Keep Looking for Winter Garden Birds
Thanks for the comments and up-dates on interesting birds that you’ve spotted in your gardens. My list, so far, is Blackbird, Blue tit, Collared dove, Goldfinch, Great tit, Magpie, Robin and Wood pigeon. That’s eight species, so far. Nothing very exciting, but good to see old friends. Of course, if the weather continues to grow colder, more birds will be driven into town looking for food and the extra couple of degrees that escape from our houses. Richard Clutterbuck has already seen something special. See the photograph below of a male sparrowhawk having lunch in Richard’s garden.
Butterfly and Moth Report
This is nearly completed and I hope to send it out within the next two weeks. It will show that the sites where a more systematic survey of butterflies has been undertaken has gone up from three gardens to five and from two to four larger spaces. Butterfly species claimed has gone from 16 to 17. Fourteen of these are claimed in both years. Two were claimed in 2017 only with three new species in 2018. Patterns are emerging, but we need a few more years. Systematic surveys of moths have gone from zero to one site.
Hedgehogs
In the last newsletter, we reported on the two hedgehog colonies in BS3 that are being supported by local human groups. Below are the answers to questions raised as a result of the reports, plus two more questions. We’ll publish any additional answers in a future newsletter.
And some questions to Andy and John
1. I assume that the Ashton Triangle hedgehogs are linked to a colony in Greville Smyth Park, but Frobisher and Smyth Roads aren’t very close to any large green patches. Where do your hedgehogs come from?
I have no idea where the Ashton Gate Triangle hogs come from – Greville Smyth Park perhaps, but I don’t know of any recorded sightings there. We had regular visits from hedgehogs to a few gardens in Frayne Road about 25 years ago and encouraged one adult to successfully over-winter in a hedgehog house which my children built. In spite of putting down food the following year, they vanished with no signs or sightings until we spotted an adult female in our garden in June last year and then found that she had given birth to five hoglets under a pile of dried flower stems in a flowerbed last August (2017)! I’m pretty sure that it’s members of this family which have been very active along several of the back gardens in our road this summer with reported sightings on a regular basis in three gardens. (John).
We have introduced seven hedgehogs into the Frobisher Road gardens and they have all come from local rescue centres. Ideally, the rescue centres like to return the hedgehogs back to where they were found, but sometimes this is not possible. For example, if they were found on a site that is being cleared for a new building. One of the rescue centres was featured on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Wild Wild West programme: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p061q5rw . (Andy).
2. Both sites are near heavy traffic. Is there a danger that we just end up with more squished hedgehogs?
Hopefully not. I cross both Clift House and Ashton Roads on a regular basis and have never seen a dead hog, which is encouraging. (John).
We have had reports of a group of four hedgehogs seen in Greville Smyth Park and I have seen one running down the bank near the playground. We’ve also had reports of sightings at the back of Drake Road and Banwell Road. We can’t tell if they have all come from our project, but maybe the introduction of our hogs has helped support the existing population. There is, of course, the danger of them getting run over and we know of one death on Raleigh Road. Maybe we can get some hedgehog road signs put up in the area…. (Andy)
We’ve also had news from Penny that a hedgehog drowned in a garden pond on Frayne Road this autumn. Ponds and other water sources are a very important part of a wildlife garden, but, as well as driving carefully, please also make sure that it’s easy for your hedgehog visitors to climb out of your pond should they take a dip.
3. Has anyone else seen hedgehogs in Greville Smyth Park or any other BS3 park in the last few years? Presumably they are on the allotments? What about Windmill Hill City Farm or the Avon New Cut? Anywhere else?
4. Is anyone else interested in forming a ‘hedgehog support group’ like the ones on the Ashton Triangle and Frobisher Road?
Please pass the newsletter on to others and invite them to join the BS3 Wildlife Group.
Contact: MyWildBedminster@virginmedia.com