Author Archives: Surrey Wildlife Trust

Creature Feature: Palmate Newt

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Palmate newt (Howard Inns)

THE PALMATE NEWT Lissotriton helveticus is the smallest of our three British newts, measuring 8 – 9 cm from nose to tail.  They are found throughout Britain, on heaths and moors, in ponds and ditches in woodland and grassland, and sometimes garden ponds, preferring slightly acidic shallow ponds for breeding.

Newts have long, slender bodies and are frequently mistaken for lizards.  If you are lucky enough to get close to one, you should see it has 4 clawless toes on its front feet, whereas lizards have 5 toes with long claws.  If it scurries off too quickly to let you count its toes, it’s probably a lizard!

Male palmate newts are olive-brown with patches of darker colours and well-defined dark spots; during the breeding season (February to July) they develop a low crest along their back, a thin hair-like filament at the end of their tail and fringed webbing between the toes of their back feet, (which look like dark gloves, hence the name ‘palmate’ newt).  Females are larger, yellowish or olive-brown, with dark speckling and can be difficult to tell apart from the females of the smooth newt.  However, the throat of the palmate newt is plain pink or orange, whereas the smooth newt is spotted.  Both sexes have orange bellies.

Palmate newts usually hibernate on land in dense leaf litter, log piles or compost heaps, but some young adults hibernate in the mud of their breeding ponds.  They emerge during February and courtship and breeding takes place at a suitable pond from March to June.  The elaborate courtship display is fascinating to see: the male swims ahead of the female, fanning his tail vigorously and displaying his crest, all the time wafting scent pheromones towards her.  If she is suitably impressed he deposits a parcel of sperm which she takes up to fertilise her eggs.  She carefully lays a few of her 200-300 eggs every day on aquatic plants over a few weeks.  When the newt tadpoles or ‘efts’ emerge they have a fringe of external gills on the back of their head.  They take a couple of months to metamorphose to air-breathing juveniles and spend a couple more on land before hibernating.  After breeding, the males absorb their wavy crests and tail filaments.

Whilst on land palmate newts eat small invertebrates (insects, worms, snails, slugs), often flicking out their tongue to catch their prey.  In water they eat water snails, frog tadpoles and the larvae of invertebrates such as dragonflies and mayflies, catching their prey in their teeth.  They are quite tolerant of dry conditions and can stray a long way from water outside the breeding season.

Adult palmates are taken by fish, great crested newts and water-birds such as herons, ducks and kingfishers.  Efts can be eaten by larger newts, frogs, toads and larger dragonfly and beetle larvae.  To make your garden pond attractive to palmate newts, provide plenty of native aquatic vegetation for egg-laying and suitable shelter and hibernation sites by having rockeries, log piles or a compost heap, and don’t stock it with fish!

Newt facts:

  • Newts are silent in contrast to frogs and toads.
  • Of all amphibians, newts most closely resemble the earliest fossil amphibians, the earliest animals to have adapted to life on land.
  • Many species of newt have poison glands in their skin for protection from predators.
  • Newts have impressive regeneration capabilities; they can re-grow limbs if they are amputated, repair their heart tissue if it becomes damaged and re-grow their retinas!

Fiona Haynes: SWT Ranger (South Team)

Babies, Birds & Barossa

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First Kid Of The Year (James Adler)

SPRING HAS DEFINITELY ARRIVED, even though it may not have quite felt like it recently, because we in the grazing team have been busy trying keeping track of the arrival of new calves and kids! At the time of writing we have had 9 kids and 20 calves, we’re still expecting a few more kids and around another 40 calves, so we still have a busy time ahead. Most of the goats and cattle need no help during labour, but we check them regularly so know which ones are close to giving birth and monitor them in detail to ensure they deliver their young with no problems.

The cattle and goats are also due to start heading out onto their summer sites very soon. These will predominantly be heathland sites and rangers very often advertise the arrival of the cattle in advance so the public know when they will be there and where they will be. The cattle are used to help reduce the dominance of purple more grass. This deciduous grass can dominate the heathers and other delicate heathland flora which suppresses its establishment and growth. When the cattle eat this grass down it increases the opportunity for these more delicate, slower growing plants to become established. The goats stay in electrified pens and are used to target woody, scrub species such as silver birch. Not only do they take the leaves from the plant, but they also strip the bark too which further stresses the plant and hopefully kills it.

The other side of my job involves looking after Barossa and Poors Allotment as a ranger. This is a large 600ha heathland site near Camberley. Around Easter, rangers with heathland sites are on edge as this tends to be a period of arson activity. Sadly this was the case on Barossa this year when a large section of the heath was set alight. This obviously sets back the development of the habitat, but will have killed any animals that were unable to escape the flames. Most importantly however, it puts human life at risk. If you are on a site where you suspect there is fire then call the fire service straight away.

This is also a good time to remind anyone using a heathland site that ground nesting birds are well underway now and all site users should stick to the paths. This includes dogs which should be kept on a lead or under close control (on a path and in sight at all times).

James Herd (Assistant Ranger, Grazing Team)

My First Week

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Litter picking with the HALOW Project

I WAS SO EXCITED to join the People and Wildlife Team of Surrey Wildlife Trust for my first week of work on Monday 4th March, having spent the last two years volunteering on different types of projects and building my experience so that I can do what I love!

What is my role I hear you enquire? Well I am the Community and Outdoor Learning Assistant. I work with team members across the People and Wildlife Team, in a community facing capacity and also help out with Forest Schools.

My role is very varied and exciting! On my first day I assisted two colleagues on a full day’s Forest School session at St Peter’s School in Leatherhead. It was great fun! We, collected and sorted wood for the fire and helped a small group of children and adults built it, before teaching them how to build safe individual fires with cotton wool and fire steels. We climbed trees, the children designed their own assault course, made their own stick men and told them stories.

Later in the week I worked with a HALOW Project – Building Futures group, on a community session in Woking, which was part of the HLF funded ‘Surrey Greenspace Project‘. We did a great job litter picking along the Basingstoke Canal, explored the old Muslim burial ground and hugged a tree!

At Warwick School in Redhill I assisted some colleagues working with a group of young people struggling to adjust to secondary school life. We worked  as a team to move their totem pole with ropes and tarpaulins and get it pointing at the sky!

Later that day I helped out with a regular community based outdoor learning nursery group called ‘Foxcubs’. These are adorable three to five year olds, whose sessions are almost entirely free play. They have a great time exploring their small woodland area, running, using ropes, digging, collecting interesting things and then they get hot chocolate and a story!

I greatly enjoyed assisting two colleagues on a full day’s session at The Weald School, near Leatherhead. Carrying out an orienteering activity using a compass and instructions we found the names of the things that were vital to create early settlements, and then discussed which was most important. We made daub and had fun throwing it at the wattle and sticking it on, made dens and cooked marsh-mellows over a fire.

What a week! I have assisted with a multitude of exciting activities, learnt new skills, enjoyed working with many lovely adults and children and got to play outdoors. I feel very fortunate, and am glad that I am a part of linking children and adults back to nature, and stimulating their learning through natural play.

To find out more about Outdoor Learning and Forest Schools with Surrey Wildlife Trust, email outdoorlearning@surreywt.org.uk.

Frances Hagger: SWT Community and Outdoor Learning Assistant 

Signs of Spring

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Brimstone (James Adler)

THE FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING are showing on our sites, and it is time for most of the scrub clearance and tree work to come to an end for this season.

On heathlands the first ground nesting birds have been spotted arriving, and are starting to stake out their territories and hopefully picking out their nesting spots. Woodlark can be heard singing on some of the open heaths which, on the rare sunny days we have had, makes it feel very spring like.

Work in the open areas of the heaths usually finishes earlier than that in the woodlands as these birds arrive earlier, but soon the trees will be bursting into leaf and a whole lot of nesting will be going on all over all our sites.

The heathland birds like nightjars, woodlarks, and lapwings chose to make their nests in shallow depressions on the ground, and so are very vulnerable to disturbance. This is why you will see signs up on some of our heaths asking for your help in keeping your dogs on the paths and off the open heath and grass areas. It is only for a few months, and gives these birds the best chance to breed successfully.

While out on a site, as well as listening for the woodlark, keep an eye out for Brimstone butterflies fluttering past. They have been spotted out already, as have a few dusty looking Red Admirals. Hopefully this year there will be enough sun and dry weather to help build up butterfly numbers again after the huge decline last summer. Some lazy lizards have also been seen soaking up the sun on the few warm days, and they will gradually increase as the temperature warms up.

On the woodland edges, lords and ladies has been appearing for a while, and has now been joined by the lovely sunny faces of the lesser celandine and daffodils. If you look closely under the trees the first bluebell leaves can be spotted pushing through the ground. The buds on the trees are starting to swell, and some like the hawthorn and elder have begun bursting (slowly) into leaf. Soon there will be a haze of bright green covering the countryside.

It is a bit early for the heather to think of coming out on the heaths, but a lot of the gorse bushes are blooming and creating bright yellow patches in a still somber landscape. This is an exciting time of year to be out and about – as well as never knowing what weather you will be facing on day to the next – you also never know what you will spot blossoming, blooming or flying past.

Jill Titlestad: Assistant Ranger (North Team)

Outdoor Play: Real World Fun

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Outdoor Play (Aimee Clarke)

PLAYING OUTDOORS. That’s what I am doing all week. It is good for me, and it is good for the children and adults I am lucky enough to work with. Play is so important that it has its own Article in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Play England has designated the 16-23nd March National Outdoor Play Week. So what makes outdoor play so special, and why are we doing it at Surrey Wildlife Trust?

For starters, playing outside is important for getting kids away from the TV screen and games console for some exercise that doesn’t just involve their thumbs! Outdoors, Children have room to move and run, to jump in and out of puddles, to climb and balance, all things that we get in trouble for doing indoors. An hour of outdoor play has been shown to provide more physical activity than an hour of a PE lesson. Outdoor play also helps children to build their confidence; by trying things out such as building a den for your teddy bear, floating sticks and rafts down a stream or simply playing hide and seek helps children achieve and feel better about themselves. It also helps children to learn, through experimenting, through interacting with their friends and family and through gathering new experiences. Its good for adults too; being surrounded by green spaces helps to reduce our blood pressure and extend our concentration span.

Playing outside in woodlands, meadows, and parks helps us to build familiarity with our greenspaces, giving us opportunities to notice how plants and trees change with the seasons and to get an idea of where woodlice tend to live or the types of weather when the butterflies choose to fly. This is important to us at Surrey Wildlife Trust as building these connections with our natural environments helps to form the bedrock of a life long relationship with wildlife. If we appreciate the small wonders of the natural world and have good memories of time spent within it, then we are more likely to stand up and fight for it in the future, rather than sit on the sofa.

As part of Outdoor Play Week, we are training educators and rangers to become Forest School Leaders, a play based approach to learning that uses the array of magical resources offered by woodland habitats. We also run forest schools programmes with schools, nurseries and youth groups.

Next week SWT are working with Guildford Play Rangers to provide play sessions to children in their communities. Come along and join in, and let the natural world be your playground!

If you are interested in the SWT Forest Schools program, give me a call on 07891 514579 or email susan.edwards@surreywt.org.uk

Susan Edwards: SWT People and Wildife Manager

Half Term On The Heath

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Den building on Ockham Heath

HALF TERM AT Wisley was a busy one. As well as our usual work programme and monthly volunteer task, there were two fun family events planned…

At the beginning of the week was the ‘Mystery Ramble’. Instead of the usual guided walk, this one tested participants map reading skills, leading them on a ramble around some of the least well-known areas of the site. To add a bit of fun to the walk, as well as following the mapped route, and reading about the site, they also had to collect letters on the way that when rearranged would spell a heathland animal.

A mixture of ages and groups all joined in to make the most of the lovely spring-like sunshine. For some it was a chance to spend time with their kids, for others it was an unusual dog walk, and some came to explore a site that they hadn’t been to before.

Wednesday was spent down next to Bouldermere Lake. Gemma, the site ranger, wanted to open up part of the lake edge that was becoming overgrown and very dark. We removed some of the willow and birch (while being watched by some very curious swans), and thinned out a glade to allow some light to reach the ground. Hopefully this will give some of the smaller plants a chance to flourish.

On Thursday the regular conservation volunteers were on the heath removing birch and pine scrub. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t quite so spring-like, and the icy wind made the bonfire very, very welcome indeed. They didn’t let the weather beat them though and a sizable area was cleared to encourage heather regeneration.

At the same time, Gemma had a survival walk on the other side of Ockham heath. A very excited group of children and their parents found their way into the woods following a series of survival questions – with a spot of puddle jumping along the way. In the woods, they got down to the serious business of den building, and this really was serious! There were dens with windows, armchairs and sofas, and even HD TV’s. Who says kids today can’t use their imagination!

It was a great week out on the site with the mixture of weather and activities, and hopefully everyone involved enjoyed it as much as we did.

For all Surrey Wildlife Trust events visit the What’s On page of our website.

Jill Titlestad: Assistant Ranger (North Team)

Celebrating Hedges: Hedgerow Week 2013

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Hedges support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies! The open banks and ditches are a big draw for reptiles, frogs, toads and newts, and are great for flowering plants. They also provide food and shelter for many species and are essential ‘corridors’, along which wildlife can safely travel from one area to another.

The Trust works hard to conserve, protect and replace the county’s hedges, and this year we organised a whole week of events  from the 4th – 10th February to get the public involved.

After popping in to Pirbright head office on Monday to load the van, fill up the flasks with hot water and pick up the volunteers who had braved the bitter conditions to help out, we set off for Longdown Road in Guildford. We would be working with the The Rosamund Trust, a local community group who have a land share project on the side of the hill overlooking Guildford.

Upon arrival we unloaded the van and met up with John Banister from Transition Guildford. As we strolled across the site we startled a pair of Roe Deer, which bounded across the fields ahead of us.

The lower field is being prepared for a tree planting session in March. The Sheeting laid down to suppress the weeds had lifted in the wind so we re-pegged it and headed back to the top field where photographer from the Surrey Times had been waiting patiently for us. We did a quick photo shoot with the volunteers and then got on with the job of cutting the grass and removing weeds from around the trees, which were planted in the autumn of 2011.

There was a bitterly cold wind blowing on the top of the hill, so after an hour or so of hard work we took shelter in the poly tunnel used by The Rosamund Trust to grow vegetables. At this time of year the young broad beans were just poking up through the soil.

After a warming cup of tea we got back to work and carried on weeding. Each tree guard was removed and the trees checked. Of 200 trees planted only 2 trees had died – a remarkable success rate!

On Thursday I drove over to see Steve Bailey at the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership as he had kindly offered us some trees for Saturdays practical. There were 70 trees in all, a nice mixture of Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Crab apple, Birch, Rose, Rowan, Field Maple and Oak.  To make up the number of trees we dug up some remaining trees from our tree nursery in Pirbright and SWT Ranger Fiona kindly drove over to Hambledon to pick up the stakes and binders for the hedge.

The next day we gathered at Furzefield Wood in Merstham, to build a dead hedge on the boundary of the wood along Radstock Way. It was a sunny day, but bitterly cold and our hands were numb by the time we had finished unloading the vans. The paths were also very muddy after all the recent rain and we were soon covered in mud too!  After a tool talk, Wetland Landscapes Officer Jim Jones demonstrated how to build the hedge and the 10 volunteers and Surrey Wildlife Trust staff got going. The hedge soon took shape, and what a difference it made to the entrance of the site.

Come Saturday morning it was snowing heavily as we set off for Runfold Wood in Farnham. Jim’s van got stuck in the mud and all hands were needed to push him out!  Despite the snow, many volunteers from Moor Park Residents Association, Crooksbury Residents Association,  Runfold Action Group, The Bourne Conservation Group and parents and children from Barfield School were on hand to help.

Jim and Fiona took a group and got started with hedge laying along the edge of the wood. We were lucky to have some experienced hedge layers as well as complete novices, with several staff members from SITA helping out.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves despite the winter weather!

I led a group of parents and children to plant the trees and extend the hedgerow. The Blackwater valley Partnership, SWT and a local resident kindly donated a number of trees and in no time they were planted and the new hedge created.

It was great to see so many enthusiastic people turn up on a cold Saturday morning.  The new laid hedge looks fantastic and will let more light into the wood and improve the habitat for Dormice. The new trees were planted to extend the hedgerow and form an important refuge and wildlife corridor. It is amazing what can be achieved when organisations and the local community work together.”

If you are interested in volunteering, call our volunteer Development Officer on 01483 795464 or email anna.fosbery@surreywt.org.uk.

Frances Halstead: SWT Environmental Groups Support Officer

Blindley Heath: Adopting a New Nature Reserve

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Blindley Heath (Bob Crompton)

SURREY WILDLIFE TRUST now manages 26 hectares of Blindley Heath on behalf of Godstone Parish Council, under a 25-year management agreement. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Local Nature Reserve and registered Common land.

Often described as “the best known example of a relict damp grassland on Weald Clay in Surrey”, the site was in fact quite dry when I first visited, but as many were to assure me, that was soon to change!

Work has commenced with much enthusiasm and plenty of support from Godstone Parish Council and local residents. The common has been managed in the past with the help of Paul Newdick from Tandridge District Council and the Trust has inherited an active Higher level Stewardship Agreement which enabled the core of the common to be stock fenced into two grazing blocks, an area of scrub clearance and pond management. The site has been monitored with the help of Anne Sankey, Gwyneth Foulkes and many others from the Surrey Botanical Society, so we have a good ecological database as a foundation to build on.

The potential difficulty of establishing a grazing scheme has been avoided as a group of young cattle have been grazing the common for many years courtesy of Mr and Mrs Mills from Lingfield. They are very supportive and we are of course very grateful for their help and friendly input.

A Liaison Group comprising of Godstone Parish Councillors and Clerk, local residents and graziers help guide our work, and we have a complete Ten-Year Management Plan, which has been approved by the Liaison Group and Natural England.

David Millen – the Voluntary Warden at Bay Pond and Graeme Hendrey Wood – lives in Blindley Heath village and has agreed to add the common to his portfolio of sites. We now have the assistance of him and his Tandridge area Volunteers on site on a regular basis!

Tree and re-growth clearance on the open heath and management in the woodland periphery has been undertaken over the last two winters by the SWT Land Management Team, SWT East Team, Richmond Conservation Volunteers, UK Power Networks (on a Corporate Day) and the SWT Wednesday volunteers.

There are big plans for the future of the site, with an official launch in the spring. The Trust will also be carrying out guided walks, a community firewood day, installing and repairing stiles and kissing gates, controlling invasive saplings and re-growth, managing rush on the grassland, carrying out ecological surveys, monitoring and generally enjoying a wonderful site in a friendly corner of Surrey.

It is also very handy for Lingfield racecourse if that floats your boat (quite literally as yes, I can testify, it is very, very wet!!).

SWT Ranger (East Area Team) Bob Crompton

Alien Invaders

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Himalayan balsam (Charlie Hoare)

EARLIER THIS YEAR Defra announced that from April 2014, five species of invasive non-native aquatic plants will be banned from sale in the UK.

The list includes water fern, parrot’s feather, floating pennywort, water primrose and Australian swamp stonecrop.

The total annual cost of Non Native Invasive species to the UK economy is £1.7 Billion (CABI 2010), but their cost to our native wildlife and habitats is greater still. 66% of all invasive species in the UK are plants, many of which are foreign species that have been imported over the last 100 years to decorate our gardens and have since escaped into the wild with disastrous effect.

With no natural controls in the British countryside, many invasive plants have spread fast, overwhelming and outcompeting native species. The Trust spent £6,000 alone on treating the aquatic Australian swamp stonecrop at Silent Pool in 2012. The reserve’s two ponds were badly infested with this plant (probably introduced to Silent Pool on a bird’s foot – picked up from another water body – or dumped in the pond along with unwanted pet fish), which was seriously threatening native species. It formed dense mats of choking vegetation, which out-competed and eliminated other aquatic plants, degrading the habitat of invertebrates and amphibians and severely reducing biodiversity in the natural beauty spot.

Another problem species in Surrey (although not one from the list above) is Himalayan balsam. Vast swaths of the River Wey are lined with this riverbank-loving weed, which was originally introduced in 1839 from India. Like many invasive species Himalayan balsam has no natural enemies in the UK and successfully competes with native species for light, nutrients, space and pollinators, excluding other plant growth. As an annual, Himalayan balsam also dies back in the winter, leaving the river banks bare and susceptible to erosion.

SWT Environmental Group Support Officer Frances Halstead leads volunteer groups along the River Wey to battle this worrisome weed during Invasive Species Week (15-21 July). Drop her an email at frances.halstead@surreywt.org.uk if you are interested in joining.

The ban of the five plants listed above has been a long time coming, with groups recommending retailers not to sell some for as much as a decade. The impending ban will mean that anyone caught selling the plants could face a £5,000 fine and 6 months in prison. Whilst most of the damage has already been done, systematic eradication of these species in the wild and a total ban will hopefully lead to a reduction in their prevalence in the future.

For more information about invasive species in the UK visit  nonnativespecies.org.

A Wetland Wonder in Woking

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Photo by Jim Dawes

IN 2013 SURREY WILDLIFE TRUST  is celebrating Surrey’s Rivers and Wetlands with a special issue of Surrey Nature this Spring and events throughout the year. Watch out for some “Wetland Shorts” as I post video interviews with people working in and with rivers and wetlands. If you have a wetland-related question you’d like answered, feel free to post them on the Surrey Wildlife Trust Facebook or Twitter page.

For this first wetland-themed blog, I’m taking you to Heather Farm in Woking where plans for a new wetland in the Wey Valley on the River Bourne are about to become reality. The Horsell Common Preservation Society (HCPS) has engaged The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, to design a wetland habitat for its new headquarters and visitor centre at Heather Farm – a derelict mushroom-growing facility off Chobham Road.

The new wetland will comprise a mosaic of habitats for the benefit of wildlife: open water and wildlife islands, marshes, wet grassland, dragonfly ponds, wild flower meadows and reedbeds. A shallow water channel will provide access for water voles into the wetland areas and allow water to flow into the nearby river if water levels are high.  A wetland treatment system and sustainable drainage (SuDS) elements will be integrated to improve water quality for the site, treating wastewater from the remaining building, and runoff from the roofs and car park surface.

The River Bourne

Once landscaping has been completed, at least 60% of the former brown field site will become open to the public, with circular paths and viewing points to observe the wildlife in the wetland area. The western section of the site will contain a visitor’s car park and a dedicated area for dog exercise. A wooden footbridge will take visitors across the River Bourne, with extensive access to paths through meadows along the river.  A  3.5km circular walk will also be a feature of the project, with ample opportunity for dogs to access the river for a swim on  hot sunny days!  Plans will also include an option for an education facility at some stage in the future, with part of the building set aside for classrooms.  Ponds with dipping platforms will be created in the wetland area to enable children to get close to nature.

Looking south towards offices, at the edge of the standing water area.

The 17 acre site on the outskirts of Horsell was previously owned by Blue Prince Mushrooms Ltd, which once produced 70 tonnes of mushrooms a week for Sainsbury’s at the site, but when the supermarket giant switched to imported supplies in 2003, the farm closed, with the loss of 120 jobs.  Since then, the site became a target for various development schemes, including an incinerator and a waste plant for Surrey County Council.  Plans for the site to be developed into offices and industrial units had been approved in 2009.  However, in a complex agreement McLaren acquired the site and donated it to HCPS, which allowed the Formula 1 and car company to build its new production centre on land off Chertsey Road, adjacent to Horsell Common.

Looking north from the car parking area

I went to visit the site before the snow came last week and was shown round by Paul Rimmer and Ron Neale. All of the buildings, except the office block, have now been demolished and all of the concrete hard standing has been removed. In total, 14 acres of concrete and 155,000 sq ft of buildings were demolished. The size of the site was impressive and although currently little more than a huge area of ruderal plants and puddles, it’s not too difficult to imagine the finished wetlands. In February, the contractors Land and Water will move in to start work on the landscaping, and I’ll be closely following the project’s progress. Keep your eyes on Nature Notes!

Jim Jones: SWT Wetland Landscapes Officer 

Behind The Scenes: The Life Of A Volunteer Ranger

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SWT Trainee Volunteer Ranger Andy

BEING A VOLUNTEER TRAINEE RANGER (VTR) has given me a behind the scenes insight into the important work that goes on at SWT. There’s always something different to do and it’s really satisfying to know that you can directly impact some of Surrey’s rarest habitats and creatures. On a typical day I might help to check the grazing animals, patrol the car parks around Chobham, talk with locals, coppice woodland, or remove scrub which is encroaching on the valuable open heathland.

My main interests lie in heathland management and restoration and I’ve had the opportunity to observe several different management techniques. Over the summer I helped to install the grazing fences and it was great to see the whole process from start to finish. Although the cattle weren’t on for long this year, we all enjoyed their presence on the landscape and began to see a reduction in the coarse grasses they were targeting. I’ve also been lucky to help with other management tasks such as removing encroaching scrub, pine and birch along with heather cutting and creating bare ground. The aims of all of these are to prevent succession to woodland and restore the heathland to its former glory and extent.  Other tasks have included shadowing rangers whilst surveying the vivid sapphire Marsh Gentians (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and checking areas for diminutive Harvest Mice (Micromys minutus).

Quite often the Trust works with other organisations in order to share their expertise and gain valuable information about the reserves. An example of this was when I recently had the opportunity to show a student from the University of Surrey around the reserves for her PHD Thesis.  Without giving too much away, the project involved taking soil samples to look at how certain bacteria grow in natural environments. The results of the project may help to improve future experiments studying how bacterial pollution can spread along rivers. Another bonus of this project was that the Trust procured some interesting soil data which will aid future management of the reserves.

In December the Trust kindly funded all the VTR’s to go on a Chainsaw course set in a frosty Beech woodland in West Sussex. We spent 5 days learning various cuts and how to take down trees without them falling on our (or anyone else’s) heads! It was physically exhausting, but really interesting to find out how to approach the myriad of different tree shapes and sizes. It may sound strange that Rangers would be cutting down trees rather than protecting them, but we only usually only do so to restore open landscapes or to remove trees that are dangerous to the public.

Through being a VTR, I’ve had the opportunity to follow my own interests and ask the Rangers lots of questions about the reserves that will be really useful for my future career. I’ve also taken on new responsibilities such as leading my first Volunteer work party and helping out with festive activities such as finding wild Christmas trees and making wreaths from the heath! It’s brilliant spending your time with enthusiastic co-workers and volunteers who have a like-minded appreciation for the outdoors and nature. I’m really looking forward to the spring, when everything will burst into life on the reserves and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to appreciate the fruits of all our hard work over the winter.

Andy Jennings-Giles

A Wild Year of Weather

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Papercourt Meadows in flood

LAST SPRING MORE than half the country was in drought after the 8th driest year on record for large parts of the UK. Seven water companies imposed hosepipe bans, with the South East one of the worst affected areas as ground water levels dwindled ever lower and water bodies such as ponds, rivers and lakes shrunk in size. Many wildlife species were badly affected, with animals such as birds, mammals, fish and amphibians suffering as the ground hardened, habitats disappeared and insect levels dropped.

And then the heavens opened, leading to one of the wettest years since records began, with large parts of the country underwater for days at a time and relentless rain during months when we should be enjoying glorious sunshine.

From one extreme to another, our wildlife suffered once again, with the cold, wet conditions leaving many creatures struggling.

Rising water levels in wetland habitats drowned many young wetland birds during the breeding season, whilst their tree dwelling cousins suffered from a lack of food as the wet cold conditions kept insect levels down and the berry crop low.

Experts fear butterfly population crashes are possible after last year’s warm early spring weather brought out many species prematurely, followed by the wettest April on record, with cold, damp weather forcing them to seek shelter, reducing feeding and mating activity. Bees and other flying insects also rely on dryer weather in order to feed and breed.

There have also been reports of mammals such as badgers and foxes being flooded out of their setts, whilst bats struggled to feed their young as a result of low insect levels and persistent downpours. Wildlife rescue centers are currently brimming with underweight hedgehogs which failed to meet their minimum hibernation weight before winter, and our own Mammal Project Officer Dave Williams reported an unusual amount of dormice in Torpor this summer, when they should be awake and active. Baby dormouse numbers are also down.

Whilst only time will tell how our many of our wildlife species have been affected and we feel powerless in the grip of nature’s mighty influence, we only have ourselves to blame sometimes. Many floods are a natural phenomenon, but years of building on floodplains and tarmacing the natural landscape has lead to large areas that are impenetrable by rain, whilst man made drainage systems deliver huge volumes of water straight into our river systems. We can help mitigate floods as they become increasingly frequent by setting aside areas of the countryside such as wetland, to store water, as well as reduce the amount of waste water that drains from urban areas. Even simple things like purchasing a water butt can help store water (as well as help feed the garden when the weather cheers up).

Have a Jolly Holly Christmas

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Holly (Scott Petrek)

ONE OF OUR MOST distinctive winter plants, holly has a long-standing association with Christmas, but is also an important source of food and shelter for wildlife during the harsh winter months.

Despite its Christmas connection, ‘holly’ is not thought to have taken its name from ‘holy’ and was used in pre-Christian times to help celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival, ward off evil spirits and to celebrate new growth.

A splash of life in the bleak depths of winter, holly was considered sacred by the Druids. A sign of fertility and long life, it was thought to have magical powers and a sprig of holly hung in the home would bring good luck.

Holly was also believed to be a male plant that would bring men good luck and protection, whilst its counterpart – ivy, was thought to be female. This association echoes down the ages, with the Christian carol ‘The Holly And The Ivy’ using holly as a symbol to celebrate Christ’s birth.

Tradition aside, holly is a great evergreen plant to grow in the garden and provides a pleasing contrast to its dull surroundings in winter. It grows in most soils and copes well with sun or shade. Only female plants produce berries and need a nearby male to pollinate them.

Winter birds such as finches, dunnocks, goldcrests robins and thrushes use holly’s dense foliage and sharp prickles as a protective shelter, whilst the female’s berries provide an essential food source for many bird species at this time of year.

Small mammals such as hedgehogs, as well as toads and slow worms may use the deep leaf litter produced to hibernate, whilst bees collect the nectar and pollen produced earlier in the year. Caterpillars of the holly blue even eat the sharp prickly leaves!

Marcus Wehrle

Litter, it’s rubbish for wildlife!

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Asbestos fly-tip on ChobhamCommon

THIS WEEK Guildford Borough Council, Keep Britain Tidy and Surrey Wildlife Trust are raising awareness about the issue of roadside litter.

Roadside rubbish is not only an ugly sight that is costly to the tax payer and a dangerous daily job for those who clean it up, it can also kill or injure wild animals and damage our natural environment.

Much of what is thrown away will be lying around for many years to come. For example plastics cannot not biodegrade but rely on the sun to break up their molecular structure through a process called photodegradation. Many plastic items end up in our seas where warm ocean water breaks them up much faster, but causes toxic chemicals to leech into the marine ecosystem, which may eventually end up inside us too. Aluminum can take up to 500 years to degrade and Styrofoam may take thousands of years to break down. Cigarette filters are the single most collected item in international beach cleanups each year!

Aside from its environmental impact, litter poses a variety of hazards to wildlife. The plastic loops that hold cans of drinks together (6 pack holders) have been known to catch and kill diving birds when they end up in the sea. Such problems can be easily avoided by simply cutting the loops with scissors before discarding them responsibly. Floating plastic bags also look like a tasty snack to many marine animals, but can kill if they are swallowed.

Hedgehogs can get their heads trapped inside plastic yogurt cartons, tin cans and polystyrene cups. Attracted inside by the leftovers, they are then unable to reverse out because of their rearward facing prickles. This can lead to death by starvation.

Broken glass can cut the feet of foxes and badgers, and unbroken bottles present a hazard to many small animals. Voles and mice crawl inside bottles to drink and then cannot climb back up the slippery sides. Lizards crawl inside bottles or cans to bask in their warm interiors or to find food. If they are unable to squeeze out again they can die of overheating.

Here at the Trust our rangers fight a constant battle against litter and spend much unnecessary money and time in the process. They regularly come across shameful incidents of fly tipping and other waste discarded by uncaring individuals, dealing with everything from piles of chicken carcasses, a whole bathroom suite and a children’s electric sit on car, to heaps of hazardous asbestos and a few unmentionable things as well!

Vehicle litter drops can be logged on the Keep Britain Tidy website as part of their national awareness campaign. Fly-tipping should be reported to your local council or to the Trust if it is on one of our reserves. Through greater awareness and working together we can reduce litter and protect people, wildlife and our green spaces.

480 children + 480 trees = new woodland!

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Head Teacher Sally Leach and pupils planting a tree

A SUNNY NOVEMBER DAY (one did happen!) saw a new Jubilee Woodland planted by children at Epsom Downs Primary School and Children’s Centre, who were working with us  to create a diverse habitat and inspiring place for learning outside the classroom.

To commemorate both the school’s and the Queen’s Jubilee years, the school has planted 480 trees, a mixture including Rowan, Oak and Birch, which should form the basis of a new woodland area which will provide fantastic habitats for birds, animals and invertebrates. It also includes space for two open glades to provide more edge habitat and also to encourage classes to make use of the woodland in their learning.

A woodland walk was planted nearer the school. The trees planted included 4 ‘Royal Oak’, saplings grown from acorns from the Queen’s Estate. Every child at the school planted a tree, with the assistance of staff and volunteers from the SWT People and Wildlife team and Legal & General. The Legal & General volunteers learnt how to plant and protect a sapling to give it the best chance of establishing, and then shared this knowledge with the children to get all the trees in the ground.

It was fantastic to see all the children trying hard to remember the location of the tree they planted, so that they could look after them as both the children and the trees grow together at the school. We were also treated to a haze of ballooning spiders leaving a carpet of wispy webs across the grass and trailing from the trees and their stakes!

The Trust work with schools and community groups to help them learn more about, and protect, wildlife and their local greenspaces; for more information email me at susan.edwards@surreywt.org.uk.

Susan Edwards: Outdoor Learning Coordinator

Garden Birds & What To Feed Them

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Goldfinch (Tim Dawes)

HERE’S A LIST of the 10  birds you’re most likely to see in your Surrey garden and some of their favourite foods. Birds require high energy (high fat) foods during cold winter weather to maintain their fat reserves and survive the frosty nights. Food is also scarcer in the wild at this time of year so many birds come to rely on our gardens offering.

Blue tit: sunflower seeds, peanuts, fats

House sparrow: grain and seeds, kitchen scraps

Wood pigeon: grain and seeds

Starling: mealworms, fats, fruit

Great tit: sunflower seeds, peanuts, fats

Blackbird: fruit, raisins, kitchen scraps

Robin: fats, ground peanuts, mealworms

Goldfinch: niger seed, sunflower hearts

Chaffinch: seeds, peanut pieces

Dunnock: nyger seeds, sunflower hearts, grated cheese, breadcrumbs

Providing food

Vary the mix of foods to encourage a variety of birds. Garden birds come in different shapes and sizes and all have different preferences. Sunflower seeds are popular with greenfinches, whereas goldfinches prefer niger seed. Kitchen scraps aadd variety to a bird’s diet and in winter food like like meal worms, fatballs, crushed peanuts, dried fruit and seeds and grain are great for hungry birds.

You can also put out leftovers like grated cheese, porridge oats, soft frut, unsalted bacon, cooked rice and pasta and the insides of cooked potatoes.

Use a variety of feeding techniques and locations to attract as many birds as possible. Bird feeders are likely to attract many finches, tits, sparrows and even great spotted woodpeckers, but for any larger birds a table is a good addition. Many birds, such as thrushes and blackbirds, feed on the ground.

Water is also vital for both drinking and bathing and bird baths can be kept from freezing over using small floating items like twigs or ping pong balls.

 Safety

Some food can be harmful to birds, so take care what you put out. Salty foods should never be put out, and dried foods such as desiccated coconut can be fatal as they swell in birds’ stomachs. Dry bread should be moistened first for this reason. Choking is another potential hazard, mainly for young birds – avoid whole peanuts, unless in feeders.

Only put out enough food to go around, so it does not get left to spoil. Birds are susceptible to food poisoning and raw meats or mouldy food should not be provided.

Hygiene is important, and feeding stations should be cleaned regularly, with uneaten food replaced when it starts to spoil. Ideally the location of feeding stations should be changed regularly, to prevent bird droppings from accumulating and spreading disease.

Be careful to site feeders in places that cats can’t reach, and with good all round. If feeders have to be near vegetation, then a prickly bush, or one clipped closely around the base should be unsuitable as an ambush point for felines. Sparrowhawks and other natural predators may also be discouraging to some wildlife gardeners, but these are unlikely to cause significant damage to populations.

Building A Newer Nower Wood

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The existing classrooms are in desperate need of updating

A Very Special Educational Nature Reserve

Whether strolling through the beautiful bluebells in the spring or creeping through the trees at night to listen for bats, most visitors agree that Nower Wood is a very special place indeed.

Purchased 41 years ago to protect the ancient wood and establish an Educational Nature Reserve, Nower Wood is one of the oldest Education Centres across the UK Trusts. Acquired with the help of members and local supporters, the Trust took what seemed like a huge risk at the time, but one which has delivered untold benefits for the thousands of children who have since visited our Education Centre and experienced the magic of the wood.

The Heart of SWT’s Wildlife Education

Wildlife Education is one of the key missions of The Wildlife Trusts, and Nower Wood is the heart of Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Education services. Over 10,000 children visit our education centres each year, and in total we reach 15,000 children annually through school visits, family activities such as Halloween and Birthday Parties, and a huge range of Outreach and Forest Schools courses.

Nower Wood is an inspiring ‘outdoor classroom’ for young people to learn about science and nature conservation. The wood is teeming with wildlife, and students study woodland ecology, soils, trees, wildflowers, invertebrates, and the world of pond life.  Adders, roe deer, badgers and foxes are resident; the woods house dormice and other small mammals, and bats and butterflies are plentiful.  All native reptiles are present, including Great Crested Newts.

Securing the Future of the Wood

The current buildings at Nower Wood  (some of which were purchased second-hand over 35 years ago) are really begining to show their age. On top of the crumbling classroom, the toilets regularly freeze, becoming unusable each Winter, threatening our good reputation.

Designed especially for us by the generous support of the Wates Group, the vision for a new Nower Wood has been created. The building will blend into the woodland, provide efficient facilities and an extra classroom, and extend our teaching year. The wooden structure will be cost-effective to build and run, and contain ecologically friendly features including solar panels, rainwater harvesting and wood pellet heating.

To complete this vital project, we need to raise what seems like a daunting target of £450,000. To do this, we will need to call upon the generosity of the public, as we did when we first bought the wood.

We urgently need to raise £60,000  to enable us to start phase one of the project.

CAN YOU HELP US?

 The new Education Centre is vital to enable us to continue teaching children to understand and value their natural world – but we really need your help to secure the future of Nower Wood as a unique site for outdoor learning for generations to come.
Thank you 

Creature Feature: The Dormouse

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Dormouse )Dave Williams)

DORMICE ARE ONE of our most rare and endangered mammals. They used to be common in Victorian times, and many woodsmen’s children kept them as pets. Loss of woodland and suitable nesting sites contribute to the decline. Nowadays their habitat is protected as well as the animal. Dormice can be recognised by their golden brown colour, and dark eyes (typical of a nocturnal mammal) and the tail is covered in fur (unlike any other small mammal). They are usually around 70 millimetres long and weigh between 15 and 22 Grammes. Dormice are ‘arboreal’ which means they spend most of their time in trees, and have specially adapted feet for climbing among branches.

Dormice hibernate during the winter in nests that they make hidden away on the ground. They go into hibernation in October or November, depending on the temperature and food availability, and when they wake in April or May, eat small insects such as aphids and small caterpillars. Dormice require a range of food that is available throughout the year. They eat various seasonal flowers such as Dog rose, field rose, honeysuckle, broom and common gorse which all provide sweet flowers and nectar. Berries such as hawthorn, holly and brambles provide high protein. The female gives birth during the summer, usually there is only time for one brood, usually of four young born pink, which grow grey fur before turning golden brown. They stay with the mother for 8 weeks, growing quickly to reach a minimum weight of 14 grams, to survive 6 or 7 months of  hibernation.

Hazel nuts are eaten in late summer. It takes a dormouse 20 minutes to nibble open a hazel nut but it’s worth the effort as it is full of protein!  A dormouse opens the nut in a unique way – when you look at the nibbled edges, you can tell whether it has been opened by a dormouse, a squirrel, a wood mouse or a bank vole. Finding nuts is the only way to be sure that dormice are present as it is very unlikely that you will see a dormouse in the darkness of dense woodland at night. SWT’s ‘Surrey Dormouse Project’ puts up special nesting boxes at selected sites across the county, providing dry, quiet places to build a nest and have their young; it also ensures that their habitat – woodland consisting of a wide variety of suitable trees and thick shrubs – is maintained and improved. The trees must be close together to enable the dormouse to move around the wood without having to come to the ground, where it would be vulnerable to predators.

If you suspect that you may have a woodland suitable for dormice and they may be present, please get in touch, email dave.williams@surreywt.org.uk or call 01483795440.

Mushroom Meander continued…

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Pink waxcap (M.Waite)

THIS AUTUMN’S HUNT for the Pink waxcap finally ended for me last week at Shere, in the churchyard there where friends had reported seeing it previously en route to a further fungal rarity, the Wrinkled peach, growing close by. As chance would have it, I found it again later in the day at St Andrew’s churchyard in Limpsfield Chart, where I took this photo. I was with my daughter, age six, on our way to granny’s in Kent for half-term. Why in churchyards? Because waxcap communities thrive in the unimproved grassland found typically therein, free from herbicides and fertilisers. They’re often good for scarce wildflowers too, like meadow saxifrage and even green-winged orchid. So here it was at last, now forever the ‘Darcey waxcap’, or ‘Pink ballerina’ to us!

SWT Living Landscapes Officer Mike Waite

Ranger Notes: Newlands Corner, Silent Pool & St. Martha’s Hill

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Newlands Corner (G.Sweetnam)

THESE THREE SITES are owned by the Albury Estate and managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust under an access agreement between the Estate and Surrey County Council. We manage these sites for informal access and recreation in keeping with the wildlife value of the surroundings.

The main Newlands Corner car park will see significant changes this autumn. Already the brunt of the potholes were repaired when the County Council’s surfacing contractor was working on the A25, and with children back at school and the car parks much quieter, we were able to appoint T.J. Hunt Ltd to carry out further works to make the traffic flow better. The road junction has been widened and marked to allow cars to filter left, whilst a pedestrian refuge and cedar bollards will hopefully deter parking on the entrance road and alleviate queuing back to the main road on sunny Sundays. “T” markings have been painted to ensure that when cars reach the parking area they are better spaced. It was observed that on many occasions cars had a space of 1.5m between them with the resultant loss of about 30% parking capacity. No fewer than 10 disabled parking spaces are now available to Blue Badge holders and these have been made more obvious with chest-high marker posts and proper markings on the ground. Directional markers, No Entry signs and a dedicated Motorcycle Parking area should further avoid confusion and near misses, particularly around the first traffic island, and a clearly defined crossing point has been marked from the Visitor Centre to the top edge of the Albury Downs.

Our remit on site is primarily concerned with public access, but true to the aims of Surrey Wildlife Trust we look to carry out habitat improvements where resources allow. This winter we will be carrying out scrub control close to the public byway. This will have a two-fold effect in maintaining and enhancing the view and preventing the loss of chalk grassland to natural succession. Furthermore, we were approached by Butterfly Conservation in the summer, with a view to carrying out scrub clearance lower down the same track. The intention is secure funding to allow contractors to create suitable habitat for Kidney Vetch, the larval food plant of the Small Blue butterfly, known to fly at Pewley Down, within 2 miles of Newlands Corner.

Some of the trees on the St Martha’s Hill have taken a beating over the summer months, not least those on the “middle path” on the northern side of the hill. A dry winter caused some drought stress as the trees were due to come into leaf, then, weakened by more severe weather in April and May, a number of mature oaks shed substantial boughs. This type of failure earns the technical name of “summer branch drop!” It is the trees’ natural response to dry conditions and by sacrificing a major limb, that which remains of the tree can make better use of the available water. Unfortunately there are no external signs to betray which trees are going to self-prune.

One of the hill’s most impressive trees, a veteran rowan close to the Tyting Farm boundary, was subject to some remedial tree surgery. This massive specimen, with its part rotten trunk, had broken several feet above the ground, leaving large branches hanging precariously above a trail beneath, and had to be made safe. In order to avoid felling this monstrous tree, the offending limbs were cut so as to be out of reach of the path below should the tree collapse further. With any luck the tree should re-sprout from the cuts and live on the see another century (perhaps its 3rd?). In any case its many suckers will ensure the healthy genes ensure a clone survives on St Martha’s Hill.

Despite the responsible behaviour of most visitors it seems a small minority are intent on spoiling things for the rest of us. The car parks are always the hot spot for troublemakers and Halfpenny Lane car park seems to be the favourite haunt of a Carling swigging individual. Frequent deposits of up to 20 cans at a time decorate the bramble bushes and whilst the litter is a nuisance, driving on 30 units of alcohol is no laughing matter. We will treat any reports of antisocial behaviour, littering and vandalism in strict confidence.

The summer’s rains meant the effects of the drought were short-lived at Silent Pool, and the brim-full water bodies are testament to a recharged chalk aquifer. Whilst this is no bad thing for the majority of our wildlife, the refilled ponds play havoc with our plans for controlling the extremely invasive Australian Swamp Stonecrop, the bright green, star-like plant which is particularly prolific in the upper pond. We are halfway through a programme of works to improve biodiversity and access on site thanks to funding from Biffa Award. The intended course of action was to apply a herbicide into the water, but the chemical, dichlobenil, was subsequently banned! A change of tactics was required and, coupled with the appropriate licences, the low water levels last winter allowed Amenity Water Management to apply glyphosate (often sold as Roundup) directly to the exposed weed, but with the ponds now at full capacity, the herbicide cannot do its work. They will now resort to using large pumps to drain the ponds down in order to expose the weed once more. Whilst the techniques may appear drastic, such methods of control are vital to ensure the stonecrop cannot take over the pond, or, more seriously, spread to other still water-bodies further down the Tillingbourne and River Wey. Our ecologists are keeping a close eye on the ponds to monitor the success of the treatment work.

Elsewhere around Silent Pool Biffa Award’s funding will be evident. New benches have arrived, and new interpretation boards are due to go up this winter. The boardwalk overlooking Sherbourne Pond, whose surface was starting to break up, is being replaced with a chestnut boards which should have double the life span of the old planks. Surrey Hedgelaying Group hope to carry out further work alongside the public footpath once we have removed quick-growing ash saplings, and coppicing of the woodland will begin once the weather is cold enough to send the protected dormice into hibernation.

Written by: SWT Ranger Leo Jennings