SUMMARY OF NATURE CONSERVATION ACHIEVEMENTS

 

The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group have continued with their nature conservation work this year whilst trying to get up-to-date with all the activities that were behind schedule due to the long-lasting Covid-19 pandemic. This has made all work activities undertaken more pressurised than normal. The weather patterns have not helped with the long dry spell in the summer and the very heavy and prolonged rainfall that followed it. Despite these difficulties, our supporters and volunteers have rallied round and a tremendous amount in terms of work undertaken, donations received and compensatory fundraising events undertaken. We continue to strive to improve conditions for countryside and wildlife to flourish despite increasing threats to their survival.

 

BARN OWL CONSERVATION EFFORT INCREASES IN 2022

 

Each winter on our maintenance visits we often encounter damage to our boxes. This can be caused by bad weather, falling branches or habitation by the destructive grey squirrel population. This was the case in 2022 when we discovered boxes that were beyond repair. In each case we had to remove the damaged box and obtain a replacement. This was a time consuming and expensive exercise involving several additional trips across often wet and muddy fields. The first picture shown below was one such box found where bad weather and branch damage had wrecked its structure. It was a box which was regularly used for roosting and breeding by a pair of barn owls. In view of this value, we speedily obtained a replacement and erected it as shown in the following pictures. Owls quickly resumed residence in their smart new homes once the work was completed.

 

 A box damaged beyond repair.

 

A replacement was obtained and speedily erected.

 

With so many boxes spread across such a large area of Sussex countryside, our owl conservation area is constantly reviewed and adjusted to maximise the effectiveness of the sanctuary we provide. The loss of natural hunting habitat through the continuous erosion of countryside due to development is a major threat, and one we are constantly having to adjust our conservation effort for. Unless the owls have sufficient hunting areas available to them containing adequate prey to sustain their population, their prospects for survival are greatly reduced.

 

 Barn owls rely on large areas of open countryside to survive.

 

Development is robbing them of this opportunity.

 

Councils are increasingly allowing such development to happen as they are under considerable pressure from successive national governments to increase housing numbers and industrial units. To offset this inevitable  environmental calamity, we as a group try to combat this damage as much possible with our conservation work. Areas to provide sufficient life-supporting habitat have had to be continuously expanded to compensate.

This year’s results for owls breeding in our boxes were good overall, although the individual brood size was slightly smaller than other years, due to the unusually hot spell experienced in early summer. This in turn affected the availability of prey for them to feed on. In times of food shortage, initially high brood numbers can be reduced as they grow, as hungry larger chicks often are sustained by their parents by offering their smaller siblings as food to compensate. With our conservation area territory now extremely large, due to having to offset the countryside reductions previously mentioned caused by continuing development, we have managed to maintain their breeding levels to sustain their population.

 

These are the results we work for by encouraging the breeding of healthy young barn owls.

    

This beautiful owl had almost reached maturity.

 

These two barn owls were brother and sister and were monitored through to successful fledging. This was a result that made all our effort seem worthwhile.

 

2022 – BAT CONSERVATION SUCCESS IS MAINTAINED

 

Due to bad weather conditions, 2022 was not the best year for surveying our bat box installations. The late summer weather became progressively more wet following the abnormally hot summer, and dry days in which to undertake them became less as autumn arrived. This meant the work was protracted and difficult to achieve. The wet weather and windy days were so frequent that it became a case of seizing the first opportunity of a dry interlude, which was usually at very short notice due to the erratic weather patterns.

This made it difficult to recruit teams at short notice when dry weather intervals occurred. Many surveys had to proceed with less than a desired compliment of team members to make any progress. This made them harder to complete with less support and took a great deal longer. Such was the difficulty, that our survey period of approximately a month to visit all our installations became stretched to a period spanning from the first one at the end of August, to the last one at the beginning of November. Some of these opportunities had to be undertaken in very low temperatures and often immediately following gale force winds, so advanced expectations of poor levels of occupancy were often realised.

 

The bat survey this year was difficult due to the bad weather.

 

Difficulty was also experienced in recruiting sufficient volunteers.

 

After our hugely successful year last year when we had Bechstein’s bats occupying several locations in addition to an increased number of other species, we feared the weather conditions would make the 2022 results significantly poorer. To a degree this was indeed the case, but we found a reasonably high occupancy including a retained Bechstein’s bat presence despite this.

 

We managed to retain a Bechstein’s bat presence again this year.

 

Due to the very high winds experienced, we found many woodlands contained many fallen trees, often blocking the integral avenues utilised by bats for access into them.

 

Many trees had fallen in the high autumn winds.

 

We managed to gain access to most boxes….

 

….despite the wet and windy conditions.

 

All boxes that were accessible were inspected and the results recorded.

 

These difficulties have made a year when we were struggling to catch up with a late start to the year’s commitments due to unavoidable problems, even more awkward to achieve. The end of year wet weather continued to be an obstacle to us. We battled on however, hoping that the erratic seasonal weather conditions returned to a degree of normality to help us. This improvement unfortunately, did not materialise. The year-on-year improvements in numbers we are accommodating, provides us with the encouragement that our effort is making a significant improvement to local populations. Below we include a pictorial record of some of our survey ventures and some of the 2022 bats found.

 

The majority found occupying most of the boxes this year were Common Pipistrelle bats.

 

The continuing Bechstein’s bat presence in a number of woodlands however, was extremely encouraging.

 

Interloper species are invariably found in a percentage of the boxes, like these moth caterpillars residing in a web-cocoon. 

 

2022 – DORMICE BOX CHECKS CONTINUE

 

In 2022 we found many uses being made of our dormouse boxes but unfortunately, we found no obvious traces of dormice. Many were used initially for birds nesting. These were mostly bluetits and great tits. We waited until they had left the nests and then cleared them out to allow for mammal occupation. Many were subsequently found to contain stores of nuts and berries and a huge number of others contained wood mice raising their families. This followed the same pattern throughout all the woodlands we were monitoring. The summer was an extremely hot one and foliage within woodlands became parched and not ideal for dormouse habitation as many leaves fell prematurely. This did not seem to affect the wood mouse population who inhabited far more boxes than normal. Some of these are shown below.

 

Many boxes contained food stores.

 

Many contained wood mice who remained in their nests throughout the season until their young had departed.

 

SAYERS COMMON WOODLAND POND

 

We held an open day at Sayers Common Pond on Sunday May 1st to provide an opportunity to step back from our tasks and appreciate some of the beautiful countryside that surrounds this location. We invited all our supporters to attend an open day, with the kind consent of the landowners. This also gave us an opportunity to demonstrate some of the nature conservation work we had been undertaking in the area for many years to our supporters, and others who had been unable to visit with us on our volunteer project days.

 

The pond as it now appears after extensive work by volunteers to restore it.

 

Visitors gather next to the woodland pond.

 

Then head towards the surrounding woodland.

 The woodland displayed a carpet of bluebells.

 

The visitors walk through the woodland paths witnessing the beauty of the bluebells.

 

Within the woodland, many wildlife projects have been undertaken to capitalise on the valuable nature location. Due to the remoteness of the woodland and pond, not many opportunities occur for people other than group volunteers to witness the natural richness of the area, so we always seek opportunities to share it with others.

They saw the barn owl boxes in the surrounding area and the dormouse and bat boxes that were installed in the woodland. All aspects of these projects were explained and any question answered.

 

The barn owl box project is explained in detail.

 

The area has had many nature conservation projects undertaken within it, like these installed boxes for dormice….

 

….and these boxes for bats to encourage their survival. Each was demonstrated to the attendees.

                                                                        

To maximise the rewarding experience for all the visitors, the landowners kindly provided refreshments for everyone at the end of the afternoon, which seemed to be appreciated. The group also benefitted considerably from donations to fund group work which were generously given by those attending, for which we are grateful.

 

The landowners kindly provided a magnificent array of refreshments.

 

These were welcomed by all at the end of the tour.

 

There was an opportunity for all to make friends and share observations. 

 

In June, the volunteers returned to the woodland pond in and spent many weeks maintaining the valuable wetland location. It had quickly become overgrown with spreading brush and scrub again. They worked hard to restore the area to the condition it was left in last year. The weather was at the latter end of an extremely hot period and the volunteers found the work required very taxing in these conditions. They persevered until it was concluded however, so that they could quickly move on to other areas demanding our attention. Due to this effort and all the conservation measures applied, the area remains a significant asset to the natural world in an overall environment that is becoming increasingly hostile to it.

 

Volunteers returned in June to ensure the pond remained the natural asset it was when originally created.

 

TALBOT FIELD NATURE AREA

 

Talbot Field small nature area continues to be very valuable to our natural environment. With the attention our group is providing, the woodland, is remaining clear of unruly scrub and brush to allow bluebells, stitchwort, figwort, soft rush, willowherb and many other flora species to emerge each year. The meadow is now containing many more wildflower species thanks to the steady plug-planting effort being supported by Hassocks Parish Council and undertaken by our group.

Last year also unfortunately witnessed the forced removal of an unsafe mature oak tree from the woodland, adjacent to the road. The council kindly offered to fund replacement trees which were duly obtained and planted. One was positioned directly next to the fallen tree, and the other in the meadow as an addition to those existing along the front border. Both are growing well.

Volunteers removed ragwort from the meadow and brush from the bordering hedgerows in response to neighbour’s requests, and all woodland pathways were kept clear for public use.

The bird boxes were cleaned out at the end of the season to remove all old nests. Most had been used by various indigenous bird species.

The bat boxes were checked in the autumn and all showed evidence of bat habitation with many bats found, including the continuing presence of the ‘restricted and rare’ Bechstein’s bat. This site is very valuable in terms of high bat colonisation, and is an area we are striving to maintain as an attractive location for them.

 

Volunteers take a break from their hard work.

 All cuttings are raked up and disposed of.

 

All cleared debris was collected in wheelbarrows. 

 

 This meant a lot of  journeys to the bonfire site located at the rear of the meadow. 

 

One of the replacement trees planted in the woodland.

 

Another tree was planted along the meadow border.

 

All bird boxes were emptied and cleaned in readiness for the new nesting season.

 

POND LYE SNCI MEADOW

 

Our volunteer with a tractor and cutter began the cut.

 

Volunteers were joined by students to remove the cuttings shortly afterwards.

 

Teams of helpers were formed to create the most efficient method of working.

 

A whole day was spent tackling the hay clearance task.

 

Each person selected a role to undertake. 

 

This unified effort allowed most of the task to be completed very quickly.

 

GROUP STALL ADVERTISES WORK AT HURST FESTIVAL

 

In September our group once again had a stall at the annual Hurst Festival Super Sunday Event to advertise our work and recruit additional volunteers to help us. The day was fortunately fine, and the event was well attended. Group volunteers worked in shifts to man the stall and explain our work to interested bystanders. It included a second table selling bric-a-brac provided and run by a valued member from Sayers Common. Money made from this, and generous contributions received to help us in our work, made the exercise a worthwhile one to support our nature conservation effort. Our time is freely given but the work incurs expenses which have to be met. Fund raising is therefore a vital part of our mission.

 

Group volunteers manned the stall for the Super Sunday Event.

 

NO GROUP TALKS HELD IN 2022

 

No talks have been held since the COVID-19 pandemic in observance of public safety restrictions advised by the Government. Now that this is hopefully behind us, we look forward to resuming our group public events in 2023. Please watch out for the adverts for these events and join us if you can. If you are on our Registered Supporter’s list you will be advised by the regular supporter’s bulletins to keep you abreast of forthcoming events.

 

SUPPORTER MESSAGE

 

We thank all our supporters for their interest in our activities and our valuable volunteers for their help. We also give heartfelt thanks to those supporters and organisations who have generously provided donations to support our funds during this year. If you too would like to be a supporter or volunteer please contact: –

Michael Nailard.         Email: dralianmarine@aol.com