Pollinating early blossom

Insect hotel in apple tree

Insect hotel in apple tree

Our wildlife gardening articles highlight how important it is to provide places to hibernate over winter for the many types of insects beneficial to our gardens. And many of you are no doubt using ‘insect hotels’ of one sort or another for this purpose. If you have fruit trees or bushes, especially ones that produce blossom early in the spring, then you might like to try putting small insect hotels in your trees – as shown in this picture – so that pollinators will be ready and waiting as soon as the weather warms up and the blossom buds open!

Big Butterfly Count 2016

Common blue butterfly (© Jenny Craig)

It’s summer so it’s time to get out into gardens, parks and countryside to look for butterflies and count them for this year’s Big Butterfly Count! These annual surveys are run by Butterfly Conservation and map the distribution of butterflies and moths in the UK to inform us about changes in the environment. Doing a count at one location only takes 15 minutes, then you can add your results online and see them appear on the map! The survey began on 15 July and runs until 7 August (counts can be submitted online up till the end of August). This year’s survey is important to indicate how butterflies have been affected by a run of cooler and wetter than average weather. See Big Butterfly Count website for more info, butterfly id chart, results map and free smartphone app…

Keep our bees buzzing!

Bee feeding and pollinating

Bee feeding and pollinating

Butterfly feeding and collecting pollen

Butterfly feeding and collecting pollen

Insect pollinators are vital for fruit crops – from apples to blackberries – commercial and in the wild – and for our garden and wild flowers to set seed. Some fifteen hundred species of insects act as pollinators in the British Isles, including various bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles. Most have suffered serious declines in numbers since the second world war; for instance, it is estimated that at least twenty of our native bee species have become extinct during this period! These declines are likely to be linked to changes in our landscape and patterns of land use since the 1940s. In early November 2014 the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs launched its National Pollinator Strategy “to protect pollinating insects which support our food production and the diversity of our environment” – planned actions to reverse the decline of the last 70 years. If you have a garden or allotment you can help:

  • Simply grow more flowers! Native species are best and plants which flower early and late in the season are particularly helpful to insects emerging from or preparing for hibernation.
  • Leave at least one patch of your garden to grow wild. This might look a bit scruffy to you, but it will provide habitat for your pollinating insects to breed, lay eggs and raise their young.
  • Cut your lawn less often and let the grass grow longer to allow nectar-rich plants such as clover to flower and feed pollinators.
  • Miner bee leaving nest burrow

    Miner bee leaving nest burrow

    Avoid disturbing places where pollinating insects may be nesting or hibernating. Most apart from honey bees live in the wild and hibernate or nest in holes in trees, walls, rotting wood or by burrowing into loose soil – careless garden tidying in winter can destroy next spring’s pollinators!

  • Avoid using pesticides. Check your garden regularly so you can spot problems while they can be controlled by physical methods – hoeing; removing infected plants or parts of plants. If you have to use a pesticide keep quantity used and area covered to a minimum.

See the Bees’ Needs website for more on this topic.

March

Featured

March is the start of meteorological Spring, a time of reawakening for nature, but sometimes with the risk of cold weather and even snow, if the Polar Vortex misbehaves. As the days grow longer and, hopefully, the temperature rises, our flora and fauna change with the season.

Read our guide ‘What to look out for in March’ by following this link.

GET CLOSER TO NATURE THROUGH ORGANISED EVENTS

Sat 23rd March          Gotham Hills in Spring

A walk with Gordon Dyne taking in Gotham Sandbanks and Woods then over onto the West Leake Hills and back down to Gotham (circa 4 miles).

Meet 10 am at the seat by the “Totem Pole” in Gotham (where Nottingham Road coming from Clifton direction turns sharp left by the Post Office shop).  what3words = madness sweeper directive.

For more information, please contact gordon.dyne@gmail.com

Sat 9th March                       Mad March Hares, Rabbits and signs of Spring    

Rushcliffe Wildlife WATCH GROUP

11:00 am – 1:00 pm.  Meet at Skylarks, Adbolton Lane, Holme Pierrepont.

For young people between 8 and 12 years old who are interested in wildlife-related activities.  Meets monthly, on every second Saturday. Charge £3 per session.

WINTER WILDLIFE TALKS PROGRAMME

Thursday March 7th:  The Plight of the Humblebee! – Louise Bentley, Lancashire Wildlife Trust

The fascinating world of bees! Prepare to be humbled at their industrious and gentle nature, intelligence and sense of community. It’s not all about the Honeybee or even the cute Bumblebee, as the UK is home to a wide range of overlooked but no less important Solitary Bees. But why do we need them and how can we help keep them buzzing and save the sound of summer? Join us to find out what you can do to help save our pollinators.

 Louise has been volunteering for Lancashire Wildlife Trust since 2011, with a particular interest in habitat creation and saving species. In 2016 she set up Bolton and Bury Swifts, and advocates for nest places for Swifts and Martins, and encourages protection of their colonies. She is also an RSPCA-accredited rehabber for grounded Swifts and Hirundines.

The talk will be available online through Zoom, and costs £4 per device (including booking fee). To book, please follow this link (which also provides details of technical requirements and the remaining talks in the Programme).

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The South Notts Local Group Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday 25th April, starting at 7.00 pm. The meeting will be on line, via Zoom, and will be followed by a free talk at 7.30 pm. Fuller details will be available shortly.

WORK PARTIES

Our local nature reserves rely on volunteers to help maintain them, and organise regular work parties.  Planned parties for March are as follows:

Sat 2nd            Wilwell Farm Cutting

Sun 3rd            Grizzled Skipper – Flawborough Footpath and Triagle

Sat 9th             Wilford Claypit                        Meadow Park

Tue 12th          Grizzled Skipper – Grange Farm Normanton-on-Soar

Sat 23rd           Springdale Wood

Sun 24th          Sharphill Wood

Details of times, etc. can be found in the Diary section of our website here, so if you have some spare time and energy please feel free to join in – you will be very welcome!

Don’t forget, you can find out more about what’s happening with nature in Rushcliffe by following us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SouthNottsWildlifeGroup

If you would like to contact us, send an email to southnottswildlife@gmail.com

 

Margaret’s Meadow

Erin McDaid unveils the commemorative plaque

Erin McDaid unveils the commemorative plaque

On the morning of Saturday 10th May 2014, over twenty of Margaret Price’s friends met at  Wilwell Cutting Nature Reserve to commemorate her lifelong commitment to Nottinghamshire’s wildlife and to mark the naming of Margaret’s Meadow in her honour. As Margaret was a founder-member of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust it seemed fitting that this commemoration also formed part of the NWT’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Full report and pictures…

 

Spring newsletter available

Our latest local group newsletter, for spring 2014, is now available to read online or download as-printed. Features include: an appreciation of the life of Dennis Heffernan; a well-illustrated review of Bingham’s butterflies; this year’s spring fair; the future of our newsletter.

Skylarks planning application

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have submitted a Planning Application for proposed work at Skylarks Nature Reserve, which is to integrate the newly-acquired land with the original reserve and to make habitat improvements. The planning application number is 14/00706/FUL and the plans are on Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning website at www.document1.co.uk/blueprint/ Please take a look at them and feel free to comment if you wish – hopefully in support!

We have recieved notification that the application has been passed by the council, so another milestone for the project has been passed and the winter months should see some major engineering works at Blotts Pit as some parts of the site are re landscaped to create wet meadows, ponds and reedbeds.

Successful AGM

We held our local group Annual General Meeting and Talk in West Bridgford on Thursday 24th April. The newly-elected South Notts committee is: Gordon Dyne (Chair), Valerie Holt (Vice Chair), Jackie Glenn (Secretary), Neil Pinder (Treasurer), Margie Richards, Geoff Fyles, Neil Glenn, Judith Booth, Graham Leigh-Browne and Cally Martin. The following documents presented to the meeting are available:

Rushcliffe Wildlife Watch

This group organises wildlife-related activities for young people (age 8–13), meeting on the second Saturday of each month (except when this clashes with holiday weekends!) at The Environment Centre, Rushcliffe Country Park. Next meeting: 10th May, then 4th June and 12th July. Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts and the UK’s leading environmental action club for kids, see wildlifewatch.org.uk for more…