Underway Meade- Update 2

It has been an exciting few months for the Underway Meade with a £200 donation received from Combe Local Ladies and a donation of saplings from Monkton Elms, all reported on in the Chard and Ilminster News

Local Ladies donation

A Friends of Underway Meade Group was launched at the AGM and volunteers continued to work on making improvements for wildlife and the local community.

The meadow has been mowed, thanks to a local resident and his tractor and volunteers are now busily raking up the grass so it can be moved to ensure the soil is not provided with too much nutrient, which would deter wildflower regeneration. This is an ongoing task and we may have to think about different ways of achieving it in the future.

The ongoing survey of the flora has listed over 130 species so far and we expect this list to grow over time.

Last week, during a hot and humid few days there were a lot of flies hovering over the pond and this attracted a pair of grey wagtails. They used the water lilies as a base from which to bounce up and down catching the flies, which you can see were fairly dense!

We are also seeing a regular pair of mallards on the pond, which is nice, though they would eat any frog spawn / tadpoles, so it might be a mixed blessing.

Watch out for more news in the Cloveleaf magazine and on the parish website.

Swifts, hedgehogs and orchids, it's all happening!

It has been an exciting few days, with the arrival  of the The first Swifts arrived in the village on Saturday 9th May. I counted three over Wadeford and the same number later over Combe. By the middle of the week the numbers were up to 12 and the summer sound of them screaming through the skies had begun.

On Sunday, as we closed the blinds in our conservatory at about 9pm, my husband noticed a movement outside and to our great delight, there in the middle of the lawn was a hedgehog! I managed to get a few photos using a flash and when I tweeted the event I had a number of re-tweets and favourited notifications, which for me was pretty unusual.  I had obviously struck a chord!

It seemed healthy enough but was the first we had seen in the garden for a long time. My untidy borders must be paying off!










The next day whilst actually doing some gardening to make space for some plants a friend had kindly given me, I noticed that a pair of blue tits were visiting a nest box on the lime tree in the paddock next door.  They took it in turns to go and catch caterpillars and other insects, then dive into the box, reappearing after a few seconds and depart again very quickly. They must be feeding young so I must watch out for the fledglings.

It was quite hard to get a good shot of them, but after persevering  I managed this one as it darted out. They seemed unworried by my presence and I continued gardening.

Later in the week I went on a woodland walk arranged by the Chard History Group. It was to a small patch of local ancient woodland which was full of bird sound from chiffchaff to "chipping" woodpeckers and blackcaps to wrens but it  was also smothered in bluebells and amongst them were some beautiful early purple orchids.

I love this time of year, with everything looking so fresh and the migrant birds arriving and spring flowers blooming. Enjoy!

A walk in the lanes

Since Easter weekend the weather has been glorious with warm sunny days. The birds are singing, the wildflowers are brightening up the country lanes and butterflies have been on the wing.

On a walk around Scrapton there were a few linnets passing through and one alighted on the top of a sapling in a hedge which was yet to sprout its leaves.

Linnet

This one is a female as it is lacking the pink on its front and forehead of the male. A bird of mainly farmland which is in serious decline, with over 50% fewer than 40 years ago so it is always nice to see one here.

Another noticeable bird, identified largely by its song, were the numerous chiffchaffs, making their distinctive sounding "chiffchaff call, often likened to a knife being sharpened. Whilst some overwinter in the milder south west, most are returning from their winter sites in the Mediterranean and West Africa and will gradually spread throughout the UK for the breeding season.

Chiffchaff

One of the brightest flowers in the hedgerow at the moment are the Lesser celandine. They may not be a favourite of the gardener, as they spread rapidly in the borders, but along the verges in the lanes they are a valuable food source to early flying insects and butterflies and when the sun shines they open their petals and I think they are really beautiful.

Proving that they really are a useful food source, a Comma butterfly was flitting from one flower to another in the warm sunshine taking its fill of nectar as it went.

Comma butterfly feeding on Celandine flowers

(Apologies for the quality of the Comma pictures, but it just wouldn't stay still for more than a second or two!)

A sunny day in March!

March has been a rather mixed month weatherwise, ending with a very windy day!
However, there were some nice sunny days too and on one last week I walked along Hollands wash Drove and back through Combe Wood and had some lovely sights such as this Great spotted woodpecker, which was constantly drumming and looking very striking set against a tree with its pink buds about to burst open.

It was also nice to see the first of the seasons' Cowslips unfurling in SSW and here the Chiff chaffs calling to announce their arrival from their wintering spots in Africa.

Underway Meade Update 1 -Background

Underway Meade is a small local wildlife site in the South Somerset village of Combe St. Nicholas that has been owned and managed by Combe St. Nicholas Parochial Trust since 1998.

Underway Meade location map

It is just under four acres in size, enclosed by a hedge and has a grass meadow, a woodland area and a stream running into a pond.

A new committee was appointed in May 2014, since when, work has continued afresh on improving the site as an amenity for both wildlife and the local community.

Working party sessions of volunteers usually take place on a Saturday morning from 10 am, weather permitting.

A wide range of tasks have been undertaken in the last six months, including: clearing the stream and pond of false watercress, nettles and brambles; unblocking the pond inlet pipes; clearing and deepening the overflow ditch alongside the hedge bordering the road; replacing fence posts; replacing the second bridge over the stream; strimming and treating the existing pathway,repairing the pond edge,  sowing a patch of wildflower mix  to see what will grow in the soil, attaching wire netting to the pond bridge to provide a non-slip surface for safety purposes, hedgelaying along the boundary near the new bridge  for the benefit of birds and other wildlife, thinning out some silver birches in the woodland to allow wildflowers more light to flower,

More news about the Meade can be seen in the parish Cloverleaf Magazine and in future posts on this blog.

Frogs on the Move

Have you noticed any squashed frogs on the road recently? They hibernate in the winter, males often at the bottom of ponds in the mud and females in a cosy muddy ditch. Once the weather warms up in the spring they make their way back to the pond and this when they risk getting squashed by traffic as they make their way across roads to find a suitable pond in which to meet a mate and lay eggs,

Frog on migration  back to a pond or water source

Last night, as I walked home via Underway, I saw a frog poised above a drain cover. After a day of rain the water was rushing through the culvert below and I imagine the frog must have thought it was a good place to seek water. 

Then today, whilst in Underway Meade, I saw two lots of frog spawn in the pond. This is a good sign as frogs have been declining in recent years, with lack of habitat and use of pesticides all taking their toll.

In case you wondered, the difference between frog and toad spawn is that frogs lay clumps of eggs in a jelly like mass and toads lay strings of eggs.


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Frog spawn in Underway Meade pond

Let's hope we see some tadpoles develop in due course!

Loss of an iconic tree

Combe St. Nicholas has always been proud of the two Copper Beeches, which have graced The Lawns in the centre of the village for probably 150+ years. This view, with the dark tree on the right of the picture,  taken from the top of the church tower, is the one on the left side of The Lawns, in full leaf a few years ago.

Last autumn villagers in Combe became aware that this iconic tree on the Lawns had, almost overnight it seemed, been surrounded by a fungi, which turned out to be Meripilus giganteus, a kind that rots the tree roots and would ultimately result in the destruction of the tree. Professional advice was sought and sadly the decision was taken to fell the tree as the extent of the internal damage could have meant the tree could fall down without warning, especially if there were high winds, and cause injury to someone.





The tree, without its leaves still towered over the surrounding buildings when the tree surgeons arrived at the end of January to carry out its felling and removal. The work took about 3 days to fell and clear away the debris ( helped by people turning up with vans, trucks and trailers and helping themselves to the wood for burning).

Work started with removing the lower branches, then the top branches and it was such a sad sight when the main trunk, finally came down!

Stump is all that remains

Now we are left with just the stump and we won't know till next autumn if the remaining Copper beech on The Lawns has also been attacked by the same fungus. If so, it will mean the tree surgeons will have to return to deal with it. Let's hope not!