictured below left), representing  Erewash Borough Council, for a grant to cover the purchase. Friends of Forbes Hole member, Pete Wearn is on the right, with paint brush to the ready.

It was a lovely sunny day and as a bonus we saw 5 brimstone butterflies and a peacock butterfly.  A pied shieldbug was also seen.  A pair of bullfinches and a pair of treecreepers were nest building.  A green woodpecker called and a buzzard circled overhead.

Pied Shieldbug

Marion

On Monday 12th March, Kieron Huston, Senior Wildlife Sites Officer for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust gave a talk to LENS on the topic of rare and unusual plants found in Derbyshire.  The reference source for the list of plants is the Red Data List of Derbyshire’s Vascular Plants which was compiled by Nick Moyes and Alan Wilmot.  Colourful slides illustrated the plants together with mapped sites.

The huge task of monitoring and protecting the sites was outlined with illustrated examples of key species such as burnt orchid, field gentian and globe flower.  The stronghold sites for many unusual plants were in the white peak of Derbyshire but a considerable number of key sites are along the Trent Valley.  Rare species found in the Long Eaton area include brown sedge, field garlic, spiny restharrow, pepper saxifrage and marsh arrowgrass.  It was hoped that local groups would continue to record and monitor rare plants and send records to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

80-90% of semi natural grassland has been lost since 1980 due to agricultural modernisation, urbanisation, lack of management and pollution. To try and deliver a biodiversity living landscape from the small scattered wildlife sites that remain was the task of the Wildlife Trust in liaison with public and private landowners.

Marion

Galanthus elwesii - photographed at Hodsock Priory © Marion Bryce

In recent years I have become somewhat of a Galanthophile. I have fallen in love with the timid, nodding heads of the milk white flowers that are one of the first harbingers of Spring. The first snowdrops to flower in my garden this year were hybrids of Galanthus elwesii, originally from Turkey. They actually flowered before the new year. The leaves of snowdrops are the most reliable for identification, G elwesii has wide grey green leaves cupped around each other at the base. The flower often has green patches on the top and the bottom of the corolla tube whereas most snowdrop flowers have only a single mark. Some giant varieties have been bred from this species.

Galanthus woronowii, another early flowering species with wide, green, shiny leaves and also from Turkey, and although known in this country for more than a century it has only recently started to be widely planted in parks and gardens. CITES support sustainable harvesting and monitor the snowdrop trade to ensure wild populations are not endangered. There are nineteen wild species of snowdrop.

The Crimean or pleated snowdrop Galanthus plicatus is late flowering and has wide, grey green leaves with in-rolled margins held flat together at the base and often a silver central stripe. It is sometimes found in old gardens.

Galanthus nivalis which is starting to flower now, has narrow strap like dark green leaves held flat against each other at the base. This is found in many churchyards, grass verges and woodlands. Elvaston Castle churchyard has good displays, Gonalston Church is a bit further afield but has a lovely display of aconites and snowdrops. These ‘native’ snowdrops were probably introduced by monks from Europe in the 16th century. The flowers have a single green V mark on the corolla tube and many double varieties have been bred. There are now over 700 named varieties of snowdrop.

To see breathtakingly wonderful displays of snowdrops I go to Dimminsdale SK 376219. This is a 6.5ha nature reserve owned by Severn Trent Water and managed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust. The reserve lies at the head of Staunton Harold Reservoir near Calke Abbey. It is best approached via the B587, north from the A42 Ashby junction. Follow the road for 2 km past Staunton Harold Hall, take the first left turn towards Calke and park in the Picnic Area car park, which is on the left before reaching the reservoir. Access to the reserve itself is on the roadside about 50 m beyond the bridge over the reservoir. Please keep to the paths – it is dangerous to stray from them, as there are several old mine shafts on the reserve. The path around the reserve is almost all through mixed woodland. The Laundry Pool, acts as a settling pond for the Calke Brook which marks the border of Derbyshire and Leicestershire. In January and February, a large number of snowdrops bloom at the south-western end of the reserve.

Hopton Hall is open everyday from Wednesday 1st February to Sunday 4th March 2012. An entry fee is charged. The Hall can trace its roots back to the 1400′s. Since 1996, the woodland and its walks have been restored and this has produced wonderful displays of snowdrops and aconites. The Beech, Badger and Spring walks have been created also a small Arboretum and Pinetum, two small ponds and a wildlife lake. There are 2 km of meandering paths through a 1 acre walled garden, along the croquet lawn & rosewalk, around 2 ornamental ponds leading to a wildlife lake.

Snowdrops at Elvaston © Marion Bryce

Felley Priory Gardens are situated just half a mile from Junction 27 of the M1. Felley Priory, Jacksdale, Nottinghamshire, NG16 5FJ. Take the A608 to Heanor for half a mile and the entrance to Felley Priory is on the left. This tranquil garden is said to be one of Nottinghamshire’s best kept secrets – the house and its 2.5 acre garden are nestled in beautiful rolling countryside. Throughout the month of February, a collection of over 60 different varieties of snowdrops grow in the garden.  Snowdrop February starts on the 1st, February and ends February 29, 2012. The garden has been carefully planted so that there are plants of interest all year round and has a fully stocked nursery, from which visitors can purchase plants which they have seen in the garden.

For snowdrop madness go to Hodsock Priory, Blyth, Nottinghamshire Open 4 February to 4 March. An entry fee is charged. The Snowdrop winter garden is nestled in the 800 acre Hodsock estate. Along with more than 100 acres of woodland, the snowdrops cover around 5 acres of the estate with large plantings of named varieties plus woodland walks with naturalised snowdrops. There’s a well signed, cordoned walk around the gardens with short cuts for those who are less mobile and walk extensions for those wanting to roam the woodland. Enjoy a bacon butty and cuppa by the bonfire each weekend at Mr Ford’s Potting Shed. The Café Bar serves up hot and cold home-made food. Snowdrop souvenirs and high quality merchandise can be found in the gift shop. This is a real snowdrop experience.

Marion

Last Monday (January 9th), LENS members and several newcomers were treated to a fabulous evening talk on bird migration by our guest speaker, Nigel Slater. The event took place in the Long Eaton Library annex, as part of the LENS indoor programme.

Nigel’s depth of  knowledge on the subject and raw enthusiasm made the event thoroughly enjoyable for all who attended, and even our keen bird watchers came away with a whole new perspective on the topic of bird migration and the latest discoveries being made.

If anyone gets the chance to attend one of Nigel Slater’s talks, I can highly recommend him. Nigel will also be giving a talk on Garden Birds and their Songs, for the Derbyshire Ornithological Society, on Saturday 10th March 2012 at the Methodist Church Rooms, Buxton.

Mistletoe - Borrowash, Derbys.

For hundreds of years mistletoe Viscum album has been planted on local trees.  There is a thriving mistletoe colony in Chilwell on apple and lime trees, apple trees on Cleveland Avenue and Grange Road Long Eaton.  Recently mistletoe has been seen to spread to wilder habitats.  It is now found on hawthorn by the Erewash Canal in Long Eaton, on lime trees by the railway line in Sandiacre and there is a massive spreading population on hawthorn by the River Derwent at Borrowash.

Below is a précis of an article about mistletoe distribution by Jonathan Briggs which appeared in British Wildlife Volume 23 No 1

Apple trees were and are the mistletoe’s commonest host in Britain. A lot of distribution data was collected in 1990 and the latest data has shown an increase in mistletoe distribution. The new information has weakened the popular belief that mistletoe distribution coincides with apple orchards. The mistletoe needs space around its host, so its normal habitat is probably riversides, open scrub on steep slopes or woodland clearings.  Nowadays it is found on well spaced trees in gardens, orchards and parks.

The commoner hosts are man-made, domesticated apples, poplars and limes although hawthorn is also a common host.  Maple, willow, crab apple and false acacia are occasional hosts but mistletoe can grow on 450 host species. The host and habitat ranges vary across the country with most of the records in wild habitats in the core area Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset.

Climatic influences (winter and summer temperature maxima and minima) are the accepted explanation for the mistletoe’s UK distribution. Natural populations are limited to areas below 1000 m in Europe but with other factors the altitudinal limit in the UK is closer to 200 m.

There seems to be a real natural increase in mistletoe colonies in many areas, particular studies in Essex and around the London area have found colonies on young limes and poplars in increasing numbers.

In orchards mistletoe needs to be kept in check each season so that excessive mistletoe growths don’t spread to every branch of the tree. UK mistletoe is not usually a killer but large amounts will eventually overwhelm the host and create water and wind stress.  Not yet subject to thorough data collection and analysis, it seems the current neglect of old orchards has resulted in more mistletoe in biomass terms but the quantity is unsustainable and may accelerate the loss of these old orchards.  This would affect the Christmas crop of mistletoe and there is renewed interest in the management of mistletoe through the Orchard Network.  A new survey looking at how vulnerability varies according to apple varieties is due to start.

The reasons that mistletoe is spreading and becoming more plentiful in some areas seems to be due to several factors; changes in climate; bird vectors spreading the berries and direct planting by man. Climate change studies have confirmed altitudinal and northward trends in Scandinavia but not naturally in Scotland.  In England an eastward trend is possible but the population may ultimately reduce due to warm winter temperatures as the climate potentially became more oceanic.

Few bird species take mistletoe berries, the usual species are thrushes mostly the mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus.  These excrete the seeds as a half digested berry pulp.  The top few seeds can germinate and grow on the host branch but the seeds dangling below will die.  The blackcap Sylvia atricapilla also regularly consumes mistletoe berries.  This warbler separates the seed from the pulp before swallowing, in a distinctive head waggling procedure.  Each seed is then wiped off the bill directly onto the branch making them very efficient mistletoe planters.

Since the 1980s our overwintering blackcap population has increased to many thousands of birds and observational data suggests they may have become significant bird vectors.

Ring necked parakeets Psitticula kameri also take mistletoe berries and their potential role is intriguing.

Man made planting could be a possible factor in distributional change.  Some biodiversity schemes have included limited planting and there has been significant interest in ‘grow your own’ mistletoe kits in recent years – you heard it first on The Archers. There is a long tradition of mistletoe planting in gardens, even in areas way beyond the mistletoe’s natural range.

There are six mistletoe associated insects, four bugs, a weevil and a moth. The species are a psyllid bug Cacopsylla visci, a distinctive mirid bug, Pinalitus viscicola, Hypseloecus visci, a recently discovered mirid bug and Anthocoris visci a predatory flower bug which feeds on the mistletoe psyllid. Mistletoe marble moth Celypha woodiana is a small tortricid moth with a leaf mining larva which flies in July and August this has been known since 1876 but it is only recently that studies have shown it is a species of principal importance in England under the NERC act of 2006. It has been found on mistletoe growing on apple and hawthorn.  Another newly discovered species is the mistletoe weevil Ixapion variegatum which has only been found in Hereford. It seems to be found in mistletoe on stressed apple trees.  The life cycle involves oviposition within mistletoe stems just below the terminal bud with subsequent larval development killing off the terminal bud and leaves.

There is more work to be done to properly understand the mistletoe distribution in Britain.  It may now be vulnerable in orchard situations but seems to be thriving and increasing its range in others.  It seems the importance of orchards as a primary habitat for the species may be exaggerated apart from being the main source of the Christmas crop.  Orchards probably still hold the greatest biomass of mistletoe but this may not be sustainable.  Informed and on-going management is essential for its survival in orchards and as a crop.

Orchard mistletoe may also be critical for associated insects although there had been very little insect recording on mistletoe in other habitats.

Climate change and bird vector changes may give partial explanations for the recent expansion of the mistletoe range.  It is possible that more associated insect species may be discovered or colonise from Europe.  The Mistletoe League is a new project which aims to help orchard and garden mistletoe management by encouraging the recording of  which fruit tree varieties are most susceptible to mistletoe growths and which are less so. See www.british.mistletoe.org.uk.

Marion 21/12/11

Dr Lewis Dartnell will be coming to the Long Eaton School on Wednesday, January 18th 2012, to give a talk on the subject of Astrobiology – the hunt for alien life. Astrobiology is a brand new field of science, encompassing research into the origins and limits of life on our own planet, and where life might exist beyond the Earth [continue reading]. The talk is part of a series of forthcoming Astronomy events at the school, for students, parents and members of the wider learning community. Further details of these events and how to book can be found here.

The Malcolm Parry Observatory 52° 53′ 30″ N, 1° 16′ 53″ W

The Long Eaton School became an Academy in April 2011, and during the same year began work on a new build which will include an observatory, scheduled for completion early 2012. Named in honour of a former Chair of Govenors, the observatory will house a 16-inch reflector telescope and a Hydrogen-Alpha solarscope, together with imaging hardware and software. It will be possible to broadcast captured images electronically within the school’s local area network and externally via the internet. Funding for the Observatory dome, and astronomical equipment, has been supported by successful grant applications to the Wolfson Foundation and the Royal Society.[source]

LENS chairman Alan Heath has been a keen amateur  astronomer in Long Eaton for many years, and I am sure like many of us wishes he was back at school to experience these incredibly exciting resources as part of the curriculum.

An interesting article from the Woodland Trust;

After five months and a lot of shoe leather, Nottinghamshire-based artist and storyteller Dave Wood has completed his ‘perambulation’ around the original boundary of Sherwood Forest.

A ‘perambulation’ means ”a walk around a territory (a parish or manor or forest etc.) in order to officially assert and record its boundaries”.  Every three years in ye olde days right across the country, perambulations by keepers of the forest were about checking for deforestation, damage and poachers and the findings were reported back to the King.  A chance view of some ancient maps showing the original forest boundary for Sherwood Forest motivated Dave to re-create this event, but in his own creative style and for a 21st Century audience.

Read the full article: Walking with Trees – the end

See also Creative Perambulations: Marking the boundaries of Sherwood Forest and this press article.

On 22nd December 2011, there’ll be the third tree planting of Dave Wood’s Creative Perambulations of Sherwood Forest at 2pm at the Ilkeston Road Recreation Ground, Stapleford.  The sapling has been grown from an acorn from the Major Oak.  The Sherwood Pines Partnership Tree Nursery, which grows the trees, enables adults with learning needs gain valuable work experience, increase their confidence and self esteem and help them live a more independent and fulfilling life. These wonderful service users and staff also grow on acorns from ancient Sherwood oak trees, including the amazing Major Oak (the symbol of Nottinghamshire), plus other trees that are then helping to create more woodland habitat throughout Sherwood Forest. 

There is currently a consultation document online  in which the public is invited to respond to potential cutbacks to the Supported Employment Programme (closing of the nursery is one of the elements highlighted).  Dave would also be keen to hear your views; enabling him to include it in his final creative portfolio.

 Also see http://creativesherwoodforestperambulations.blogspot.com/