Wild Warwickshire magazine Spring 2021 issue 167

The member magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust | Spring 2021 COVID-19 AND ECOLOGICAL CONSERVATION CRISIS Adapting to an Finding solutions extraordinary year against the clock £3million appeal Time is running out for Warwickshire’s wildlife. Find out more about our urgent appeal to help nature recover!

WELCOME 20 To the spring edition of your member magazine As is right in an anniversary year we spent lots of time in 2020 looking back over the 50 year history of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Now, at the beginning of a new year in that continuing story, our world is still knocked off-balance by a crisis probably caused by humanity’s further disruption and consumption of the natural world. At the start of his book The Body: A Guide for Occupants the author Bill Bryson, in his usual informative and understated way, tells us that only 263 of the many hundreds of thousands of viruses known to science affect humans. At the end, in a brief afterword on the 264th, he concludes ‘next time let’s be better prepared’. For all the tragedy, chaos and cost that COVID-19 has inflicted it is merely a forerunner to a bigger storm not far off into the future. The dark clouds of the climate and ecological emergencies are inextricably linked, part of the same tempest. They are all slightly different symptoms of the same problem – that humanity has not yet figured out how to live fairly within environmental limits. We cannot hope to solve the climate crisis unless we put nature into recovery, and we cannot hope to fix the ecological crisis unless we address the climate emergency. To be better prepared we need to do both. In the letter which accompanies this magazine, and article on page 5, we reference the rhetoric which politicians are producing in response to growing public demand for action to improve our relationship with nature. It’s very welcome but, in reality, politicians tend to follow public opinion and action. Their fine words are unlikely to ever be realised unless local people take the first steps. So our emphasis from 2021 onwards will be nature’s recovery. The founders of this Trust like Maurice Arnold (page 11), and many other organisations, helped to save wildlife. Now we will bring wildlife back to Warwickshire. Not because we are nostalgically chasing the dream of a past which never existed but because we want the hope of a wilder future which can. Ed Green, Chief Executive Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Get in touch Cover: Illustration by Wild Warwickshire is the membership Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is the leading WildWarwickshire MagazineTeam Al Boardman magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust local charity dedicated to conserving, protecting and enhancing your local wildlife. Editor Louise Barrack Wild Warwickshire magazine was printed by Email [email protected] We manage over 65 nature reserves in Seacourt Printers on 100% recycled materials at a Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. We Design Sally Henderson, factory powered by 100% renewables, using zero Telephone 024 7630 2912 are supported by over 24,000 members and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Design Studio water and chemicals, and generating zero landfill. over 500 volunteers. Seacourt is a Net Positive printer that makes a Address Brandon Marsh Nature Centre, Consultant Editor: Sophie Stafford positive contribution to the environment and society. Brandon Lane, Coventry, CV3 3GW facebook.com/WarwickshireWT/ Consultant Designer: Tina Smith Hobson Website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk twitter.com/wkwt Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is a company instagram.com/warwickshirewt/ limited by guarantee. Registered in England, number 00585247. Registered charity, number 209200. VAT Number 670318740. 2 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

INSIDE... 4 £3million Nature Recovery Fund Appeal 9 I n loving memory 10 Deans Green – A Living Legacy 11 C elebrating the life of Maurice Arnold 12 Brandon Reach – Reaching out to communities 13 Bubbenhall Wood and Meadow Nature Reserve 14 Everything we do is thanks to you! 15 A Wilder Future for Warwickshire 16 Health & wellbeing 17 Covid-19 and conservation 18 Slowing the flow 19 River Sherbourne Valley Living Landscape 20 On a tree by a river 22 30 by 30 24 Seabird cities 28 Companion planting 30 6 places to see blue butterflies 3 ways to get involved with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Volunteer Could you donate your Donate Your generous donations will Leave a legacyIf you’ve had skills and time to look after wildlife? You go towards our conservation work in your a lifetime’s pleasure from nature, help local area warwickshirewildlifetrust. can choose from indoor and outdoor org.uk/donate ensure its future by leaving us a gift in tasks warwickshirewildlifetrust.org. your will warwickshirewildlifetrust. uk/volunteer org.uk/legacy Warwickshire Wildlife Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 3 Trust thanks the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

APPEAL £3million Nature Recovery Fund Appeal Let’s Bring Our Wildlife Back! In our Winter magazine we asked you to watch this space and today we are launching the Trust’s most ambitious and urgent fundraising appeal ever. We need your help to raise £3million 4 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

APPEAL W e have set this target also help us help others to do the same 15% of to support local action on their land, but we think we need to species in the on the three biggest take the lead. So our target for the Trust? UK face extinction threats that our planet To play our part in bringing about a Wilder has ever faced; the ecological crisis, Warwickshire we will double the land we 97% of the climate crisis and the human health manage for wildlife by 2030. Where in the wildflower crisis. All made worse by the desperate past we have saved special places, this meadows have disconnection of people with nature. new land will be for the creation of special been lost since places. the 1930s In January 2021, the One Planet Summit saw 50 countries pledge to protect 30% Thanks to some substantial recent 80% of our of land and sea for nature in a bid to tackle donations and legacies left to the Trust, we heathlands the unravelling of our delicate ecosystems, are delighted to already have £1.5 million in have been lost halt the mass decline in wildlife and the Nature Recovery Fund. Can you help combat climate change. The UK is part of double this and create a £3million fund since 1800 the coalition but was ahead of the curve, to bring back Warwickshire’s wildlife? 94% of our “So our target for the Trust? To play our part water voles in bringing about a Wilder Warwickshire we have been will double the land we manage for wildlife lost in Britain by 2030. Where in the past we have saved special places, this new land will be for the ambition, and at scale. And to do that we creation of special places.” need your help. with the Government committing in Our ambition It took 50 years for the Trust to acquire September 2020 to restoring 30% of the In 1970, when Warwickshire Wildlife Trust 1,000 hectares for nature conservation. UK to nature by 2030. was formed, passionate local people came That was from a standing start and now, together at a time of crisis to protect and in response to even greater crises, we The Wildlife Trust’s CEO Craig Bennett, preserve precious wildlife sites under are committed to repeating that over just whilst welcoming that Government threat from development. If you’ve ever 10 years through a programme of habitat commitment, warned that we “now need been lucky enough to see the spectacular creation on land which is currently poor to see a much greater level of urgent carpet of bluebells in Ryton Wood, witness for wildlife. action on the ground to deliver on the a dawn chorus at Leam Valley, catch a ambition set out by the Prime Minister, glimpse of an otter at Brandon Marsh Think of it like a wonderful nature and to put nature into recovery.” And or see the colourful display of orchids at restoration jigsaw puzzle. We manage over so, on the ground, the Wildlife Trusts are Draycote Meadows, then you’ll know 65 nature reserves across the county, but preparing for action. that these sites are special. The relicts of there are missing pieces. We know where a landscape that was once teeming with new sites that would create homes for Here, we want a Wilder Warwickshire diverse wildlife. It’s not enough. Global wildlife should be located. We also know where 30% of our land is managed for wildlife populations are continuing to how to connect them with our existing wildlife by 2030 [30by30] in ways that see decline, and that decline is accelerating. reserves to create glorious nature recovery our delicate and damaged natural systems Here in the UK, and right here in our networks. Networks that allow plants begin to heal. county, the impacts are felt in our local and animals to move from place to place, ecosystems. creating the corridors and new habitat they We will drive the change needed by need to respond to climate change. launching an appeal to create a Nature It is no longer enough to protect, we Recovery Fund. This will enable us to need to create. We must act fast, with If we do this, we can then go on to do many things: buy land of low wildlife value, improve this land by restoring lost habitats and reconnect people with nature at a scale we have not done before. It will Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 5

APPEAL manage that land in a way that starts to We can’t do it alone Donate combat climate change, creating healthy Our target of £3million for new land soils for growing food, clean air to breathe for nature will get us off to a flying The average price of land in and water to drink. Not to mention flood start, meaning the Trust can start to work Warwickshire is approximately management and helping the land to do its towards managing 2,000 hectares for £10,000 per acre and we need to natural job of capturing and storing carbon, nature’s recovery...it’s a significant amount buy at a large enough scale to create but well short of the 30% needed. To new, connected habitats for our achieve that we have to continue to work wildlife. Large or small, your gift in partnership with others to deliver even will help to bring wildlife back. greater results for nature and reach that all- Donate today and be part of nature’s important percentage. recovery on your doorstep. We are therefore also calling on There are multiple ways members to use their networks to help us to give to our appeal... to identify opportunities where the Trust can work with local authorities, farmers and Complete and return the landowners, communities and businesses donation form in the appeal letter to achieve more for nature. We believe that Donate online at www. local action will galvanise change on a larger warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ scale, inspiring a behavioural shift that donate/NatureRecoveryFund recognises that the environment must be To discuss a donation, call enquiries on 024 7630 2912 “Healthy greenspaces popping up across email [email protected] the county will give local people the chance To discuss opportunities to work to connect with nature on their doorstep” in partnership with the Trust on managing land for nature, call enquiries so reducing greenhouse gasses. integral to every aspect of our lives, from on 024 7630 2912 or email Healthy greenspaces popping up across the things we buy, to the decisions we [email protected] make in business and politics. the county will give local people the chance repcatoordvtdoeDoaorfyorysnnatoaanenttpdeuy.broeeu’sr to connect with nature on their doorstep, Find out more to exercise, to meditate, to learn about the To hear more about our fundraising appeal, natural world and to show their children why it is so important and the need to act what an incredible world we are living in. now, please register for the first in a series of webinars and events we will be running Together, we can build a Wilder on the Nature Recovery Fund Appeal. Warwickshire. Nature Recovery Fund Appeal: How you can help Bringing Wildlife Back Webinar You, the Trust’s members, have already Tuesday 20th April 7.00pm helped your local environment in so many www.nature-recovery-fund-bwb. ways. Thanks to you, Warwickshire’s eventbrite.co.uk wildlife, though fragile, is in a far better state than it would have been without your support. We now need to call on you again to help us lead the way by donating to our appeal, so we can use the reserves you love and have helped us to create as launch pads to bring wildlife back across the county. 6 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

APPEAL The Ecological Crisis: Global Problems, Local Solutions “People turn to nature in moments of joy and in moments of sadness. We are part of the natural world: we depend on it for the air we breathe and the food we eat.” Sir David Attenborough President Emeritus,The WildlifeTrusts I n the first of three articles in our biodiversity declining faster than at any resources, also therefore threatens 2021 magazines looking at the other point in human history. As a result, the human race. connected environmental crises we are now facing what scientists are facing our planet, we spotlight the referring to as the world’s sixth mass die- The 2019 State of Nature Report ecological crisis, its impact and how we can off, with a million species facing extinction published similarly distressing news work together to provide the answers here across the globe, many within decades. that here in the UK, the ecological in Warwickshire. The ecological crisis, and the resulting crisis is accelerating. Since 1970, when collapse of vital life-support systems Warwickshire Wildlife Trust was founded, The UN’s 2019 Global Assessment that nature provides through clean air, 41% of species have seen their populations Report IPBES Global Assessment warned clean water, pollination, food and natural decline, with 15% of species at threat of the world that nature is in freefall, with extinction. Bending the curve 1970 The Trust works together with 2030 local authorities, landowners, farmers, businesses and communities to protect our most precious sites, create new, connected habitats and restore 30% of land to nature by 2030 2021 Our approach to 2030 conservation changes Our approach to focus. Our most precious conservation continues as sites continue to be is, with the most precious protected for nature, sites being protected for alongside the creation of nature, but with wildlife new, connected habitats continuing to decline in that start to bring our the wider landscape wildlife back 2030 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 7

APPEAL to those populations, we could create joined-up habitats to help them expand their range. Through the Arden Farm Wildlife Network, we have been installing barn owl boxes across Warwickshire’s farmland, and encouraging farmers to create rough grassland to support their prey species. Working with farmers and landowners across the county on similar habitat restoration projects could help to support the once rich tapestry of struggling farmland bird populations that are all too difficult to spot today amongst the jackdaws, wood pigeons and pheasants. Despite valiant conservation efforts in is resilient, and we know that given the So, where are we now Warwickshire to slow the decline and right conditions, (30% of land for nature by Well, based on the Trust’s surveys across protect the most vulnerable species, 2030) it can recover, and quickly. the county, currently around 13% of wildlife has been pushed to the brink, Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull is with habitat destruction occurring at an 50 years ago, otters were on the brink of made up of habitat that will help nature’s alarming rate. Agricultural intensification, extinction in Warwickshire due to habitat recovery. This is a long way from the 30% destruction and poor river water quality. that we need to reach to ensure that the balance is tipped in favour of our natural “50 years ago otters were on the brink of world. However, if we work together to create new habitat, be that grasslands, extinction in Warwickshire due to habitat meadows, woodlands or wetlands, in the right places, we can bring our wildlife back. destruction and poor river water quality. ” We can provide solutions to the ecological crisis by supporting species recovery. We development for housing and industry and Today, they are back on every river system want to see a Warwickshire where species schemes like HS2 are driving a dramatic in Warwickshire and their numbers appear are on the increase, where hedgerows change in our local landscape. to be on the increase! By creating new are brimming with birds, meadows are a wetland mosaics in areas close to existing cloud of butterflies and our woodlands are Reversing the ecological crisis rivers with growing otter populations, we vibrant, well-connected and full of life. In the last 60 years the country has lost could increase the habitat in which they can 97% of its unimproved meadows, which safely roam, find food and attract mates. Essentially, if we build it they will come, has brought local extinctions here in but we can’t do it alone. Please help us Warwickshire. Plantlife’s 2012 report Our Water voles are the UK’s most rapidly create a Wilder Warwickshire, together. Vanishing Flora tells us that Warwickshire declining mammal. Thanks to our work loses a plant species every three years, to date, they are clinging on to their last Donate and so we have likely lost three species remaining strongholds in Warwickshire. since the report was published, possibly By acquiring or managing new land near Complete and return the more considering the acceleration in donation form in the appeal letter species decline. Loss of woodland due to a variety of factors including fragmentation Donate online at www. of habitat, unsympathetic management and warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ an increase in invasive species has stolen donate/NatureRecoveryFund the nightingale’s song at dawn and dusk. The list goes on. To discuss a donation, call enquiries on 024 7630 2912 or It’s a dark picture, but there is hope. email [email protected] Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, together with our members, partners and supporters, can To discuss opportunities to and must be a major player in reversing the work in partnership with the ecological crisis, by making a difference at a Trust on managing land for nature, call local grassroots level. We know that nature enquiries on 024 7630 2912 or email [email protected] 8 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

LEGACIES In Loving Memory We rely on many different forms of support to protect wildlife and wild places, and one of the most important ways you can support the charity is through In Memory donations We are sincerely grateful to have received donations in Your Legacy Can Tackle a memory of the following individuals in 2020; Global Crisis at a Local Level Mrs Peabody Mr Edward Ernest Read The 2019 ‘State of Nature Report’ for the UK, Robert Barby Mr Norman Parkes offered stark findings and provided a harrowing Brandon Gurney Mr Idris Macey read about the condition of our natural world. A Simon Oliver Taylor Dave Ronnie wake-up call to us all, that climate change and John Judd Mr Willmott the impacts of humankind are wreaking havoc Mr David Hancock Bob Batts on our wildlife. Vicki Hancox Paul Wakeman Mr Raymond Albert Mace Mrs Lambert Through the financial support of our Canon David Clark Geoffry Lane & Sidney Haynes members, donors and funders, the Trust has Mrs Mavis Ward Mrs Pat Abrams battled to slow the decline of nature across our Mr David Hubbard Zig Layton-Henry county for the past 50 years. But now, slowing its decline is just not enough to prevent We gratefully received legacies from the species decline spiralling out of control, and following individuals in 2020; we are on the brink of witnessing a mass extinction of countless species in our lifetimes. June Cooper Christine Mary Kitchen Herbert Heywood Mr W Hulme Iconic species held dear in our hearts, are Dorothy Elstub Jenny Skidmore perilously close to becoming ‘once upon Vera Rosemary Harrison Carole Robinson a time’ characters in story books, or those Margaret Cotton recounted fondly in ‘remember when’ conversations. Hedgehogs, ladybirds, water DAWN MONROSE Our Woodland Dedication scheme has been vole, dormice – extinct in our county, in our very popular for those wishing to have a lifetimes. The thought is simply inconceivable. lasting memorial and we will be writing more about the wonderful dedications we Gifts in Wills have always been a vital received in 2020, in the summer issue. source of funding for the Trust. They underpin everything we do, and everything that we Please contact Pip Bradley-Vigor on 07456 have been able to achieve for wildlife, over 278810 or [email protected] the past half a century. In order for the Trust to provide a local response to the mounting global crises of species decline, climate change, and people increasingly disconnected from nature, we need to adapt our response to conservation in our county over the next decade. Gifts in wills will be of paramount importance, forming an essential funding backbone that is so critical if we are to achieve our vision. They will be fundamental if we are to succeed in delivering our ambitious plans, at the speed and level of impact needed, not only to halt the decline of wildlife across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull – but to reverse it. By remembering the Trust in your Will, we can tackle the crisis together, and start to bring wildlife back. Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 9

LEGACY Dean’s Green – A Living Legacy 2020 saw the kind gift of a special meadow to the Trust as a living legacy of one family’s commitment to wildlife D ean’s Green Nature when the opportunity came to purchase much pleasure to her and her husband Reserve, nestled in the two fields adjacent to their cottage over many years. Arden Living Landscape, at Dean’s Green, they jumped at the two miles north-west of chance to buy them and create their We hope that the gift of this small Henley-in-Arden is a fantastic example own nature reserve. Roughly half was piece of our English heritage will be of a rural patchwork reserve, rich in planted with indigenous trees, with appreciated and enjoyed by many wildlife. With its species-rich meadows visitors long into the future.” abundant with wildflowers, thick and well-connected hedgerows punctuated “We hope that the gift of this small piece of by majestic standard trees such as our English heritage will be appreciated and the English oak, plus the small woody enjoyed by many visitors long into the future.” mature woodland copses that were planted by its founders – it really is a advice from The Forestry Commission, Ensuring our natural heritage is green jewel. and half was left as grazing land protected for the future is a major encouraging the development of natural responsibility. As a charity, income The Trust has been managing the plant life. we raise through membership and reserve on a long-term lease since 1988 fundraising are crucial, but alone, they after its original owners, Harold and However, when they decided to are simply not enough. Elsie Ireland, had improved it for wildlife move to South Wales and take up and let it to the Trust, as they retired sheep farming in their retirement, they Gifts left to the Trust in Wills underpin to Wales. In 2009 Harold passed away were concerned about the ongoing everything we do. They are vital if we and latterly in 2019 Elsie, (but not before management of the reserve and are to continue the fight to bring about reaching over 100 years of age!) and so therefore left it in-trust to Warwickshire nature’s recovery across Warwickshire, the family decided that transferring the Wildlife Trust. Coventry and Solihull. site to the Trust would be the best way to fulfil their parents’ wish. On the passing of our mother in If you would like to consider leaving 2019, we decided that it would be her a lasting gift to nature in your Will, Brian Ireland and his brothers Robert wish that Dean’s Green Nature Reserve please contact our Legacy Officer on and Alan, explain why gifting the should be gifted to Warwickshire reserve to the Trust was the best way to Wildlife Trust, thereby permanently [email protected] protect their parent’s legacy. protecting a site which is so rich in flora and fauna and which has brought so “Our parents were always passionate about preserving the countryside so Dean’s Green 10 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 RACHAEL CREW

OBITUARY Maurice Arnold an obituary Neville Jones, long standing member of the Wildlife Trusts, shares his memories of one of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust’s founder members, during a friendship that spanned 60 years. T wo brothers from the Tamworth area, formed to acquire the Hall and now, though there George and Maurice Arnold, were founder is still much to be done, it is saved. It is little known members of both Warwickshire and that this single building was the birthplace of modern Staffordshire Wildlife Trusts. British ornithology and botany. It was here that Francis Visitors to Middleton Hall and the adjacent RSPB Willoughby wrote the world’s first scientific analysis reserve may not be aware that their existence owes a of birds, originally in Latin but in the 1670s published, great deal to these two stalwarts of local conservation. after his early death, in an English translation by his They were key players in many local achievements botanist friend John Ray. The latter himself wrote including the creation of many SSSIs. The death of the earliest scientific analysis of plants, his work Maurice, the younger of the two, occurred on February contributing to the methods used right up to the 13th. He was 95. His elder brother died in the 1990s. present. The historical importance of Middleton Hall can hardly be overstated. Maurice was a brilliant, though completely self- taught, naturalist. An early pioneer of the need to protect wild places and species, he campaigned tirelessly for the establishment of reserve areas and for protection laws. A gentle, unassuming man, he was reliant on quiet persuasion and working with other interests to see that wildlife got a fair hearing where decisions were made. Alvecote Pools, which the brothers studied in depth, year after year, established their reputation for scientific accuracy. As a result, wider contacts were made, and one of these new contacts even led to a change in legislation obliging the Coal Board’s Opencast Executive to safeguard nature. This was a first! Before then there was only vague interest in this area. “A gentle, unassuming man, he was reliant on quiet persuasion and working with other interests to see that wildlife got a fair hearing where decisions were made.” Increasingly, their work earned official recognition, A brief anecdote from this writer’s memory may including, with others, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee suffice to illustrate Maurice’s immense knowledge Medal. Sites of interest included Hopwas Wood, the of natural history. On one occasion a group of fellow Ministry of Defence’s Kingsbury Ranges and Snake’s naturalists spotted an elusive butterfly, the Marsh head fritillary site, Broad Meadow. These are just a fritillary, on a flower head. It was dead, having been small sample of the many locations where Maurice’s caught by a white spider waiting on the flower for just expertise contributed to nature conservation. such an opportunity. From memory Maurice gave us the scientific names of butterfly, flower and spider. Without the diligent campaigning skills of the Arnolds, Middleton Hall would have been lost. His long life has come to an end but residents Owned by Warwickshire County Council, it was in the Tamworth area who enjoy the beauties of scheduled for demolition. Its historical importance nature may continue to benefit from the work of went unrecognized but gradually, increasing public Maurice Arnold. interest led to a new survey on the buildings, which were found, in contradiction to the established opinion, Maurice Arnold to be structurally sound. Eventually, a Trust was September 20 1926 – February 13 2021 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 11

RESERVES Brandon Reach – Reaching out to communities With signs of Spring here, it is time to get out and discover the newly improved Brandon Reach D ue to the generous funding from the Brandon Reach KARL CURTIS FCC Communities Foundation, the Trust has now completed improvements at solution to reconnecting people to nature, we now Brandon Reach making it more accessible move onto a different phase of connecting people to and engaging for visitors. As an extension to our the site. The FCC Communities Foundation funded headquarters reserve at Brandon Marsh, Brandon Reach project has been an important cornerstone to this and offers something different to people of all abilities, our wider ambition. whether that is to enjoy a bluebell walk in Piles Coppice, build a natural den or to discover the wildlife across the When you arrive, there are maps that you can collect large grassland areas. This unbounded area is for people from the Brandon Marsh Visitor Centre or download to access, enjoy and really re-connect with nature. from our website. These will help you plan your visit, with ideas of what to do and where to go – or just let “Our ethos is not to the inner adventurer in you take hold! maintain the status quo, but manage sites so they Over 2021, we are looking to organise activities become resilient” and experiences using Brandon Reach as a space to involve our visitors and members. We’ll be starting At the end of 2020, the finishing touches to Brandon some essential management on the reserve, to Reach were put in place. Two waymarked trails, ensure it is well managed and enhanced for wildlife interpretation boards about what you can find here and and people. Our ethos is not to maintain the status what the future holds, plus accessible gates, mean quo, but manage sites so they become resilient and that everyone can now enjoy this wild landscape. therefore better at adapting to change and threats, A number of physical barriers that would stop anyone such as disease and climate change. We will interpret in their tracks other than those on foot have been that work along the way so visitors can understand removed and some tracks and pathways have and be part of how we achieve that for the wildlife of been upgraded. Brandon Reach. Longer-term, the Trust’s ambition is to connect this area of land, which benefits people and wildlife, to wider communities across Coventry. We’re planning how to achieve that – knowing we have the green New directional signage at Brandon Reach KARL CURTIS To keep up to date on our management and what we have planned, please visit: warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ BrandonReach 12 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

LIVING LANDSCAPES Bubbenhall Wood and Meadow Nature Reserve Linking our Woodlands Taking a look back over the past five years! I t’s been five years since the purchase of pools and wooden benches offer welcome rest stops Bubbenhall Wood and Meadow by the Trust around the reserve. in 2015 and now is the time to reflect on our “Linking our Woodlands” project as it ends, and As well as physical improvements to the reserve, the legacy begins. we have hosted 56 events for over 1,000 people, who have joined us on everything from bat walks and The reserve was purchased with help from grants, bush craft to fungi forays. COVID-19 may have put legacies and donations from members, as well as some challenges in our way at the end of 2020, but significant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It now physically connects important woodlands “Over 4,000 volunteer hours have in Warwickshire including Ryton, Wappenbury and been committed to the project over Bubbenhall Woods. Further funding, supported by the the past five years.” National Lottery Heritage Fund, launched a five-year project to improve management and access, providing the positive to arise from this was engagement in a a vital natural resource for both people and wildlife, different way, producing a virtual reserves tour and whilst engaging the community with the local heritage. activities that provide a great legacy for the project. Over 4,000 volunteer hours have been committed If you’ve never been, Bubbenhall Wood and to the project over the past five years. Volunteers have Meadow really is the jewel in the crown of this supported us in all aspects, from habitat and access landscape and definitely not one to be missed. improvements, installing new interpretation and seating, surveying and running events to being part of Thank you to our valued members, supporters and our oral history project. A regular volunteer group will volunteers as well as players of the National Lottery continue to look after the reserve in years to come, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for making with support from us. projects like this possible. Our oral history project gathered knowledge from VICKY PAGE those with a long or historical association with the site. With the help of a dedicated volunteer we condensed 15 hours of audio recordings into a fabulous oral history film, which is available to watch on our website, and offers fantastic views and insights into this fascinating place: warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ BubbenhallWood A series of information boards were created and installed to help visitors learn about the unique heritage. A hand-built, willow bird screen overlooks the FAYE IRVINE Completed bird screen at Bubbenhall Fungi foray Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 13

MEMBERSHIP Everything we do is thanks to you! 2020 was a challenging year for everyone. Thank you for your continued support. Tackling our carbon footprint We are making some changes to how you will receive your membership cards How you can help! Membership At the end of 2016 we moved to a company called Seacourt Card Printing to produce our WildWarwickshire magazine. This was driven by their offer of printing exclusively on 100% Warwickshire recycled, uncoated paper, with the magazine delivered in a paper envelope rather than a plastic sleeve. This allows A Smith us to produce a publication as clean and green as possible, to show our commitment to reducing the Trust’s carbon Female Banded Demoiselle footprint through the members’ magazine. © John Smith It’s important that, as an organisation, we examine our own To continue with our focus on reducing the Trust’s carbon impact on the environment and try to minimise it. We also footprint, we are changing the way monthly Direct Debit recognise how valuable a resource the magazine is, providing payers will receive their membership cards from this an important link between the charity and its supporters. We Spring. This will also significantly reduce our postage costs have now made the magazine available in a digital format so and this saving will be diverted towards our vital work. that fewer copies may be printed. E-subscribers receive an email with the magazine highlights and a link to the digital Previously, we sent your cards towards the end of the version when the printed magazine is posted. month of expiry. Now, your cards will be enclosed with the Spring or Summer edition of WildWarwickshire magazine. If you would like to receive your magazine in a digital format However, if you opt for a digital copy of our magazine, then then please contact the membership team on 024 7630 8972 your renewal card will be posted to you. or email [email protected] Family members can also opt to receive Wildlife Watch as a digital copy, so please let us know if you wish to receive this digitally along with your e-copy of WildWarwickshire. Please look out for your cards in future magazine mailings. If you have not received your cards with your AarpoemlrusrseiotrolnDrni2oeienu0ctfdwmfcthe2iiil1actsoutaiewlonoodgcsnfsatiianythzMirhosmgiedntfataescpethrlmuhfa.cleorcheAsrrSt,enaiptwnnnnhrgetiduen’roaegnl magazine, please contact the membership team on 024 7630 8792 or email membership@ wkwt.org.uk to let us know. The Spring edition of the magazine will include renewal cards for Direct Debit payers who would be due their cards in March, April, May, June, July and August. The Summer edition of the magazine will include renewal cards for Direct Debit payers who would be due their cards in September, October, December, January and February. 14 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

WILDER FUTURE A Wilder Future for Warwickshire Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has been enthusing and training a new generation of young conservationists. A Wilder Future for Warwickshire Project launch at project was launched in May Warwick University 2019 at an exciting event at the University of Warwick, with FRESH FX a range of speakers passionate about the natural world. It was then kick-started again in September, having been postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project forms part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, and aims to share stories of successes in the past to bring about long- lasting change in the future. “Through the programme, volunteers meet other young adults with shared interests” 18-35 year olds can sign up as Young videos, resources, tasks, socials and with them stories of how they fought for Adult Ambassador volunteers and a project Google Group. Upcoming nature in the past. receive a range of free training. So far, training will largely focus on raising this has been focussed on grassroots awareness and motivating others to For more information on signing up conservation, covering topics such as make a difference; covering topics such to become a Young Adult Ambassador, surveying for different wildlife species, as campaigning, storytelling and using or sharing stories, photographs and forensic ecology, nature and well-being social media to positively influence others. memories about the Trust, head to and using mapping software. These topics Through the programme, volunteers meet warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ have been based on the volunteers’ other young adults with shared interests WilderFutureforWarwickshire. On the interests, and activities run according to and, as restrictions ease, they will get webpage you will also find recordings of their availability. the chance to meet with established the webinars to watch back, as well as a volunteers and members who can share trailer video to tell you more about Owing to restrictions, the project has the project. been run digitally, through a series of interactive webinars with guest speakers, Cotswold Outdoor discount for our supporters The popular outdoor clothing You can access the discount in-store or online using the code AF-WILDLIFE-E1 and equipment chain, Cotswold The discount is 10% on bikes. As a Outdoor, has extended its 15% member of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, you are invited to take up the discount discount to Wildlife Trusts by showing your membership card in- supporters until June 2021. store or using the code online. Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 15

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Health & Wellbeing Health and Wellbeing remains high on our agenda. Remember to get out in your local area for some green therapy. P articipants from projects across the “Really enjoyed it today. All charity share the benefits they’ve this fire lighting has taken me experienced from a good dose of back to my childhood days” green therapy. Our Health and Wellbeing Team continues AFC Wild Woodland to grow and we’re working hard to reach Wellbeing participant out across Warwickshire, reconnecting people with the natural world around them to improve their mental health and wellbeing. We all know the power that nature can have in shifting perspective to the positive, soothing anxieties and bringing “I’ve volunteered for a while people together to break down but never has this been more vital than during social isolation. Here’s just some the pandemic. I’m not surprised at the growth in its of the lovely feedback we’ve popularity, especially for a more diverse age range received from participants of a since working from home became normal. Arguably few of our projects. the role of the Trust has never been more important. The entropy effect of the virus on our lives is countered by this upward spiral of personal and “It feels good for my environmental energy. Truly ‘environmental health’ KAT REAY overall wellbeing to be ought to be a coinage. It certainly is far more outside with friendly people than a slogan.” giving nature a helping hand, Leamington Green Connections it’s a win win!” volunteer Leamington Green “I can’t remember a time I “Yesterday we had to Connections volunteer looked forward to something make a fire on site! Your guidance as much as I have these last and training are not fully complete few Fridays.” with me, but the respect you installed for the fire, deeply rooted.” Wild Woodland Wellbeing participant Woodland Wellbeing participant KAT REAY “For me the allotment is the “Today I learned a only day in my week I really look forward to. It’s lot about myself, field craft the only place I don’t feel stressed and I am really happy. We all suffer in one way or another, we all and experiences” have things in common, even if it’s just the horrible side effects of medication or loneliness. Nature AFC Wild Woodland heals us and the allotment is completely different Wellbeing participant to the usual groups we get to do. We all help each other and I know so many of us would be lost without the garden. It is an amazing place full of amazing people.” The Environment and Me allotment group member 16 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

RESERVES Socially distanced wildflower seed sowing at COVID-19 and Conservation Bubbenhall How did we respond to the pandemic and what was the impact on our essential reserve management? NICK FELEDZIAK T he number of hours of volunteer time our volunteers responded was excellent, making a contributed to our nature reserve difficult job that little bit easier, and we appreciated management from April to July in 2019 their patience as we put new protocols in place. For was 9500. In sharp contrast, over the same our Nature Force volunteers, all climbing in a minibus period in 2020 it was 0. So how did a global pandemic to travel to sites just couldn’t happen but we hope to affect our approach to management? It was essential return to those cheery journeys. that we played our part in tackling this unprecedented situation, whilst also working out the safest way to bring “As we emerge from the pandemic, volunteering back. we have learnt many lessons that can improve our working Whilst the Trust and the rest of the country was practices in the future. ” assessing the impact and threat of COVID-19, the challenge of navigating the changing landscape of rules After an intense period of planning we were able to and regulations began. From the start it was planned induct our volunteers back (if they wished) at the start that mobilising our 560 volunteers would only happen of August 2020. Whilst some of the larger reserves when it was safe to do so and the systems were in were managed through contractors, we welcomed place to keep people as safe as possible. We also volunteers back at a critical period for reserve needed to be sure that it could be adapted with further management. The benefits were not just for the Trust lockdown restrictions. or reserves; many volunteers tell us they get as much out of volunteering as they put in! The initial impact was reduced by the timing; the first lockdown hit a period when most practical As we emerge from the pandemic, we have learnt reserve management abates, and the focus is on many lessons that can improve our working practices maintenance, which we achieved with a core team of in the future. Whilst 2020 will always be the year with staff. However, as the summer approached the need a significant dent in the figures of volunteer input to manage valuable grassland sites advanced. into our reserves, we appreciate the resilience of our volunteers, their keenness to return and the adaptable As we gradually came out of the first lockdown and patient way they helped as we came through it. our focus was on how to get volunteers back safely and within the guidance. Volunteers needed to feel comfortable with what they were coming back to and understand the new ways of working. The way Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 17

LIVING LANDSCAPES Slowing the flow We have been working in Warwickshire’s rivers to reintroduce natural features and reduce the speed of flow to a more natural pace. W arwickshire is blessed with many digging or expanding retention pools and swales to rivers winding their way across the hold back additional water during storms and the county. As a result, many of us are installation of leaky barriers in watercourses. never far away from these wonderful, wet arteries for wildlife. Living very near a river may All of these features replicate the way that water seem idyllic, but for some communities there is a would normally be slowed and diverted in natural daily worry that the water may come rather too close river systems. In turn this reduces the flood peaks to home. We have all seen the news in the last few that occur when rainwater rushes through unnatural years of increased and extensive flooding across the and highly efficient drainage systems. NFM can also UK. The dramatic scenes may seem a long way away, reduce water pollution and erosion and create habitats but for some communities in Warwickshire this is a for wildlife. By slowing the flow upstream with reality for them. barriers or in pools, silt is deposited rather than staying suspended in the water. Meanwhile water emerging Since 2018, the Trust has been leading a new under pressure from leaky barriers cleans gravels, series of projects aiming to reduce the impacts of creating fish spawning habitat. our rivers on flooding hotspots. Pioneering work in the newly emerging field of Natural Flood Working with partners, including the Environment Management (NFM) has seen the team delivering Agency, local authorities, farmers and other different types of works across several river landowners, agreements have been drawn up. These catchments, upstream of flooding hotspots. allow staff and volunteers from our Living Landscapes team to install features near Coventry, on the upper NFM takes many forms, including the planting of Sherbourne and around Fillongley, in the catchment of trees and hedgerows which help to catch and soak the River Bourne. up rainwater. Further actions include aerating soils, NICK MARTIN More information about our work on Natural Flood Management can be found at warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/working-farmers- and-landowners/natural-flood-management Leaky barriers which Thank you will slow the passage of We want to say water, reducing flood thank you to clothing peaks further down river suppliers Hilltrek for providing kit to the team Aftethrrruhoseuhagevhsyutrhnaeiinnlaftaenlrdlrwuscpaattepeder working in challenging environments on these NICK MARTIN projects. Hilltrek is also offering a 10% discount to Trust supporters until December 2021. The code to use when ordering online is: WWTMember10 When ready to checkout, enter the code in the box labelled ‘Gift Certificate or Coupon Code’. 18 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

LIVING LANDSCAPES River Sherbourne Valley Living Landscape Reconnecting the people of Coventry with the city’s river and restoring it for wildlife O ur ambitious and innovative development phase of the scheme and connection with nature, about this scheme urban Living Landscape have plenty of opportunities for you to get and if they would consider filling in our Scheme is very much involved, including: short survey. You can also have your say in underway. Our aim is to a separate survey online, as well as seeing make huge differences to the wildlife and n Learning to help us, via activities such as our new video series. Both surveys are on people connected to both the river itself river monitoring training days our web page: warwickshirewildlifetrust. and the wider valley. The River Sherbourne org.uk/RiverSherbourneSurveys is somewhat unique in that the river is n C ontributing your thoughts on specific culverted (put through a pipe) underneath questions, via our consultations This exciting scheme has been made Coventry, so one of our biggest challenges possible by National Lottery players. is putting something unseen back into n Helping to raise the profile of the scheme The National Lottery Heritage Fund has the hearts and minds of the people of the by telling your friends and family about it awarded £253,600 to help us progress our city. Together with our partners, we want plans until Spring 2022. We are working in to restore and celebrate the Sherbourne n G etting your kids involved, through partnership with Coventry City of Culture, Valley’s natural, built and cultural heritage encouraging their school or club to join in, Severn Trent, The Environment Agency, for the city’s diverse population to enjoy. or attending family events Coventry City Council, Citizen Housing, We are currently planning and developing Historic Coventry Trust and the Diocese our ideas to enable people to improve, n Joining our work parties of Coventry. interpret, share and celebrate all aspects of the river’s heritage. We are also looking to We believe this scheme can be pioneering For more information, including re-naturalise the river in key green spaces in its approach to bringing people and that it passes through, where it is still wildlife together, and we particularly want the upcoming events programme exposed, and create new wetlands. to see new faces at our events and more people feeling confident enough to give and contact details of the team We are now five months into the their opinion, who perhaps traditionally might not. With that in mind, we need your please visit our website: help! Please ask anyone you know, who warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ currently doesn’t have much interest or RiverSherbourneValley River monitoring by doing invertebrate kick sampling, just one of the activities in our plan ROSS HODDINOTT/2020VISION Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 19

LIVING LANDSCAPES Willow tit “On a tree by a river” JOHN BRIDGES Securing the future of the iconic willow tit in the Tame Valley - one of its last strongholds in the county. W orking in partnership with the RSPB and the West Midlands Bird Club, the Tame Valley Wetlands Partnership led by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has been successful in securing £20,020 via the Severn Trent Water Boost for Biodiversity Fund. ‘On a tree by a river’ aims to help bring back from the brink one of the most threatened native birds in the UK, the willow tit, in one of its last strongholds in the West Midlands. We want to give local people a stake in its future now and for generations to come. The willow tit (Poecilid montanus) was once a comparatively common and widespread bird across the UK. Until the 19th century it, and the closely related marsh tit, were considered to be one and the same species. It is now recognised as a separate species and 20 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

LIVING LANDSCAPES has recently seen a dramatic population and Middleton Lakes, managed by the videos that will be released during the decline of 94% between 1970 and 2012. RSPB. With this knowledge, a project was course of 2021. This is the second largest decline of any developed that focussed on the Tame resident bird after the turtle dove, and it is Valley as a wildlife corridor and therefore a Future conservationists now on the Red List, meaning the willow potential route of expansion for willow tit. There is also an education programme tit is of the highest conservation priority. which will give local children an insight into Factors such as habitat loss and lack of The project will enhance existing sites willow tits, rivers and wetlands, resulting in suitable nesting sites are believed to have and create new habitats, specifically to engagement with the conservationists of contributed to the decline. improve connectivity between the known the future. This type of work is a great way territories, such as our reserve at Whitacre to add legacy to a project and will enable us Creating willow tit habitat Heath. Overall, the project will aim to to encourage the next generation to take an Willow tits are highly territorial so to achieve a total of ten hectares of habitat interest in their local rivers. expand its range and to see an increase improvements. This will occur via a number in population would require increasing of different methods including improving But the Tame Valley Wetlands isn’t just areas of suitable habitat, providing space and creating appropriate habitat, creation about willow tits. There are a number for young birds to move into. Willow tits of additional wet areas and provision of projects going on that are working to prefer young, low, wet woodland and of suitable nest sites, such as standing improve a whole host of habitats. Currently typically excavate a new nest each year deadwood. There will also be a large focus on the Langley Brook near Middleton, staff on surveying existing and potential sites and volunteers are working to re-naturalise the river and improve its water quality. The “By managing the woodland, we can Love Your River Cole project is looking ensure there will be breeding and nesting to engage people through training and opportunities well into the future.” activities on the river which will give people a sense of ownership and create a resilient in dead wood. With this preference for to better understand willow tit numbers river ecosystem and a better, healthier younger woodland it’s important to have up and down the valley. Through this space for wildlife and people. active management in the area to ensure citizen science project, it will be possible it stays in optimum condition. Frequently to determine where to focus activities to At the heart of the entire scheme are wet woodland will dry out and develop into get the best outcomes in terms of allowing local people, waterways, heritage and mature woodland, as is expected through young birds to expand out and ultimately wildlife. There are numerous ways to get natural successional changes. By managing lead to more, successful breeding pairs. involved including joining regular practical the woodland, we can ensure there will be conservation sessions with Tame Force breeding and nesting opportunities well into Working with the local community to who work across the whole valley, or the future. increase awareness of willow tits, the value assisting on a specific project to gain in of the river Tame and its riparian habitats depth knowledge. The Tame Valley holds a number of is a key part of the project. Volunteers nationally important willow tit strongholds, will be actively involved throughout, For more information including Ladywalk Nature Reserve, helping to deliver all aspects from practical managed by West Midlands Bird Club, conservation through to appearing in visit the website at tamevalleywetlands.co.uk SIMON WATTS, WILD PRESENTATIONS Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 21

30 BY 30: THE DECADE WE SAVE OUR WILDLIFE HEDGEHOG © TOM MARSHALL 30 by 30 The decade we save our wildlife W e know the natural world is in crisis. populations living in them begin to decline. Giving Hedgehogs Every year we’re overwhelmed with 30% of the UK to nature is the bare minimum that have undergone new statistics about the shocking nature needs to survive, but we’re still far short of losses in the wildlife around us, like this goal. massive long- last summer’s news that a quarter of UK mammals term declines face extinction. For decades we’ve worked hard Imagine living in a country where we make space to protect the few wild areas that remain, saving for nature, finding ways to live alongside wildlife species in nature reserves and even bringing some rather than clearing it to make room for ourselves. back from local extinction. But to turn the tide, it’s Restored wildlife-rich fens, resounding with the time we raise our ambitions. bugling calls of cranes and the booms of breeding bitterns. Diverse uplands that are a wonderful mosaic The Wildlife Trusts are calling for at least 30% of of colour and life, where hen harriers soar over our land and sea to be connected and protected for carpets of heather, curlews call from boggy pools nature’s recovery by 2030. This goal is essential if and pine martens leap between the branches of we are to truly see a recovery in our natural world. woodlands. Towns and cities blossoming with trees Evidence suggests that at less than 30% cover in and flowers, where hedgehogs roam between parks a landscape, habitat patches are too small and and gardens bringing nature into all of our daily fragmented. They become isolated and the wildlife lives. Together, we can make this a reality. 22 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

Carbon farming, 30 BY 30: THE DECADE WE SAVE OUR WILDLIFE Lancashire Wildlife Trust Wild Peak, One hectare of peatland can soak up the same amount of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and other Wildlife Trusts CO2 as would be produced by eight car journeys around the world, but huge areas of this vital habitat have been drained Working across the landscape of the Peak District in a to make way for other land uses. Lancashire Wildlife Trust partnership of five Wildlife Trusts, Wild Peak aims to bring are rewetting and reinvigorating two important areas of peat these uplands back to life and make them wilder with a mix bog, capturing carbon and helping rare wildlife like sundews of restored habitats including woodlands, peat bogs and and large heath butterflies to thrive. As part of this work, meadows. There will be more space for rare species like they’re creating a pioneering carbon farm, thought to be the curlews and wood warblers, and eventually lost wildlife like first of its kind in the UK. A carpet of sphagnum mosses will pine martens, red squirrels and golden eagles could make a be grown on a former farm field to help soak up carbon and comeback. By working with partners and local groups, the protect the adjacent peatland. Wildlife Trusts plan to restore natural processes and wild places so that they become full of life on an unprecedented scale, benefiting local communities, the local economy and, of course, wildlife. Restoring lost fens, Bringing wildlife back, COLESHILL POOLS WARWICKSHIRE © JOHN BOOTH; SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY © TERRY WHITTAKER/2020VISION; CURLEW © DAMIAN WATERS; SPHAGNUM MOSS © CHRIS LAWRENCE Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Warwickshire Wildlife Trust An ambitious plan is underway to restore 50 hectares of Simply protecting the areas already rich in wildlife isn’t enough farmland to lost peat-fenland, boosting Lincolnshire’s to reverse wider declines, so here at Warwickshire Wildlife endangered fenland habitats by 30%. The new wetland Trust we are changing the way we acquire new nature will connect two of the Trust’s existing nature reserves, reserves. We will be prioritising land that currently has little creating a living landscape of reedbeds, marshes, and value for wildlife, where we have the potential to make the pools. The new wetlands will help bring iconic species biggest difference. By protecting and improving these places back to the area, like bitterns, swallowtail butterflies and for nature, we will create space for wildlife where currently cranes, which last year nested in Lincolnshire for the first there is none. Thanks to 20 years of ecological surveys, time in over 400 years. we can see exactly where to focus our efforts to make the biggest difference and connect up existing nature reserves. T hese are just some of the many Wildlife Trust projects working towards 30 by 30. Find out more and get Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 23 involved at wildlifetrusts.org/30-30-30

GUILLEMOTS © BARRY BLAND, NATUREPLSEABIRD CITIES Seabird CITIES 24 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

SEABIRD CITIES Tom Hibbert T he air is heavy with the shunning the crowds for a more private is content officer scent of seaweed and the perch. Kittiwakes screech from mounds of unmistakeable musk of guano. moulded mud and seaweed, and the bright for The Wildlife Perched on the dry, cliff-top orange bill of a puffin peeks out from the Trusts and studies grass, I lean forward and cautiously peer shadows of a narrow crevice. over the edge. A heart-stopping distance seabirds across below me, the North Sea washes against Hundreds of birds cover the cliffs before the UK. the algae-covered rocks. Dark shapes dot me, with many thousands more along this the water, with more on the white chalk single stretch of coast. Guillemots nest on cliffs cliffs. I raise my binoculars and see crowds The colony is in constant motion; it’s noisy, and rocky islands, crowding of guillemots crammed onto the narrow smelly, busy and without a doubt one of together on suitable ledges ledges, their neat, almost-black-and-white the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. plumage giving them the air of guests at an In a time of terrifying species declines, overcrowded dinner party. abundance is an increasingly difficult thing to experience. Rare are the butterfly One shuffles and stretches, revealing a blizzards and moth snowstorms described glorious turquoise egg tucked between its from just a few decades ago, but a seabird flipper-like feet. It leans down, studying its colony still offers the chance to enjoy an precious parcel, before hiding it once again overwhelming abundance of wildlife, and in the soft embrace of its feathers. The the UK is one of the best places in the guillemots aren’t alone on their rocky home. world to discover these beguiling birds. Razorbills recline on their own little ledges, Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 25

SEABIRD CITIES Species Spotlight Arctic terns have the longest known migration of any animal, with some travelling over 59,000 miles a year. The UK is home to Gannets plunge 55% of the world’s into the water from population of heights of 30m, northern gannets reaching speeds of up to 60mph. Guillemots have been recorded diving to depths of 180m in pursuit of fish. A quarter of Europe’s breeding seabirds There are a few reasons for this, but what underground. Puffins, arguably the UK’s are found in the UK, with over eight million it really comes down to is that seabirds are most popular seabird, deposit their single birds of 25 species nesting around Britain at their most vulnerable when they visit egg deep within a rocky crevice, or at the and Ireland. land to nest. Many lay eggs on the ground, end of a burrow dug into a grassy slope. where they would be an easy snack for a Pairs can dig their own burrows, but they’ll A home for the summer hungry fox, stoat or rat. As a result, they tend also steal them from rabbits and Manx Seabirds are a varied group, from the to favour inaccessibly sheer cliffs or small shearwaters, secretive seabirds that return flightless penguins that chase fish through islands off our coasts, free from the threat to their nests under cover of darkness. the frigid waters of Antarctica, to the of mammalian predators. Prime seabird real globe-spanning shearwaters that cross estate like this is in short supply, so birds end Land-locked seabirds entire oceans on their long, slender wings. up clustered together. You’d be forgiven for thinking that to see a seabird, you have to travel to the coast. Manx shearwaters complete a 7,000-mile After all, sea is in their name. But some journey in less than a fortnight. seabirds have taken to inland waterways, nesting on lakes, reservoirs and even the GANNETS NESTING ON A CLIFF © TOM HIBBERT They’re adventurers and explorers, taming But even when there is room for them roofs and ledges of buildings. Kittiwakes, the untameable, from wind-scoured cliffs to spread their wings, most species cluster dainty gulls with black legs and a bright to the endless expanse of the open ocean, by choice. There’s safety in numbers. Even yellow beak, can be heard giving their thriving in the places that for so long were without the dangers of roaming mammals, evocative cry of ‘kitt-eeee-waark’ above too hostile for us to follow. What unites there are still predators to worry about; the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside each these amazing animals is their unrivalled birds of prey, crows and even other seabirds summer. At around 13 kilometres from the ability to be at home on land, at sea, and in like gulls and skuas are a threat to eggs, sea, this is the most inland kittiwake colony most cases, in the air. chicks and adults. Nesting in numbers is in the world, but some seabirds have put the best defence. even more distance between themselves It’s on land that we know them best. No and the coast. bird has truly escaped the pull of dry ground, For some it’s about protection. Arctic terns as even the most oceangoing seabirds are are ferociously dedicated parents and will Common terns, elegant white birds tethered to land by the need to lay eggs. defend their nest from any potential predator with long tail streamers, Every spring, our seabird cities burst into life that gets too close, plunging and pecking a black cap and a bright as the summer residents return, hurriedly at people, gulls and even polar bears. One red, black-tipped bill, are pair up with a new mate or reaffirm bonds angry bird is a nuisance, dozens or even summer visitors to the with an old flame, and get on with the hundreds together make a very effective UK. They nest along the important business of nesting. deterrent. For other species it’s all about the coast and on offshore islands but odds — the more nests there are around can also be found on reservoirs and gravel For land loving birds, this is usually a you, the less likely yours is to be targeted. pits across the country, especially where solitary affair, but for seabirds the opposite artificial rafts have been created for them. is true. The majority nest in colonies, Some of our smaller seabirds keep sometimes hundreds of thousands strong. their eggs and young safe by nesting 26 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

SEABIRD CITIES SEE FOR YOURSELF Visit a seabird city Puffins nest in burrows Flamborough Cliffs, East Yorkshire PUFFIN © ALEXANDER MUSTARD/2020VISION; MANX SHEARWATER © CHRIS GOMERSALL/2020VISION or rocky crevices Flamborough Head has one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe. In summer, the cliffs are packed with tens of thousands of breeding birds, including guillemots, gannets, gulls and puffins. It’s a joy to watch them hovering above the bird’s location to be calculated, mapped one Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire water, diving and dipping their beak below intrepid tern’s 59,650-mile return journey A mile off the Pembrokeshire coast, the surface to snare a fish, before carrying from the Farne Islands in Northumberland Skomer Island is home to thousands it back to their small, sand-coloured chicks. to the seas around Antarctica. The bird’s of puffins and the largest colony of meandering route took it around Africa Manx shearwaters in the world. The same lakes often host cacophonous and into the Indian Ocean, then down to colonies of black-headed gulls, with their Antarctica and across to the Weddell Sea, Alderney pale grey and white plumage and dark before returning to the exact same nesting Thousands of gannets breed on a series brown hood. They can gather in their site the following spring. With the potential of rocky outcrops called Les Etacs, just thousands, creating a spectacle every to live for 30 years, this bird could travel off the coast of the mainland. bit as raucous, restless and impressive over 1.8 million miles in its lifetime. as the more celebrated coastal colonies Discover more at of seabirds. Many of these birds have Manx shearwaters make their own wildlifetrusts.org/seabird-cities forsaken the sea entirely, remaining near mammoth migrations each year, crossing their inland colonies year-round. 1/4 of Europe’s breeding seabirds are found Ocean wanderers in the UK, with over 8 million birds and 25 Though some seabirds don’t stray far from species nesting around Britain and Ireland. their summer breeding grounds, others make incredible journeys. The Arctic tern, both the Atlantic and the equator as they the effects of the climate crisis. Warming who we already know as an impressive head for wintering grounds off the coast seas around the UK are already thought parent, makes the longest recorded of Argentina and Brazil. Studies on birds to be responsible for declines in many of migration of any animal on the planet. A our more northerly seabird colonies, as recent study, using tiny devices that from the Welsh islands of Skokholm the sand eels that so many species rely on record daylight and allow the and Skomer have revealed that they can move northwards to cooler waters. complete this 6,000-7,000-mile journey in less than a fortnight. Our seabird cities are amongst our Understanding the complex migrations of greatest natural treasures, we must look these globe-spanning seabirds is essential after them by protecting their nest sites for protecting them. Seabirds across the from development and their food sources world are threatened by the introduction from overfishing, and by doing all we can to of predators to their breeding sites, by combat the climate crisis. being caught up in fishing gear, and from Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 27

Companion planting Feed yourself and your local wildlife with these tips from Kate Bradbury. Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus Nasturtiums can lure aphids from beans and egg-laying butterflies from brassicas. You can also transfer white butterfly caterpillars on to nasturtiums from your cabbages and kales. Their flowers attract bumblebees, the main pollinator of tomatoes. Thyme Beans Thymus vulgaris Fabaceae This low-growing herb can deter blackfly Brassicas and salad crops need from broad beans and roses. You can nitrogen-rich soil to grow well. also make a tea from its leaves and Plant them alongside beans, whose spray it on brassicas to prevent whitefly. roots fix nitrogen into the soil. Mint Marigold Mentha spicata Calendula officinalis Its strongly scented leaves deter insects Its leaves repel whitefly from tomatoes with a taste for carrots, onions and brassicas, and can lure aphids from beans. Its including flea beetle. Best grown in a pot as flowers attract pollinators as well as aphid it can grow out of control in open ground. predators like ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies. Its roots work with soil fungi 28 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 to deliver more nutrients to other plants.

ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH BAILEY, PHOTO © SARAH CUTTLE Companion planting is an age-old tradition of organic along my allotment boundaries. These are fantastic Kate Bradbury gardening, designed to help plants grow better, wildlife plants, and so bring in a range of insects is passionate aid pollination, deter insects from munching your and birds. Nettles give me a head start on other about wildlife- crops and encourage the predators that eat them. It allotmenteers: coming into leaf early in the year, friendly gardening basically involves the planting of wildflowers or other nettles attract the nettle aphid, Microlophium and the author of crops alongside your main crop — think of them as carnosum. This feeds only on nettles and emerges Wildlife Gardening little friends or guardians, there to keep your plants from hibernation sooner than other species, happy and safe. so attracts aphid predators – such as ladybirds, for Everyone and hoverflies and lacewings – early in the year. This Most companion plants are strongly scented and means the predators are already on hand when the Everything in therefore can deter insects in search of their host blackbean aphid starts breeding on my broad beans. association with plant. Others attract more beneficial insects, such as Then in summer, fennel flowers attract hoverflies, The Wildlife Trusts. ladybirds and lacewings, which then prey on aphids which then lay eggs on aphid clusters – I rarely have and other crop eaters. Some companion plants are a problem with aphids. Other wildflowers attract ‘sacrificial’, meaning you grow them so that insects pollinating bees, which stay to fertilise my bean lay eggs on them instead of your prized crop. Others and tomato flowers. I also like to grow caterpillar can benefit the soil, such as nitrogen-fixing legumes, foodplants for moths and butterflies because they’re which help leafy plants grow better, or calendula, nice to have around. I like to think of them as my whose roots work particularly well with soil fungi, companions, so companion planting can benefit the which aid the uptake of soil nutrients. All of this gardener, too! helps you work in harmony with nature, protect your crops and help them grow better. What’s not to like? Gardens and allotments are a vital On my allotment I grow calendula with tomatoes, habitat for many of our struggling onions and garlic with carrots and parsnips, and nasturtiums with beans and brassica crops. I also insects. Get tips for helping them at: grow nettles, fennel, teasels and other wildflowers wildlifetrusts.org/take-action-insects Garlic chive Borage Allium tuberosum Borago officinalis The garlicy scent from its chive- Its nectar-rich flowers attract bees, like leaves deters the carrot butterflies and hoverflies, which root fly, which can usually smell pollinate crops. It is also reported to carrots from up to a mile away. improve the flavour of strawberries. Lavender Lavandula angustifolia Its strong-scented foliage can deter aphids and its flowers attract a range of pollinators, including bees. Plant with carrots and leeks to protect them. Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 29

COMMON BLUE © GUY EDWARDES/2020VISION 6 places to see blue butterflies Common blue butterflies are found in grassy places across the UK 30 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021

See the spectacle 12 3 for yourself 54 6 T he blue butterflies are some of 1 Latterbarrow, Cumbria Wildlife Trust our most dazzling and endearing This stunning limestone grassland is a haven for insects; winged gems that come butterflies, including the northern brown argus, alive in the spring or summer which here is at the southern edge of its range. sunlight and dance from flower to flower. Despite its name, this small brown butterfly is They shimmer in shades of blue and silver, one of the blues and appears silvery in flight. though a few of the UK’s nine resident Where: Witherslack, LA11 6RH species are misleadingly brown. Some of these butterflies are now only found in the 2 Maze Park, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust few places their favoured habitat remains. This green oasis in the centre of Teesside attracts Many of these areas are now nature reserves, more than 12 species of butterfly including the protected by The Wildlife Trusts. Some, common blue butterfly as well as the increasingly however, can be seen more widely: common scarce grayling and dingy skipper butterflies (which blues emerge around May and fly over many aren’t in the blue family). grasslands, including road verges, and holly Where: Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 6QA blues appear around April to flutter through parks and gardens. Your best chance of 3 Swettenham Valley, Cheshire Wildlife Trust spotting butterflies is on a calm, sunny day. One of Cheshire’s hidden gems, this mosaic of grassland, wood and mire is home to holly blues and common blues, with the latter’s caterpillars feeding on the abundant bird’s-foot trefoil. Where: Swettenham, CW12 2LF 4 Bishops Hill, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust The grassland, scrub, woodland and blue pool here provide a rich mosaic of wildlife habitats. There are fantastic views from the hilltop into Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and you can spot Holly Blue and Common Blue butterflies. The lime-loving plants on site also attract the rare Small Blue butterfly Where: Bishop’s Itchington, CV47 2UT 5 Daneway Banks, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust This wonderful wildflower meadow is regarded as one of the best places in the world to see the rare large blue, which was once extinct in the UK. Where: Near Sapperton, GL7 6LN 6 Malling Down, Sussex Wildlife Trust Adonis blue and chalkhill blue butterflies dance over the sun-kissed slopes of this flower-rich chalk grassland, where small blues can also be discovered. Where: Near Lewes, BN7 2RJ Did you discover any butterflies ? When spotting butterflies, please be sure to follow Government guidance on social distancing and stay local. And remember to tweet us your best photos! @wildlifetrusts

#3rA0e1arD– 3ed0aJyyuynsoefWuoirld? TyakowdeuowrtifChliohsndeaerotcneenm3hrvsea0yieesgloltdtnrenuhnyauogiypwdnes!oagtR?poyeekgnnisso!tewr wildlifetrusts.org/30dayswild 30 Wild Warwickshire | Spring 2021 Images: young couple © Halfpoint/iStock; older couple © omgimages/iStock; mother and child © TeodorLazarev/shutterstock; woman with plant pot © iStock; elderly lady in wheelchair © Evie + Tom Photography.