This is a report of the bird ringing that has been undertaken in Shingle Street over the last ten years by Mervyn Miller and his colleagues. Birds are trapped in specially designed ‘mist nets’, then examined, weighed and ringed with tiny metal rings, each of which has a unique, identifying code number. Continue reading “BIRD RINGING REPORT”
SPIDER RECORDS
Spider records for Shingle Street received from Suffolk Biological Records Centre.
Continue reading “SPIDER RECORDS”
Moth trapping in Shingle Street
Here are the results of two moth trappings led by Nick Mason as part of the 2015 Shingle Street Survey, both held in Tricia Hazell’s garden at The Battery. The results tabulated here include just the larger ‘macro-moths’.
24 June 15
Calm, sunny morning. Hot in the sun (20C+).
Species |
Larval food plant |
Habitat |
Burnished brass |
Nettle, burdock |
Gardens, marshland |
Shears |
Lucerne, herbaceous plants |
Open areas, heathland |
Tawny shears |
Hawkweeds |
Open areas, heathland |
Flame |
Nettles, bedstraw |
Grassland, fenland. |
Elephant hawkmoth |
Rosebay willowherb |
Shingle, grassland |
Small magpie |
Nettles |
Widespread |
Common swift |
Grass roots |
Fenland |
Satin wave |
Herbaceous, grasses |
Heathland, hedgerow |
White ermine |
Nettle, wild plum |
Grassland, fens |
Mottled rustic |
Docks |
Coastal |
Middle-barred minor |
Grasses |
Damp grassland, fens |
Tawny marbled minor |
Grasses |
Damp grassland, fens |
Straw dot |
Grasses |
Damp grassland, fens |
Shoulder-striped wainscot |
Grasses and reeds |
Damp grassland, fens |
Turnip |
Root vegetable shoots |
Coastal arable |
Vines rustic |
Herbaceous and grasses |
Lowland pasture, arable, gardens |
Mottled rustic |
Herbaceous and grasses |
Lowland pasture, arable, gardens |
Heart and dart |
Fat hen, plantain |
Lowland pasture, arable, gardens |
31 July 2015
Rain overnight and chilly, sunny and fair by 8am. A very small catch.
Species |
Larval food plant |
Habitat |
Drinker |
Coarse grass, |
Marshy grassland |
Common rustic |
Grasses, cereals |
Farmland, heathland |
Mottled rustic |
Herbaceous and grasses |
Lowland pasture, arable, gardens |
Snout |
Nettles |
Wetlands |
Common footman |
Lichen and algae |
Lowland woodland, coast |
Scarce footman |
Lichen and algae |
Lowland woodland, coast |
Brownline bright eye |
Grasses, common crouch |
Grassland |
Brightline brown eye |
Nettle, tamarisk |
Heathland saltmarshes |
Silver Y |
Bedstraw, nettles |
Coastal (immigrant) |
On neither morning was there a big count, which makes you wonder if moth numbers have taken another big fall.
Jeremy Mynott and Tricia Hazell
11 August 2015
Shingle Street flora survey 2015
Shingle Street is an exacting place for its flora, especially plants of the shingle, saltmarsh and ultra-arid concrete. They are all superbly adapted to their hard life, from plants with taproots that probe metres-deep into the shingle in search of water, to species daily submerged by the tides, and tiny, rare clovers flourishing in compacted soil that are grazed by rabbits right down to the ground. They are all specialists in their own way: finding them, photographing and recording them in 2015 helps create an important benchmark.
Laurie and Jonathan Forsyth
Description of principle flora habitats
Unstable shingle
Steep, sliding shingle close to the sea, backed by a series of storm-made ridges divided by intervening furrows. The ages of the storm ridges increase progressively with distance from the sea, with each ridge older than its predecessor. The first pioneer plants – usually Orache sp – are found on the youngest ridges. In a stormy winter, this habitat may be entirely washed away, only to re-form again.
Vegetated shingle
Loose shingle on a succession of storm ridges with intervening furrows, often with a marked variation in the sizes of stones on top of the ridges, compared with the stones in furrows on either side. Sea kale Crambe maritima is particularly abundant in this habitat, as is sea pea Lathyrus japonicus, which is usually confined to the crests of the storm ridges, with yellow-horned poppy Glaucium flavum and curled dock Rumex crispus. A thin sward of false oatgrass Arrhenatherum elatius covers extensive areas of this habitat.
Bare, fixed shingle Shingle at the farthest point from the sea was deposited long ago, and may not have been disturbed for decades. Successive generations of moss and other low plants have become established, only to eventually die and decompose into thin soil that acts as a matrix around the stones, making them progressively more stable and suitable for further colonisation by more plants and moss. Where bare stone remains exposed it is often colonised by a variety of orange or black lichens and Cladonia lichens sp. Sea campion Silene maritima and several stonecrops Sedum sp are also found here.
Grassed shingle
On the seaward side of the cottages and more noticeably on the landward side, areas of shingle are immobile and almost invisible in many places, being covered with a dense sward of low flora-rich grasses. In areas where rabbit grazing has created a low sward and patches of disturbance through scuffling and burrowing, several rare or local species grow, including yellow vetch Vicia lutea, and the small clovers T. suffocatum, T.glomeratum and T. striatum. Bur medick Medicago minima is often found with these species. Taller species that flourish in this habitat include viper’s bugloss Echium vulgare, weld Reseda luteola, hoary mullein Verbascum pulverulentum, and valerian Centranthus rubra.
Vegetated seawall
Serpentine earth walls twist and turn, following both sides of the old course of the drained Barthorpe’s Creek. They are heavily vegetated by a small number of very dominant species, including false oatgrass, cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata,Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus, hemlock Conium maculatum, stinging nettle Urtica dioica, prickly sowthistle Sonchus asper and creeping thistle Cirsium arvense.
Concrete
Although man-made, the arid surfaces of concrete roads are important features for lichens, stonecrops and other small plants. Cracked, broken areas of concrete and masonry are a good habitat for small species such as early forget me not Myosotis ramosissima, sticky mouse ear Cerastium glomerata, procumbent pearlwort Sagina procumbens, common whitlow grass Erophila verna and early hairgrass Aira praecox
Saltmarsh
Saltmarsh has formed where the shingle deflects waves or strong currents, allowing silt and mud to accumulate in calm, shallow water, such as either side of Barthorpe’s Creek. Eventually, when the accumulating material is deep enough, and raised high enough to be exposed for long periods between tides, it will be colonised by a succession of plant species. This usually begins with species of glasswort or samphire Salicornia sp. Daily tides submerge some areas of the saltmarsh for longer than others. Because of this and also because some plant species have a greater salt tolerance than others, different zones of salt-tolerant vegetation become established, ranging from glasswort at the lowest point, to sea wormwood Artemisia maritima and shrubby seablite Sueda vera at the highest point, which is often at the foot of the seawall. The bulk of vegetation in the ‘middle marsh’ usually consists of sea purslane, Atriplex portucaloides, sea lavender Limonium vulgare, and saltmarsh grasses.
SHINGLE STREET FLORA SURVEY 2015 | Recording dates |
Recorders: Laurie Forsyth & Jonathan Forsyth | |
8.5.2015 | |
12.5.2015 | |
19.5.2015 | |
26.6.2015 | |
14.7.2015 | |
23.7.2015 | |
5.8.2015 | |
Grid:TM 364432 Grass seawall | This composite |
Grid:TM 362427 Grass seawall | species list is based |
Grid:TM 365437 Grass seawall and scrub | on walking |
Grid:TM 369439 Grass seawall | the listed grid points. |
Grid:TM 369428 vegetated shingle | Many species are |
Grid:TM 369430 Grassed shingle | found at several grid points, |
Grid:TM 371439 Grass seawall | others in just one or two |
Grid:TM 368422 Grass seawall and vegetated shingle | |
Grid:TM 364424 Grass seawall, veg. Shingle, brackish pool | |
Grid: TM 368440 Saltmarsh | |
FLOWERING PLANTS | COMMON NAME |
Achillea millefolium | Yarrow |
Anthriscus caucalis | Bur chervil |
Anthriscus sylvestris | Cow Parsley |
Apium graveolens | Wild Celery |
Apium nodiflorum | Fool's Water-Cress |
Arctium minus | Lesser Burdock |
Armeria maritima | Thrift |
Artemisia maritima | Sea wormwood |
Artemisia vulgaris | Mugwort |
Aster tripolium | Sea Aster |
Atriplex portulacoides | Sea Purslane |
Atriplex prostrata | Spear-Leaved Orache |
Ballota nigra | Black Horehound |
Bellis perennis | Daisy |
Berula erecta | Lesser water parsnip |
Beta vulgaris maritima | Sea Beet |
Calendula officinalis | Pot Marigold |
Calystegia sepium | Hedge bindweed |
Carduus nutans | Musk Thistle |
Centranthus ruber | Red Valerian |
Cerastium fontanum | Common mouse ear |
Cerastium glomeratum | Sticky Mouse-Ear |
Chelidonium majus | Greater celandine |
Cirsium arvense | Creeping Thistle |
Cirsium vulgare | Spear Thistle |
Claytonia perfoliata | Spring Beauty |
Cochlearia anglica | English Scurvygrass |
Cochlearia danica | Danish Scurvygrass |
Conium maculatum | Hemlock |
Convolvulus arvensis | Field Bindweed |
Crambe maritima | Sea-Kale |
Crepis capillaris | Smooth Hawk's-Beard |
Crepis vesicaria | Beaked Hawk's-Beard |
Crithmum maritimum | Rock Samphire |
Daucus carota | Wild carrot |
Digitalis purpurea | Foxglove |
Dipsacus fullonum sens.lat. | Wild Teasel |
Echium vulgare | Viper's Bugloss |
Epilobium angustifolium | Rosebay willowherb |
Epilobium hirsutum | Great Willowherb |
Equisetum arvense | Common horsetail |
Erodium cicutarium agg | Common Stork's-Bill |
Erophila verna | Common Whitlowgrass |
Galium aparine | Cleavers |
Galium verum | Lady's Bedstraw |
Geranium dissectum | Cut-Leaved Crane's-Bill |
Geranium molle | Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill |
Geranium robertianum | Herb-Robert |
Geranium rotundifolium | Round-Leaved Crane's-Bill |
Glaucium flavum | Yellow Horned Poppy |
Glaux maritima | Sea-Milkwort |
Glechoma hederacea | Ground-Ivy |
Heracleum sphondylium | Hogweed |
Honckenya peploides | Sea Sandwort |
Hypochaeris radicata | Common catsear |
Inula crithmoides | Golden samphire |
Knautia arvensis | Field Scabious |
Lactuca serriola | Prickly Lettuce |
Lactuca virosa | Greater Lettuce |
Lamium album | White Dead-Nettle |
Lamium purpureum | Red Dead-Nettle |
Lathyrus japonicus | Sea Pea |
Lathyrus nissolia | Grass Vetchling |
Lathyrus pratensis | Meadow vetchling |
Lemna sp | Duckweed sp |
Lepidium campestre | Field Pepperwort |
Lepidium draba | Hoary Cress |
Lepidium latifolium | Dittander |
Leucanthemum vulgare | Oxeye Daisy |
Limonium vulgare | Common Sea-Lavender |
Linaria vulgaris | Common toadflax |
Lotus corniculatus | Common Bird's-Foot-Trefoil |
Lotus glaber | Narrow-Leaved Bird's-Foot-Trefoil |
Lupinus arboreus | Tree Lupin |
Malva sylvestris | Common Mallow |
Matricaria discoidea | Pineapple weed |
Medicago arabica | Spotted Medick |
Medicago lupulina | Black Medick |
Medicago minima | Bur Medick |
Melilotus albus | White Melilot |
Myosotis ramosissima | Early Forget-Me-Not |
Nasturtium officinale | Water cress |
Ophrys apifera | Bee Orchid |
Ornithogalum angustifolium | Star-Of-Bethlehem |
Papaver rhoeas | Common Poppy |
Parietalia officinalis | Pellitory of the wall |
Persicaria amphibia | Amphibious bistort |
Picris echioides | Bristly Oxtongue |
Pilosella officinarum | Mouse-Ear-Hawkweed |
Plantago coronopus | Buck's-Horn Plantain |
Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort Plantain |
Plantago major | Greater Plantain |
Plantago maritima | Sea Plantain |
Plantago media | Hoary Plantain |
Potentilla anserina | Silverweed |
Potentilla argentea | Hoary Cinquefoil |
Potentilla reptans | Creeping Cinquefoil |
Pteridium aquilinum | Bracken |
Pulicaria dysenterica | Common fleabane |
Ranunculus repens | Creeping Buttercup |
Reseda luteola | Weld |
Rumex acetosella | Sheep sorrel |
Rumex conglomeratus | Clustered dock |
Rumex crispus | Curled Dock |
Rumex obtusifolius | Broad-Leaved Dock |
Salicornia europaea agg. | Glasswort |
Salvia verbenaca | Wild clary |
Saxifraga granulata | Meadow Saxifrage |
Sedum acre | Biting Stonecrop |
Sedum anglicum | English Stonecrop |
Senecio erucifolius | Hoary ragwort |
Senecio inaequidens | Slender leaved ragwort |
Senecio jacobaea | Common Ragwort |
Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel |
Seriphidium maritimum | Sea Wormwood |
Silene dioica | Red Campion |
Silene inaequidens | Slender leaved ragwort |
Silene latifolia | White campion |
Silene uniflora | Sea Campion |
Sisymbrium officinale | Hedge Mustard |
Smyrnium olusatrum | Alexanders |
Sonchus arvensis | Perennial Sow-Thistle |
Sonchus asper | Prickly Sow-Thistle |
Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth Sow-Thistle |
Spartina anglica | Common Cord-Grass |
Spergularia marina | Lesser Sea-Spurrey |
Stellaria media | Common Chickweed |
Suaeda maritima | Annual Sea-Blite |
Taraxacum officinale agg. | Dandelion |
Torilis japonica | Upright hedge parsley |
Torilis japonica | Upright hedge parsley |
Tragopogon pratensis minor | Goat's-Beard |
Trifolium arvense | Hare's-Foot Clover |
Trifolium campestre | Hop Trefoil |
Trifolium dubium | Lesser Trefoil |
Trifolium glomeratum | Clustered Clover |
Trifolium micranthum | Slender Trefoil |
Trifolium pratense | Red Clover |
Trifolium repens | White Clover |
Trifolium scabrum | Rough Clover |
Trifolium striatum | Knotted Clover |
Trifolium suffocatum | Suffocated Clover |
Triglochin maritimum | Sea Arrowgrass |
Tripleurospermum maritimum agg. | Sea mayweed |
Typha angustifolia | Lesser reedmace |
Urtica dioica | Common Nettle |
Valerianella locusta | Common Cornsalad |
Verbascum thapsis | Great mullein |
Verbascum pulverulentum | Hoary mullein |
Veronica arvensis | Wall Speedwell |
Veronica hederifolia hederifolia | Ivy-Leaved Speedwell |
Vicia hirsuta | Hairy Tare |
Vicia lathyroides | Spring Vetch |
Vicia lutea | Yellow Vetch |
Vicia sativa | Common Vetch |
Vicia sativa nigra | Narrow-Leaved Vetch |
TREES and SHRUBS | |
Bryonia dioica | White bryony |
Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn |
Cytisus scoparius | Broom |
Prunus spinosa | Blackthorn |
Pyrus sp | Pear sp |
Rosa canina | Dog rose |
Rubus sp | Blackberry sp |
Ulex europaeus | Gorse |
Vulpia myuros | |
Ulmus sp | Elm sp |
Roadside trees and shrubs | |
Acer rubrum | Red maple |
Alnus cordata | Italian alder |
Alnus glutinosa | Alder |
Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn |
Hedera helix | Ivy |
Malus sp | Apple sp |
Pinus nigra ssp laricio | Corsican pine |
Prunus cerasifera | Black flowering cherry |
Sambucus nigra | Elder |
GRASSES | |
Agropyron pungens | Sea couch |
Alopecurus pratensis | Meadow Foxtail |
Arrhenatherum elatius | False Oat-Grass |
Aira caryophyllea | Silver Hair-Grass |
Aira praecox | Early Hair-Grass |
Anisantha sterilis | Barren Brome |
Bromus hordeaceus | Soft-Brome |
Cynosuros cristatus | Crested dogstail |
Dactylis glomerata | Cocksfoot |
Elymus repens | Couch |
Festuca arundinaceae | Tall fescue |
Holcus lanatus | Yorkshire-Fog |
Hordeum murinum | Wall Barley |
Hordeum secalinum | Meadow barley |
Koeleria macrantha | Crested hair grass |
Lolium perenne | Perennial Rye-Grass |
Phleum pratense | Timothy |
Phragmites australis | Common Reed |
Phalaris arundinaceae | Reed canary grass |
Poa annua | Annual meadow grass |
Poa pratensis | Smooth Meadow-Grass |
Poa trivialis | Rough meadow grass |
Trisetum flavescens | Yellow Oat-Grass |
Vulpia bromoides | Squirrel tail fescue |
RUSHES and SEDGES | |
Bolboschoenus maritimus | Sea clubrush |
Carex otrubae | False fox sedge |
Carex riparia | Greater pond sedge |
Juncus effusus | Soft rush |
Juncus gerardii | Saltmarsh rush |
Juncus maritimus | Sea rush |
The wild flowers of Shingle Street
Salty wind, sea and stones are what you get at Shingle Street, and lots of wild flowers. They are a hardy bunch of survivors, and superbly at home in the tough environment where land meets sea. Some live in the mud; others in shingle, grassland, on seawalls, in lagoons and some even manage to exist in the cracks in concrete. Summer at Shingle Street produces a palette of colours from seemingly impossible raw materials. Yellow, pink, white, red and deep blue: any gardener would be proud to have flowers as striking if they came from a garden centre, and a glance at the gardens of the cottages proves the point.
The plants flourish in their spectacularly hostile home. A beach can be frigidly cold, or baking hot. Tearing winds can desiccate leaves and loosen roots, whilst salt spray is a constant hazard. The plants need fresh water to survive, and rainwater that percolates through the shingle is absorbed at depth by the long taproots possessed by some shingle plants. Those same roots give the plants a solid anchorage in the loose shingle. Having found fresh water, it is vital the plants don’t lose it to the sun and wind through their leaves. Grey-green foliage, a covering of dense hairs or a wax-like surface are all ways in which shingle plants avoid losing moisture. With no shade or wind-breaking hedge or tree, these plants have adapted to their rigorous world as completely as an alpine plant clinging to an ice-sheathed rock ledge on Ben Nevis. Sea beet and sea kale form low hummock shapes that deflect the wind and help reduce water loss. Sea pea’s answer to stem snapping, desiccating gales is to lie prostrate on the shingle. Natural selection has equipped them all with what they need to survive.
In contrast to shingle beaches, saltmarshes are formed entirely from mud, covered by a layer of plants, and cut by a pattern of drainage creeks and channels. A healthy saltmarsh is usually covered with sea purslane, sea lavender, sea aster, sea arrowgrass, glasswort and several others. Their numbers can be immense, although the diversity of species is usually low. There are no trees or hedges to provide shade or protection from the wind, and they must survive searing summer sun and winter frosts. Salt is everywhere: it is lethal to most plants, but these plants have a degree of tolerance to it, and some have ways of ridding themselves of it. Sea lavender ‘sweats’ salt from its tissues – you can see salt crystals on the undersides of its leaves. As on the shingle beach, rainfall is the only fresh water available to these saltmarsh plants: the seeds of many of them can germinate only when dowsed with rain in the spring, in a brief springtime window when tides are low for several days.
Laurie Forsyth, Aug 1 2015
Shingle Street bird song
I’ve been keeping records of which birds are singing in which weeks for the last dozen or so years at Shingle Street and a clear pattern has emerged. I’m attaching a little chart illustrating this, which you could check to see what you should be particularly listening out for at any time of the year. I’ve only included those birds that sing regularly here and their usual song-periods. There are lots of exceptions involving birds just passing through, rare visitors or residents occasionally singing at untypical times. I have notes on all these if anyone is interested, but for the sake of simplicity have not incorporated them into this table.
Birds sing for two main reasons: first, to define and protect a territory, and second to attract a mate. So, the first of these is primarily aggressive and the second, well, seductive. You could therefore very crudely define the purpose of bird song as ‘f*** me or f*** off’. Birds sing rather than fight to resolve such disputes where possible (which may prompt a thought about the human alternatives …). The best singers get the best territories and are the ones most attractive to potential mates. This territorial function explains why some birds like robins and wrens, as you can see from the table, go on singing both before and after the breeding season (except for a short break mid-summer when they are moulting and lying low). They still need to hold on to territories to protect their food supply even when they are not using them to rear families. An interesting twist to this is that in just a few species, like robins, the females as well as the males sing in winter to defend territories, though when the breeding season starts and they pair up again you’ll only hear the males singing. In other species, like chaffinches and blackbirds, you’ll see that their singing is more strictly limited to the breeding season. These tend to be species that forage more widely in winter, sometimes in flocks, and don’t maintain individual territories then. In the case of summer visitors like the chiffchaff, cuckoo and swallow the song charts also indicate when you can first expect to hear them. So, you can learn quite a bit about different behaviour patterns from such data.
Learning bird song is also the best way of finding and identifying birds. Sounds travel over, round and through natural obstacles and you can usually hear far more birds than you can see, particularly if they are in bushes or a long way off. It isn’t so difficult to learn these songs and calls if you teach yourself one species at a time so that you can then pick its voice out against the background noise. Think how good we are at recognising someone’s voice on the phone even before they have announced themselves. I hope this chart may help in simplifying the possibilities, so you at least know what could be singing in any one week, and I’ll be happy to print copies off for anyone who’d like one to pin up somewhere as an aide mémoire. I’ll also be happy to walk around with you to get you started. This is the ideal season to begin.
Apart from anything else, bird song is beautiful to our ears. I notice that recordings of bird song are increasingly being played in hospitals to aid patient recovery and in airports to reduce the stress levels there. The BBC’s recent broadcasts of a ‘tweet of the day’ attracted a large, appreciative audience too, and Vaughan Williams’ ‘Lark Ascending’ always seems to be voted the nation’s favourite piece of classical music. But in Shingle Street you can just go outside and hear the real thing for yourself.
Jeremy Mynott
26 April 2015
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Week beginning | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 |
Song thrush | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Robin | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
Great tit | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blue tit | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wren | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
Dunnock | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
Collared dove | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
Skylark | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||
Meadow pipit | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wood pigeon | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||
Greenfinch | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Chaffinch | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Linnet | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corn bunting | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock dove | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Blackbird | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chiffchaff | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Willow warbler | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Goldfinch | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
Blackcap | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Swallow | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
House martin | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Whitethroat | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lesser w.throat | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cuckoo | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reed bunting | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sedge warbler | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reed warbler | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cetti’s warbler | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
Dates for summer migrants
Every spring and summer migrant birds return to Britain to breed, having made the long and perilous journey from their winter quarters in Africa. These annual movements are part of the deep rhythms of the natural world and from time immemorial they have served humankind as markers of the year’s seasons. Continue reading “Dates for summer migrants”
Shingle Street Flowers
by Lydia Vulliamy.
Shingle Street is a magical place, right by the mouth of the River Ore. Typical shingle flora grow there in profusion. The great mounds of sea kale Crambe maritima predominate. The leaves die back in the winter; in spring the first shoots appear, very dark purple, crinkly and succulent. The plants fully grown are as big as shrubs, and their roots penetrate deep into the shingle.
Continue reading “Shingle Street Flowers”