Early signs of spring creep into the fields: groups of snowdrops under a hedge or two; bluebells in undisturbed hedgerow places just pushing up their vivid yellow-green shoots; and primroses starting to spread along the hedge edges, no longer nibbled out by endless sheep grazing.
The bird song is a stereophonic concert of dunnock (also known as hedge accentor), robins at twilight and song thrushes from dawn until mid-afternoon across the fields.
Mistle thrushes: the rowan berries’ security guards
The mistle thrushes have retired from their security duties protecting the rowan berries from the waxwings, blackbirds and jackdaws until none were left. Three months of daytime rowan berry surveillance was possibly a clever rationing process; the thrushes took just a few berries each day, through cold, icy or wet days. The other birds snatched a few from the periphery of the trees when they could access them, so they lasted for weeks.
The waxwings visited three times in eight weeks and sadly each visit lasted less than three hours. This was due to the protective, attacking behaviour of the mistle thrushes, always ready to repulse invaders of their “berry larder” where necessary. The old apple tree was the thrush lookout. The thrushes’ weight proved too heavy to access the berries on the thin, spindly outer branches of the rowan trees, so the trees and berries became increasingly accessible to the tits and to a “grab and go” approach from the blackbirds.
Then the thrushes were gone, leaving an emptiness, but one that was soon filled with sounds of birds sharing their view that spring was emerging. Well, the thrushes had not totally gone, as now snails were being harvested, their shells appearing in numerous places! Thrush singing for territory has started – four sites across the fields, representing another doubling within two years as nature has a place and space.
Food for bull finches in a time of scarcity
Nest box cleaning was a task list job and led to the discovery that 60% of the boxes were occupied this last year by tree sparrows, blue tits and great tits. Wasps took over one nest box and this scared off the tree sparrow nesting, thus reducing breeding numbers – just one of the challenges for red and amber listed birds when nature is given space for recovery.
More was to come, with the sound and sight of four bullfinches in the fields’ lower copses and the hedge still full of field maple berries in mid-January, with repeated sightings greatly valued. They are breeding along the woodland edge and staying in and around the site, as this is the fourth year of them feeding in January and February. This may be because the diversity of tree planting means there is always a range of early tree or hedge leaf shoots to eat. We had planted damson and crab apple trees, and these provided additional food at this stage. The crab apples crop well, and they last until late March on the ground providing more food options when earth’s larder is otherwise empty.
A barn owl makes a welcome return
Warm days has meant insects emerging just for few hours and the antics of the blue tits and other insect-eating birds are mind absorbing, as they twirl around a branch of silver birch or the old fruit trees. Greater spotted and green woodpeckers are heard and seen as they find insect grubs too in the old ash trees.
We realized we had seen no barn owl for several weeks of dreadful weather, rain, mist and cold. But then, on a windless, brighter morning at around 7.50 am, it spent 30 minutes quartering the fields, where the longer grass is an underground city of small mammals and voles. It came again ten days later and swooped over our heads as we were marking the trees for thinning or coppicing. Magic moments….
Too many trees!
Decision time is upon us as we need to address the growth and thinning of trees, the cause of some exasperation at ourselves and the tree planting team, as everything grows too well on rich riverbed clay soil. Any tree failure has been mainly due to bark-stripping deer and poor root systems. Even the bark-stripped damage trees heal well!
It’s tricky to work out which trees to fell, pollard or leave. How do you decide, when four or five oaks are planted two metres apart?! The question “How did that happen?” dominates our thinking for a while and we recall that realistically planting trees meant we put in too many! So now it’s time to manage them with nature and climate change in mind.
There has been much site reviewing, with the removal of one of the four or five that is too spindly or where the main stem is split in too many places. Some will be ring barked and so slowly die back, allowing insects and birds to manage them over time as a source of food. Some will be felled, as they are too large, and will become firewood or just be left in piles as nature’s homes and pantries. The “blinders” of lower branches will be removed to prevent risk of eye damage for the tree maintenance team!
Hazel coppice in a good balance with nature
The hazel coppice looks in a good state five years on, with little damage to young shoots from the resident hares. There’s more than enough to eat for the mammals like hares, voles and field mice on the site, so a balance has been reached and managed. Ladybirds (seen above) shelter inside of the hazel coppice poles, safe and sound.
Over one hundred hazel trees have now been coppiced by us so far this year and the poles and branches are well in excess of need. Time to look for a woodsman who wishes to make hurdles and more with this woodland crop in future years. Hopefully someone who really understands woodland management and nature, though sadly the wisdom and experience is long gone. There is little knowhow these days on how to manage trees for products of coppicing, for wildlife, fruits or foraging. It spells out the challenge for nature’s systems’ survival in the heating climate.
An evening walk around the hedges before they are cut back or layered before the nesting season reveals some wonderful surprises. For next time!
