January 2016
Happy New Year
Welcome to the January edition of
Wildlife News.
Our Chief Monitoring Officer, Kiff Hancock,
has been noticing a few strange things
happening in his garden as a result of the
unseasonably warm weather we have had
until now. Having had only one light frost,
many of the summer garden plants are
continuing to flower and, whilst early cold
weather in Northern Europe brought an
influx of redwings and fieldfares, his
garden birds are already singing. Small
flashes of sunshine have brought out
foraging bees and the occasional basking
butterfly, and further afield, Spring
woodland flora are continuing to emerge
with primrose, dog’s mercury, violets and
spurge laurel in full flower. Perhaps you’ve
spotted some unusual occurrences in
your garden. We’d love to hear about
them. Drop us a note at
enquries@somersetwildlife.org and let us
know what you’ve seen.
Keeping Watch on Your Own Doorstep
And on the subject of looking out for
things in your garden, watch this
space for ways you can help us keep
track of our county’s wonderful
wildlife and fantastic flora and fauna.
We are launching an initiative soon with
Somerset Environmental Records Centre
(SERC) that will see us asking YOU,
members of the public, to treat your own
garden or nearby open space like your
very own nature reserve, and keep us up
to date with WHAT you see WHEN you see
it and WHERE. Monitoring and sharing
what’s happening across the county on a
regular basis is an essential part of our
work, and enables us to deliver even more
effective conservation programmes as a
result.
In the meantime you can get started by
setting up your own log and get
monitoring. You can even do it from your
armchair.
New Wildlife Watch Group Launched in Taunton
We’re pleased to announce that we
have set up a Wildlife Watch Group in
Taunton. Wildlife Watch is the junior
branch of The Wildlife Trusts and the UK’s
leading environmental action club for kids
who love nature and all things
outdoors. The new group, supported by a
team of volunteers will be helping kids
(and their grown ups!) to get up close and
personal with nature and wildlife in the
green spaces closest to their doorstep.
Monthly sessions involve a wide range of
fun activities such as den building, camp
fire cooking, practical conservation work
and orienteering, as well as some great
arts and craft activities such as making
bug houses and bird boxes.
Anyone can attend a Wildlife Watch Event,
but if you take out a Family membership
your children will receive a fantastic
starter pack, four issues of Wildlife Watch
magazine and loads of exciting wildlife
goodies throughout the year. Click here
for more information on Wildlife Watch.
Book in for the first Taunton Wildlife
Watch Session of the year here!
Family Wildlife Watch Event
Time 2-4pm
Date Saturday 16 January
Venue Taunton’s Holy Trinity Hall
Join in the fun making amazing 3D
sculptures of dragonflies with artist Darrell
Wakelam and discover the gruesome truth
about their lifecycles. Booking essential,
click here for more information.
Partnering With Butterfly Conservation to Help a Liquorice
Loving Moth
Butterfly Conservation (BC) is calling
on wildlife enthusiasts around
Somerset’s Polden Hills to help stop
the decline of a beautiful moth by
planting Wild Liquorice seeds at
Somerset Wildlife Trust’s New Hill
reserve.
The rare Liquorice Piercer micro-moth,
Grapholita pallifrontana, is only found on
two sites in Somerset. The moth is
blackish brown in colour with pale yellow
streaks across its wings and is named for
its caterpillar’s habit of piercing the pods
of Wild Liquorice, its only foodplant.
BC is hoping that planting more Wild
Liquorice in Somerset may help to boost
the Liquorice Piercer’s local population.
Where To Visit in January
Catcott Lows offer some great views
and potential sightings this month
with the water levels being at about
their winter maximum. The level is
deliberately lower than last winter when
many birds were displaced by high water.
The car park hide generally affords the
best views and, due to its aspect, in bright
sunshine, lighting is at its best from the
middle of the day.
Last week saw very good numbers of
wildfowl including wigeon, common teal,
shovellor and pintail and also small
numbers of mallard and gadwall. Also
seen was a flock of about 300
lapwing. Snipe are there but harder to
spot, but likely sightings of great white
egret and grey heron may well
compensate – or you may catch wildfowl
and waders being stirred up by the odd
male marsh harrier or peregrine falcon.
Kids Eco-Orienteering Event at Black Rock Nature Reserve
On Wednesday 17 February, we will
be running an eco-orienteering event
in partnership with Somerset Skills &
Learning at Black Rock Nature
Reserve. The event will run from 10am12 noon and will test your children’s (and
your!) nature explorer skills. They’ll be
navigating their way around the reserve
with just a map and compass and
completing lots of wild activities along the
way.
All children must be accompanied by an
adult, but the event will be fun for all the
family, so parents, grandparents and
carers are all welcome to join in the
adventure. The event is free to attend,
but booking is essential, so please contact
education@somersetwildlife.org or call
01823 652400 to secure a place. Click
here for more details.
Barn Owl Talks
Learn more about Barn Owls and
Somerset Wildlife Trust's successful
project which means there is now a
barn owl box in every parish. Hosted
by Somerset Wildlife Trust and birds
of prey expert, Chris Sperring MBE,
the evening talk is being held at three
venues - Glastonbury, Horton (near
Ilminster) and Langford Budville.
The ticket price of £10 includes the talk,
plus tea or coffee, and homemade cake.
The Langford Budville event will also
include a wildlife walk around our
Langford Heathfield nature reserve.
Early booking is highly recommended as
these events get sold out very quickly.
Click here for more information and to
book your place.
2016 Photography Courses
We again inviting beginner and more
experienced photographers to join us
to improve their wildlife photography
skills on our very popular
photography courses.
Running in Spring and Summer 2016, the
two-day courses will be led by David
Plummer who has been running courses
for more than five years through Sussex
Wildlife Trust and the Wildfowl and
Wetlands Trust.
There will be two courses on offer:
Beginning Nature Photography - 19-20
March and 11-12 June
Next Steps in Nature Photography - 3-4
September
Courses are priced at £180 (including
VAT) and can be booked by clicking on
one of the dates above.
The Wonders of the Galapagos
On Saturday 16 January, Clive and Val
Wall will be giving a wonderful
illustrated talk about their recent trip
to these enchanting islands, the
proceeds of which will go to Somerset
Wildlife Trust and Appley Pavilion.
The event will start at 7pm and will take
place at the Appley Pavilion (TA21 0HJ).
Tickets are £10.00 (including supper and
one drink) and are available from Stawley
Village Shop or by ringing 01823 674361.
Half Price Calendars
If Santa didn’t bring you a calendar
and you still want to get organised,
it’s not too late. We are offering our
fabulous 2016 Somerset Wildlife
Trust calendar at half price - only
£3.50 + postage.
Every photograph in our 2016 calendar
has been taken by our incredibly talented
members and supporters and all proceeds
go towards safeguarding some of the
wonderful landscapes and wildlife pictured
in the calendar. We are very grateful to
them for sharing their talent and skills,
and providing such beautiful images to
inspire us throughout the year.
To buy your copy online, please click here.
Reptile and Amphibian Group Need Your Help
The Reptile and Amphibian Group for
Somerset ("RAGS") is seeking
volunteers to help with pond
restoration work on the Mendip Hills.
The tasks will mostly entail helping to
remove sludge and excess water weed,
and trimming back overhanging
vegetation. We hope to start this work, as
part of a large project to benefit great
crested newts, early in the coming
summer at sites where the ponds have
been almost entirely silted up. If you are
interested please contact John Dickson
jdickson61@aol.com, 01749 672928), the
chairman of RAGS, for further details.
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Photo credits: Violet and Common Lizard ©Heath McDonald | mendipwildlifephotography.co.uk, Gardening ©Tom
Marshall, Liquorice Piercer ©Oliver Wadsworth, Peregrine ©Neil Aldridge, Grreat White Egret ©Damian Waters,
Girl Bird Watching ©David Tipling/2020VISION, Barn Owl ©Amano Samarpan, Kingfisher ©David Plummer,
Galapagos Tortoise ©Daniel Ramirez, Misty Morning ©Ian Anderson, Kingfisher in Frost ©Steve Balcombe