Enviro-Mentalist – Page 7 – An Ordinary Person's Views on Living With Minimal Environmental Impact

It’s not too late for butterflies…

Once the clocks go back at the end of October I start thinking about spring and the return of the insects. However, if the weather is warm there is still the chance to catch a few insects still on the wing. Wasps, flies and hoverflies are feeding on the last of the ivy flowers, and a few red admirals are sometimes be seen on windfall fruits and any remaining blackberries. However, the first of November this year yielded reports of 11 different butterfly species. I’m not sure if this is a record, but it certainly seems unusual.

What was more exciting for me was that in addition to the aforementioned admirable reds, I saw my second ever clouded yellow butterfly (colias croceus) and, I had a camera with me. This caught my eye initially because it looked like a leaf fluttering, but I soon realised it was a butterfly. A much deeper yellow than the brimstone which isn’t usually seen this late in the year, the clouded yellow is a migrant to the UK but once here as many as three broods can be produced in one year. Although not visible from the underside of the wings, the butterfly has a black border round the edges of the upper surface of the wings which gives rise to the clouded part of its name. The two sexes can be differentiated by the row of spots that are present in this border on the females. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see this one close up when in flight so have no idea whether it was a girl or boy butterfly. Not that it matters, it was still an exciting find for any time of year, but more so for November.

White toadstools popping up near you this autumn

I’m not very good at recognising different types of mushrooms and toadstools. I’ve been on an organised fungi foray over at Gamlingay Woods, I’ve taken pictures and put them on iSpot, but I can rarely remember what they are called or remember having seen them before. In fact I can count on two fingers the ones I can recognise and name immediately on sight. This, is one of them.

This is a shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus) – comatus means hairy and refers to the scales that are clear once the cap has pushed out of the ground. They pop up all over the place and are widespread across Europe and North America. In fact, if you are an urban naturalist then you are in luck because they are often found in the green spaces in towns.

They first form as little egg-shaped white caps peeping out of the soil, and, as they grow the gills turn from white to pink to black as they liquefy themselves to death from the edges forming an inky like substance as they spread their spores. In the end there is just a white stem with some inky remains at the top.

They are supposedly edible, although not that tasty and not poisonous, but have to be eaten pretty quickly as they will have liquified themselves within a couple of hours of picking. However, as with all mushrooms you need to really know your stuff to prevent accidentally picking something poisonous.

Small is beautiful

Ryton gardens, sunshine and a glint of pure copper, a mini beast photographer (that’s photographer who takes pictures of mini beasts) can’t ask for anything more.

Unlike the plethora of white butterflies that were out that afternoon, the small copper is an unmistakeable butterfly. Although it is paler on the underside (looking a bit like a common blue – they are the same family after all) the bright copper that it shows when it sits with its wings open resembles no other butterfly – the gatekeeper looks drab by comparison.

Small coppers are likely to be around until mid-October (unless we get very cold weather) and have up to three broods in a year. The first broods are typically on the wing in early May, a larger brood is around for about a month from mid July and then a final brood occurs from the middle of September into October. Eggs are usually laid on sorrel or dock leaves (guess what I will be planting next year in case any small coppers are reading this) and apparently are white and disc like and look a bit like the surface of a golf ball – I’ll let you know if I see one. The green caterpillars that emerge are about for around a month before pupating into the beautiful adults. The exception being those from the last brood as this is a butterfly that overwinters as a caterpillar.

However, small coppers are apparently very prone to variation in spot size and number and the copper varies in shade with white and brown versions sometimes seen. And there I was thinking this was a truly unmistakeable butterfly!

Although the butterfly is quick and a bit flighty, males are quite territorial and if you wait for a while they are likely to come back to the same spot. As shown in this photo, yellow flowers appear to be a bit of a favourite with these butterflies.

Zero Waste Week – not rubbish so far

This week is Zero Waste Week and I thought this was probably a good excuse to host some events at work to start raising awareness about waste. The theme of Zero Waste Week is ‘Do One More Thing” and there are lots of things that people can do that will reduce the ridiculous amount of waste that we create. My aim this week is to get people thinking along the lines of reuse rather than recycle – see my previous post on why I hate recycling.

At the hospital where I work as Sustainability Manager, we produce a lot of waste. And I mean that in the sense of waste being something that is no longer to be used for the original intention. However, in actual fact I don’t believe it is really waste.

So, for Zero Waste Week I decided to have a series of events for the week, all to get people thinking about waste and, yes recycling if it can’t be reused.

After two days, which I couldn’t call the busiest two days I’ve had in terms of talking to people, I have had some success and am developing a few ideas for further waste reduction projects.

We started with a uniform and stationery amnesty on Monday. I had several trollies full of stationery delivered and have distributed several reams of coloured paper and a few boxes of folders already. I also got to talk to a few people as they passed; always worthwhile.

Tuesday we had our new waste management company in with free lollipops – we were hoping for pens (pens are like gold dust in a hospital and open many a door) but they didn’t arrive in time! However, they had a recycling game which gave us something to talk to staff and visitors about – many didn’t realise that plastic bottles could be made into fleece jackets or that their food waste collected from their doorsteps is used to generate electricity. Although not as good as pens, lollipops are a useful way to invite people to talk to you – or just to put a smile on their face as they wait for the lift.

We still have three days left although I am trusting in our catering team to deliver tomorrow whilst I am away in London.

A Zero Waste Week Rant

I have a confession to make that may surprise people that have never had a conversation with me (and, please don’t tell our waste contractors this).

I HATE RECYCLING!

Or, to be a little more precise I hate the perceptions and excuses that recycling brings. I have lost count of the number of times that I’ve heard people say, I do everything I can, I recycle! Sorry, no you don’t do everything, you put something you buy in a bin that is provided for you. Or, another of my favourites, we are in a better position than we were thirty years ago. WRONG. (I ranted at a bunch of old men in a meeting about this once – most unlike me, as I am actually usually quite shy and retiring).

I grew up in the 70s (yes, I know, I am old). We didn’t have so much recycling back then, but we didn’t throw so much away either. Today we throw away an average of 423 kg of waste per person (and this has fallen dramatically in the last five years) whereas 30 years ago we each threw away 25kg less. When you consider how much effort has gone into reducing the amount of material in packaging – thinner bottles, thinner cans, less easter egg packaging (it appears everything is getting thinner apart from the general populace itself), it is still a bit disappointing that we are now where we are. But, as a child of the 1970s I remember that we used to have a return on the pop bottles so of course we didn’t throw them away. The milkman brought the milk in milk bottles which he collected when empty and returned for reuse. We used to hire our television and it was easy (if not cheap) to take it back to be repaired – have you tried finding someone to fix a TV or fridge recently? The last time I tried to get my fridge fixed I was told it wasn’t possible. When we went to the supermarket (such that there were back then) you would put your food in a shopping basket or, if it was a Friday night big shop (yes, we did call them that, Peter Kay didn’t make that up) you would get one of the cardboard boxes from the back of the store to put the tins in. You didn’t get a plastic bag – they charged for those! And you certainly didn’t have all your food prepackaged – who ever thought putting bananas or mushrooms in plastic was either necessary or useful?

We might be making moves to be more sustainable – but all we are doing in many cases is turning the clock back. There are now reverse vending machines that give you tokens for bringing your bottles or cans back, there is a move to leasing items so the onus is on the manufacturer to make the goods repairable or recyclable, people search Freegle for cardboard boxes (because you can’t pick them up from the supermarket any more and they come in handy for so many things). I believe that George Osborne (our green chancellor – please, please say you realise I am being sarcastic) is even thinking of charging for plastic bags – his excuse to date has been that it might send us back into recession and hit our pockets too hard – I might be misty eyed in my recollections (remembering days when wagon wheel chocolate wasn’t translucent) but I don’t think anyone blamed plastic bag charges in the 1970s for people being poor. I thought there was an oil crisis and three day week and huge inflation and trade unions that affected disposable income, not plastic bags being less than free!

So, the next time you congratulate yourself on your dark green credentials and think that you are doing all you can because you are recycling, be a bit more critical and think – what am I recycling, did I need it in the first place and, can I reuse it or next time buy something that is reusable? Remember, Freegle is your friend.

On the wing

So I set off last weekend to see how my tern chick was getting along – although secretly I was a little worried that it might still have been small enough to make a tasty meal for the herring gulls that periodically flew over the rafts.

But, worry not. I think the chick was still alive and well, but it was difficult to tell. In fact, I counted 5 juvenile terns – chicks seems an inappropriate term now as they were not at all fluffy and looked very similar to the adults. There were some differences in appearance and behaviour though to help me out. Although they were mainly grey and white, there were some noticeable brown feathers on the wings, the tails seemed a bit short and the beaks had a bit of a yellow-orange look compared to the bright red of their parents. They spent most of their time perched on the edge of the tern rafts – with the occasional foray into flight. However, the landings looked a bit on the clumsy side and I was convinced that one of them was sooner or later going to miss.

When I watch an adult tern they seem almost effortless, with languid wing strokes; in comparison the youngsters seem almost panicky: flap, flap, flap in case they crash into the water. They were also still reliant on their parents for food, with loud shouts every time one came near with fish.

Two days later and it was all change again. Lots of terns were out above the water, resting in the rafts or just perching on the fence posts at the edge of the water. The youngsters were out and about as well. We watched one following or being followed by an adult. It seemed that it was learning how to fish. It wasn’t very successful, but was definitely persistent. At first it was patient, trying the occasional dive and then flying off a little further. After a while though I think it was getting a little more desperate – it would hover above, dive, then come back up and quickly dive back down again. Eventually the parent shadowing it showed how it was done and gave the youngster a fishy reward for its efforts.

Whilst I am really pleased to see that at least 5 chicks have been successfully reared by the terns, watching them made me a little sad as I realised that before long they will be on their way again.

The black-headed gulls are now drifting back to the country park to fill in the gap the terns will leave. Does that mean summer is nearly over?

Big news in the tern report

As seems to be usual for this time of year it was quiet out on the water at the Country Park. The gulls were sitting quietly (for the most part) at the far end, the coots seem to have invaded a couple of the tern rafts and the others were occupied by snoozing or preening terns.

The swans and their six cygnets cruised serenely past at one point, and a youngish great crested grebe chick decked out in his stripy best was, as grebe chicks usually are, loudly demanding lunch from its parent.

However, closer inspection, and a lot of waiting, revealed a lot more happening in the elegant world of the terns (imagine a note of sarcasm when reading the word elegant please). Out on the newer tern raft there seemed to be an almost permanent group of up to five terns sat around the edge. I saw some bringing of fish and worked out that there are at least three different pairs nesting there. Most of the time there was just a bit general screeching when a fish carrying tern arrived. But for some reason, one poor tern carrying what looked like a small perch (well, it had a red tail) was attacked by one of the by-standing terns. Not only did it stop it from landing, it chased it high into the air, followed it round and round the raft and at one point had it in the water and seemed intent on drowning the poor bird. I’m not sure if it was the tern that caused such a reaction or a desire to possess a red-tailed fish, but I didn’t see any other tern suffering from such attention. I also lost the chase and so don’t know what became of the tern or fish.

Another strange piece of behaviour was from a tern that had caught a fine silver fish but which seemed intent on shouting about it. He flew across the water, calling as he went, then I think he went halfway into Daventry and back, calling all the time, and then did another partial circuit of the reservoir. I didn’t see him try to land anywhere or offer the fish. He just seemed to be particularly proud of his catch.

However, I’ve saved the big news until the end of my Tern Report. There has been a hatching out on one of the rafts. I thought the adult was just resting, but every now and then I saw a little brown and black head pop up and wander about. I was beginning to get a little concerned when there had been no attempt to bring in fish by any of the patrolling terns for at least an hour. Then, suddenly both adult and chick started calling bright orange-red beaks open wide, and, sure enough in came an adult to give a fish to the chick before heading off again. We saw him make three deliveries in fairly rapid succession before it disappeared for a longer hunt.

We therefore wondered, do the adults feed themselves first before doing some dedicated chick feeding – the adult didn’t seem to have too much trouble finding fish, so there has to be some explanation for the earlier absence? Answers on a postcard please.

The Tern Report

Forgive me reader for it has been two weeks since I visited my terns. Fortunately not much has changed and the tern rafts are still afloat. At first I was worried as it was very quiet out on the water, but I soon saw a tern patrolling the edge along the dam. When I got the telescope out I discovered that there were a few birds out hunting, but the majority were quietly sat on the tern rafts. I think there must have been around a dozen birds scattered across the rafts.

The only noise seemed to occurred when another tern came near. The rest of the time they were either snoozing, preening or wandering about on the raft, I assumed checking out their territory or displaying to their mate. I did see one exchange of fish, but this was away from the tern raft. I also witnessed tern sex so I am hopeful that some egg laying might be on the cards.

It then occurred to me that I know nothing about terns and have no idea how long eggs would take to hatch so some research was in order. Terns lay up to four eggs in the space of about four days, but continue to mate during this time. Although both sexes will incubate the egg this is apparently sometimes a bit sporadic – this could explain why there was a fair amount of standing about – the terns often stand next to the egg. After the third or fourth egg is laid they then settle down to some more sustained incubation.

I’ll have to wait for somewhere between about 23 and 28 days for the eggs to hatch – so hopefully I will see some changes in behaviour around the middle of July. Then there will be a lot more hunting for fish by the parents for the next month until the young fledge. I’m hopeful that as the terns seem to come back each year (terns can live up to about 25 years) then they must have successfully bred at some point. This time I’ll hopefully be watching.

Of damselflies and demoiselles

During my bioblitz I noticed a couple of types of damselfly in my garden – strangely none emerging from the pond. I’d also noticed some at the Country Park during Tern watch. I shouldn’t really have been surprised when I found some during my lunchtime sojourn to the River Nene. I did notice quite a few darting about, thin electric blue insects, nervously settling, but moving as soon as I made even the slightest move in their direction. I gave up trying to photograph them, they weren’t playing. So I wandered off to look for hoverflies and warblers.

It was then that I spotted the demoiselle – the most beautiful insect created. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then Google it. I couldn’t take a photograph because it was off in the reed beds, but I did look at it through my binoculars. They are breathtakingly lovely.

Whilst I was making my way back looking for bees and bugs I stumbled across some mating damselflies – I almost missed them. They were sufficiently distracted to stay still long enough for a photo.

I then found a female ovipositing on a leaf further along the path. She was also obliging to a would-be insect identifier.

I thought that these were probably the same as the other blue damsels I had seen, but when I got out my excellent field guide I discovered these were blue-tailed damselflies. Just as common as the azure and blue-tailed varieties, not as beautiful as the demoiselle, but they are the only ones I caught on camera and properly ID’d today!

Nothing to add to the Tern report

I swapped a Sunday morning run for an earlier trip to the country park – the warm sunshine and the remains of a bad cold were the only excuses I needed.

However, it was very quiet; even though I got there about 4 hours after the alleged sunrise (not something I am interested in seeing at this time of year) the birds seemed quite sleepy and subdued. The usual flock of mixed larger gulls were absent, a few turned up about 30 minutes after I got there, and the terns had much of the water to themselves.

There was the usual jostling on some of the rafts (I think one had been abandoned as it was full of coots and not terns) when a tern arrived, some fish changed beaks and some of the terns seemed to be settled in and hunkered down quite low – sitting on eggs? I hope so. I did see one unsuccessful attempt to bring in a fish – after much noise and flapping and trying to hand over the fish to a member of the opposite sex he gave up and ate the fish himself!

As well as the terns, the grebe chick and cygnets were still in evidence and I noted that there were now about 8 greylag geese on the water – I wonder if these will become permanent?