Wildlife News (26:22)

 Wildlife News (26:22)

A newsletter for the Wildlife Groups of Bristol and South Glos.

More on Gulls

A few people responded to the piece on gulls in the last edition.    Here's what Jen wrote, 'Many years ago I was working for the University.     Every morning I walked up University Rd, past the Maths department gardens on the right hand side.    A small, fluffy grey gull chick had somehow ended up on the ground in the gardens.    The Biology building porters and I weren't hopeful for its survival but the parents guarded it, fed it and eventually fledged it several weeks later.     We cheered it and its parents!

Conversely I've seen a gull pick up a hapless pidgeon by one wing, fly high up into the air with it and drop it into the river.     It wasn't moving after that.      Gulls may be a pain, especially when they're giving it welly at 4am on your roof but I have to say they are excellent parents and have my respect for that.

Our relationship with gulls is complicated, they can be a nuisance but who else would clean up all the chips'

April forwarded this link for those who want to know more about urban gulls: https://bou.org.uk/blog-selt-urban-gull-habitat-use/  .    Enjoy!

Nobody asked about 'ring species', but I'm going to tell you anyway.    But not until the next edition.

And What About Parakeets?

Graham reported two sightings of parakeets a fortnight apart at his allotment in Hengrove.    They may have been the same bird, perhaps an escapee from a nearby house.    On the other hand, they could be examples of the westward spread of the Ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri).      Since the 1990s these bright green birds have established themselves in London and the South East.     They come originally from Pakistan and North India, but will have been brought to the UK by the pet trade and then either escaped or been released.    Probably!!

They now seem well established and spreading.     If you spot a Ring-necked parakeet in or near Bristol, please let us know, including where and when and anything else of interest.

Big Butterfly Count (BBC)

Butterfly Conservation's BBC is from July 15 to August 7.     You are invited to spend time in a green space and record what flies by.      Google 'Big Butterfly Count' for more details.     Given that butterflies are often fast movers and some are hard to distinguish from others unless you get really close, we still have a few butterfly nets that you can borrow.    Get back on this email.    Of course, you don't have to stop on 7 August!!

It was good to see the recent edition of Manor Woods Valley Group newsletter.     Amongst lots of other things, they are working on their fourth annual survey of butterflies on this bit of the Malago.

Fox News

Terry reports: 'Sadly a post mortem came back on a dead fox cub found at Badock's Wood earlier this month and its cause of death was ingested plastic.    No doubt, similar has affected badgers in the past also but I think that a good priority for future local groups if they have large (or small) mammals is a clean up of areas which I know some already do.

Yesterday (22 June) a man was watching a fox on an allotment near Badock's Wood and today went back to find the fox had apparently been shot- this is a residential area.    Unless it is a threat to livestock, foxes have the same legal rights as all wildlife.    The other concern is that someone was using a firearm in the area.

We know that snaring has gone on in the city, but now it seems that shooting foxes can be added to the list.    There was another reported last year.     If groups can maintain some form of watch on their wildlife (not that easy) it might deter this kind of crime as badgers and foxes are the main targets.'

Allotment Audits

We've been talking to a few allotment groups recently about improving their spaces for wildlife.    There is certainly some very good work going on.    There seem to be three key steps.

1. talk to fellow allotment holders about the plight of wild animals in the city and encourage them to do their bit.     Experience suggests that most allotmenteers are up for this.   It would be good to undertake steps 2 and 3 as a group sharing ideas and skills.

2. undertake an audit of the creatures that already visit the site.     This will be a bit rough and ready at first, but after a while you will have a list of birds, butterflies etc that can often be seen on site.    Do you have foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, slow worms etc?      Post up some pictures to aid identification and encourage people to take and display photographs.      Guides from the Field Studies Council can be helpful.     They are only c£4 each.      Go to field-studies-council.org/shop   .

3. what assets do you already have?    For example, are there trees, bushes with berries, ponds, nettle patches, piles of logs etc that will offer food and shelter to wild animals?      Think about what you might add.    Perhaps someone can draw a sketch map of the site indicating existing and potential assets?      Some changes may be easy, others might take a while.    This is your 'Wildlife Action Plan'.

Please pass this newsletter on to friends and neighbours and invite them to join the circulation list.    Let me know if you want to drop out.