Monday 10 July 2017

The Heat Goes On - or maybe not

Walking round the reserve early this morning at 6.00, I was struck at how all of a sudden the amount of bird song is beginning to decrease, the reserve is getting quieter as mid-summer takes hold and the drought increases. Although we're pretty much entering a second year of these very dry conditions, we still haven't yet reached the intensity of the 1976 summer, or that of the first couple of years of the 1990's here on Sheppey, but we're getting closer. Having said that, the weather forecast for here is for some rain over the next couple of days, a forecast these days which rarely seems to come true. That leads me to the latest type of warning from the Met. Office, such as for today and tomorrow, a Yellow Warning (be prepared) of rain. Presumably that is because any showers might be heavy and intense but come on, all of my life I've never known it come down to being warned that it might rain, seems silly!
The countryside around here is mostly burnt yellow, bone hard and tinder dry, a colour exacerbated by the fact the rape crops are being harvested and the wheat and barley fields are also that bright gold colour. Given that the ground that all these crops are growing in is cracked and dust dry, it will be interesting to see how much the yields will be affected this year. It's certainly done away with the need to mow the garden lawns this summer very much, mine is burnt brown and yellow now and has only required a light mow just once this last month.

But getting back to the birds on and around the reserve, well with each visit more and more of the Reed and Sedge Warblers in the reed beds are falling silent. The Marsh Harriers have fledged their young now and therefore becoming more solitary again and the wildfowl are entering their eclipse, or moult, period. This moult sees them lose their flight feathers for a short time and become vulnerable to predators and so many tend to skulk about in waterside vegetation and become less noticeable. There are still a few pairs of birds breeding, some will go into late August, but in the main many are now in family groups as they fly around, Linnets this morning were noticeable in small flocks again. I read somewhere recently that Linnet numbers are starting to drop, well that's definitely not the case around the reserve, they are easily the commonest finch.
Following on from their disastrous breeding season this year and with very few feeding opportunities for them in the bone dry conditions, Lapwings have mostly left the reserve now, I doubt that we'll see many of them back now until wet conditions return. All in all we're now entering the annual period of wildlife inactivity where for the next couple of months the countryside seems to go to sleep. The only major activity to look forward to now is the harvesting of crops and then the readying of the fields for next year's crops.

11 comments:

  1. Here in Surrey, such 'yellow' warnings generally do not materialise. I'm quite surprised that, in lieu of recent rain and with the heat, everything is still green!

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  2. I'm also surprised that you can say "everything is still green".

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  3. Hope you get some rain soon. We seem to be back on target for rainfall this year with nearly 30 inches so far. Our rain vats, which supply all our drinking and washing water, are nearly full after an unusually dry April.

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  4. 30 ins!! blimey I doubt that we get that in a wet winter.

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  5. I could see you hosting a TV show... "And now it's time for Down on the Reserve with your host Derek Faulkner"
    Cue theme music - "Telstar" by Heinz.
    DEREK (smiling to camera) Hello again folks and welcome back to "Down on the Reserve" with me your friendly host Derek Faulkner. Today we'll be looking at linnets, lapwings and those blasted teenagers from Sheerness who have been terrorising the ducks! The little bastards! If I caught em I would throttle em with me bare hands... etc..

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  6. Seems I have potential then YP. The trouble with TV these days is that it's all smothered by PC, speaking like the man in the street would is totally a no-no.

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  7. Your lack of rain is amazing Derek - we are also in the East of the UK and we have had such a lot over the last month. Our lawns are green and some days our rivers are full to overflowing. The is definitely no shortage.
    I have noticed that the bird song has decreased - I suppose the males io

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  8. Sorry - I went back to correct the last word and accidentally posted it!
    What I was going to say was - I suppose that the males no longer have to impress the females!

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  9. Yes, it's an incredibly long run Pat but it has happened before. A lot of rain is forecast for here tomorrow and tomorrow night, no doubt mothers will be taking their young children outside to experience it.

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  10. I was only thinking the other day just how strong the birdsong was here at 4 am

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  11. Derek, that lawn. How short do you mow it? Try 2 inches while it's still green in the spring, should stay green longer. Even let it go to 3 inches if it's very dry. You should also have plenty of wild flowers, we've had 17 species at most simultaneously, all low below the blade.

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