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The member magazine for Avon Wildlife Trust Spring 2020 Issue 114
WildAvon
NATURAL SOLUTIONS
How restoring natural habitats
can help tackle the climate crisis
SAVE OUR SWIFTS
Why these masters of
the air need our help
SPRING SPECTACLE
Nature’s
sopranos
Our best spring reserves for hearing
the UK’s finest avian songsters
Welcome Welcome to your spring Wild Avon magazine,
4
our chance to connect you with the best ways to
enjoy this season’s wildlife and wild places and
bring you up to date with the work we’ve been
doing to support them. Much as I love the stark
beauty of winter and the chance it gives to tune
into a different rhythm in nature, I am glad to
have reached the lighter days of spring. The nesting birds I hear
from my office window display a gathering energy that many
of us feel. And this year that energy is needed more than ever
to focus on restoring our depleted natural world.
As we reach the first quarter of 2020, there is no doubt of the
ever-growing urgency felt by individuals, organisations and
businesses to face up to the severity of the ecological crisis
we’re in. Despite enjoying the sounds of those nesting birds,
I know how few are left in our towns, cities and countryside
compared to when I was growing up. And the same decline
faces our insects and much-loved mammals like dormice and
hedgehogs. You can read about swifts on pages 22–27 – both
their beauty and the barriers they now face to survive.
On the world stage there are huge moments ahead this year
which give a last chance to reset and restore our environment,
including the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference
– known as COP26 – in Glasgow in November. Before that, new
Agriculture and Environment Bills passing through parliament
are setting out the way forward for farming and environmental
protection.
But just as important are the things happening locally which
herald significant change. In Bristol, I joined the Mayor in
declaring an ecological emergency in February – the first city
to do so. Avon Wildlife Trust pushed for this to happen and will
be part of the action this sets in motion to create wildlife-rich
spaces in every neighbourhood. You can read more about this
and how you can play your part in helping solve this ecological
emergency on pages 16 and 21.
We have made further changes to Wild Avon to bring you
some longer features and more tips and ideas on how to
experience the best of our nature reserves and spring nature
activities. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for your support.
Ian Barrett
NICK TURNER
Chief Executive of Avon Wildlife Trust
Follow me on twitter @IanBarrettSW
Avon Wildlife Trust Get in touch
Wild Avon is the membership Trust Office Follow us on social media for the The Wild Avon Team
32 Jacobs Wells Road, Bristol BS8 1DR
magazine for Avon Wildlife Trust, latest news and events. Please share Editors: Naomi Fuller and
Telephone 0117 917 7270
your local wildlife charity, working Email mail@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk your wildlife pictures and experiences! Sarah Mitchell
to secure a strong future for the Website avonwildlifetrust.org.uk You can also subscribe to our monthly Naomi.Fuller@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk
natural environment and to inspire Folly Farm Centre newsletter online through our website Sarah.Mitchell@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk
people to care for it. With the support Stowey, Pensford, Bristol BS39 4DW to hear about our latest news and events.
Telephone 01275 331590 Designer: Kevin Lester
of over 17,000 members and 1,150 Email info@follyfarm.org Facebook @avonwt
volunteers, the Trust cares for over Website follyfarm.org Consultant editor: Sophie Stafford
Twitter @avonwt
30 nature reserves, runs educational Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol) Instagram @avonwt Consultant art editor:
and community programmes, advises 181 Frenchay Park Road, Bristol BS16 1HB Tina Smith Hobson
Telephone 0117 965 7086
landowners, and campaigns on issues Email growwilder@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk Registered charity number 280422 Cover photo: Konrad Wothe /
that threaten wildlife habitats. Website avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/growwilder Registered company number 1495108 naturepl
2 Wild Avon | Spring 2020
Contents
4 Your wild spring
The best of the season’s wildlife and where
to enjoy it on your local patch
10 Wild reserves
Discover Folly Farm and plan your visit to
other nearby Avon Wildlife Trust reserves
this spring
13
DAVID TIPLING 2020VISION
Wild thoughts
8 22
Melissa Harrison shares her secret
JOE MCSORLEY
nature havens
14 Six places to enjoy birdsong
10 16 Wild News
21 Facing up to ecological emergency
Help us act to restore nature across
our region
22 Save our swifts
Why these athletes of the air need our help
28 Natural carbon solutions
How restoring natural habitats can help
tackle the climate crisis
30 Gardening for wildlife
32 My Wild Life
Ainsley Dwyer on training in conservation
with Avon Wildlife Trust
34
STEVEN WILLIAMS
What’s on
Your guide to events, talks and volunteering
days this spring and summer
6 ways to get involved with your local Wildlife Trust
Volunteer Could you donate Campaign You can play a vital Adopt a species Choose
your skills and time to look after wildlife? role in raising awareness and lobbying on to adopt a badger or a bumblebee to
A wide range of indoor and outdoor urgent issues like reversing insect decline, support our work protecting these
tasks need doing. calling for new, strong environment laws wonderful wild animals.
avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/volunteer and putting nature into recovery. avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/
avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/campaign adoptaspecies
Donate From helping us continue
protecting Avon’s badgers, managing Local groups Join one of Leave a legacy If nature has
beautiful nature reserves and supporting our network of local groups and help given your joy in your life, help ensure
insects to thrive, supporting our make a difference to wildlife close to a future by leaving a legacy in your will.
fundraising helps us do more for wildlife. where you live. Email us: Contact Emily Millington: 0117 917 7270
avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/donate enquiries@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk emily.millington@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 3
Your wild spring
The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it across Avon
A bumblebee flies to a bluebell. Some
carry back as much as 75% of their
body weight in pollen and nectar
4 Avon| Spring
WildAvon
Wild | Spring
2020
2020
T h a n k y ou
Thanks to your m
embership,
we are working to
help
pollinating bees an
d
wonder ful wildflo
wers to
flourish across ou
r region
SPRING SPECTACLE
Pollinating insects
Listen out for the buzz and gentle flutter of wings as
flying insects pollinate wildflowers on spring days.
Bees, butterflies and hoverflies all feed on the nectar of
bluebells, and the beautiful flowers provide them with
a valuable food source as they flower earlier than many
other woodland or meadow plants. Bees have a clever
way of ‘stealing’ the nectar from bluebells by biting a
hole in the bottom of the flower, reaching the nectar
without the need to pollinate the flower. Bluebells
themselves can reproduce either by seed through
pollination or by sending out new roots and bulbs –
a process known as ‘natural vegetative propagation’.
SEE THEM THIS SPRING
JON HAWKINS – SURREY HILLS PHOTOGRAPHY
Dolebury Warren’s limestone grassland is a
haven for wildflowers and the bees and butterflies that
depend on them for nectar and pollen.
Walton Common – enjoy views of the Gordano
Valley on this nature reserve rich in wildflowers like
thyme, marjoram and rock rose.
Urban wild spaces – watch out for bumblebees in
your local park, green space or allotment.
Wild
Wild Avon| Spring
Avon | Spring2020
2020 5
YOUR WILD SPRING
Visit a
bluebell wood
Late April and early May are great
times to enjoy your local bluebell
woods. The carpets of flowers
covering the woodland floor with
their delicate scent and a gentle
breeze rippling the sea of blue spires
is a wonderful treat for all the senses.
Thanks to your membership, Avon
Wildlife Trust is protecting many
beautiful bluebell woods, providing
important habitat for small mammals,
butterflies and birds like chaffinch
and chiffchaff.
SEE IT THIS SPRING
Prior’s Wood With its gentle paths
and canopy of oak, hazel, beech and
small-leaved lime trees, this woodland
is a treat to visit and in spring the floor
is a sea of bluebells.
Weston Big Wood If you’re lucky
Native bluebells have petals which you might spot a woodpecker or
curl back at the tip and the flowers nuthatch as you wander the paths, or
grow on one side of drooping stems hear them in the trees.
JOSH RAPER – CONSERVATION MEDIA
URBAN FIELDCRAFT
Slow worm city slickers
Sometimes mistaken for worms or How to
snakes, slow worms are actually
SPOT A SLOW WORM
legless lizards and, like lizards, they
have eyelids and can shed their Size it up Slow worms are much
tails (which then regrow). Although smaller than snakes and have
these wonderful reptiles are in smooth, golden-grey skin. Males
decline nationally because of loss are paler in colour and sometimes
of habitat, they have adapted to have blue spots, while females are
urban life, where derelict industrial larger, with dark sides and a dark
sites and disused or untidy parts of stripe down the back.
allotments make the perfect homes Go under cover Gently look
for them. Sheets of old metal or underneath old metal or carpet
carpet might look unsightly to you see along paths. You might
our eyes, but slow worms love to see one or more slow worms
CHRIS LAWRENCE
lie underneath to shelter and hide – but remember to leave them
from predators like rats, foxes, cats undisturbed and don’t try to pick
and sometimes magpies. them up.
6 Wild Avon | Spring 2020
SEE THIS DO THIS
MARK HAMBLIN
Look out for the darting flight of swallows Look out for a spring or summer bird or
returning in April from their winter visit to wildlife identification day to enjoy learning more about
Africa, and swifts in early May with their Avon’s beautiful birds, native and visiting. Look at our website
piercing call on the wing. events page for courses avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/events
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Butterflies
Top tips
3 SPECIES TO SPOT
Get to know more about Brimstone
ANTENNAE
When these butterflies
the array of beautiful Butterfly antennae are generally thin with club-shaped tips,
roost among foliage, the
compared with the feathery or comb-like antennae of moths
insects you might spot angular shape and strong
when out for a walk, or veining of their wings
closely resemble leaves.
in your park or garden
this season.
The flutter of wings
As we come into late
VAUGHN MATTHEWS
spring and early summer,
caterpillars will begin
to emerge from their
ROSS HODDINOTT / 2020VISION
chrysalises as butterflies,
ready to fill our landscape WINGS
with colour. With a Butterflies usually BODY Comma
hold their wings folded Made up of three parts, the
fascinating life cycle, this The scalloped edges and
back together when at rest head, thorax (chest) and
family of invertebrates is abdomen (tail end) cryptic colouring of their
well worth getting your wings help hibernating
teeth into! adults remain unseen.
SEE THEM THIS SPRING
What to look for Walton Common This grassland and
In the UK we have 59 species of butterflies woodland reserve with beautiful views of the
– 57 resident species and two regular Gordano Valley is famed for its wildflowers
migrants, the painted lady and clouded and butterflies.
yellow. Butterflies can be found in almost Dolebury Warren Wildflowers carpet
REBECCA ADDY
any habitat as each species has different food the grassy ramparts and limestone slopes,
plants of choice. In Avon, our wildflower-rich attracting rare butterflies, so plenty to spot
calcareous grasslands are great places for here if you visit.
butterfly spotting, as well as rides and glades
in our woodlands. Reserve information and maps Pearl-bordered fritillary
avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves One of the earliest of the
Know the difference fritillaries to emerge, they
There is no hard and fast rule that can be seen as early as
differentiates butterflies and moths, but April in woodland clearings
there are a few clues you can look for. or on rough hillsides with
Butterfly antennae are generally thin with bracken.
club-shaped tips, compared with the feathery
or comb-like antennae of moths. Butterflies
are diurnal (meaning they are active during
the day), while a lot of moths are nocturnal. CHRYSALIS
While at rest, butterflies usually fold their Moths make cocoons and butterflies
LES BINNS
wings back, while moths flatten their wings make chrysalises. The former are silky
TOM MARSHALL
against their bodies or spread them out in a and the latter are silk-less
‘jet plane’ position.
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 7
HEAR THIS FORAGE FOR THIS
Listen out for the song of the chiffchaff which returns Young nettles and wild garlic leaves make delicious soup
to the UK in early spring. Its call is a lively, repeated or pesto. The leaves of both plants are at their best in
HARRY GREEN
‘chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chiff-chaff’. mid-spring when they are tender and full of flavour.
NOT JUST FOR KIDS
Seven ways to enjoy nature this spring
Why should kids have all the fun? Reignite your love of nature with these really wild things to do
2 Go pond hunting
From March onwards, after a
dormant winter, ponds burst into life
and in spring these watery habitats are
teeming with wildlife. Spend some time
looking closely at the huge variety of
wild plants and animals living in or on
the fringes of these wildlife havens. By
early spring, frogspawn and toadspawn
usually appear – frogspawn a cluster
of jelly-like eggs and toadspawn in long
JON HAWKINS - SURREY HILLS PHOTOGRAPHY
ribbons. In early summer but sometimes
later, the tadpoles
1 Have your first picnic of the year have grown
NIALL BENVIE/2020VISION
Watch the weather forecast for a dry spring day and head out with a picnic to legs and fully
enjoy your first al fresco lunch or afternoon tea. Pack some treats and pick your absorbed their
favourite spot – it could be your local park or wildlife site, or visit one of our nature tails and are ready
reserves. Once there, enjoy the sights and sounds of birds, insects and even the to leave the water
rustling of small mammals if you’re quiet enough! as tiny froglets.
4 Plant your own wildflowers
It doesn’t matter if you have a garden,
a windowsill or a tiny patio – you can plant
wildflowers in beds, containers or window boxes
to create a beautiful mini-wildflower meadow
to enjoy all spring and summer. Why not use
a quirky container, like an old teapot, kettle
or tin? Line with an old woolly jumper cut to
size and plant up your selection of wildflowers
3 Take a friend to
a nature reserve
Do you have a favourite Avon Wildlife
using peat-free compost. Visit the wildflower
nursery at our Grow Wilder site (formerly Feed
Bristol) to browse and get friendly advice from
ABI PAINE
Trust nature reserve, or is there one our team – open on weekdays and the first
you’ve wanted to visit but haven’t got Saturday of every month 10am-4pm.
around to it? Why not invite a friend
and let them choose where to go from
our list of wonderful spots? Whether
they’d prefer open grassland with views,
secluded woodland, flat wetlands 5 Enjoy spotting cowslips
These well-known spring blooms are easy to
identify with their cup-shaped, yellow flowers
NIALL BENVIE/2020VISION
perfect for bird spotting, or a site closer
to the city, just look at the website to growing in nodding clusters on tall stalks. See them
find out which one will suit your mood. growing in open areas of woodland, meadows and on
avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves. roadsides. After decades of worrying decline, cowslips
are returning to unsprayed road verges and banks.
8 Wild Avon | Spring 2020
YOUR WILD SPRING
Spring and summer events
Take your pick from this selection of some of the best
seasonal activities, courses and events close to you
1 City Nature Challenge 7 Bristol Festival of Nature
25 April,10:30am-2:30pm 6 & 7 June, 10am-6pm
Newbridge Slopes, Bath Millennium Square, Bristol
Come and join in with the Come and visit the Avon
region’s challenge to record as Wildlife Trust marquee at
many different wildlife species Bristol’s nature festival.
6 Feed the birds
As birds nest and hatch their young this
spring, help them by providing suitable food
as we can in one weekend!
8 Illustrated nature
journalling course
2 Wildlife Watch Club
to sustain their energy. As well as putting out 19 June, 10am-4pm
for 5-10 year olds
leftover food like grated cheese, Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol)
2 May, 10am-12pm
BOB COYLE
cooked rice, dried fruit and chopped Discover how to create your
Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol)
nuts, mealworms are a brilliant own nature journal through
From microscopic marvels to
food to provide in the breeding sketching and writing. This
tiny tadpoles, find out what’s
and fledgling season. N at u re lurking in the pond this year?
workshop will get you started
using simple techniques, and
Booking essential online, and
cra ft other dates available throughout
give help and ideas to help you
7
continue your journal.
Build your own bee hotel the year.
9 Grow Wilder summer
You will need: 3 Spring celebration, celebration
■ An untreated wooden plank, at least 10 cm wide. vegetable and plant sale 20 June, 12pm-5pm
■ Plenty of hollow stems of different diameters 2 May, 9am-5pm Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol)
(including the bees’ preferred 3-5 mm), such as Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol) Music, café, free wildlife activities
bramble, reed or bamboo. Come and join a bountiful spring for families and a chance to visit
■ Saw, drill, screws and secateurs. community celebration and our wildflower nursery, buy plants
■ A mirror fixing to hang the finished nest up. stock up on wildflowers and and see wildlife-friendly food
edible plants for the year. growing in action.
Building your bee hotel:
4 Avon Wildlife Trust’s 10 Improve your garden for
1 C
ut the plank into four to make a rectangular
40th birthday party! wildlife course
frame that the stems will sit inside.
3 May, 2pm-5pm 3 July, 9am-4pm
2 D
rill guide holes for the screws (to stop the Folly Farm Centre Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol)
wood splitting) and assemble the frame. Join us to celebrate the Trust’s Learn how to help your local
3 S
nip your stems into lengths to fit the frame 40th birthday with nature wildlife with this practical one
(as wide as the plank), discarding any bent or activities, guided wildlife walks day course on wildlife gardening.
knobbly ones. It’s a good idea to include some and refreshments. Leave with advice for your
really big stems (cut with a fine saw), even own garden.
5 Wildflower identification
though they’re no use to the bees; they speed
up the assembly stage, look attractive and help course
shelter lacewings and ladybirds over winter. 9 May, 10am-4pm
Grow Wilder (formerly Feed Bristol)
4 L ay your frame on a tilted surface and carefully Discover more about amazing
pack it with stems. Only as you add the final few local wildflowers and learn how
does the whole thing suddenly lock solid. to identify what’s around you on
our one-day beginner’s course.
Hanging your
bee hotel: 6 Bath Festival of Nature
■ Hang your hotel on 30 May, 11am-6pm
a sunny wall, sheltered Green Park, Bath
from rain. Come and visit the Avon Wildlife Browse more events
Trust marquee at Bath’s nature or book on our website
festival. avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/events
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 9
Discover Folly Farm
Historically, there is evidence that it was and pollinators: a wonderful place to linger
Folly Farm is a 250-acre once a medieval deer park, and in the and enjoy the sights and sounds of insects
nature reserve with eighteenth century was a ‘ferme ornée’ and birds. Look out for black knapweed,
– an ornamental farm with features ox-eye daisies and bee orchids, with
stunning views over designed to retune the senses of visitors the delicate purples and whites
the Chew Valley. Avon from the city. For example, waterfalls were stretching across the meadows.
placed near footpaths to allow guests to On the steep slopes that form
Wildlife Trust has owned hear running water. Some features of the the wide amphitheatre shape
ferme ornée can still be seen today, like the of the site, there are patches
and managed the site watercourse which runs down the lush of dense scrub
since 1986. Take a walk wooded valley. for beautiful
birds like
this spring to enjoy There’s a sense of blackcaps,
shady woodland, white-
open grassland and
tranquillity and throats and
thrushes
gentle hills. gentle beauty to perch on
NAOMI FULLER
and nest in.
Now, Folly Farm is managed as a mosaic Dowlings
of habitats to encourage a wide range of Wood, in the
wildlife. At the top of the site, you’ll find south-eastern
stunning hay meadows, which at the corner
height of summer are full of wildflowers of the
10 Wild Avon | Spring 2020OUR BEST SPRING RESERVES
T h a n k y ou NOW YOU DO IT
Thanks to your su
pport, we
can look after Folly
for the barn owls,
Farm
badgers,
1 Visit Folly Farm
butterflies and ot
her wildlife KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
that depend on it.
Location: Stowey, Pensford, Bristol, BS39 4DW
How to get there: A free car park is at the
reserve.
Opening times: Free entry all year round,
stepping stones across the landscape for dawn til dusk.
animals to shelter in and move between. Access: ‘Access for all’ trails allow access
Creatures that benefit greatly from the for wheelchairs and pushchairs. There are
woodland at Folly Farm are our resident permissive paths all across the site with a
badgers. There are several active setts public footpath running through the top.
on the site, and it’s a great place to sit Some paths on hill sides can be slippery
quietly on a summer’s evening and watch and muddy.
for snuffling badger cubs emerging to Phone: 0117 9177270
feed as the sun goes down. We have an Email: enquiries@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk
observation point set up just off our Website: avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/
‘access for all’ trail, so you can easily spot nature-reserves/folly-farm
the badgers without disturbing them.
TOP WILDLIFE TO SPOT
A glimpse of Badgers: on a still spring evening, look out
for the Folly badgers foraging at dusk. Good
history in a living views from the observation point on the
‘access for all’ trail.
landscape Herb paris: its crown of understated, green
flowers can be found blooming in Dowlings
BEVIS WATTS
Wood in May and June. With its whorl of
For centuries, four egg-shaped leaves, it is known as the
Wild garlic parts of Folly ‘herb of equality’ because all its parts are
Farm have considered equal and harmonious.
been grazed by Barn owl: these silent predators have
DANNY GREEN/2020VISION
animals. We are specially adapted primary flight feathers,
now moving which have a serrated leading edge to
site, is a beautiful patch of woodland towards a more disrupt turbulence and prevent them
which in springtime is a carpet of naturalistic way of from making any noise. Look out for them
bluebells, primroses and early purple managing this grazing to create a good floating along hedgerows at dusk.
orchids. You can also spot the understated balance of natural habitats, using more Ant hills: an indicator of old grassland
but equally magnificent wildflower, traditional, wilder livestock breeds. In that has escaped the plough, these can
herb paris. December, we introduced four Exmoor be seen throughout the rare grassland at Folly.
Mosaics of habitats, as we have at Folly ponies and we are already beginning to
Farm, are crucial for nature’s recovery in see the positive impact they are having THINGS TO DO
our increasingly fragmented landscape. on the scrubby slopes, as they trample Walk up to the top of East Hill (turn left as
Hedgerows form corridors linking to paths through brambles and munch on you leave the car park and follow the path)
neighbouring land so wildlife can move tough plants like tufted hair grass and enjoy panoramic views of Chew Valley
around the area. Together with our and thistles. This will help a more below and back towards Dundry Hill and
volunteers, we have planted long stretches diverse range of wildflowers to Bristol.
of new hedgerow over the last year. In thrive on the hilly grassland and Stop and stare in wonder at the
addition, our wooded areas join up with give colour, beauty and a food spectacular Folly Oak (in the field in front of
other woodlands around the area to act as source for insects in the years ahead. the Folly Farm Centre). This magnificent tree
Seeing these ponies roaming the with its beautiful spreading branches is over
DID YOU KNOW There is a lime hillside brings a wilder look to 400 years old.
kiln on maps from the 1600–1900s in the nature reserve and Catch a glimpse of our lovely wild
what is now a hay meadow at the top gives a glimpse of how Exmoor ponies with their shaggy coats
grassland landscapes and manes. They are quite hard to spot as
of the site, indicating woodland
would have been they enjoy hiding in the midst of scrub and
BEVIS WATTS
management took place at Folly Farm
over 400 years ago! looked after in the bramble to munch away together!
past. n
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 11OUR BEST SPRING RESERVES
More Avon Wildlife Trust nature
reserves for a great spring day out
3 Chew Valley Lake
Why now?
Thornbury Interesting birds can
be seen at this
reserve all year
Severn round, including
Beach
Chipping in spring and
PETE HERRIDGE
Sodbury
summer. Breeding Spot birds and
birds include dragonflies here
Portishead great crested and
little grebe, gadwall, tufted duck, shoveler and
Bristol pochard. Hobbies often feed over the area
in late summer and ospreys are sometimes
Clevedon
spotted later in the year, stopping at the lake
Nailsea
on their migration journey to West Africa
Keynsham from their stronghold in Scotland. When the
Bath water level falls in the hotter months, the mud
attracts waders such as dunlin, ringed plover
Weston-s-Mare
1 and green sandpipers.
3 2
Know before you go
Location: Herriots Bridge, West Harptree,
Bristol BS40 6HW
Midsomer
Norton Open: Although there is no access directly
onto the reserve because it’s such a delicate
2 Burledge Hill Nature Reserve habitat, you can stand on Herriott’s Bridge
overlooking the reserve and get excellent
Why now? Know before you go views of the birdlife.
This wildflower-rich grassland on the Location: Sutton Hill Rd, Bishop Sutton, Wildlife to spot: Birds all year round.
north-eastern fringes of the Mendip Hills, Bristol BS39, Dragonflies and other aquatic insects
overlooking Chew Valley Lake, is only a Open: Free entry all year, dawn to dusk during summer months
short distance from our Folly Farm nature Wildlife to spot: willow warbler, garden Find out more:
reserve and a wonderful small nature warbler and whitethroat avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-
reserve to visit. Rare meadow flowers Find out more: reserves/chew-valley-lake
including cowslip, lady’s mantle, saw-wort avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-
and devil’s bit scabious grow on this site reserves/burledge-hill The lowdown
through the summer months. Butterflies Now a freshwater lake teeming with birds –
are also abundant in summer and birds The lowdown with over 260 species recorded – Chew Valley
such as willow warbler, garden warbler and We’ve been busy doing much needed grassland Lake was lush farmland and fields until the
whitethroat can be heard singing from the restoration work at Burledge Hill. Our dedicated 1950s. When a new reservoir was needed to
scrub areas. group of volunteers have worked with us supply drinking water to the growing city
through the winter to help keep the wildflower of Bristol, 1,200 acres of land was flooded
grassland on site open and connected to nearby with 4,500 million gallons of water from the
habitats. The balance of grassland, scrub and Mendip Hills. As well as being a haven for
woodland is really important to maintain a birds all year round, the lake is now a popular
range of wildlife here. As well as the practical place for fishing, sailing and walks, with
work done by the volunteers, we also have accessible paths. stretching along large parts
grazing cattle who help keep the right balance of the lake’s shore.
of wildflowers and other plants. If you visit
Look down to Burledge Hill this spring and summer, you’ll Plan your next great day
Chew Valley Lake be rewarded with splashes of colour from the out at our nature reserves:
wildflowers that grow across the hillside. avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves
12 Wild Avon | Spring 2020WILD THOUGHTS
Melissa
Harrison
Discover your
secret garden
When I lived in central London We fare less well in myriad ways the A LITTLE BIT WILD
I had my very own Secret Garden: further removed we allow ourselves to
a tiny pocket park a couple of streets get. Find your
away. That’s even what I called it, as Creating a life that’s connected to connection
its real name was long and humdrum and totally nature doesn’t have to mean moving to Create an ongoing
failed to capture how magical the place felt to deep countryside, going on long hikes in relationship with your
me. An overgrown and largely overlooked half- technical clothing, getting in the car and special place in a way
acre created from the abandoned grounds of a driving to a national park or learning long that works for you –
long-gone Victorian villa, there was a pond, a lists of Latin names for birds (though you drawing, meditating,
single redwood, an old statue and winding paths can do all those things if you like!). Nor writing or even going for
lost under ivy, brambles and bindweed. I found is connecting to nature something we a run. Be inspired by our
frog spawn in spring, and sometimes a heron should experience as a duty – one more 30 Days Wild Challenge!
visited. Long-tailed tits chirruped in the branches thing to fit into an already busy life. wildlifetrusts.org/
overhead and when it snowed neat lines of fox All it requires is a little curiosity about 30DaysWild
prints led to a den deep beneath the brambles. the wilder world around you – whether
For years my Secret Garden was a refuge from that’s your garden, park, local beauty spot or
the city and a source of inspiration, even becoming nearest Wildlife Trust reserve – as well as an
a key location in my first novel, Clay. ongoing interest in what’s living there, and a
For the two decades I spent in the capital willingness to find out what it looks, sounds, feels
I relied on contact with nature to help make urban and smells like during all four seasons of the year.
life not just survivable, but enjoyable. Finding To connect with a special place in this way
special places like my Secret Garden proved taps into age-old instincts, answering deep, Melissa
transformative, keeping me connected to weather, subconscious, but often unmet needs. Over time, Harrison is
wildlife and the ancient cycle of the seasons – all your attention will be repaid tenfold, a nature writer
ILLUSTRATION: ROBIN MACKENZIE
things modern life can ameliorate or sometimes it deepens and enriches your daily life, and novelist,
erase. Even in my twenties I instinctively knew filling it with wonder. and editor of
I needed nature, and now the science is bearing the anthologies
it out: spending time in wild places eases stress, The Wildlife Trusts are looking Spring, Summer,
regulates our emotions, boosts our immune systems forward to the release of The Secret Garden Autumn and
and improves both physical and mental health. in cinemas this spring. Search for your own Winter, produced
None of that should come as a surprise, given that secret space at your nearest Wildlife Trust nature in support of The
we evolved in nature, rather than separately from it. reserve. Visit wildlifetrusts.org/nature-reserves Wildlife Trusts.
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 136 places to hear
Spring singers
S
pring is a time of change. For our feathered friends,
thoughts turn from survival to more amorous
pursuits. As birds across the UK search for a mate,
the landscape fills with song, the chorus growing
as summer visitors arrive from farther south. Almost
any garden, park or nature reserve can offer a seasonal
symphony, perhaps with the warble of blackcaps, the
melodic voice of the blackbird and the flourishing finale
of chaffinches. But to hear some of our most celebrated
singers, you may have to venture slightly farther afield.
This spring, why not seek out the incomparable song of the
nightingale, the cascading chorus of a wood warbler or the
simple but splendid call of the cuckoo.
14 Wild Avon | Spring 20201
4
2 5
Hear the symphony 3 6
for yourself
1 Ayr Gorge, Scottish Wildlife Trust
In spring this wooded ravine comes alive with bird song,
including warblers like chiffchaff and blackcap. Listen for the
strange song of the dipper along the river.
Where: Failford, KA5 5TF
2 Gilfach, Radnorshire Wildlife Trust
STAR PHOTO In late spring the oak woodland echoes with the beautiful
song of the wood warbler, an accelerating cascade often
likened to the sound of a spinning coin.
Where: Rhayader, Powys LD6 5LF
3 Catcott Complex, Somerset Wildlife Trust
Ditches and reedbeds resound with the chattering of reed
and sedge warblers and the explosive bursts of Cetti’s
warbler song. You might also hear the insect-like reel of a
grasshopper warbler.
Where: Near Burtle, TA7 8NQ
4 The Roaches, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
The woodland at Back Forest is a great place to hear the soft
song of the redstart and the distinctive call of the cuckoo, as
well as warblers including wood warbler.
Where: Roach End, ST13 8TA
5 Grafham Water, Wildlife Trust for
Beds, Cambs & Northants
Follow the Nightingale Trail for your chance to hear the
iconic song of this secretive summer visitor.
Where: Grafham, PE28 0BH
6 Woods Mill, Sussex Wildlife Trust
Listen for the beautiful song of the nightingale. There’s also the
rare chance to hear the soft purr of the turtle dove, which sadly
is the UK’s fastest declining bird.
Where: Near Henfield, BN5 9SD
WOOD WARBLER BY ANDY ROUSE/2020VISION
A chorus close to home
Avon Wildlife Trust is running guided walks and events
this spring and summer, including dawn chorus walks to
experience the joys of birdsong. Search our website to see
what’s near you at avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/events
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 15WILD NEWS
All the latest regional and national news from The Wildlife Trusts
Bristol’s declaration
TOBY PICKARD
signals a new approach to
nature’s recovery
REGIONAL
Bristol declares ecological emergency
Bristol has become the first city to declare in decline and 15% at risk of extinction. and restore places for wildlife in every
an ecological emergency, signalling a new In Bristol, the city’s swift and starling neighbourhood. City organisations and
approach to nature recovery and restoring populations are a fraction of what they businesses have pledged to commit to
wildlife-rich spaces. The declaration was were, with a 96% decline in numbers of action and others are being urged to play
made by Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees and these once-common birds between 1994 their part. And we’re encouraging people of
our CEO Ian Barrett, with the support of and 2014. all ages to volunteer, take practical action
other organisations, at a cabinet meeting Avon Wildlife Trust’s chief executive, in schools, workplaces, gardens and parks,
at the beginning of February. Standing Ian Barrett, has worked closely with and to join as members. The Trust will
alongside the declaration of a climate the Mayor and council to highlight the continue to work closely with the council,
emergency made by Bristol City Council in ecological crisis facing the city and to city organisations and local communities
November 2018, the ecological emergency shape the emergency response. Already, to turn this pioneering declaration into a
declaration recognises the scale of wildlife ambitious nature targets for the city clear action plan for restoring the
decline and the serious degradation of the have been set out in the One City Plan, city’s nature.
natural environment which we now face. including increasing tree cover and wildlife
Recent international reports, including abundance in Bristol by the 2040s. The
the 2019 State of Nature, have painted February declaration paves the way for Turn to page 21 to read more about
a picture of plummeting wildlife a much quicker pace of change and new how we’re tackling ecological
populations, where 41% of UK species are citywide strategies and funding to create emergency and how you can help.
16 Wild Avon | Spring 2020NEWS
Thank
£24,0
s
we’ve to you,
raised
00 Together
Last year we over
successfully vaccinated
15 adults and cubs to fun
d our
we’re stronger
b
progra adger vacc
mme, inatio
protec help n
t badg ing us
year a e r st Here are some of the ways your
nd ne his
x t. membership has been helping
30
to protect your local wildlife
nature
RICHARD HOPKINS
reserves
With your support, each of our reserves
is an exceptional place for wildlife. And
REGIONAL as we build nature’s recovery across our
region together, the role of our nature
New Government policy means
reserves as refuges and stepping stones
from which wildlife can spread is more
an end in sight for badger culling
13,742
vital than ever.
species
are known
As our conservation team gears up to The changes won’t be immediate, and about in
continue the badger vaccination work we culling will continue in some new areas over Avon and 52% have been found on our
started last summer, the Government has the next few years – including potentially nature reserves. This is fantastic news
announced a significant policy change in in Avon. We’re continuing our vaccination and your support is helping us monitor
the fight against bovine TB – signalling programme and getting ready to and record wildlife species in more detail.
the phasing out of badger culling and the revaccinate last year’s adults and vaccinate
scaling up of badger vaccination. cubs born this year. We’ll start surveying
The new approach promises funding the site soon to find out where the badgers’
and the scaling up of both badger
vaccination and cattle vaccination,
main setts and routes are, and from June
onwards we will set up humane traps
Thank
and support for farmers to take action
on farms to stop infection. This is
positive news and means the future
which allow us to carefully vaccinate them.
Find out more about our
you!
is more hopeful for these wonderful work to vaccinate badgers
mammals. avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/saveourbadgers
You helped lapwing
MARK HAMBLIN / 2020VISION
REGIONAL Sadly, ash We created new ‘scrapes’ –
dieback is set shallow, water-filled dips – at
Ash dieback to affect
90% of all
our Gordano Valley nature
reserves last year and five
ash trees breeding pairs returned to
Ash dieback – a devastating disease raise their chicks. We’ll keep
which is predicted to severely affect or kill you posted on this year’s
over 90% of ash trees nationally – is now lapwing visitors.
affecting trees across our region, including
in all of Avon Wildlife Trust’s wooded nature If you’re out for spring and summer walks
reserves. We are now preparing for its you may see our team at work and find You helped create
new habitats
effects and our land management team are some footpaths closed. We’re sorry about
felling and removing trees at several nature this but we need to keep people safe when
reserves. Spread by a fungus, the disease doing this essential tree work. In the last three years we’ve planted 12
stops trees being able to draw nutrients hectares of wildflower-rich grasslands
into their upper branches, meaning there Find out more about ash dieback to help pollinating insects – that’s the
is a risk of branches or even whole trees and how we’re tackling it here size of 12 rugby pitches!
falling, often without any warning signs. avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/ash-dieback
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 17UK NEWS
A bottlenose
dolphin leaps
clear of the
water in the
Moray Firth
UK UPDATE
A big splash for UK seas
– our 2019 marine review
Together, the Wildlife Trusts form Our fight to secure this network
the UK’s largest marine conservation saw a huge victory last summer, with 2019 IN NUMBERS
organisation. Our Living Seas teams the designation of 41 new Marine
are the eyes and ears of the UK’s coast. Conservation Zones. n Over 5,000 volunteers supported
Throughout 2019, with the help of over 2019 also saw a welcome boost for some coastal Wildlife Trusts with beach
5,000 volunteers, they did wonderful of our struggling seabirds. On Handa cleans, surveys and shore-based
things for the wildlife in our seas. Island, Scottish Wildlife Trust counted events.
Careful monitoring revealed some 8,207 razorbills, the highest number since
fantastic good news stories around our 2006, though the population is sadly still n More than 200 sharks, skates
and rays were tagged as part
shores, from bumper breeding seasons to in trouble. In North Wales, Sandwich
of Ulster Wildlife’s SeaDeep
amazing discoveries. terns had a bumper year, with 800 chicks
project, helping us monitor these
A new citizen science project logged 320 fledging compared to just 180 in 2018.
vulnerable animals.
sightings of cetaceans off Yorkshire’s east Sadly, it wasn’t all good news. Several
coast, including minke whales, bottlenose Wildlife Trusts reported an increase in n Two giant gobies were among
dolphins and harbour porpoises. There disturbance. Jet skis, kayakers, boats and 1,310 species recorded in just
was good news for seals too, with Cumbria drones have all been recorded causing 24 hours as Devon Wildlife
Wildlife Trust counting a site record of distress to marine wildlife like dolphins, Trust’s Wembury Marine Centre
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN: JOHN MACPHERSON/2020VISION
483 grey seals at South Walney, including seals and seabirds. celebrated its 25th anniversary.
seven pups. Elsewhere, an individual seal, Plastics, ocean litter and discarded
nicknamed Tulip Belle, was discovered fishing gear also continue to devastate n 27 tonnes of litter and fishing
commuting between the Isle of Man marine wildlife, though Wildlife Trusts gear were collected by fishermen
and Cornwall. around our shores cleared up huge for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s
Lara Howe, Manx Wildlife Trust’s marine amounts of litter, including 2.5 tonnes Fishing 4 Litter.
officer, says: “It shows that seals will swim picked up by the Isles of Scilly
Get involved
great distances for food and a place to pup, Wildlife Trust.
We need to put nature into
highlighting the importance of a network All of this was made possible by the
recovery on land and at sea. Join us on
of Marine Protected Areas around the fantastic support of all our volunteers and
our campaign for a wilder future:
UK, so that wherever marine wildlife goes members. For more amazing stories head
wildlifetrusts.org/wilder-future
there are healthy seas to support them.” to wildlifetrusts.org/marine-review-19
18 Wild Avon | Spring 2020NEWS
UK UPDATE UK HIGHLIGHTS
100 miles wilder Discover how The
Space for nature should be at the heart could support the current proposals for Wildlife Trusts are 1
of our planning and farming systems. housing, road and rail and stay within
This is the only way we can create a environmental limits for nature, carbon
helping wildlife 2
across the UK
Nature Recovery Network, enabling and water.
3
wildlife to thrive across the landscape Special habitats are under threat,
and bringing nature into our daily lives. including ancient woodland and
But current grazing marsh, which supports rare 1 Inspirational youth
proposals for and declining wading birds like curlew Over the last year, over 2,800
developing and redshank. young people aged 11-25 rolled up
the land The Wildlife Trusts have created an their sleeves to help nature thrive
between alternative vision for this land: 100 miles in their local area. The Grassroots
Oxford and of wilder landscape in which people Challenge project, led by Ulster Wildlife,
Cambridge do not can live, work and enjoy nature. By gave young people the opportunity
have nature at their protecting and connecting the wildest to unleash their passion, creativity and
heart. Without proper places, we can introduce a new way of potential to make a real difference to
assessment, government planning that has nature and people’s their environment and community.
cannot know wellbeing at the centre. Find out more ulsterwildlife.org/news/inspirational-
whether the area wildlifetrusts.org/100-miles-wilder youth
2 Attenborough appeal
New leader for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
launched an appeal to raise £1 million to
The Wildlife Trusts safeguard Attenborough Nature Reserve,
a wild oasis at the edge of Nottingham
The Wildlife Trusts are delighted to that’s home to large numbers of
welcome Craig Bennett as their new Chief wildfowl. The appeal was supported by
Executive Officer. Sir David Attenborough and raised over
One of the UK’s leading environmental £900,000 in the first month.
campaigners, Craig joins The Wildlife nottinghamshirewildlife.org/
Trusts from Friends of the Earth, where he bee populations. lifelineappeal
was Chief Executive. Craig Bennett says: “The Wildlife
In a conservation career spanning over Trusts are an extraordinary grassroots
3 Spooky sighting
REDSHANK: TOM MARSHALL, MARSH FRITILLARY: ROSS HODDINOTT/2020VISION, GHOST SLUG: PHIL SANSUM
20 years, Craig has led a movement to end movement that is uniquely placed to A ghost slug was discovered in
peat cutting on important moorlands, work with local communities to make the gardens of Devon Wildlife Trust’s
helped secured better wildlife legislation this happen and ensure a wilder future, Cricklepit Mill. The origins of this
through The Countryside and Rights and I could not be more pleased to have mysterious species are uncertain, but it’s
of Way Act 2000 and, more recently, been asked to lead them at this thought to be a native of Ukraine. Since
led successful campaigns to highlight incredibly important moment.” ghost slugs were first discovered in the
climate change and to protect and restore wildlifetrusts.org/new-leader UK in 2007, there have been a scattering
of sightings, mainly from South Wales.
It’s a predator of earthworms and may
An insect apocalypse cause problems for our native worms if it
A new report, Insect Declines and Why They becomes established.
Matter, commissioned by an alliance of devonwildlifetrust.org/news/ghost
Wildlife Trusts in the south west, concluded
that drastic declines in insect numbers look
set to have far-reaching consequences
for both wildlife and people. The report
concludes: “if insect declines are not halted,
terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will
collapse, with profound consequences for
human wellbeing.”
wildlifetrusts.org/urgent-action-insects
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 19NEWS
We bet you didn’t know...
VAUGHN MATTHEWS
A total of 6,108 species of wild animals and plants have been UK HIGHLIGHTS
discovered at our nature reserves. We’ll tell you more about some
of these in your next magazine.
Rare bee recorded for
the first time in 13 years!
A yellow-faced bee has been spotted
at our Grow Wilder site (previously
called Feed Bristol) in north Bristol
recently – the first time this species
has been recorded in the Bristol area
since 2007. It’s a small, mostly back
bee with yellow (or sometimes white)
Our four new Exmoor ponies are markings on its face. This is a fantastic
TIM CURLEY
hardy through the seasons, living
find for our team at Grow Wilder and
wild on our Folly Farm reserve
shows how well this urban site is doing
at attracting back wildlife of all kinds.
REGIONAL Yellow-faced bees collect pollen from
wild mignonette and the weld plant
Introducing our new conservation officers and live in open habitats including
grassland, coastal marshes and
Four Exmoor ponies have arrived at bit scabious and the tall spikes of gardens. Let’s hope more can flourish
our Folly Farm nature reserve to help yellow rattle, to flourish in the future. in wild spaces across the region and
us manage the beautiful wildflower Our ponies are all named after cheeses, their numbers grow.
grasslands. This sturdy native breed so we’re getting to know Wensleydale,
S TE
is excellent for conservation grazing Halloumi, Stilton and Mozzarella – our VE
N
FA
because it thrives in tough terrain, very own Folly Farm cheeseboard!
LK
including steep slopes, boggy areas and
places with cold and wet weather. The If you’re visiting Folly Farm you’re
ponies were brought from Exmoor by welcome to see the ponies, but it’s
the Moorland Mousie Trust – a charity important not to feed them or try to
dedicated to protecting Exmoor ponies stroke them. Feeding them could make
– and have got straight to work eating them ill and going too close could
tough grasses, bramble and gorse. By frighten them and lead to an injury.
munching away and keeping tougher Yellow-faced
bee
plants from dominating, the hilly
grasslands at Folly Farm will get more Read more about our new ponies
light, which will allow the wonderful and the conservation grazing
array of wildflowers, like the delicate they’re doing avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/
mauve heath-spotted orchid and devil’s blog/exmoor-ponies
Adopt a bumblebee
You can play your part in helping
REGIONAL
Avon’s insects and adopt your very
Cracking wildlife
into a wonderful own bumblebee. Our adoption
wildlife haven packs are now available to buy, and
pond, Gromit! for frogs, newts,
toads and a
we’ll send you a factsheet about
bumblebees in our region, your own
host of other adoption certificate and a cuddly
Already home to Shaun the Sheep, Wallace city wildlife. bumblebee. Every penny received from
and Gromit and the iconic Morph, Aardman Transforming this space helps connect adoptions goes towards supporting
Studios in Bristol has made space for a host patches of land and wild spaces right across threatened wildlife and habitats –
of wildlife, thanks to amazing efforts by Bristol for wildlife to thrive. It’s a small but including bees and the wildflower
young conservationists. A group of young vital part of the Nature Recovery Network meadows and grasslands they need
volunteers, helped by Avon Wildlife Trust’s we need to create together. to flourish. It’s the perfect present
Our Bright Future youth engagement team, for children and families. Find out
worked hard in cold, muddy conditions to Read more about the pond project more: avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/
restore an overgrown pond in Aardman avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/ adoptaspecies
Studios’ garden and have transformed it aardman-pond
20 Wild Avon | Spring 2020WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
FOCUS ON... “Nature urgently needs
our help to recover –
TOM MARSHALL
Ecological Emergency Appeal and it can be done.”
Sir David Attenborough
Please help wildlife to fight
back in Bristol and across Avon
ISTOCK - KRZYCH-34
Ecological emergency declared the country’s species are currently at With over 100,000 new homes planned
In February, our Chief Executive risk of extinction. Human intervention locally by 2036, we need more support
Ian Barrett joined the Bristol Mayor in is causing the declines, as changes in to lead wildlife’s fight back. We want to
declaring an ecological emergency in climate, pollution, and the way land is accelerate the pace of change by creating
the city. Wildlife is struggling to survive used are reducing space, habitats and more wildlife-rich spaces, and securing
throughout the UK, and 41% of species food sources for wildlife. The potential commitments from councils, planners,
– from butterflies to hedgehogs – are impact on human life is dramatic – clean businesses, organisations, community
currently in decline. We are working air, clear water, healthy soils, food crops, groups and residents to support wildlife.
with other local authorities and partners natural flood defences and beautiful
to make sure that action is taken places that support our wellbeing all rely How you can help
throughout Avon. on a thriving natural world. We have launched an appeal to increase
our impact, and are asking members,
What’s the problem? What we’re doing supporters and volunteers to manage
The UK has lost over 400 species in A new approach to nature recovery their gardens to attract wildlife, buy
the last 200 years, and a further 15% of across the West of England is needed. local produce, and donate towards
We are leading and participating in a this appeal:
Time is running out
range of projects – in Bath and North
for some species
East Somerset, North Somerset and
South Gloucestershire, as well as in £15 could help us plant wildflower
seeds
Bristol itself – to improve ecological
awareness and deliver more wildlife £25 could buy tools for our B-Lines
project volunteers
£100
Pearl-bordered habitats:
could help us host meetings
fritillary West of England Nature Recovery to influence organisations,
Network – expanding and connecting businesses or community groups to make
wild spaces changes that support wildlife.
B-Lines – creating pollinator habitats
DONALD SUTHERLAND
throughout Avon, currently improving To find out more ways that you can
Bristol and Bath’s city fringes help, and donate to this vital appeal,
My Wild City – transforming eight of please visit avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/
Bristol’s local wildlife sites ecoemergency
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 21Swifts epitomise British summertime
with their screaming flight. But as
fewer of these miraculous birds return
to our skies each year, Sarah Gibson
reveals how we can help them
The secret
swifts
lives of
COMMON SWIFT: ROBIN CHITTENDEN/NATUREPL.COM
Sarah Gibson
works for Shropshire
Wildlife Trust. She’s
met swift experts
across Europe, raises
local awareness of the
birds’ plight and revels
in the aerial skill of
these awesome birds.
22 Wild Avon | Spring 2020NATURE CLOSE TO HOME
Swifts are creatures of the air: they
drink, feed and sleep on the wing.
They spend just three months of the
year in the UK, arriving in early May
and leaving in early August, and are
not thought to land between one
breeding season and the next
Wild Avon | Spring 2020 23Historically, swifts
nested in holes high
in large trees, such as
the old Scots pines in
Scotland’s Abernethy
Forest. Today, almost
all swifts nest in
colonies under the
eaves of old buildings
S
wifts are not the quietest birds. I watched them gliding through the air, eastward to China. Around the globe there
SWIFT ON BUILDING: KIM TAYLOR / WARREN PHOTOGRAPHIC,
GROUNDED SWIFT: MARK TAYLOR / WARREN PHOTOGRAPHIC
Nor are they given to skulking snapping up insects, until the light drained are estimated to be somewhere between
in the undergrowth. They live from the sky and the first bats emerged. 95 million and 165 million of them sailing
their entire lives in the open air, across the skies, justifying their English
scything past on crescent wings, often Life on the wing name of ‘common swift’.
making piercing screeches. Yet, like many Swifts are incredibly aerial birds, living You may wonder why these well-
people, I never used to notice them. entirely on the wing for years at a time, travelled birds come to the UK when so
There had been swallows nesting in rarely touching ground for even a moment. many of our summer days are rain-soaked,
a barn near my old home in the Welsh They catch all their food in the air: aphids, making it difficult, you might think, to
borders. I’d see them swooping over the flies, spiders, beetles, mayflies; even small catch the insects they need to feed their
stable door, beaks stuffed with insects for moths and dragonflies, whirled into the young. The answer must be that, apart
their chicks. Later, I’d watch the fledglings sky, carried on the wind. Swifts drink and from the occasional particularly bad year,
practise flying in the safety of the barn. bathe, sleep and even mate on the wing. it works for them – and has done for
When I moved to a nearby market town, I They fly closer to the sun than any other millions of years. In fact, our northern
missed that closeness… until I found swifts. bird, feeding and resting at altitude. summers have a great advantage for
There was a pair nesting in the eaves Swifts spend most of their lives in Africa, swifts and many other kinds
of the house next door. They would but they journey thousands of
storm down the narrow gap between miles to breed in a vast Swifts have very
the buildings with a rush of wings, and swathe across the short legs, an
perform a handbrake turn to enter their world, from the adaptation to their
nest hole. Blink and you’d miss them. westernmost aerial lifestyle, so they
Sitting in the garden on fine, still evenings, fringes of Europe, are ungainly on land
24 Wild Avon | Spring 2020You can also read
