The killer from above.
Watching from the behind the hedge I see her, the hovering
killer, a hawk which first became embedded on my mind after watching the 1969
film ‘Kes’. Falco tinnunculus, the
Kestrel, the poor man’s hawk, is hovering over the rough grassland near to
the Badsell Road / Maidstone Road junction. She’s searching for food, in the
form of a small furry mammal which lives amongst the rough grassland below.
Short tailed field vole (Microtus
agrestis) is the name we know the vole by, what name the kestrel gives it I
know not.
Hovering Kestrel (from www.nature-photogrpahers.co.uk - Philip Newman).
Head rigid, eyes fixed, wings hovering to keep her position fixed in the sky, she looks for the tell tale signs of vole wee! Invisible
to us, but a glow her eyes can see, through her ability to access the
ultraviolet part of the light spectrum, this trail will lead her to her food.
But it’s not to be at this moment and she gives up and rests on the power
cables stretched across the field.
Kestrels used to be seen in greater numbers along the road
side verges and rough pastures around Paddock Wood and indeed the county; searching
for voles and other food to be found along the highway verges. Since the mid
1970’s kestrel numbers have declined and continue to do so. I feel privileged to
have seen this bird, which I have also encountered, hunting
around the meadows, close to Foal Hurst
Wood, on other occasions.
UK Kestrel Population (from BTO website)
Mascalls Farm
Previously I have posted initial nature reviews on two of
the proposed housing development areas, namely Church Farm (14 & 15
January) and Mascalls Court Farm (5th February). It’s now time to
provide a review on the ‘johnny come lately’ site of Mascalls Farm, in Badsell
Road.
Yes I know the names are similar, but it all adds to the
fun!
If it makes it any easier, Mascalls Farm is next to the
town’s designated nature reserve, Foal Hurst Wood, in the far south west of the
town’s current urban area. The kestrel I saw, was hovering over part of the
farmland, in an area destined to become houses and no longer a hunting ground for ‘Kes’.
I call it the ‘johnny come lately’ site because initially,
in 2013, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council officials ruled this area as
unsuitable for housing, on ecological and landscape reasons. Then politicians
got hold of it and as if by magic, with no changes to the results of the development
assessment criteria undertaken earlier, in late 2014 Mascalls Farm got added to the proposed
housing land for the town and the number of houses due to be built in Paddock
Wood by 2026 went up by another 300 dwellings. To paraphrase a well know
saying ‘God moves in mysterious ways…. but
councils move in even weirder ways’ !
The developer's current idea for new housing at Mascalls farm.
Nature Assessment
Like the other two main development sites, the land is mainly
farmland with limited access, so I have relied upon my personal knowledge, published
ecological reports, nature watching from public footpaths & highways, and
escorted visits undertaken during the planning process, plus good old Google
Earth, form an opinion and assessment.
The farmland consists of a 50/50 mix of orchards and arable
land, plus ancient woodland in the south west corner, namely part of Brick Kiln
Wood. As with the other two sites it is also important when reviewing the
wildlife of a site to acknowledge adjoining land; for wildlife tends to live in
areas of varying sizes, generally ignoring human imposed boundaries. In this
case the wildlife associated with the Foal Hurst Wood nature reserve needs to
be considered. Like the Church Farm site I will therefore publish my knowledge
and thoughts on this area, over more than one post.
The Farmland
Let’s start with the orchards and arable land.
I have commented previously that the orchards around Paddock
Wood are really important for wildlife during the late autumn and winter periods,
particularly for the thrush family of birds. The oldest orchard on Mascalls
Farm land, is immediately adjacent to Foal Hurst Wood and is a magnet for
fieldfares, redwings, mistle thrushes and blackbirds, along with starlings, who
flock to the area to feast on all the discarded apples lying underneath the
trees.
Fieldfare and apple (from warrenphotographic.co.uk)
As I mention on the bird survey post on 31st Jan, at any
time from November – late February you can stop on the edge of Foal Hurst Wood
and see large numbers of these birds feasting on part of their ‘five a day’
fruit intake. The presence of nearby Brick Kiln & Foal Hurst woods ensures
the birds also have a save refuge, should danger arrive, plus overnight
roosting sites.
I must admit I chuckled when I read an ecology report in
2012 saying that this orchard was not important for wildlife. Yep, I suppose if
you are an ecologist who is stationed in Hampshire and you only visit the orchard
in summer, then it is disappointing that you will miss this important wildlife spectacle in winter and your assessment will be wide of the mark.
For the record most of the orchards around the town are
great in the winter time for the thrush family of birds, when the unwanted apples are left
discarded on the ground. It just shows that even on a highly commercialised
farm, farmers can make their land more wildlife friendly, either through
intentional or unintentional actions.
As with the two other farmland sites, the arable area is not
so inviting for wildlife, which is mainly to be found along the hedges around the
headlands, plus the few hedges crossing the arable areas. There are a couple of ditches
across the site, but nowhere near as wide and deep as the East Rhoden stream or
Tudeley Brook, mentioned in earlier posts. As such their importance for
wildlife appears more limited.
Very close to where the public footpath reaches the Badsell
Road there is a heavily shaded and silted pond. Access to the pond is difficult and
dangerous and so I have not been able to assess its general importance for wildlife.
On the other side of this footpath, looking eastwards, is the
Kestrel’s hunting ground.
Brick Kiln Wood
Brick Kiln Wood is designated as ancient woodland, as is Foal Hurst Wood. This means that as far as anyone can tell both areas have been woodland, continuously since the year 1600, or earlier.
Technically Brick Kiln Wood lies just outside my self-imposed
boundary for the area I am investigating this year, but like the East Rhoden
stream on Church Fram, the planned housing development at Mascalls Farm is likely to have an impact on this woodland
and so I feel it is important to report on its present condition.
As mentioned before, I have only had limited access to this
woodland, but know that it differs to Foal Hurst Wood. A look at historical aerial photographs (on
Google Earth) shows that the area of Brick Kiln Wood, in the ownership of the
developer, has remained virtually unchanged since the earliest available
photograph in 1940.
Brick Kiln Wood c1940
Brick Kiln Wood c1960
Brick Kiln Wood c 1990
Brick Kiln Wood - April 2015
(Bold Yellow = developers section of the wood)
Brick Kiln Wood has subsequently developed more as a ‘high
forest’. This means the trees are larger and more mature, with a denser canopy.
This dense canopy results in less light reaching the woodland floor and so
there is far less ground vegetation to be found and a more open vista to the woodland. If I can
gain access to Brick Kiln Wood, then I will explore this aspect of the wood in
greater detail later during the year.
I do however know that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council have
requested that a management plan, for areas of Brick Kiln Wood under the
ownership of the developer, will be required for its future management and
access. It remains unclear at present if such a plan would result in it
becoming a nature reserve, like Foal Hurst Wood, with less public access, or
whether it will be managed more like a country park, where public access and
physical activity within the wood (e.g. walking, cycle tracks etc) will be
encouraged. The level of access, either official or unofficially, will be
critical to how the wood changes in the future. More public access is likely to
result in plants and animals requiring less disturbance to diminish, in both area
occupied and numbers of individuals. Conversely, wildlife species able to cope
with greater levels of disturbance are more likely to prosper.
Of all the areas within the town, it will be especially
interesting to see how Brick Kiln Wood develops and changes over the next 25
years or so.
Future promises
The developers have so far produced eight ecological reports
on the whole of the Mascalls Farm site and are currently suggesting the
following mitigation measures be undertaken :
The reinstatement of abandoned
beneficial traditional management practices for
ancient woodland
and hedgerows across the site;
The retention of as many of the
older orchard trees as possible;
The strengthening, protection and
enhancement of a key woodland shaw linking up the
areas of ancient
woodland at the west of the site, as well as along a proposed wildlife
corridor for hazel
dormice and other species, linking habitats at the western and eastern ends of the site;
Significant new habitat creation
including new woodland and wet woodland planting,
and the creation
of species-rich mesotrophic grassland, combined with habitat creation
as part of a SUDs
scheme; and
The creation of a large area of
species rich grassland and scrub mosaic with new planted
coppice and
hedgerows.
Much of this concerns Brick Kiln Wood and its wildlife,
particularly the European protected Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius), a species I will write more about in the
next post.
But, from these proposed measures you can see that there is
much wildlife to be saved and it is hoped that mitigation measures will protect
and enhance the wildlife interests of the site.
Of crucial importance is the
strengthening of the woodland link between the two woodlands and creation of many
more ponds on the site. I’ve counted 15 ponds on the proposed plan!
As always the devil is in the detail and it matters greatly how the measures are initially implemented and managed in the future. Time will tell if these are meaningful measures, which enhance the wildlife possibilities of the area, or promises which are sadly not fulfilled.
The killer returns
Resting on the electricity power lines the wind gets up and ‘Kes’
takes to the wing again, allowing the wind to take her over towards the Maidstone
Road. She heads higher towards the clouds and then starts hovering above the rough
grassland once again. Her wings flutter continuously, her body pivots in the
buffeting winds, but her head remains still, eyes focused on the ground below.
Suddenly the wings fold and she plummets to the ground and pounces on an unseen
and probably unsuspecting animal. I wait to see what happens and find out if
her hunt has been successful. She takes to the air again, but no small vole can
be seen in her talons, so I guess she will remain hungry for a while longer.
In fact she flies off, over the Mascalls School playing
fields, to pastures new, Maybe she is heading for the rough grassland in
Mascalls Court Farm, which I mentioned in my post on the 5th
February. An area which will become part of the new primary school grounds in
the future. Another of her hunting
grounds, soon to disappear. Where will she go to hunt then?
Female Kestrel
(From http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/greylake/f/12425/t/87958.aspx)
It’s changes, such as the disappearance of the kestrels
hunting grounds, which I hope my blog will highlight for future readers. As I
have written in earlier posts, there will be both gains and losses for wildlife
in the town. By providing a written account of the town’s wildlife, as it
exists in 2016, I am providing a baseline for these future changes to be compared with. Some of
those changes will be as a direct result of changes in land usage, some as a
result of more people in the town creating greater disturbance in the currently
‘wild’ areas of the town. Other changes may come from climate change,
environmental pollution, changes to the water systems and other factors we cannot as yet
predict.
Our home (from www.c4dexchange.com)
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