On the first Sunday in May each year, I get up well before the lark for our annual Dawn Chorus Walk starting at Cleaver. A 4:30am start is not for everyone but, once you are out there, you are usually glad you did make the effort. This year, a group of 12 brave souls shivered in the cold. As always, the Robins and Blackbirds started the ball rolling closely followed by the Wren.
We heard and/or saw some 20 species in our 2 hour walk through Cleaver Heath and Heswall Dales. As the light came up, we started to hear more from the visiting summer warblers; first Blackcaps then Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Whitethroat (shown in that order clockwise from the top left).
Of course, some of these are very hard to spot in the leafy spring trees, so it is very good to get to know their distinctive songs. For example, the Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler are clearly very similar to look at but their songs are totally different. If you have a smart-phone and point the camera at the QR code shown here, your phone will take you to a web page where you can play the bird song. We used this trick to help visitors to our ‘Spring in Heswall Dales’ Open Day on May 11 identify what they were hearing.
The arrival dates of various migrant birds at Oldfield this year were not too different from usual: Chiffchaff (March 1), Blackcap (April 6), Willow Warbler (April 7), Swallows (April 11), House Martins (May 2). The Chiffchaff singing on March 1 was a bit early but it might have flown only from its wintering grounds in scrub beside Heswall water treatment plant rather than from Africa! Target Road Heswall is a well-known home to Blackcap and Chiffchaff over winter.
Compared with Heswall Dales, we have quite small amounts of Bilberry in Cleaver but our bushes are now being well used by insects such as the Buff-tailed Bumblebee and Wasp shown above.
In early April, we had a group of entomologists from RECORD doing an invertebrates study on Cleaver and, I am told, they found a Scarce Fungus Weevil (Platyrhinus resinosus). The photo above (© Leanne Dixon) is taken from page 4 of the RECORD Spring Newsletter. It certainly is a strange-looking creature. The adjective ‘Scarce’ is not out of place as this was in fact the first record for Cheshire. The group tell me their visit was very productive and they will re-visit in May.
Speaking of insects and fungus, we often neglect the importance of leaving dead wood lying about our gardens and reserves. At Cleaver, I am regularly disappointed to find that a lot of the wood which has either fallen down or been coppiced over winter has gradually disappeared by spring, presumably into people’s wood burning stoves. On one occasion a few months ago, we interrupted someone systematically loading sections of birch trunks and branches into the rear of his SUV. Following a brief introductory course on the value of dead wood to a reserve and on theft from private land, we left him returning the wood to precisely where he found it. He seemed genuinely ignorant on both counts. The photo above shows a couple of stumps remaining after we dropped the rotting trunks overhanging the path following a storm. There were a dozen segments of birch trunk of which only one remained by spring when this was taken.
If left, the pieces of birch rot down into something like that in the picture above where it provides a rich environment for insects, birds and other wildlife such as badgers. Let’s hear it for rotting dead wood.
This year’s butterfly transect from Cleaver to Thurstaston has begun. This will be the first year we will have missed at least 1 week out of the 26. There has been some very cold and/or wet and windy weather recently. However, things are looking up again. Initially on the wing were a few species that over-winter as adults such as Red Admiral and Peacock. Numbers have been quite low. Now we are starting to see the whites led, as usual, by the Orange Tip. Most of us instantly recognise a male Orange Tip. The clue is in the title. However the female, shown alongside here, can be easily mistaken for a Small White or Green-veined White which are also starting to be on the wing. The secret to identifying these is to look (much good luck and presistence required) at the underwing.
The two shown together here are Small White (left) and Green-veined White (right). Notice the relatively bland yellowy-green underwing in one and the heavy green vein markings of the other. The photo below is of the underwing of the female Orange Tip which is actually rather like the underwing of its male partner – a quite attractive green on white pattern. So, you can see that we have our work cut out trying to identify the small white things as they flash by. These are the analogues of the ‘little brown jobs’ in the bird world.
The next guided walk starting in Cleaver will be the summer one on August 11 this year – our annual Heathland Walk ‘The Beauty of Heswall’s Heathland’ which takes in both Cleaver and Heswall Dales Nature Reserves. It is timed to take full advantage of the purple Heather and yellow Western Gorse which sould be in full bloom. Bookings for this are taken at the Cheshire Wildlife Trust web site:
It is several years since I have seen a (non-flattened) hedghog. Since there is quite a lot of badger activity in my garden and in the Reserve, I have been consoling myself that this is because hedgehogs and badgers are not best friends. So, I was pleasantly surprised the other day to find this large hedgehog walking through my garden. After watching its rather unsteady progress for a bit, we realised that it was probably not in good health. However, I am pleased to report that the creature is now recovering well in expert hands at the Hog Centre at Larton. Cilla (they apparently all get names) is one of 20 patients currently in their hedgehog infirmary.
Another mammal starting to wake up to spring is the pipistrelle. If you look closely at the bottom right of this photo you will see one of a pair of bats feeding in the ex-carpark area of the reserve at dusk the other evening. You are almost certain to see bats there at dusk right through the summer. Just stand by the new interpretation board and enjoy. Combine it with a late sunset view over the estuary.
Alan Irving
Volunteer Reserve Warden for CWT
Cleaver Heath
May 2019
