Wildife and Plant Surveys at Jordans Farm

 

Every summer we do a few different surveys with the help of people who are more knowledgeable than myself.

  • Glen records our birds every month and records the mammals he sees and insects.
  • FWAG (Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group) surveys for Great Crested Newts in the Ghost ponds. (Honestly, I would be surprised if they found any, we are waiting for the results, but we do now have bats flying over them!)
  • Alex has been surveying all the ponds for insect life. He is student at Writtle University and loves ponds and all living things within them!
  • And I and a group of lovely volunteers surveyed the plants in the Outback in June.
Read on for the results.

Bird Survey

Glen comes every month to survey our birds, we now have a record for almost three years! Numbers are not amazing and he has noticed a decline, even when you are doing your best to provide the habitat that they need. I was however very pleased when he spotted two Swallows last month. There are hardly any around now. The only thing that is increasing is the Wood Pigeon. I wonder why….
Click on the image of the bird survey table to read it in full.

 

He also surveyed our butterflies at the end of the month.  Again, numbers are falling, and this year is very bad after the long and cold and wet spring. Let’s hope they can hang on in there.

 

Green Woodpecker Colin Shead and the Stone Chat Glen Moore

Pond Survey

Alex came again to the farm this year to survey the ponds in June, and we had water in all of them. Amazing. Last year one was just a muddy puddle!
The news is that we have critters in all of them. Unsprisingly the one closest to the house (if you have been here you have probably had a cuppa here!),  with moderate shade and more pond plants had the greatest variety of invertebrates and the younger ones, in the Outback the least.  Click on the phone to expand for the full results) What is happening though is that these insects and the flying insects are attracting bats over the ponds now and it seems Swallows, we had a flock of 80 here feeding. How marvelous is that?! Thank you Alex . It will be great to watch and see what happens over the years!

1) Gerris lacustris (Common Pondskater); 2) Fig 11. Chironomus sp. (Bloodworm); 3) Corixa punctata (Lesser water boatman)

Plant Survey

Thank you to Lindsey, Tracey, Jez, Jane & Lousie who braved the ever changing weather on the 15th of June and helped me with my annual flora survey of the Outback.
You can see from the photo it was a coats off one minute and back on the next. We were lucky the lunchtime downpour passed over and did not return and we got it done.
We used the Plantlife: saving wild plants Rapid Grassland Assessment Method, basically old school 1m quadrangles and count! I am so pleased we found Yellow Rattle this year and Goats Beard, Fairy Flax and a couple of others not previously recorded. Some things we did not see, but I was actually quite worried because very little is flowering as its been so unseasonally cold and yes a flower for ID purposes always helps! The Grass Vetchling, such a pretty, dainty little flower is now wide spread in one area.
This autumn I will be continuing to mow some of the areas which are not populated by young oaks to enable meadowland. I will then ‘act like a boar or badger’ and turn the soil over in the odd place and my friend Barry up the road has suplied me with more wonderfull seed to throw on patches of disturbed ground.
Thank you again ladies it was a great afternoons work and I am very appreciative