Winter Migrants.

The shortage of winter migrant birds was relieved yesterday by the sight of twenty    Lapwings passing over the village, and there were a reported 500 Golden Plover in the fields to the north of Maiden Castle. Perhaps the current cold spell will encourage more of these migrants, such as Fieldfare and Redwing, to arrive.

Badgers.

The culling of badgers has been extended to cover more areas across the country, from Cornwall to Cumbria, the aim being to cull between 24,550 and 42,029 animals. Figures issued by DEFRA indicate that since 2013 bTB incidence in cattle has fallen from 10.4% to 5.6% in Gloucestershire, and from 24.4% to 12.0% in Somerset. In Dorset however the disease has risen from 15.9% to 20.6%.

Doubts have been expressed recently by vets and scientists connected with past studies of the problem as to the validity of the methods DEFRA used to obtain these figures. Estimates of the total number of badgers in any culling area have been obtained by desk studies not by field counts, and the cull targets derived from these. Where there are deviations (up or down) from the expected target figure once the cull has taken place, it has been explained away by assuming that the original total figure for the cull area was inaccurate and adjusting it suitably, a process usually known as ‘moving the goalposts’.

There are also questions as to whether incidence or prevalence of bTB in cattle should be used as a measure of infected numbers. As noted here previously a new Phage Test has been used in Devon instead of the usual skin test and has been shown to pick up bTB considerably earlier than the skin test. There is thus likely to be a reservoir of the disease in cattle prior to the skin test which is spread to other cattle and, via slurry spreading, to badgers and other animals such as deer.

Our farmer neighbours are suffering intolerable losses as infected cattle are culled. When are they going to insist on effective detection of the disease together with improved biosecurity, manure management (particularly slurry spreading), Badger vaccination and, yes, targeted Badger culling.

Late valley butterflies

In what has been generally not a very good year for butterflies, walks down the permissive path to Ashton  last week have yielded a surprising number of  them. Species such as Red Admiral, though low in numbers during the hot summer month, have continued to fly during the Indian Summer of October. and are still being seen on the south facing bank alongside he path. Also seen during the week were Small Copper, Small Heath and most remarkably of all a total of sixteen Clouded Yellows in the Open Access field just north of the cricket field. These were drifting eastwards and as this is a butterfly that doesn't survive our winters they may have been attempting a reverse migration. No picture I am afraid as they didn't settle long enough.

Season's Butterflies.

Butterfly Conservation.s formal butterfly couinting season runs from the begining of April to the end of September , with 32  'Transects", as the set routes are called, being walked weekly by volunteer recorders. Two of us from Martinstown record on the Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve at Tadnoll. This year's results have been rather disapointing, with a total of only 849 butterflies, a severe drop from the 2034 last year. I am wondering if this is a result of the very hot summer, as my bees have gathered only about a tenth of their usual crop of honey and so, though very active, ( flying 10,000 bee-miles per day!) seem not to have been able to collect much nectar. Maybe the butterflies have had the same problem and were short of food.

.

The species mainly affected were Red Admiral (above, on this years excellent crop of Blackberries),  Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper. Only the three White species seem to have done well, perhaps benifiting from the cooler weather which finally arrived.
Now only the computer inputting remains to be completed, with the records going to the county butterfly recorder, and then, if he is happy, into the national records. These butterfly records are a very sensitive indicator of the state of the country's natural resourses and an important element in the fight to combat global warming.

Bankside Poison.

Friday,  21st September 2018

Two weeks after it was pulled from the South Winterborne, a large amount of the most poisonous plant in the British Isles is still rotting away on the banks of the stream.  Though some poisonous plants loose their poison as they wither Hemlock Water Dropwort is not one of them, and so it remains a threat to the many dogs in the village. Not all animals in the village street are under control, in recent months I have seen two stray dogs and one pig wandering down the road. Remember a young Labrador died recently in Dorchester after eating this plant.

Decaying Hemlock Water Dropwort.

South Winterborne Consultation

The Environment Agency has announced consultations to update the River Basin Plans for eight districts, including the South West. The South Winterborne is included, and is classified as a River. Contributions from interested parties, including the general public are invited.

Give Us Your Views

The consultations are your opportunity to help shape the review and update of the river basin management plans. Click on the links below for more information and to access the consultation.
Working Together: June 2018 (closing December 2018) NOW LIVE
Working Together offers the opportunity to give us your views on the work plan, timetable and process for how we will work together with stakeholders to review and update river basin management plans in 2021.
Click here for more information and to access the Working Together consultation
This consultation will be open for responses from the 22^nd of June 2018
Challenges and Choices: June 2019 (closing December 2019)
Challenges and choices asks for views on the significant water management issues and how these should be addressed.
This consultation will be open for responses in June 2019
Draft updated river basin management plans: June 2020 (closing December 2020)
The draft updated river basin management plans consultation asks for your views on the proposed long term objectives for the water environment and the measures to achieve them

Hummingbird Hawk Moth