Wildlife, fishing and pets

Today's visitors

R Breasted Grosbeak,bird feeder Image: ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved)
For the first time in a few years, we have a male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak with us, and here he is on the feeder crunching a sunflower seed. This is the impressively squirrel-proof feeder that I mentioned a while back.

He's been here for a couple of days now and today he seems to have been joined by two "wives" who spend more time tussling with each other than eating seeds.

This was after a black bear came around the middle of the day and took down the feeders and gobbled up all the seed. We didn't even hear the commotion, we were slaving away at our desks, so no pictures. But here's one from another time.

This has been a year of new or returning-after-a-break wildlife: a pair of beavers in the lake, banging their tails on the water just like in the wildlife films on TV, along with Lesser Scaup, Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers and Loons plus Ospreys every day and quite a few immature and mature Bald Eagles. And a male Eastern Towhee which we've never had before. And more chipmunks than for a few years... And we spotted the first bee yesterday. No wonder the hellebores don't set much seed - no early bees.

It's a wild life out here by the lake in the woods...

UPDATE: A week later, we now have four male and two female Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Plus, today for the first time ever, a Black-throated Blue Warbler.


Best buddlejas for butterflies

Buddleja,buddleia,Orchid Beauty,butterfly,butterflies,RHS,trial. Image: ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved) One of the many interesting points made in Jennifer Owen’s Wildlife of A Garden, reviewed here recently, is the value of Buddleja davidii as a food plant for moth larvae. Of course, it’s more commonly thought of as a food plant for adult butterflies, its common name is butterfly bush, and it was this feature which was examined during the recent trial at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley, near London.

It’s important to say at the outset that in some areas of the USA in particular, including the Pacific North West, it’s inadvisable and even illegal to plant Buddleja davidii as it has proved damagingly invasive.

In 2009 the adult butterflies visiting 49 of the cultivars of B. davidii in the trial were recorded and details were also taken of the flowering stage, the size of the shrubs and their flower color and fragrance.

Plants varied in their size and flowering stage but nevertheless the results show striking variations. Two cultivars stood out at the top of the list, ‘Orchid Beauty’ (above, click to enlarge) and ‘Foxtail’ (below, click to enlarge), followed by ‘Dart’s Ornamental White’ and ‘Pixie Blue’. At the other end of the list nine cultivars showed no adult butterfly visitors at all. Interestingly, Butterfly Conservation ran a trial in Dorset which revealed that ‘Foxtail’ was the buddleja most visited by butterflies. Buddleja,buddleia,Foxtail,butterfly,butterflies,RHS,trial. Image: ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved)

The results of the RHS count, and the trial as a whole, are published in the recently published report which also states: “Colour seemed to have little impact on the choice of flowers that were visited by the butterflies. The top four cultivars are listed as being violet (x2), white and light blue.

“The strength of the scent seemed to have some impact. The top two had medium scent levels and the 3rd and 4th had relatively high. So it seems that a fair amount of scent is required to attract butterflies.

“A general observation indicated that the plants which were most popular were the cultivars which were the largest, and were densely covered in fully open flowers, indicating that the butterflies were attracted to the quantity of food on one plant.”

The report also lists the observations by Andrew Halstead, RHS Wisley Principal Entomologist. And of course it shows the cultivars which received the Award of Garden Merit and also gives the results of visitors’ votes for their favorite over three years – ‘Miss Ruby’ was the clear winner amongst visitors.

The RHS report on its three year buddleja trial is available here. Anyone interested in buddlejas should take a look as it's a fascinating and wide ranging assessment.


Native plants are not always best for native insects

Wildlife of a garden,Jennifer Owen. Image ©RHS Native plants are not always best for native insects, non-natives also have an important role. That’s the message following a thirty year study in a British garden. For thirty years award-winning ecologist Dr Jennifer Owen studied, identified – and counted! – the insects and other creatures that visited her suburban garden in the English Midlands. And detailed it all in her invaluable book Wildlife of A Garden (Available in North America, and available in Britain) published by the Royal Horticultural Society.

She grew well over 400 different plant species - garden plants and weeds, natives and non-natives - in her garden (below, click to enlarge) which measures just 741square meters (8000 square feet). And she counted 23 species of butterflies, 375 species of moths, 94 species of hoverflies, 121 species of bees and wasps, 305 species of bugs, sawflies, lacewings and related creatures; 21 species of beetles, 122 species of other insects including two ants – all in her suburban garden. And 138 other invertebrates. And 57 birds and six mammals. Wildlife of a garden,Jennifer Owen,garden,Leicester. Image ©RHS

And as well as counting with extraordinary determination and great skill at identifying this vast variety of creatures – she also studied their food plants. And what did she find?

Dr Owens found that non-native species were better as food plants for moth larvae than native species. Moth larvae used 27% of the native species in the garden as food plants, and 35% of the alien plants. And 46 species of moth fed on 40 native plants in the garden, while 75 alien plants provided food for 38 species of moth.

She also looked at the four moth species with the most varied diets and the plants they ate. One ate 78% non-native plants, one ate 83% non-native plants, one 62% and one 79% non-native plants. They definitely didn’t favor natives. Of course, we don’t know how much of each plant each moth actually ate – after all, Dr Owen needs to get a few hours sleep each night.

And finally, what were the most popular food plants for moths? Plants in the rose family come out top, with seven native species and five non-native species used by 27 species of moth. And one of those native species, Potentilla fruticosa, is so rare in Britain it might almost be non-native. Next comes the Buddleja family represented only by the Chinese Buddleja davidii and used by 19 species of moth. The daisy family, the largest family of garden plants, hosts just 13 moth species all of which feed on aliens and only two of which feed on natives. And just to be clear: these are all British native moth species.

Wildlife of a garden,Jennifer Owen,tortoiseshell,aster. Image ©RHS You get the picture. I could go on, but this is just a blog post of a few hundred words. Read the book. OK then, one more thing. Dr Owen reports that of the 15 most widely used food plants in the garden nine are non-natives and only six are native. And some people think that introduced plants have no native larvae feeding on them at all!

This really throws the “natives are best” notion out of the window. We may like to think that natives are best, but they’re just not. And can’t we trust the insects know what they like to eat – wherever the plants come from? So why don’t we plant what the larvae actually like to eat, instead of what we think they ought to like?

This is an extraordinary piece of research summarized in a very readable and well illustrated book.

In my next post here, I’ll be looking at which buddlejas are best for adult butterflies. Because now we know.

           

 

* This post was originally headlined: "Alien plants are better for insects than natives – it’s official!" But after reflecting on the comments below, I modified it and substituted a less sensationalist headline. I also modified the introduction.

* At present, for some reason, amazon.com and amazon.co.uk don't seem to realize they have the books in their own warehouses and are not listing them as being available. They are available for shipping anywhere in the world from The Royal Horticultural Society.


Snow, bears, spruces and Zimbabwe

Hamamelis,Pallida,snow. Image ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved)

Now back in Pennsylvania, where some surprises (good and bad) awaited me.

Firstly, we’ve just had three or four inches of snow which has weighed down and smothered the snowdrops but given extra charm to the witch hazel. Its temporary beauty almost, but not quite, makes up for it not being what it was supposed to be (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’) and so having no scent.

Secondly, just a few hours after I got back yesterday, a noise alerted me to a black bear rolling a bird feeder around the deck and getting the seeds out. We banged on the window and he made an unhurried retreat. A few hours later, another noise - he was back lapping up the spilled seeds. You know you’re home when there’s a black bear on your deck.

Thirdly, most of the needles on the three spruces outside my window have turned brown while I was away. Not sure why, but the trees are now far more brown than green.

Next, a copy of the new book, The Living Garden, from the excellent Irish garden writer Jane Powers was waiting for me. I’ll be reviewing it here when I’ve read it. One thing immediately strikes me, on a bleary flick through before collapsing into jet-lagged sleep. Each chapter is launched with a quotation, a thing many writers do, but her choices are especially thoughtful. No great dollops of Gertrude Jekyll, thank goodness, but there’s the wonderful Welsh poet R. S. Thomas:

“Out of the soil the buds come,
The silent detonations
Of power wielded without sin.”

Lastly, I’d listened to quite a lot of the radio news coverage on Libya while I was in England and never heard one mention of Zimbabwe, the former British colony where the atrocities committed by President Mugabe were certainly as appalling as those of Colonel Gaddafi. But, driving home from the airport, I was surprised to hear the lack of action on Zimbabwe promptly discussed on the otherwise pale and unremarkable public radio news.

More snow forecast for tonight. I wonder when the hellebores and snowdrops will emerge…

LATER (17 April): Last night's torrential rain and vicious winds finally ended the very very long display from the hamamelis. Snowdrops have come and gone, hellebores are almost at their peak.


Bird conservation success I can see every day

Red kite,Milvus milvus. Image ©Thomas Kraft (ThKraft). This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
One of the joys of sitting here at my desk in Northamptonshire, in a small town two hours north of London, is that almost every day a red kite flies by. Centuries ago these elegant birds of prey, with a wingspan of almost 6ft/1.8m, were common in Britain; Shakespeare described London as "a city of Red Kites and Crows". They filled the scavenging niche that seagulls took over more recently.

But, owing to poisoning by gamekeepers and the effects of pesticides, by 1939 they were reduced to just ten pairs in a valley 200 miles away to the west in Wales. Research has shown that in 1977 the entire British population was derived from just one female bird.

But, as pesticide use declined and gamekeepers became more enlightened, numbers began to grow. Birds were then re-introduced to parts of the country from which they’d been gone for hundreds of years. Not far from where I now sit, eleven birds from Spain and from earlier re-introductions further west in England, were released in 1995. Now, I see them from my office window every day and there are probably almost 2000 pairs in Britain. They've gone from 20 to 2000 in just a few decades.

Just a couple of days ago, driving round the M25 (London’s 117 mile orbital motorway), I spotted two red kites soaring in the sky above.

This is a truly successful conservation story.


Our bird count results

sharp shinned,hawk,Accipiter striates. Image by Dario Sanches and used here, with thanks, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is now over here in the US. We didn’t set up an armchair in front of the window but we kept our eyes open and a pen and paper handy for the full four days - which also produced 8-9in/20-23cm of fresh snow on Sunday night.

The star of the show was Sunday’s visit from a sharp-shinned hawk (above, click to enlarge). It’s not a rare bird, but we hadn’t seen one here before so it was a treat to see it swooping past the feeders and perching in the nearby birch tree. It caught nothing, though it might have been enjoying the mice I've been catching in the attic and leaving outside on a rock these last few weeks (about 25 in all so far!).

In all we saw fifteen species, here’s the list.

Black-capped chickadee - 4
Blue jay - 6
Cardinal - 2
Carolina wren - 1
Crow - 6
Junco - 6
Red-winged blackbird - 1
Sharp-shinned hawk - 1
Tufted titmouse - 4
Turkey - 1
White-breasted nuthatch - 3
Woodpecker, downy - 2
Woodpecker, hairy - 1
Woodpecker, pileated -1
Woodpecker, red bellied – 1

Missing regulars included goldfinch, various sparrows, purple finch and house finch. Unusual to see just one turkey. It was probably the last of the group, the others out of sight round the corner of the house.

Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count website to check results anywhere from the USA and Canada.

The image of the sharp-shinned hawk is by Dario Sanches and used here, with thanks, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. 


Who mangled my bird feeder?

suet,bird,feeder,destroy,bear. Image ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved)
Got up the other morning, looked out of the kitchen window – no suet feeder.

Went out and had a look round and found it out in the snow, in two parts, twisted and mangled with the wire cage torn apart and the spring stretched right out. You need a lot of strength to do that sort of damage. So which nocturnal prowler was it?

The obvious answer would be a black bear – but not in the middle of winter, they’re all hibernating. It’s been down to -23C/-10F and by the time the damage was done they should have been tucked up cozily for months. A raccoon would not be strong enough…

Ideas?


Where does our bird seed come from?

sunflower,black oil,bird food.
Back in December I posted here about sunflower seed, for bird food, and promised to follow up with news of where the sunflower seed that our birds devour with such enthusiasm actually comes from.

Well, none of the bags in the local stores seemed to enlighten me. So, when I was in our friendly local farm supplies store, Farm Plus, yesterday, buying yet another bag of black oil sunflower seed ($18.96 for 40lb – 47 cents a pound, Don't you just love a bargain?), I asked where it was grown.

In North & South Dakota, it seems, the sunflower seed heartland of America. The fields of sunflowers I see growing in New Jersey, it turns out, are either grown for cut flowers or – and this was a surprise – for sileage.

But there was an interesting extra facet to the issue: When sunflowers are grown for bird seed, they’re often sprayed with a dessicant before harvesting, in the same way as potatoes, to help ease their way through the harvester. Potato growers used to use paraquat, which is not a nice chemical, perhaps they still do. So, does that mean we have to look for organically grown sunflower seed for our birds?

Well, in the USA you can buy organically grown sunflower seed from Harrison Bird Foods. In the UK you can buy organically grown sunflower seed from Vine House Farm, based not so far from our home town in England.

But I have to say, here in Pennsylvania I’ll continue buying my black oil sunflower seed from Farm Plus. I like to support independent local businesses.

BTW, anyone know where non-organic black oil sunflower seed sold in Britain is grown?


Garden bird counts coming up soon

SquabblingontheFeeder600
On both sides of the Atlantic, the season of garden bird counts is fast approaching. These annual counts, in which anyone can take part, are really very simple: you just count the birds you see in your garden for a short time on one day - and send in your totals. Couldn’t be easier.

But why? Two reasons. Firstly, it will help you get to know the birds in your garden better. And secondly, your count helps scientists understand the way bird populations are changing and highlights problems with individual species.

In the North America, the Great Backyard Bird Count is run by the Audubon Society, and this year takes place next month, 18-21 February. You can register at the Great Backyard Bird Count website. Last year over 97,000 people sent in their lists and 11,233,609 birds were counted.

In Britain, the Big Garden Birdwatch is run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and takes place this coming weekend, 29 & 30 January. And you even get a 10% discount on bird food when you register at the Big Garden Birdwatch website. Over the years 280,000 gardens have sent in their counts.

We’ll be counting here in Pennsylvania next month. I’ll let you know our results.


Fishy catch is no longer served

perch,European,Perca. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. © Dgp.martin
When I was kid, my Dad and I used to go fishing in the River Thames in south London on Sunday mornings and catch perch (above, click to enlarge) for our lunch. We’d go out in our home-made double kayak and, with minnows or worms as bait, and catch a tasty meal.

Times have changed.

When out walking by the River Nene in Northamptonshire on my recent trip back to England, I again came across this sign on a gate that led down to the river. It states, in ten languages: “All fish to be returned. No fish to be taken away.” (right, click to enlarge) Apart from the crude and unnecessary tautology, this is all a bit sad. And anyway, what about Notice,taking fish banned. Image ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved) the other seventy languages spoken by the 173,000 people in the nearby city of Peterborough?

In Britain's Guardian newspaper recently, hunter-gatherer Nick Weston encouraged people to eat freshwater fish and produced a furious reaction. He has a great piece about cooking pike on his blog, too. But feeling seems generally against eating anything but game fish, and in particular those raised on farms and stocked specifically to be caught.

Of course Americans will be bewildered by this distinction between “game fish” (salmon, trout etc) and “coarse fish” or “freshwater fish” (all the rest). And it's entirely artificial: like saying cutting plants in the rose family for the vase is OK, but not those in the mint family. [It's a class thing, actually - but let's not go there...]

Anyway, this year I’m vowing to cook anything that I can haul out of our lake here in Pennsylvania that I haven’t tried already (not including rocks, logs and bits of old rope, of course). Just to test them all. I'll report here come the spring.

But perhaps I won’t be buying a UK license – it was eating the fish from the river that had me tempted.