Writtle Wildlife Watch (May 2014)

Writtle Wildlife Watch is back! Once more, our conservation expert Alan Roscoe has been keeping an eye on the wildlife on campus. 

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"Personally, I am not a great one for cute and fluffy animals. Giant Panda? Thanks but no. Meerkats? Raincheck. Ring-tailed Lemur? Sorry, washing my hair.

But every once in a while you have a close encounter with the cute and fluffy side of nature that really hits home. Back in the January blog I mentioned our various bird boxes around the estate and I am delighted to report we have a newly hatched clutch of College Kestrels this month, having only installed the box earlier this year.

Kestrel box at Writtle College. Copyright Steve Baines.

Under the supervision of local bird box supremo Steve Baines, the box was checked a few days ago and we have five very healthy looking chicks. As you can see they are quite chunky already but also a little apprehensive of strangers! We checked but the mother was nowhere to be seen. You have to be patient as absences from a nestbox can be as long as two hours.

And in line with this blog’s mission to be both entertaining and informative, Kestrels number some 45,000 pairs in Britain, although they have declined recently leading to ‘amber’ status. The word ‘falcon’ derives from the Latin falcis meaning a sickle, and refers to the shape of a falcon’s talons. Now there’s a good word I never learned in my Latin lessons."

For those of you on Twitter, did you know you can now follow us? Find us @WrittleCons.

Writtle Wildlife Watch (January 2014)

Conservation Lecturer, Alan Roscoe, is back to provide us with a captivating update about wildlife around the Writtle College campus. Read Alan's discoveries for the start of 2014!

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"When I was a lad (as they say) nothing was quite as thrilling as seeing a Kestrel hovering by the side of a motorway, its elegant wings braced against the wind as its finely-tuned eyes scanned for prey below, and its tail working furiously to keep its head stock-still in the breeze. The species was all the more meaningful to this young birder as it was also the emblem of the Young Ornithologists’ Club, the junior section of the RSPB at that time. (Goodness, who uses the word ‘ornithologist’ nowadays?)

Image courtesy of Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Whilst many birds of prey have prospered in recent years though, the Kestrel has, for reasons which are not quite clear, declined at a rather unpleasant rate. Help is at hand however, as its plight has already been recognised and conservation groups are taking action.

Working with Essex Birdwatching Society and our colleagues on the College farm, we are now installing Kestrel boxes on our estate to help encourage the local population. 

This will supplement the Barn Owl boxes we put up a couple of years ago (see below).

Alan Roscoe monitoring Barn Owl boxes on campus

With any luck, we shall have some student volunteers this year to help monitor the nests. Which means that at least I will be spared climbing up those high ladders…."