The latest wildlife news from MyWildBedminster@virginmedia.com is here:
Let’s Be FrANC
The Friends of the Avon New Cut have a new Secretary, John Holland, and are hoping to beef up the organisation with people willing to contribute ideas to move things forward. For example, they are looking to improve the signage, both permanent and temporary, along The Cut, which is one of Bristol’s Local Nature Reserves, to better illustrate its history and natural history and to promote FrANC action days and litter picks. If you would like to help with these ideas and others, please contact the Chair (Tim Wickstead) at wickstead@gmx.co.uk
Flowers for Victoria Park?
A request from Barney who is VPAG’s Community Garden Leader: ‘Our volunteer gardeners on the Community Flower Bed opposite the play area would be glad of donated plants and paving slabs. Please leave them on the path at the back of the bed, label them if they are not obvious or bring them on a Thursday afternoon between 2.30 and 4pm.‘
Butterflies
A few Peacocks, Commas and Red Admirals have already been reported in Bristol this year as well as Brimstones, but April should see a wider range and more individuals. It’s suggested that the term ‘butterfly’ may have started by reference to the bright yellow of Brimstones. Alternative explanations include an earlier belief that butterflies ate butter and milk. Indeed, the German for butterfly is milchdieb, which means ‘milk thief’. A third, less romantic, reference is to the alleged colour of butterfly poo. We still have a couple of butterfly nets which you can borrow, perhaps to audit your garden or the local park.
Mammal Survey
The Peoples Trust for Endangered Species was set up about forty years ago. Lots of its work is international, but it is also aware that many British species are endangered. From 29 March it is asking people to report on mammals living in the UK, so that will be things like hedgehogs, bats, otters and rats. More details at https://ptes.org/ . Hedgehog Groups in Bristol seem to be proliferating, hopefully hedgehogs will too. We hope soon to be able to publish an initial map showing hedgehog hot (or at least warm) spots. There are groups across the city in support of bats, otters and perhaps other mammals. It would be good to get reports from these groups from time to time. Do any of you have contacts with such groups?
Trailcam
Many of our members have cameras which they can leave out to catch pictures of foxes, hedgehogs and other creatures. Many of these reports end up on our various facebook and instragram sites. Earlier this year, we purchased a trailcam which can be borrowed by members. Of course, if enough people are interested in having a go, we could buy a second camera. What do you think? At the moment, it is with David Sinden in BS4. David writes:
‘The group now has a trailcam which members can borrow. It takes photos and/or videos both in daylight, using motion detection or at night using passive infra-red. The quality’s not great, but it’s good enough. If anyone has any specific locations they’d like to investigate, or knows of any particularly good spots for seeing wildlife, or if you just want to know what’s happening in your back garden, I’d be happy to hand the camera over. I’m sure there must be people in the group who know secret locations of badger setts for example. It would be great to get some good footage, as long as the location is not obvious and I wouldn’t expect you to tell me where they are. If you would like to borrow the camera, contact me on facebook (or via this Newsletter). You will need to provide 8xAA batteries, which need to be decent ones like Duracell. You can’t use rechargeable batteries.’
iNaturalist
It’s very important that as well as observing and encouraging wildlife and native plants we also report findings to national recording agencies. This is the only way that we can know whether particular species are flourishing, holding steady or disappearing across the UK. Dougal Matthews from the BS4 Wildlife Group is working on a system for recording called iNaturalist. We are hoping to bring details about this, including an easy guide, to you in April.
FacebookThis has proved an excellent way of sharing ideas and information. Some of the pictures are truly stunning. Both BS3 and BS4 Wildlife Groups have facebooks. https://www.facebook.com/groups/bs3wildlifegroup and https://www.facebook.com/groups/bs4wildlife