Starling chicks early this year

Since moving to Paddock wood in the early 1990’s, each year I have had starlings nesting in my loft. In all this time only one nest has failed and with each nest producing four or five chicks, I reckon around 100 young starling have fledged whilst I have lived in my house; which is pleasing news.

Adult starling returning with food for the chicks.

However on a European scale, starling numbers have plummeted by an estimated 40 million birds since the 1980’s. Yes, that is 40 million less starlings in the last 25-30 years. If there was a European wildlife profit & loss account, then the figure in the ‘starling column’ would read  minus 40,000,000 !!!

In the UK the population has halved over the same period and in 2002 the starling was added to the UK ‘red list’ of the birds of (most) conservation concern. 

Starling population trend from the BTO website

Nearly fourteen years on we still have no definitive list of the causes for this decline, but agricultural intensification, a move away from mixed farms and indiscriminate use of pesticides must be playing a large part. Starlings feed in pastures and in urban areas, lawns and sports fields etc, using their stout beaks to probe for invertebrates, particularly leatherjackets (cranefly larvae).

Like many other species, since the 1960’s the conversion of the countryside into a food factory, with little space of wildlife, has forced starlings to seek a living in towns & cities, but in drastically reduced numbers. I can still remember walking home from school in the early 1970’s watching vast flocks of starlings flying overhead for minutes at a time, but that doesn’t occur any more, except near to known starling roosting sites.

Anyway, back to my little starling nest, it’s great to watch the adults bringing back food to their rapidly growing chicks and to hear them chirping in the loft, as each food parcel arrives &  I am not the only one in the town have these lodgers every spring. Many of the houses on my estate, built in 1960, have the same gaps under the tiles, which allow the birds access to a safe nesting area. Equally I know of houses in the Green Lane area, built in the mid 1990’s which have the same gaps in the roof design, in which starlings make the most of.

If I had could ask for one wish from the house designers it would be to design the new homes in Paddock Wood with gaps for the starlings to exploit. In that way there would not only be 1000 new homes for people, but 1000 new starling nesting sites as well :-).

A large loft eave area, with gaps for starlings to enter.

Back to the title of this post …’ starling chicks early this year’, compared to previous years they are amazingly early, for normally I don’t hear the chicks until May, at the earliest. The British Trust for Ornithology website state that egg laying usually starts around St Georges Day  - 23^rd April, with an incubation time of 12 -15 days. My birds must have starting laying their eggs around 8 – 10 April this year, about fortnight ahead of schedule.

The winter just passed was the warmest since national records began in 1910 and was 2c above average. In fact compared to the Central England Temperature record series (the longest temperature record in the world dating back to 1659) this winter has been the second-warmest at 6.7c, just behind the previous record of 6.8c set 1869.

So although there have been cold arctic winds for large periods this spring, maybe the warm winter has kept the ground temperatures higher than normal, prompting the soil invertebrate population (the starling’s main food) to increase earlier this spring and the starlings are synchronizing their nesting time with this seasonal abundance of leatherjackets etc. in the lawns and open parks around the town.

Who knows, but it’s great to once again wake in the morning to the chirping of hungry chicks; all be it a little earlier this year.

Green Lane Woodland Spinney

Background information

Bordering the edge of the Green Lane housing estate & Mascalls Farm is a small 2 acre (0.83 ha) woodland which can best be described  as a ‘spinney’ .  As far as I have been able to find out and certainly confirmed by viewing Google Earth back to 1940 this spinney has always been here and in exactly the same spot & size. Historically it is likely to have been part of the farm estate which was difficult to manage and so left as a wooded spinney, possibly for hunting rabbits and wood pigeons in the winter.

1940

1960

1990

2015

As seen in 2009

Today it is owned by Paddock Wood Town Council and has had virtually no management for 20 years or so. A public footpath runs through the middle of the wood with a second path entering from Green Lane, midway along the woods length. I produced a report on the wood for the council in 2009 and in the course of preparing the report carried out a few wildlife surveys on the wood. At the time the ground flora certainly pointed to the wood being ancient woodland, indeed in the wood had a fantastic display of spring flowers (bluebells, wood anemone, dogs mercury, violets, garlic mustard, stitchwort, cuckoo flower, primrose etc) all of which confirmed its status as an ancient wood.

A visit on 21 April 2016

Following on from earlier visits to Whetsted Wood and Foal Hurst Wood I thought a return visit to Green Lane Spinney was in order. A chance to see the spring flowers once again.

In a gentle 45 minute walk around the wood for I was able to see the same plant species in flower as in 2009, but there was a noticeable difference, from what I noted in 2009.

The ancient woodland indicator flowers were patchier and less abundant. The flora was more ‘weedy’ with more vigorous plant species seen in greater abundance. The bramble was denser and there was much more grass to be found on the woodland floor, particularly along the main footpath and along the eastern edge, adjacent to the farmland. Additionally the ditch which borders the farmland, which seven years ago as a riot of different flowers, was much poorer in both in different species and number of plants in flower. I also saw hybridisation of garden polyanthus with the closely related primrose plants

 

Primrose & Polyanthus hybrids

I suspect that an increase in nutrients was proving to be beneficial to the ‘weeds’, at the expense of the more delicate woodland plants.

The best area for the traditional woodland spring flowers was in the northwest area, adjacent to the houses numbers 10- 20 in Green Lane, furthest from the farmland.

Bluebells in the north west corner.

Question : Why should have things apparently changed in seven years ?

I wonder if spray drift of fertilisers and/or herbicides from the farmland has had a detrimental effect on the more delicate woodland flowers and allowed the more vigorous plants to prosper. In addition evidence along the path would seem to indicate that dog poo is being allowed to accumulate on woodland floor, which along with dog urine would greatly increase the nutrients available to the woodland plants.

The future ?

It would be a shame if the transformation from ancient woodland spring flowers to ‘weedy scrub’ was to continue.  As was the case in 2009 the wood could benefit from coppicing / thinning of the trees and also the bramble needs cutting back. Should houses be built upon Mascalls Farm, to the east of the wood, then the possible problem of spray drift will disappear, although an increase in more dog owners would do little to resolve the build-up of nutrients from dog waste.

Perhaps it is just that this  is what happens to ancient woodlands in areas of increased urbanisation, human pressures eventually change the make-up of the woodland habitat. It will be interesting to see what happens to this little remnant of the vast ancient forest, which once clothed much of Kent & Sussex for thousands of years, as the years (& increased  houses) roll on.

Bluebell Heaven

I visited Foal Hurst Wood to see the bluebells this morning. I could wax lyrical about the sight of so many bluebells in full bloom, the sweet scent drifting across the woodland or the buzz of bumble bees visiting the flowers, but I will just post this picture and say that this is just one small patch of bluebells and there are many, many more equally beautiful displays to be seen throughout the wood.

We are so lucky to have this on our doorstep. Long may it remain so.

P.S. A bumblebee's view of a bluebell :-).

Sunrise & Dawn Chorus

Sunday 17^th April : 4.50 a.m. and its cold -minus 2c - and as the darkness lightens I can still see a few stars in the clear sky above Foal Hurst Wood. I am waiting for the first bird to begin the woodland serenade, celebrating the beginning of another day; the dawn chorus.

The previous evening I was thrilled to see a buzzard lift itself from a branch in a nearby ash tree and fly into the sky above the wildflower meadow and drift lazily westwards over the allotments, heading towards the new Orchard Meadow area of the nature reserve. I made a mental note to search the treetops later this week to look for a possible nest.

Back to the cold, which is starting to creep into me, I hope this early rise is worth the discomfort. I hop from foot to foot to warm myself.

Blackbird singing (Zingende Merel)

4.56 a.m. & the light in the eastern skyline is filling and on queue a blackbird releases a few notes, soft and gentle, respecting the early hour. A second blackbird responds and together they serenade each other (& me), marking the end of the night and the approaching sun to lighten the woodland, although the sun’s eventual rise above the horizon will be about an hour away. Last to go to bed and first to rise the blackbirds melodies seem to be the right way to start the day, easy listening.

4.57 a.m. and to my left a collard dove joins the chorus with a gentle cooing, followed swiftly by a robin to my right and 50 metres in front on me, a song thrush, one of the mornings solo artists, begins his polished performance. Vocally strong and confident, he is a star and he knows it !

More birds join in and by 5.10 a.m. the dawn chorus is in full swing, diverting thoughts of my cold feet. A wren shouts is notes to the world, such a powerful performance from such a small bird. A blue tit's gentle ‘tsi tsi’ sound comes from a lower branch and then a crow loudly ‘caws’ from high in the canopy, not so gentle on the spirit !

5.30 a.m. and the performance has been going now for thirty five minutes, with new members of the orchestra joining in. Wood pigeon, great tit, blackcap and then a chiff chaff, the last two birds migrants from lands of southern latitudes, who arrived in the third week of March, although increasingly with mild winters blackcaps are overwintering in the UK more frequently now.

5.45 a.m. and a green woodpecker ‘laughs’ from the adjacent orchard. Although the dawn chorus is full and joyful  & has built to a crescendo, I pick out the gentle tinkling of a goldcrest close by; the merest tap on a triangle, among the full orchestral performance.

5.59 a.m. and the sun shows itself above the horizon. Shafts of light filter through the branches and my shadow casts is cast upon the oak tree behind me, whilst other trees bathe in the morning sun. 

I walk to the edge of the orchard, adjacent to the eastern edge of the wood and watch the sun rise further into the sky. 

Just to emphasis the cold, the grass in the orchard is crisp and white, covered with a sharp frost. I can’t recall many frosts this winter / early spring, so it’s a treat, a cold treat, to see it now, glistening in the sun.

6. 15 a.m and for the last 15 minutes I have just taken in the full majesty of the rising sun, against the background of the music of hundreds birds singing their hearts out. 

I pass through the gate to the wood and return to the wildflower meadow, where I stood the previous night, admiring the buzzard as it took off and glided across the sky. More frost.

6.30am : What a joy it has been to hear the dawn chorus and see the sun rise, something to treasure and to share. I could have listed every bird I heard, but then this would just a list, rather than a reflection of the day. Perhaps by reading this short piece more people will want to rise early, one spring morning and see the day begin, in a way that our ancestors have enjoyed for millennia. Try it, it will give you a new perspective on life.

The Dawn chorus 

by Angela Wybrow 

(on http://www.poemhunter.com ) 

Dawn is the time when darkness becomes light;
A time when darkness disappears from sight.
The ashen veil slowly fades away,
To reveal another brand new day.

Up in the trees, the little birds awake,
And a pretty chorus, they now do make.
There is no other music on earth, quite as sweet,
As their cheerful chorus of twitters and tweets.

To the birds' pretty chorus, I lend an ear,
And am filled inside with joy and cheer.
The little birds are so jolly when they sing;
I wonder if they know of the joy they bring?

It is a treat to hear the birds trilling in the trees;
The sound is carried to my ears, upon the breeze.
Their symphony is carried aloft to where I lay;
Such sweet music, no instrument can ever play.

I do not often wake that early in the morn;
To witness another new day being born.
It is a magical time of the day, I think,
But, I am often still having forty winks.

So, for me, to hear their music is very rare,
But, I consider it beautiful, beyond compare.
Maybe, I should make a date, and set my alarm,
So as, more often, by their songs, I am charmed. 

Birds of prey sightings in Paddock Wood

For many years the only birds of prey you were likely to see above the skies of Paddock Wood were kestrels and sparrowhawks, but in the last five years buzzards (Buteo buteo) have increasingly been seen in the spring time, gliding on the thermals above the town. Often it is the sound of gulls (more associated with trips to the seaside) which are the first giveaway that there is a buzzard in the sky. For gulls, along with crows and sometimes magpies, appear to take great delight in mobbing the soaring buzzards.

Buzzards soaring in the sky (www.britishbirds.co.uk).

Over the last 25 years buzzards numbers have risen steadily across the whole of the UK, but it has only been in the last 10 years that they have been regularly seen in Kent, but now they are a feature of the Paddock Wood skies, particularly in March & April.  I think they must also be breeding fairly locally, for during the last two summers, juvenile buzzards have been seen resting on trees in Foal Hurst Wood. Maybe this year I will find a nest in one of the woodland trees?

Red Kite, with forked tail (Milton Keynes Natural History Society).

The second bird of prey to return to our skies is the Red Kite (Milvus milvus), but sightings are currently rare. During the winter of 2014-15 a red kite was seen fairly frequently in the Brenchley area. In April 2015 I saw this bird on two occasions sweep past the Old Churchyard & fly over the Waitrose supermarket and then gliding in the skies above the Allington Road area of the town for some time. I have not seen a red kite so far this year, but again like buzzards they are on the increase across the UK and I think it is only a matter of time before they are seen regularly in the Paddock Wood area. They are fairly easy to identify in the sky, just look for the heavily forked tail.

I wrote about Kestrels in a post on 20^th February, but suffice to say that hunting areas around the town for this charming, but far smaller bird of prey, are likely to reduce once the planned new housing is built.

Sparrowhawk picnic ! (Wikipedia)

Lastly, the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), which has been a regular feature of our back gardens since the 1980’s. As my post on 31^st January showed if you put out bird food then increasing numbers of small and medium sized birds will flock to the feast you have provided. Theses birds often chatter and chirp as they are feeding and every once in a while they go deadly silent. Two seconds later a sparrowhawk will swoop through the garden at an astonishing speed and garb an unsuspecting bird in its talons and carry it away to feed upon, either from a favoured plucking post, or if the bird is too large (like a pigeon) on your lawn. Sparrowhawks regularly patrol a patch of gardens so don’t be surprised to see them, particularly in cold winters, as the smaller birds move into our gardens to find food.

Last September I found a juvenile sparrowhawk dead on my patio. It had a broken neck and I can only assume it swopped and flew into one of the conservatory windows, which appeared to have a bird imprint dusted on the glass.

Dead juvenile sparrowhawk....

... with amazingly sharp talons.

I guess that given that all the proposed housing schemes are planned to be built upon agricultural land, which as I have written in earlier posts has a more restricted bird population in places, many of the new gardens will attract increasing numbers of birds to feed on the food provided by the new householders. So expect a few more sparrowhawks to arrive as well !

Whetsted Wood in Early Spring

On a sunny Sunday morning on 10^th April I paid a springtime visit to Whetsted Wood, to view the early spring flowers.

The cold wind, which first appeared in late February ,was playing out its last throws on Sunday and slowly the strength of the sun has started to warm the woodland floor. The half of the wood nearest to the Tudeley Brook was covered in wood anemones & bluebells, both in flower, although the bluebells were a bit early to be honest. I also found a few patches of wild garlic (ramsomes) plants, but they were not in flower.  The western half of the wood has a less open aspect with the trees blocking out the light and so had little in the way of ground flora on show. The paths were also wet and muddy.

The Tudeley brook had a steady flow and signs of the winter floods in December could still be seen. 

The south east facing edge of the wood, which follows the course of the brook was bathed in sunshine and being the warmest part of the wood had many more flowers in bloom than other parts of the wood. Insects, such as bumble bees were easy to find and birdsong could readily be heard in this area (great tit, chiff chaff, black cap, song thrush , blackbird). The rest of the wood was remarkably lacking in birdsong and general bird activity.

Evidence of human activity was however easy to see with camp fires, drinks cans , painted trees, an old shelter spotted. 

Whetsted Wood shows little sign of management and is visited frequently by people from the local estates and whilst superficially a woodland seems to lack the biodiversity which is more evident in Foal Hurst Wood.  The most picturesque & wildlife rich part of the woodland appears to be  near to the Tudely Brook. Perhaps as spring flows into summer I will find more wildlife interest in the wood, time will tell.

Paddock Wood's Wildlife 'Treasure Island'.

The Old Churchyard Oasis

The old Churchyard and its primroses.

With a few days of warmth what better place to visit in Paddock Wood than…. the Old Churchyard ! There is a wonderful display of primroses (Primula vulgaris) to see at this time of the year, but my main interest was to see if the Slow worms  (Anguis fragilis) had survived the winter in good numbers.

The plaque on the old church wall.

For just over 60 years St Andrews Church stood here, until its downfall in November 1940, when a stray bomb jettisoned by a Luftwaffe pilot hit the church. St Andrews Church was rebuilt along Maidstone Road in 1955, but the churchyard remains and has become a home for a large population of slow worms. I suspect that historically the slow worms originated from the railway land, but as new houses were built they became cut off and now live in an island home in a sea of development. The old churchyard is now managed with nature in mind and if you know where to look you can find slow worms in this wildlife oasis.

So, after the excitement of the rookery this morning, in the late afternoon I popped down to the old Churchyard to see what I could find. Twelve months ago, on the 3^rd April 2015, I found 12 slow worms, but with warmer weather  today  (15c & overcast) my luck was in and I saw 69 animals; 29 of which were neonates i.e. young born last September.

A good selection of adult and young slow worms, seen today.

The slow worm population in the Old Churchyard is highly exceptional and I would not be surprised if the total population is in excess of 750 individual animals. It’s one of the town's wildlife hot spots and people are staggered when I tell them the number of animals likely to live in the churchyard. It must however be remembered that when ‘trapped’ in isolated sites, slow worm numbers can increase substantially. They have nowhere else to go and so provided food and shelter is available the population can sometimes grow exponentially.

Young & old close up.

Because of the importance of the site last year I wrote a management advice sheet for the PWTC estate staff, so that the Old Churchyard could be manged with greater emphasis on maintaining good conditions for the slow worm population. It should be remembered that the animals are legally protected against being killed or injured and so work must be carried out in a sensitive manner and at times of the year to ensure it is safe for the slow worms and yet still allow people to visit the gravesides of their relatives and loved ones.

One of the older gravestones.

I started this blog to emphasize the importance of understanding what wildlife we have in the town and without doubt this very small site is one of the town’s wildlife treasures, which the vast majority of people who pass it by, often on daily basis, never even realize they have on their doorstep :-).

A tangled mass of wildlife treasure unearthed.

Rookabilly Robberies

On Sunday 3^rd April, the Paddock Wood half marathon was in full swing and with many of the local roads closed for the race,  I walked the mile or so from my house to the entrance to Mascalls Academy…to watch the rooks  !!!

Adult Rook (Corvus frugilegus) out on a limb !

These gregarious corvids are well known for nesting together, high in the tree tops and for a few years now the main rookery in the town has been situated either side of the Maidstone Road (B2160) close to the entrances to Mascalls Academy & Mascalls Pound Farm. If I am honest it is about 200 metres outside my self-imposed recording area, but I felt it was worth writing about.

A small part of one of the rookeries.

The rookery is spread over three groups of trees in this area and currently consists of 54 nests, of which I calculate about half appear to be occupied at present. Many of the adult birds have paired up and were busy building their precarious stacks in the sky.

Now that's a big pile of sticks !

Beside the entrance to Mascalls Pound Farm

Between Mascalls Pound Farm 

& Lymons Farm House

In the school grounds.

There was lots of noise and much thieving of sticks from each other’s nests, resulting in sticks moving from nest to nest, in an effort  for each rook to try & create the greatest ‘must have’ home.. Fights sometimes broke out as different birds fought for the choicest sticks, but often a bird would wait until a couple had vacated their bijou property and then nip in and snatch a few sticks for its own nest. All great fun to watch.

"Its our home !"

I saw little sign of mating, nor egg laying, at present, but I am sure this will follow soon. Indeed there seemed to be a lot of hanging about with one of the pair trying to look macho (the male maybe) , whilst the other bird (possibly the female) got on with constructing the nest. 

On sentry duty.

In one patch of trees there was much squawking & flurry of wings as neighbour fought with the neighbour over territorial rights and infringement of invisible boundaries.

Voicing his right to stay !

In places the road surface below the rookery area has become splattered with bird poo . After a few more weeks It should be eligible for entry into the Turner prize for modern art. If an unmade bed can win I don’t see why a rookery toilet can’t be a contender for this years prize !

There is another rookery about 1Km away further south on the B2160, near the edge of Matfield and it may be that over the years the rooks swap between the different nesting sites. About 15 years ago there also used to be a small rookery on the north west corner of Foal Hurst Wood, but it is no more. I always thought that rookeries were occupied for decades, but perhaps they do also move around over time. 

Anyway in 2016 the biggest rookery in the town can be found beside the main secondary school in the town and it is arguable which may prove to be a greater seat of learning !

Scanning the horizon for a mate maybe.