2005 Archive

Helen Baker, Trust Sales Manager, at Horncastle thanks all who buy Trust goods at our meetings. In October 2005, we sent off £100 to H.Q.

The Trust is recycling used ink cartridges and old mobile phones. If you can help with these items just bring them to our meetings and we will hand them on.

The following are reports on some of our SUMMER outings.
[Click the underlined green text to see illutrations - Ed.]

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Tetney Blow Wells - Open afternoon.
Sunday 22nd May 2005, 1.00 - 4.00 p.m.

Nature Trail. Tetney Blow Wells was open for a nature trail laid out by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, with 9 volunteer wardens in attendance, 4 helpers from the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Area Group of the Trust and about 45 visitors (including 10 children).

In spite of an appalling weather forecast it proved a fine sunny day which everyone enjoyed, with the reserve looking its best at this time of year and the hawthorn blossom just coming into flower. A pair of mute swans was at its nest and sedge and reed warblers, also whitethroat, were heard calling.

Butterflies seen included orange tip, green veined white, speckled wood and wall brown and there was a cluster of small tortoiseshell caterpillars on nettles. Bright red cardinal beetles were seen.

Many wild flowers and trees were labelled to help visitors with identification and it was good to see three marsh orchids marsh orchids just starting to flower.

Photographs were displayed, near the disused cress beds, to show what it was like as a watercress farm from 1945-60. A nominal entry charge benefited Trust funds - £33.50 (cheque sent to trust office.) ............................................................................................................................Clifford Jukes.

Red Hill - Visit to A Mega Project
Wednesday 1st June 2005

Our visit was a celebration of the work of one Volunteer Warden on creating flower rich grassland on the Lincs. Wolds, eight years of effort converting sixty acres of farmland into one of the Trust's most spectacular successes - Red Hill Extension.

Blazing June started with drizzle and a fresh breeze. The rain made us look down on the flowers; they are so dense in places you cannot avoid treading on them.

We walked north alongside the Protected Roadside Verge, which has a profusion of Sweet Violets in spring and in places there were planted patches of Bird'sfoot Trefoil in flower, the first sign of human intervention.

Next to the car park is the old reserve, a four acre triangle of flower-rich ancient grassland. Downhill is the disused quarry famous for its Red Chalk and fossils. Here is where the many scarce chalk loving flowers still grow: we saw Milkwort, Salad Burnet and Common Vetch and multi-coloured banded snails among amongst lots of commoner flowers.

At mid-summer you can look for Bee and Pyramidal Orchids, Yellow-wort and Basil Thyme.

Our guide, the Volunteer Reserve Manager Harry Turner, has all the facts at his finger-tips, but he has his hands full when it comes to managing the fields and valleys of the extension across the road.

The arable land was bought in 1996 and after two years of growing barley with no fertiliser (to reduce the fertility of the soil), was sown with a chalk grass mixture. And for the last seven years Harry has been trying to fill it with flowers - spreading hay from the old reserve and collecting seed to sow among the grass or to grow at home and then to plant out as plugs.

Seven years ago there were only nine Kidney Vetch plants and a handful of Autumn Gentian on the old reserve, now there are two or three acres with dense stands of them together with Cowslips, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Field, Devil's Bit and Small Scabious.

Surrounded by ancient parish boundary hedges some parts of the extension already had flowers : Bugloss, Field_Madder, Red Campion. In a wet corner there is a large stand of very impressive Great_Horsetail and in the wood at the west end there is Marsh Marigold, Ragged Robin and Water Mint.

As you would expect, many birds come to visit and there is a profusion of butterflies. We went home glowing with admiration of the work done for our enjoyment by one Trust member. Do go and see it. We were only 5 miles S.W. of Louth just below the Blue Stone Heath road. From the quarry on the edge of the Wolds you look down on Goulceby in the Bain valley with the way home, along the High Street to Caistor, just beyond. ................................................Mark Tyzska 7.10.2005

Group Visit to Roger Wardle's Farm at Mavis Enderby near Spilsby
Saturday 25th June 2005

Ten adults and three children enjoyed a very interesting three hour afternoon walk around Roger Wardle's farmland while he showed and explained how he had made changes to benefit and encourage wildlife.

Soon after we arrived we saw a Barn Owl which we were told feeds on the local rat population. Roger showed us his herd of Unimproved Lincoln Red cattle, a rare breed, which are able to digest and thrive on poor quality vegetation as well as lush meadow grass. He explained the benefits of cattle grazing the area for the wild flowers and other vegetation.

There are SSSI areas including wet lands and Alder Carr woodland within the farmland. Roger explained how some areas had been improved for wild flowers by removing the topsoil. There were at least two ponds on the farm, and Roger has planted two mixed hedgerows to create a green lane. He also showed us where he had planted a cereal crop more sparsely for the benefit of wildlife such as skylarks to breed in.

Flowers seen included many orchids in various colours and sizes including Common Spotted and possible hybrids with Marsh Orchids, Stitchwort, Meadow Buttercup, Hairy Tare, Betony, Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil, Dyer's Greenweed, clovers, wild carrot, Red Campion, Mare's Tail, Yellow Rattle, Self Heal, Woundwort, Musk Mallow.

Birds seen were Lapwing, Canada and Greylag Geese, Grey Heron, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Tree Sparrows, Swallows and Barn Owl. Unfortunately the weather was cold and damp so there were no butterflies seen but this did not spoil a very enjoyable afternoon. ...................................................................................................................................................Carolyn Lovely.

Marine Dipping at Gibraltar Point N.N.R.

Having picked some other poor weather-wise days for Local Group outings this summer, Saturday 23rd July was just perfect for the walk round Gib. However only four of us accompanied Assistant Warden Rachel Kirby along the paths to the beach for sea dipping.

Our nets caught small crabs and a large shrimp , which we examined meticulously. On the wet sand we all recognised lugworm casts yet the razor shells spouting up water as we moved just above them really made us smile. After the paddle we searched the tide line for mermaid's purses, whelk egg cases etc. Such an isolated beach keeps the crowds away even on a beautiful day.

On our journey to and from the beach we noted masses of sea and rock lavenders , probably at their best and the sea varieties of purslane, sandwort and rocket. The odd rose-purple pyramidal_orchid also caught our attention. Thank goodness this wonderful area of our Lincolnshire Coast is safe thanks to the L.W.T. from the clutches of Skegness just around the corner. ....................................................................................................................................................Jennie Redpath.

Autumn Walk Beesby/Wold Newton

On Sunday 16th October 2005, two friends and myself joined approximately eighteen others on a lovely walk with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Our expert guide was Clifford Jukes. Clifford told us that the walk was 3.7 miles. ( One of the walkers was only about six or seven years old and was with her Mum. As far as I know she walked all the way and was not carried at all! )

It was a gorgeous day and the countryside looked beautiful. It was a little hazy but that seemed to add to the beauty. We did a round walk from Beesby passing through Wold Newton. Beesby is a lovely hamlet on the edge of the Wolds.

There are a few houses and a farm or two and the remains of a medieval village hidden under the pasture. The ridge and furrow field system can be seen clearly in the right light. There were several Shetland ponies in a field, which reminded me of those Thelwell cartoons of little girls on fat ponies.

We climbed up through the wooded valley and skirted the edge, walking over the fields towards Wold Newton. There were not many wild flowers around but we did see some Field Scabious. My book of wild flowers states 'flowers all summer' ! (A sign of global warming?) Apparently the little wooded valleys in the area are full of bluebells and wood anemones in the spring and also moschatel which Clifford told us is commonly known as 'The Town Hall Clock' because of its formation of four faces.

We walked through the lovely wooded valley at Wold Newton on the edge of which the Yews were full of berries looking very inviting but unfortunately very poisonous. We walked along the road and then turned up a rising track. (I like to turn around and look at the view behind.) We reached a point where we looked over the Humber. Despite the slight haze it was possible to see some ships on the river and to pick out Waltham Windmill and other landmarks.

We carried on along the wood edge and back towards Beesby. At one point, where we stood on a ridge with Hawerby Hall on our left, Clifford pointed out that we were standing on what was once a cliff edge, similar to Flamborough Head, and the sea would have been lapping at the base; the point is now several miles from the sea!

We had a lovely informative walk with a very knowledgeable guide in Clifford and I greatly look forward to the next one if Clifford is prepared to organise another. I find these walks very enlightening. The chance to go out into the countryside with a guide who is so full of enthusiasm certainly opens one's eyes. ...................................................................................................Tree Singleton.

Sylvia's bench

We were all saddened by the death of our treasurer Sylvia Sivil last year. So we are pleased that this spring, a bench is to be installed in the Rimac nature reserve in her memory. A short ceremony of dedication is to be held on Saturday 21st May at 2 p.m. (Check with Carolyn if planning to go in case of date change.)

This is especially appropriate as Sylvia had a particular love for this reserve, and I remember spending a very lovely day there with her, Steve and Carolyn not long ago, learning about the various orchids.

Do come along if you can, and look out for the bench next time you are there, rest and remember.

Good news - we think

Alan Avison has news of a change of ownership of Irby Dales, and that the new owner plans to bring in a former gamekeeper from Castle Howard to manage it. There's a possibility that it will involve fencing and cattle; watch this space!

It's always good when a wildlife talk provokes thinking about some connection with one's non-wildlife-oriented day-job.

Brian Tear, in his Christmas talk in Grimsby, invited us to think about structures in nature - such as how roots are formed differently from stems, because they do not need to withstand being blown about by the wind, and so on. Engineers should find this an interesting train of thought.

Me, I was interested in his explanation of why nature trusts like ours have moved away from talking about nature 'preservation' and on to 'conservation' instead. Although I do sometimes make jam, so later thought a bit about preserves and conserves and whether there is a difference.

My day-job is to try to help people understand the Old Testament. Thus, I thought about two stories in Genesis where the main character's mission is 'to preserve life': Noah (see chapter 6) and Joseph (see especially chapter 45 - the same Hebrew word is used in both). One is battling with flood and creates an ark - not a long-term solution obviously - and the other helps his family move to a more favourable habitat to survive widespread famine, again, a temporary solution (OK, 430 years according to Exodus 12:40!)

Brian commented that preserving (wild)life really smacks (hasn't that been banned? Can we still say that?) of 'preserving in aspic', of a rather incomplete, troubleshooting approach that concentrates on individual species, albeit two-by-two, when what we need to be doing is conserving, which means looking to the long-term, wider view, encouraging the maintenance and even creation of complete habitats in which wildlife can flourish.

So that means we need our expanding nature reserves, and on a smaller scale, 'untidy' areas in our gardens, for seedheads from native and other useful plants, as well as bird-tables. Did you know that the Anglo-Saxon for 'goldfinch' is thisteltwige, something like 'thistle-tweaker'? That's just what they do in my weed-patch, formerly known as 'the garden'.

Also, we know that domestic gardens can function as small 'arks' until more of our countryside is able to be farmed with the kind of wildlife-friendly practices we heard about from Roger Wardle of Lincolnshire's Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group last November.

Sylvia Sivil

As you know, we sometimes have an article profiling one of our local notables; sadly, our former treasurer), Sylvia, is no longer with us, but she has left a wonderful legacy in our circle, of friends who have experienced her generosity expressed through her love of plants, and more. I asked Steve about their life together.

It was a case of 'love at first sight' for them in 1948, followed by a long courtship and marriage in 1957, and purchase of their house on Southfield Road, Scartho, which anyone who has been there will know has a large and beautiful garden which has become home to abundant wildlife, all down to Sylvia and Steve's hard work.

If the town planners around the York area had contacted them for their know-how, they would not have had to contend with disastrous flooding of homes; Sylvia and Steve coped with a mini version of a flood plain in their own back garden, and learnt how to manage it. Steve tells how Sylvia always looked after her plants as devotedly as if they were children.

Sylvia grew up in the West Marsh area of Grimsby; her father was a keen allotment gardener with a large greenhouse at the back of their terraced house, and her mother grew up in the countryside. All this contributed to Sylvia's wide knowledge of plants, which she expanded by joining the Lincs Trust and taking part in all the kinds of activities on offer.

She had a particular love of wild orchids, which of course can be see at the Trust / English Nature reserve at Rimac, much loved by Sylvia, where her family and the Trust are planning to place a bench in her memory in the spring of this year.

If you would like to make a donation towards this (the current total is over £200), please send cheques to our treasurer, Philip Wood (see address below). (Payable to 'Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust', indicating on the back 'Sylvia Sivil bench appeal'.) We'll be arranging a walk for all who would like to join in when this comes to fruition.

Sylvia was a 'superwoman' long before the term had been coined, and gave many years service to the Halifax Building Society, from 1944 to 1961, hence her expertise as our treasurer for the best part of a decade, also being mother of Carolyn (who is on our committee) and David who share her love of nature. She could also bake a great fruit loaf, enjoyed at many of our meetings, so here I include her recipe:

Sylvia's Fruit Loaf

12 oz mixed dried fruit;
4 oz light brown sugar;
1 teacup hot tea; 8 oz SR flour;
1 egg;
1 tbsp oil;
1-2 oz walnuts if liked.

Soak fruit & sugar in hot tea overnight, or for at least 2 hours. Beat in flour, egg, oil and bake in a loaf tin in the centre of the oven at Gas 3 / 375 for 1 1/2 hours.

Our new treasurer

Following on from Sylvia as our treasurer is Philip Wood. We thank him for taking on this role, and wish him well as he gets to know the ropes. You can contact him at 62, Emfield Road, Scartho, Grimsby, DN33 3BZ.

Lapwings delivery

As you know, we've been in need of someone to volunteer to replace Julie Wood as coordinator for the delivery of Lapwings (well over a thousand copies), which saves the Trust so much money. We are delighted that Jane Drinkall has stepped forward, and we are deeply grateful.

Jane will need the continuing support of a team of willing walkers/ drivers, and if you would like to help, do please contact her. She has already enlisted some new helpers, but there's always room for more. Thanks too to Julie for all her work on that in past years.

There are many volunteers who make the local manifestation of the Trust possible; continuing thanks to all, if I start to name names I'll be sure to miss some - but we are grateful, to Sue, our webmistress, [Ooh, thank you! ] Vic, our tea-man....

Planning: could this be your pigeon?

The local group is in need of someone to keep an eye on local planning applications. A knowledge of local government processes would be helpful. All who regularly pass by Bradley Woods will see that a large new building has appeared and interrupted the view of a lovely curtain-like sweep of woodland. We must protect our area from anything like this happening again; however worthy a cause new buildings are to serve, we can surely find places to put them which do not increase suburban sprawl in this way.

Please consider whether you (it could be a few people) could be someone who notices at an early stage when an application poses a possible threat to the natural environment; it is an essential step in helping us to hang on to what we've got. Beady-eyed people with pricked-up ears, please contact the committee. (You can even nominate a neighbour.)

Pale Flax on Cleethorpes Dunes

Good news about the Flax plant reported by Brian Gough, a visitor from Derbyshire. I went to see it and photograph it and it has now been confirmed as Pale Flax, Linum bienne, by Paul Kirby, the botanical recorder for N. Lincs.

It is illustrated in many flower books with three other flaxes, yet it is rather rare and local. It has not been recorded in northern Lincolnshire for many years, last record may be from Tetney in 1961.

We have seen the blue flowers of Cultivated Flax grown as a crop quite frequently in Lincolnshire in recent years. The tiny Fairy Flax is also widespread, especially on lime: at Irby Dales it is declining, being shaded out by tall grasses because of the lack of grazing.

On my second visit, in mid-September, I saw a single late flower of our Pale Flax with pure white petals, usually they are pale bluish lilac making it even rarer! It is an annual so it may or may not reappear next year (May to July). It grew on a hillock east of Kings Road and north of Buck Beck and Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes. That is where I shall look; do go and look for it yourself.

Mark Tyszka.

Let there (not) be light

Like many people, Mark Tyszka is concerned about the plans to floodlight the Humber Bridge, because of the threat it poses to the thousands of migrating birds which use this important estuary. We do not yet know whether there is a coordinated campaign to oppose the lighting, but we encourage you to get involved, write letters and emails to express your concern if possible, as the last plan of this kind was defeated due to a locally organized campaign.

Here are a couple of web-sites, the first one 'anti', the second one 'pro' lighting:

Roger Parsons Lincolnshire World
from whence cometh the photograph above of the Humber Bridge lighting trials – 1999.
This was only 1/6th of the proposed array of 72 lights.

Hull News - 21 OCT 2004

Please let Mark know if you hear about any coordinated campaign.

Tetney Blow Wells walk.

In the last newsletter, I somehow omitted to tell you about the Countryside Events Walk round Tetney Blow Wells which took place on May 23rd 2004, led by Clifford Jukes, Mark Tyszka and Richard Hill. The weather was lovely, and 28 people attended, splitting into two groups.

The hawthorn blossom was beautiful, many wildflowers were admired, including cow parsley, hogweed, yellow iris, greater pond sedge, brooklime speedwell, ragged robin, herb robert and the purple flowers of two southern marsh orchids were just opening in one of the old cress beds.

Butterflies seen included green veined white, orange tip, small heath, small copper and common blue.

Sedge warblers, chiffchaff and cuckoos were heard calling and one of the groups was treated to an excellent view of two cuckoos flying over, just as they were finishing their walk.

A very enjoyable visit for all with the reserve looking its best in the May sunshine with all the vegetation fresh and green. £19.10 was raised for the Trust in takings.

Thanks to Clifford for that report; I think it will whet the appetite of many readers. See diary above for details of another opportunity to visit the Blow Wells in May.

Clifford has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Trust, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved honour, shared by a very select few. I think many readers would like to know more about how Clifford came to devote himself to wildlife, so look out for this in the next issue.

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