Hobby

The Hobby is an elegant, migratory bird of prey. In flight it has a sickle-like appearance – with its long pointed wings and square tail. It will take large insects, such as dragonflies, which are transferred from talons to beak and eaten in flight. It also captures small birds in flight. Its speed and aerobatic skills enable it to take swallows and even swifts on the wing. They’re easily one of my favourte birds to watch in the summer time, and they’re a Target Species.

Over the past week I’ve been lucky enought to have spotted five Hobbies during my day-to-day activities, and the time is ripe to bag one for the quest.

Titchmarsh was the location for my Hobby search and conditions looked good. The sky was dripping with Swallows, House Martins, Sand Martins and Swifts – whipping across the water hawking insects.

Eyes wide open I did a full circuit of the reserve, taking about two hours to search for any Target Species in sight and keep my attention in the air for the most speedy of birds.

I saw Great-crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Red Kite, Redshank, Sedge Warbler, Tufted Duck, Banded Demoiselle, Blackthorn, Great Burnet and Purple Loosestrife. Not a bad Target Species list of one trip, but no Hobby…

Other species of note were good numbers of Lapwing and a lonely Little Egret. I also read in the visitor book that an Otter has been seen recently. I’m desperate to see and English Otter and will focus my efforts at Titchmarsh in the coming year. Who knows what lady luck might bring.

Total 117 / To see 90 / Seen 27 / Complete (%) 23 (more details)

Buzzard

When you start out looking at nature – birds, plants, insects – we all rely upon a good field-guide. Everything is new. Everything is interesting. However, the more you learn and start to identify mother nature’s gems, the less we all seem to open our books, and the more content we all are to just enjoy what we know. For the Nature Quest I need to be 100% sure of the species I’m identifying. For that I’m starting to refamiliarise myself with the old books.

This evening I’ve been out to Southwick Wood on Day Three of the Quest, and I got off to a good start. Getting out the car I spotted a large bird hovering over a cereal field next to the wood. Only one large raptor that I know hovers like a Kestrel in this kind of landscape and it’s a Target Species – Buzzard. I had a problem though; it wasn’t within the boundary of the wood. I watched and I waited. Slowly it drifted over then it glided up and over the wood. Job done.

Meadow Sweet

Entering the wood I had my eyes wide open for some easy ticks and they came thick and fast – Oak, Hazel, Elm and Meadow Sweet. All familiar and no need for a field-guide here. A little further, and no more than a few metres in to the wood I came across what I thought was Dogwood. A quick glance at the book confirmed it – rounded leaves, slightly furring on both side and veins that curve towards the point. For the next Target Species I didn’t need to put my book away.

Wild Service-tree

As I entered the wood I read the display-board and saw images of Wild Service-tree. A plant I’ve never seen before and I was interested in it’s leaves which seem like a cross between Maple and Sycamore. A Sycamaple? Well, with this still fresh in my mind I almost stumbled across a rather nice specimen, and the trusty book confirmed it. Unlike the Dogwood, the veins on Wild Service-tree shoot out at 45^o to the main stem, and it’s fruits hang down looking forlorn. Tick!

Then it was time for some easy birds. The tree-frog chirp of a Chaffinch. An alarm call from two Blackbirds parting company. Unmistakable and both 100% ticks. However, just like Sunday I heard several Bullfinch wheezing at the tops of dense thickets. I was 99.9% certain of their providence, but that 0.1% left my uneasy with a tick. Will it be Bullfinch bogey bird? I’ll need a glimpse to be certain.

Soft Rush

The final tick of the evening came in the form of Soft Rush. My field-guide this time wasn’t good enough, so I took a sample and sorted it out back home. Where would I be without my books…

Total 117 / To see 104 / Seen 13 / Complete (%) 11 (more details)

Green Woodpecker

I’d like to say I’m well prepared for my self-imposed ‘Nene Valley Nature Quest’ but I’m not. I have a species list, I have my field-guides in a bag, I have a blog to record the year –  but that’s about it. I guess in an ideal world I’d have learnt about all the species, and would know when to see them. Truth is I don’t even know what half the plants I’m searching for even look like. Still, this is all part of the fun…

Before I describe my first trip, it seems fitting to drop a few words as to why I’m doing this. I’m passionate about wildlife. I love the fresh air, and enjoy trying to understand what’s going on around me. I can identify most birds from their calls and songs, and I know most of our common plants and insects. An average trip involves going for a walk and delighting in spotting my old friends – the Yellowhamers in the hedgerows, the Kingfishers whipping down the river, the Comma bouncing over a Bramble, and the Meadow Sweet filling the summer air with its glorious aroma. And I love it.

Comma

Trouble is I’ve got wildlife-lazy. I’ve stopped learning. I’ve stopped looking for new things. It’s too easy to stay in rather than to go out. Too easy to look at the things I know, than to understand the things I don’t.

We all have some amazing wildlife right on our doorsteps. Where-ever we live there’s a Nature Reserve within a bike-ride away. A quick interweb search threw up several reserves within a few miles of my house that I’d never visited. And I was amazed at what I could be enjoying out there.

Within just five miles of my house I could see: Otters, Hawfinchs, Glow-worms, Hazel Dormice, Red Kites, Green Tiger-beetles, Black, purple and White-letter Hairstreak butteflies, Nightingales, Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers, Woodcock and so much more… Searching for these treasures has got to beat watching Dragon’s Den of an evening.

So that’s what I decided to do. I’d give myself one year to see the species listed in the site descriptions for five Local Nature reserves within Five miles of my house. I’ve also drawn up some rules to give myself some boundaries.

1. The quest lasts exactly one year.
2. All Target Species listed in the descriptions of the sites must be confidently identified within the site boundaries.
3. I will not ask others for help.
4. I will write a description of every Target Species I identify, and present a photograph where possible.
5. Each Target Species must be identified at least once.

That’s it – easy!

So today’s Day One and I went to Old Sulehay for my first quest. Old Sulehay is a fragment of the ancient Rockingham Forest, and I’ve never been there before. I wasn’t really sure what to expect as I drove up the middle of the site.

What I wasn’t prepared for was a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker flying past in front of the car. My first species ticked off the list! Not quite. It was such a fleeting glimpse that I couldn’t be 100% sure, and so it doesn’t count. Damn. Hope I see another one.

Badger Sett

I parked up on the corner of Ring Hay wood and walked along the woodland track eyes open for species. the first species were ticked off. Ash, Bramble, Field Maple. Nothing interesting there. But at least I’m off the blocks. a little further and I stopped to look at a large heap of earth. It smelt of Foxes (a target species) and I started to look for signs. Climbing over the mound I spotted some recent digging, a pile of poo, a distinctive hair and some clawing on a nearby branch. No mistaking – Badgers. Just a single recently-used hole probably means an outlyer, and from the poo the lonely badger has been eating lots of wheat from a nearby field.

Wild Thyme

looking around there was a sun-baked patch of ground full of flowers and butterflies – mostly Meadow Browns and Speckled Woods. On the ground there were Wild Strawberries and it look a great spot for Common Lizard or Grass Snake. I trod carefully and came across my next target – Wild Thyme. This is new to me. It smelt lovely and fitted the description perfectly in my trusty field guide. Most distinctively it has a square-shaped stem with hairs on just two sides.

At the same spot I also found some Fox poo (great this nature quest lark!) and I may have heard some Bullfinch wheezing over. Again 95% certain means no tick – will keep trying for them.

Nettle-leaved Bellflower

Walking further down the ride I found another new plant for me - Nettle-leaved Bellflower. And what a cracker. A tight-cluster of four bright blue flowers atop a tall stem (60cm high) with distinctive nettle-like leaves.

Further along I came across four more targets – Traveller’s Joy (or Old Mans Beard), a Green Woodpecker yaffling away and a Chiffchaff announcing it’s name from the willow tops and a Ringlet flitting along the path.

So that’s Ten targets down from my first trip. Mostly easy species and I think these trips are going to display the law of ever-decreasing returns. However, it was refreshing to visit a reserve with a completely new approach. I was looking at everything. Not walking past anymore. Learning new stuff and so excited when Is potted something new. Let’s hope it stays this way.