Sunday 14 June 2015

Walk from home to Deep Hayes Country Park.

After a morning of constant, but very welcome rain, we went for a walk along the Caldon Canal to Deep Hayes Country Park. This year there are a few new additions to the canalside flora, and one chance observation resulted in identifying an overlooked species in a familiar location - see photos below. Also, some bird and mammal sightings.

Two Brown Hares in a field adjacent to Caldon Canal between Post Lane, Endon and Park Lane.

Mimulus gutatus or Monkeyflower growing on the offside of Caldon Canal between Post Lane, Endon and Park Lane. According to Simon Harrop in Harrop's Wild Flowers (Bloombsbury 21013) this is a non-native species that was introduced to Britain from N. Amer. in 1918 and first seen in the wild in 1924. This year is the first I have spotted it growing on the Caldon Canal in Endon. The seeds probably came in with a narrow boat or via transported by the water itself.

Mallard duck with several few days-old ducklings by Park lane, Endon.

One of a pair of Moorhen parents who had one fluffy chick, which isn't visible in this photo. This species regularly breeds at this point on the canal.


Yellow Flag Iris was growing along the canal between Endon and Stockton Brook, however at this site between Park lane and Hazelhurst Junction it is a new addition. I assume it was planted in the coir rolls that were used by Staffordshire County Council during their installation of the cycle path on the former canal towpath in 2013/14, as it appeared following that work.

A Reed Bunting was singing in the reed bed (Phragmites sp.) in the midground of this photo which was taken near Hazelhurst Junction. The dead vegetation  in the foreground is Japanese Knotweed, the invasive non-native species, which has been sprayed by contractors for the Canal and River Trust. Also along here a Garden Warbler was singing, and Chiffchaffs,  Common Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers were heard nearby... and two male Bullfinches (below) too.



Swallows were plucking freshly emerged insects from above the canal surface along this stretch of the Caldon Canal, near H. Junct.. 

Two photos of the recently fledged Swallows below. 


  
Wood Melick a "common grass of woods and shady banks" according to Hubble in his classic "Grasses" (Penguin books 1954 - 1984) - Here growing in Deep Hayes Country Park. 

This photo, and the one below it, are of Bay Willows Salix pentandra in flower. Though I have seen these plants, which are located in the Winding Hole between Park lane and Hazelhurst Junction, many times, I hadn't particularly noticed what species they are. Today they were exhibiting a beautiful display of male flowers. This is a native species of willow and I have seen other plants of this speceis along te disused railway line at Cheddleton and in Stanley Moss (between Endon and Stockton Brook). 
 

On the way back from Park Lane we walked along the disused railway, which was sprayed with weedkiller by the Churnet Valley Railway (CVR) volunteers this week. The CVR still have unrealistic plans to reopen this railway line and so continue to glyphosate the trackbed every year. This has mixed results. On the one hand it kills off some of the wild flowers that grow along the railway route, on the other it prevents the build up of vegetation on parts of the ballast, thereby creating open space (useful habitat for many invertebrates and basking adders, which have been seen along there) and helps reduce soil nutrient build up which can result in reduced wild flower species diversity (rich soil benefits vigorous species which smother weaker/smaller species) . Anyway two species that have avoided the best efforts of the CVR volunteers are the Fox and Cubs Pilocella aurantiaca (photo below) another naturalised, introduced species (from 1629), and .......


...Bistort Persicaria bistorta (below). A relative of the Japanese Knotweed mentioned above. It is a native species that often grows in the wild due to garden throw-outs. This patch is growing along the disused railway line, and I've not noticed it before 


And finally, a mixed-age group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen feeding from the railway line in a field near Post Lane/Station Road. This flock is a regular sighting at present. And just before we came upon these birds heard the two Oystercatchers which seem to hang around Endon, often on the pool in the grounds of The Ashes wedding venue.







Saturday 13 June 2015

Swifts in Endon.

Endon has at least  two nest sites for Swifts; one is the roof of Alder House (where the local pharmacy is), the other is my street. Here is a couple of photos of a Swift entering the wall cavity via a broken air vent on the side of the house of one of my neighbours. On Tuesday, while I was carrying out the late season visit to the nearby (about 6km) Ford Green Hall Nature Reserve for the British Trust for Ornithology's Breeding Bird Survey I saw tens (possibly around 100) of Swifts feeding over the pool, along with a few House Martins. Presumably there had been a mass emergence of some species of aquatic invertebrate. We see about eight Swifts flying around Endon. Does this mean there are four pairs breeding in our village? I'm not sure.



Tuesday 9 June 2015

A walk from Norton Green to Endon this morning.

The caldon Canal feeder between Nortton Green and Baddeley Green/Milton. At this particular point in hear or saw: Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Garden Warbler, Swallows and a Speckled Wood butterfly. On carrying on my walk I saw a juvenile Grey heron feeding nearby......

....and above it four recently fledged Swallows waiting on electricity cables to be fed by their parents....


....and a km or so further on from that noticed a pair of Swallows flying beneath this bridge, where I realised they have built their nest!


Whilst continuing my walk I also saw Jackdaws, a young Pied Wagtail and parent, two Grey Wagtails, heard Bullfinches, a Reed Bunting, a Robin, a Chiffchaff, several Greenfinch wheezing, and a Blackcap.

Greater Stitchwort flowering beneath a Hawthorn hedge between Baddeley Green and Stockton Brook. 

Below two photos of fields adjacent to the canal. The first contains among numerous other plant species Sorrel, Marsh Thistle and Ragged Robin. 

And the second is yellow with buttercups, probably Creeping and Meadow Buttercup. 

Meanwhile at Greenway Hall Golf Club they are doing their best to spoil the tranquility of a sunny day on the Caldon Canal by the presence of four giant excavators moving earth on a hillside. At the moment its a huge brown scar in the green landscape - I expect when it is finished it will be a inappropriate bright shade of green scarring the landscape!

On reaching Endon saw Swifts and a family of Great Tits and a family of Blue Tits, both in the trees growing along the disused railway line.