Writtle Wildlife Watch, October 2015

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
'Seawall' by Liftarn 

I was out and about the other day on the gorgeous Essex coast when I got chatting to two women who were walking round the sea wall. The walls are one of the joys of the Essex coastline, providing the walker with a panoramic view of both the sea and the land, with the former desperate to breach the defence and take back the territory we have stolen from it; the latter cheekily thumbing its nose from behind the safety of the wall.

 

The women were going the long route around the wall and were kitted out with boots, fleeces and binoculars, so clearly they had an interest in the natural world. There was much to see. With the tide half out, waders had been gathering in large numbers and a flock of over 200 Golden Plovers was passing overhead as we chatted. I had already seen Harriers over distant Northey Island and had been chuffed to bits to find a Pompilid wasp dragging its prey, a Woodlouse Spider, across the path. 



Moth tent

We remarked on the huge number of moth ‘tents’ we could see in the surrounding scrub and I said it was good to see so many this year, there having been far fewer in recent years. These tents protect the larvae while they grow and can be quite surprisingly robust. One of the women said there were far too many moth tents and she hoped they did not kill off the trees. 

 

In other words, ‘trees good, moths bad’. This got me thinking. 

 

Firstly, what do we regard as ‘wildlife’? 

 

There appears to be a hierarchy in the way we regard our wildlife and this is often reinforced with spectacular ignorance by the British press. The famous biologist E. O. Wilson advanced the notion of ‘biophilia’ but perhaps we are instead in the grip of ‘biophobia’. Mammals, birds and trees: good. Amphibians, dragonflies and fungi: so so. Wasps, snakes and thistles: bad. Sadly, the consequence is that often only the first group actually count as ‘wildlife’ as the others are too horrible to contemplate. Why is this? Are we conditioned at an early age to appreciate the cute, fluffy and accessible and to despise the challenging, awkward and stingy? If so, we have problems, as ecosystems rely on far more than the cute and fluffy to make them work. Where would we be without the pollinators (including wasps and flies) and the detritivores (slugs and slime moulds)? We would have no food and we would be up to our knees in waste, that’s where! 

 

Secondly, why are the British obsessed with trees? 

 

I suspect this is partly to do with what we regard as ‘nature’ and partly as a result of confusion around general green issues such as climate change, global temperature regulation and sustainable timber harvesting. More trees must be good, because we keep telling ourselves it is the case. 

 

People sometimes say to me ‘Well, France and Germany have far more trees than we do’. But it’s not a competition. And even if we could, do we really want to cover our wonderful heathlands, fens and grasslands in trees? Of course not. 

 

Thirdly, what’s wrong with a dead tree? 

 

My co-chattees (as Alan Partridge may have described them) were concerned that the trees might be killed by the presence of the moths. I do not want to seem mean but my first thought was ‘so what?’, although I promise I did not actually say it out loud. 

 

The fact is, we are now beginning to realise that dead wood has a key role to play in the way ecosystems work and we need a lot more of it. Conservationists now wince at our collective reaction to the storm of 1987 after which everyone rushed to tidy up the countryside and remove all that lovely dead wood. A handy publication is the Forestry Commission’s ‘Life in the Deadwood’ which I urge you to find online. A dead tree is a good tree! 

 

And on that happy note, until next time…

 

 

Written by Alan Roscoe

Writtle Wildlife Watch, June 2015

One of the joys of being a lecturer on the Conservation scheme here at Writtle is that you get to visit some wonderful places. And this year we took our first and second year students away for a week to the glorious area of the south coast, the New Forest. 

 

Maiden Castle, Dorchester

During what the Two Ronnies might have called ‘a packed programme’, (goodness, that makes me feel positively antediluvian!) we went all over Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, visiting some great sites and talking to people working in a huge variety of Conservation jobs. 

 

For me though, the mini-highlight was on the Thursday when we stopped off to have a look at Maiden Castle, a magnificent Iron Age hillfort just south of Dorchester. Always impressive and giving beautiful views over the surrounding countryside, it is a particularly good spot for finding various birds such as Linnet, Skylark and Corn Bunting. And I thought that was all we were going to find but on the way down, student Jimmy suddenly stopped and said ‘Alan, what’s this funny beetle?’. 

 

Oil Beetle at Maiden Castle

Now, many species of insect are special but then there are others which really have the ‘wow’ factor. And Jimmy had found one of the latter – an Oil Beetle. 

 

Oil Beetles are peculiar and charming in equal measure. They are rather odd to look at, with an elongated body and narrow head, but have an exquisitely glossy sheen of black, violet and blue. They are totally reliant on solitary bees for the completion of their lifecycle, with the beetle larvae climbing flower-stems and waiting in flowers in order to hitch a ride on a passing bee. Back in the bee’s nest the larvae of the beetle feeds on its eggs, as well as the stores of nectar and pollen before emerging as an adult. 

 

We have lost three of our species in recent years and now only five are left. They favour flower-rich grasslands of the type found at Maiden Castle but sadly, we have lost many of these sites in recent decades, making an encounter with an Oil Beetle even more special.

 

Yes, we did see a Corn Bunting as we left but somehow it wasn’t the best wildlife sighting that day.

 

 

Written by Alan Roscoe

The challenge of the sea...

This entry comes from the fantastic Writtle conservation team and looks at how the sea impacts on the environment.

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Winter is here and wouldn’t it be nice to jet off somewhere exotic and faraway? The Maldives perhaps? Or perhaps not…..it seems that particular island group is under imminent threat from rising sea levels. To be precise, the water around the islands is currently rising at 9mm a year and the islanders may have to leave their homes before the year 2100. 

But sea level rise is affecting us here in Britain as well, although clearly not in such a drastic manner. Have a look at a map of the Essex coast and the contour lines show how very close to sea level many of us live. With slowly rising sea levels and the prospect of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, we have been forced to reconsider how we manage these threats, especially on the east coast of England. 

Image courtesy of federico stevanin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

The attraction of ‘hard’ defences, such as sea walls, has lost some of its appeal, not least because of the huge capital cost associated with constructing and maintaining such defences. So what to do? Over the past 20 years Essex has been at the leading edge of a new approach called ‘managed realignment’. This is a process whereby land which is currently protected by sea walls is returned to the sea by knocking through the walls and letting the water in. This way, the effects of any sea level rise or storm surges can be softened by allowing the water more room to spread out, thus reducing the overall impact, especially further up estuaries where waterways narrow.

The best known realignment sites in Essex are at Tollesbury, Abbotts Hall south of Colchester and now Wallasea Island. The sheer scale of these projects is hugely impressive in itself but this type of management is not always popular due to the loss of land which has previously been farmed. And indeed  those who oppose realignment often refer to it as ‘managed retreat’.

But one habitat which seems almost certain to benefit is that great Essex speciality, saltmarsh. In recent decades our saltmarshes have become squeezed between the sea and the sea walls. But by ‘relaxing’ the entire system of management and allowing the water in, we have begun to create new saltmarsh behind the sea walls where none has existed for (in some cases) several hundred years. We are perhaps, simply returning to the sea what was only ever borrowed.

For more information on our degree-level conservation courses, please visit our website: http://writtle.ac.uk/UG-Conservation-and-Environment

Balancing the need for new homes with wildlife protection (October 2014)

This entry comes from the fantastic Writtle conservation team and looks at modern issues surrounding wildlife and the demand for new homes.

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Conservation is a hugely diverse and interesting subject and Essex has recently been at the forefront of one of the most discussed initiatives of recent years.

People are familiar with the approach to conservation taken by organisations such as the RSPB who are probably best known for nature reserves, which are specially managed, often for rare species.

But that does not mean that even the land immediately adjacent to your own home might not have wildlife interest, for example, reptiles, butterflies and unusual plants. Consideration of the wildlife on any site has been an integral part of the planning process for many years and has come to the forefront as we face the needs to build new houses. 


The Government has been keen to get the economy moving and meet the demand for more houses and, consequently, has been piloting a concept known as 'biodiversity offsetting'. This is a method whereby damage to or loss of wildlife habitat is 'offset' by creating habitat elsewhere as part of the planning agreement. Essex, arguably one of the most biodiverse areas in the UK, has been one of six areas piloting the process.

On the face of it, offsetting seems like a pragmatic solution to a problem which is felt especially keenly in counties such as ours and its supporters claim it offers the benefits of larger and 'better' sites for nature. But the idea has run into some hostility from those in the conservation community and it has been suggested that offsetting cannot work for a number of reasons, among them the fact that natural communities of plants and animals are complex and take time to develop. 

The main issue for everyone is how to balance one set of values against another. For example, last year a huge housing development in Kent was rejected (although planning application submitted by the developer remains in place) due to the extraordinary number of Nightingales found on the site. Was this a "good" decision or a "bad" one? The problem seems to be that we want everything - we demand housing but we also want our wildlife protected. 

So before you think that conservation is something which happens only on a nature reserve, remember that one of the most heated wildlife arguments for many years is currently being acted out right on our doorstep.

Make sure you follow the Writtle conservation team on Twitter: @WrittleCons
Visit our website: http://writtle.ac.uk/UG-Conservation-and-Environment

Plant of the Day blog attracts an international audience!

Dr Jill Raggett of Writtle School of Design is the owner of the very popular imagery blog entitled ‘Plant of the Day’ on social media site Tumblr.

Started in September 2013, Dr Raggett takes time out of her extremely busy schedule to upload one plant per day. The image will always be an original photograph taken during the previous week and this level of dedication helps to ensure the blog is seasonally relevant. The image will also include a fact or comment about cultivation, history, use or design!

Dr Raggett, who is a lecturer in landscape architecture and garden design, explains why she created the blog and why she believes it has an international appeal…

“I devised the blog as a means to encourage students to look at plants wherever they are, whether that is in gardens, parks, public spaces, on the street, or even in supermarket car parks, to observe how plants can be used and add value.

The majority of blog followers are people worldwide who enjoy plants and gardens – from students in community colleges in USA and Canada, students studying landscape design in Canada, Argentinian landscape architects, people interested in plants in Korea and Japan, and the very proactive students of the prestigious Longwood Gardens in the USA, with people in Italy, Romania and Poland.

There is clearly a global appeal for English plants and gardens. I believe the tradition and heritage associated with horticulture in the UK makes the blog particularly desirable to the international followers. 

My hope for the blog is that the ‘Archive’ section will be useful especially to horticultural and design students as it is seasonal (for the UK) and they can view plants by the relevant month of their display value to help inspire and inform with their designs!”

Visit Dr Raggett’s Plant of the Day blog on Tumblr: www.jillraggett.tumblr.com

Visit Writtle School of Design: www.writtle.ac.uk/design

Visit Writtle College: www.writtle.ac.uk

Writtle Wildlife Watch (July 2014)

Welcome back to the latest Writtle Wildlife Watch! We hope you have all been enjoying your summer. Conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, writes about the latest wildlife he has spotted on campus.

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Have you ever noticed that when you see an animal or bird for the very first time, you then begin to see it almost regularly, despite the fact you have never encountered it before? Isn’t that strange? And before anyone else jumps in, I am claiming this phenomenon as ‘Roscoe’s Rule’.

Stoat image: Wikipedia "Mustela erminea upright"
by Steve Hillebrand, USFWS

Rather curiously, this appears to be happening on the College’s main campus area with two species in particular suddenly popping up everywhere. Grass Snake is definitely moving into areas it has not been seen before and the impressive size of the females makes for some exciting sightings for students around the campus gardens.

But the real crowd pleaser has been Stoat which, over the past year or so, has also been plucking up courage and moving further onto the main campus. I have certainly seen more Rabbit recently and my suspicion is that the Stoats are simply following their prey. In fact the latest sighting was last week when a colleague heard a Rabbit squealing in a distressed manner at the sight of Stoat (well you would, wouldn’t you?) although he tells me the result was Rabbit 1 Stoat 0. 

Relatively speaking, Stoat has what is known as a wide ‘ecological amplitude’. In other words, it displays an ability to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions. For this reason, it is found throughout Britain although an individual animal will not usually survive beyond its second year. And a curious anomaly: Stoats are legally protected in Ireland but not in the UK.

Please also follow us on Twitter @WrittleCons.

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 (April 2014)

Writtle conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, has once again been observing the wildlife on campus at Writtle. Here, Alan reviews his April findings.

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"Now come on, this just isn’t playing fair. One second you think the rain has gone and we are in for another scorching summer like last year, the next you are gazing out of the window, whilst reaching for the thermostat.

But did you notice the slightest warming of the days a few weeks back when things started waking up? We certainly did here at the College as we are interested in annual changes in seasonal events (’phenological indicators’) and our students keep an eye open for us on the first appearance of certain key species, especially butterflies.

Orange Tip, College estate, April 2014, Copyright Noah Greaves

So, what was the first butterfly out of the blocks this year? The Brimstone was the first species, spotted in late February by our student Fiona basking on bricks near the student restaurant (the butterfly that is, not Fiona). This sulphur yellow insect was closely followed by Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. But for me the acme of spring is the Orange Tip. This small butterfly says that spring is in full swing and its appearance is all the more special for it being so fleeting.

Thanks to our student Noah for this great picture of a female Orange Tip on the College estate. Roll on summer."

Writtle Wildlife Watch (March 2014)

This month our conservation expert Alan Roscoe discusses the recent installation of an Otter Holt by Writtle students as well as his own encounter with the species.

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All animals are fascinating but, let’s face it, we tend to have softer spots for certain species. Of course it helps if it is a mammal – we can empathise with that group – and if you can add in a dash of success against the odds you can end up with a very charismatic species. One such animal is the Otter which has fought back from catastrophic losses in the middle of the 20^th century and is now found in every county in England. 

Otter (Image by Catherine Trigg. Source: Flickr)

Students found spraints on the College estate in 2010 and they have also been reported along the River Wid in nearby Writtle village by our friends in the village wildlife group. The otters continue to spraint under one of our bridges and this year we thought we would lend them a hand.

We have regular work parties on the estate and a good project for a pleasant spring day is building an otter holt. Otters will use artificial holts if sited in undisturbed areas and, despite the fact we have a very busy estate, animals can still find quiet corners away from farm and student activity.

I invited students to run the activity as projects like this provide an opportunity to demonstrate planning, resourcing, organisational and management skills. Will and Katy volunteered to look after everything and off we went. The day passed surprisingly quickly and after just three hours we had a very substantial holt (see picture below). I am hoping we can set up our remote camera soon to capture any activity. 

Writtle students with Otter Holt

An added bonus: the timber we used had been brought down by our students elsewhere on the estate as part of felling practice so we also had a perfectly sustainable activity.

Just a footnote: Otters may look cute and cuddly but they are actually very chunky animals. Apologies for ending on a sad note but I came across a dead otter on one of Chelmsford’s main roads two years ago. I arranged with a contact at Essex Wildlife Trust to have it sent away for a post mortem but it was up to me to recover the animal. It was immensely heavy and this was of course, compounded by the fact it was dead weight. I managed to wrestle the body into the boot of my car and, nose to tail, it stretched right across the boot.

So, sadly, they will continue to be the victims of accidents but we have high hopes for our local animals and, with any luck, we shall have residents soon.

Writtle Wildlife Watch (February 2014)

Writtle Conservation lecturer, Alan Roscoe, updates us on his latest 'Writtle Wildlife Watch'.

"A couple of months back I mentioned the recent storms and flooding but such has been their impact I feel I have to mention them again before Spring arrives.

Clearly you don’t have to live on the Somerset Levels to be aware of the potential for damage and even here, in warm and sheltered Essex (where the sun shines every day!) we have had some clearing up to do. This week we were out with our first years clearing away some trees which had come down across the green lane which crosses our estate just to let local residents and horses through.

UK floods in 2014

There has been much debate on comments pages attached to BBC website news stories with many contributors. And, yes, I am among them – see if you can spot my comments! Unfortunately, to paraphrase Mrs Merton (c.1997), many people seem to have taken the story as an excuse for a ‘heated debate’. But apart from the rather predictable ‘I blame the farmers / RSPB / Environment Agency / insert name of enemy here’ comments, there have also been some really interesting observations about the root causes of flooding, the nature of our countryside, what we expect from it and how to mitigate – and I cannot, hand on heart, say ‘avoid’ – such significant floods in the future. The most recent piece on the subject is at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26466653

Perhaps now is the moment when we have that national (unheated) debate about our competing demands on our countryside, its aesthetics, its purpose and its future."

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…."

Writtle Wildlife Watch (December 2013)

Writtle conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, has once again been observing the wildlife on campus at Writtle. Here, Alan reviews his December findings.

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"I am sure you have seen the recent pictures from around the country of the devastation caused by high winds, surge tides and heavy rain. Our human infrastructure can seem very frail when confronted with these challenges.

But have you ever thought about the impact on wildlife – and do you always assume it will be bad…?

One of the things which has been lacking in the British countryside in recent decades is dead wood – a great habitat for numerous species, especially beetles. But because we are such a tidy nation, we have been obsessed with clearing up any tree which falls over in high wind. Consequently there has not been much dead wood around, until recently, that is. But now we have plenty of it!

Stag Beetle pit creation. Copyright Tina Carter.

One of the insects which needs dead wood is the Stag Beetle. This wonderful creature is found in parts of Essex and to help it out, some of students this year used buried dead wood to create ‘Stag Beetle Pits’ on the Writtle College estate.

I see there is more rough weather to come but, as far as nature is concerned, it might not all be bad news."

Writtle Wildlife Watch (November 2013)

Writtle conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, has been busy putting together November's wildlife watch. This month provides a fantastic entry about crayfish! 

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Your blogger is very keen on crayfish sandwiches but his interest in these animals extends far beyond what he had for his lunch.

The chunky crayfish which turn up in sandwiches are commercially harvested American Signal Crayfish but there is a dark side to your lunchtime snack. In recent decades these non-native animals have escaped from captivity but, in doing so, they have brought problems for their smaller British cousin, the White-clawed Crayfish.

Our much more delicate native species has succumbed in huge numbers to a disease carried by the American species and the situation is now so grave that some of the White-clawed populations have been removed from their natural homes and re-housed away from the threat in so-called ‘ark’ sites.

This month Writtle Conservation students have visited one of these sites to help monitor the success of one of these re-homing projects. In conjunction with Essex Wildlife Trust, Essex Biodiversity Project, wildlife consultancy EECOS and the Environment Agency (yes, it takes a lot of people to save just one species!) our students trapped several crayfish and took their vital statistics. Work like this is essential to help monitor whether the population remains viable…. but it also gives Writtle undergraduates valuable hands-on experience and a head-start in the conservation sector.

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Inside Nature’s Giants – Writtle College Edition

The American Alligator

Writtle College veterinarian Jarmila Bone, animal scientist Nieky van Veggel and third year animal science student Ed Church join forces in a bid to get under the skin of the alligator.

The team will uncover the alligator’s incredible jaw muscles and dental features. But while alligators’ spiked teeth are excellent for gripping prey as they plunge into a death roll, they are useless for chewing. So how do these animals manage to digest large chunks of raw meat and bone? During the dissection, the team will reveal the digestive system and inspect the stomach contents for clues.

Furthermore, they will reveal the bizarre plumbing between the heart and the stomach that might provide the key to this puzzle.

Writtle College students and staff are invited to join the dissection team in the Northumberland Lecture Theatre on a journey through the unique anatomy of the alligator in Inspiration & Activity week on Thursday 21 November 2013 from 14:00 – 16:00. Contact nieky.vanveggel@writtle.ac.uk

Image source: Wikipedia

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Writtle Wildlife Watch (October 2013)

‘Delicious autumn!’ said George Eliot and with the leaves now turning to golds and reds after a blazing summer, we probably all agree with her.

But winter brings its own rewards and we are all now on the lookout for the arrival of winter thrushes on our College estate. For the past seven years the Writtle Conservation staff and students have been doing their own little bit of ‘citizen science’ by monitoring the first occurrence of various seasonal indicators, such as the first Red-tailed Bumblebee and first House Martin of spring.

So, looking back, did spring arrive early or late this year? Well, quite late actually! This graph shows when the House Martins have arrived at Writtle College over the last few years. The number of the left hand axis is the so-called Julian Day i.e. the higher the number, the later the birds arrived. So we can see that for the past two years, our House Martins have delayed their arrival, perhaps due to colder conditions hanging on longer into the year.

In autumn however, we look to the north for the first Redwings and Fieldfares. These birds will be arriving any day now and if you see any on the Writtle College estate, please join in our citizen science experiment and tell us which one of the two species it was, how many you saw, when and where. 

Image source: Wikipedia

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Writtle Wildlife Watch (September 2013)

September is a month for both our ever-faithful resident birds and for those just passing through on migration to other countries. The most stylish bird at the College this month was undoubtedly a Wheatear visiting Writtle on its way to sub-Saharan Africa. This elegant little bird stayed long enough to be snapped.

The College’s new-ish reservoir continues to attract many waterfowl but we also managed to bring in a small group of Grey Wagtails (of all the British wagtail species, this is the one with the longest tail).

And for years people in Essex have wondered why we never found Buzzards in our county! Well, we now have plenty of them and two were seen soaring over our farm late in the month. Not just a big brown bird, but a clever raptor which has hugely expanded its range in recent years. And one of our longest-lived as well – the oldest wild bird on record reached 26 years, 6 months and 26 days!

Pic: Wheatear at Writtle College, September 2013. Copyright Glyn Evans.

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