Allotment Wildlife
May 19th, 2005
Cartoon drawn for WASHA by Arthur Wren
This section will be written and updated by Mark Havler (Plot 8). Mark is employed as Countryside Ranger by Surrey Wildlife Trust. He is an expert in flora and fauna in and around the British Isles.
( use the ‘washa email‘ to ask Mark questions or pass on information of sightings)
Allotments for wildlife (just a few notes to begin with)
There are many things allotments bring into a community – let alone the honest feeling of “growing your own”.
The hidden benefits of helping wildlife should also be considered. On the Westborough Allotments, Aldershot Road, we are privileged to have a wide variety of plants and and animals co-existing among the plots on site.
As from this summer, I have been collating notes about what we have on site and investigating any newcomers to the area.
Easiest then to start with birds and amphibians seen up to now – September 2004.
gold finch, blue tit, great tit, house sparrow, green finch, sparrow hawk, kestrel, pigeon, collared dove, blackbird, song thrush, crow, jackdaw, magpie, jay, green woodpecker.
common frog, common toad, slow worm, grass snake.
Also seen on site this year have been glow worms which are getting much more scarce than of old.
(December 04) Winter is a bad time for many animals and they have to look for alternative food and shelter. Now, rather than the summer, is the time to start loading up the bird table with food and water.
If you’re lucky, you may get the ever more bold Nuthatch and Brambling coming along to brighten up the normal varieties of Blue tits, Robins and Chaffinches.
Question
What has happened to the starlings? We used to have flocks of them flying in at dusk to roost in the trees by the reservoir. There were small groups which regularly trawled through the grass on the lower path walkways looking for food. Now we hardly see any!
You will be glad to know they are still around but have shunned the cold lights of Worplesdon for warmer sites such as the sewage works or close to the town centre where they use the brick buildings.
Numbers have dropped off over the past few years but nothing to be really worried about yet.
Question
One year we had a lone starling which used to feed on our lower plots and was quite tame. It obviously wasn’t safe alone and a sparrowhawk flew down and got him even though I was only metres away. The hawk didn’t have time to lift off the ground before it was surrounded by six magpies which appeared from nowhere and wanted a share of the kill. It was a complete stand-off until a crow flew in squawking and the hawk got airborne in the confusion and carried off its prey.
How did the magpies get on the scene so quickly; with the crow not far behind?
Do the carrion eaters shadow the hunters?
Magpies are notorious for looking and listening. Like all the Corvid (crow) Family, they do possess a brain and are willing to use it. Young birds learn their trade (scavenging) from their parents just as we do. As they can live for a decade, it’s not surprising that they get faster and faster at spotting an opportunity and taking advantage, however grisly it may be. So the sparrowhawk gets spotted and mobbed very quickly which is a shame as it did all the work in catching the food.
If you have questions for Mark please send them via the WASHA email.
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