Don't mess with Nature....

.... or it will bit you back twice as hard.
Witness the devastating wild fires in Australia recently, now parts of this country are experiencing some of the worst floods on record, all linked to the effects of climate change, but still our government blindly carries on with environmentally destructive construction projects... but hold on there just maybe a change afoot, as The Court of Appeal has judged their plans for Heathrow expansion illegal on Climate grounds.
China seems to have at last seen the light & banned all trade & consumption of wild animals following the world wide outbreak of the Covid-19 Coronavirus which threatens a break down in global trade.

24th February..... Frog Spawn.

Been checking the ponds daily for the first dollop of Frog Spawn to appear, today was the day with the first batch floating on the surface early in the morning.

By the look of this female with her suitors paying close attention (some might say too close), looks like there's more to follow.

Early next morning this massive amount had landed.

Our garden Robins know Spring is just around the corner aswell, as they are busy nest building.
Don.

23rd February..... Shelduck.

Spent a couple of hours touring the Vale of Aylesbury checking out flooded fields for any waders which maybe passing through. First stop was the pasture at Wendover where the Little Egrets were on Friday, today they'd moved over the road, where 4 stood forlorn out in the middle, Friday's field still held 22 Pied Wagtails & c150 Black-headed Gulls, first Celendines of the year in flower here. At Western Turville Reservoir 8 more Little Egrets stood in the field below the Dam.

At Bishopstone we found a Shelduck taking advantage of a pool of flood water in the corner of a cultivated field along with 3 Mallards. Also present c100 Starlings, c30 Fieldfares, Skylark, with a Cormorant heading west.
Kimblewick had 2 Skylark, Yellowhammer, 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls & c50 Black-headed Gulls.
Owlswick : 10 Yellowhammer.

Don.

Dawn of Destruction.

The advance troops are in the area now that HS2 have firmly established their base compands, I suppose these troops are from the Welsh Guards as they are apparently Welsh farmers who've volunteered to come up to begin erecting fencing on fellow farmers land (I always thought farmers stuck together in times of difficulty).
Next it will be NETTING the hedgerows preventing wildlife from breeding, well basically surviving, followed by their W.O.M.D's then the environmental carnage can really begin!!!!

The first cut is the deepest.

 This has been a farm track for years, now it's been reduced to no more that a footpath.

Winter Thrushes.

Good numbers of Winter Thrushes locally at the moment, after being noticable by their abscene earlier in the winter, still have berries in the garden which are usually all eaten by New Year's Day.
c300 Fieldfares & c30 Redwings were present at Liberty's Nature Reserve during my monthly survey last week, where the site has now had to be fenced in completely as walkers & dog owners consistently ignored warning signs requesting they keep to the paths with their dogs on a lead to prevent disturbance to ground nesting birds & wildlife generally.
Pasture land at another farm held c120 Fieldfares & Redwings, with a group of Redwings singing from within a large Holly bush as they start to do at this time of year. This damp field as played host to 20 Common & 14 Black-headed Gulls.
While chatting with Adam about his livestock he mentioned large white wading birds with long bills  using his fields down at Wendover, knew what they'd be, but thought I'd better check just incase, sure enough 7 Little Egrets were present along with 58 Stock Doves, 16 Pied Wagtails & c150 Black-headed Gulls.
Don.

River Misbourne Environmental Restoration Project.

Following our recent visit to The Misbourne Valley where we came across the environmental restoration project, I was curious to learn more, so contacted Tina Abbott at Chiltern & South Bucks District Council, who kindly replied with the following interim update on the project, with a full report to follow on completion of the works in the Autumn.
Many thanks to Tina for taking the time to respond with the article below:

The section of the river where the waste recycling site is located is part of a losing reach. This means that characteristically the river does not flow, it is dry, for certain times of the year. This is because the groundwater levels are usually lower than the river bed levels (the channel is perched above groundwater levels and chalk streams are typically dependent on groundwater levels- that is what ‘feeds’ the flow). Also, for some sections of the River Misbourne, including around London Road depot, the channel does not follow its original course as it has been moved/straightened in the past for a number of reasons (for example, as you know, the channel was straightened between Amersham and Quarrendon Mill for the mill, and originally meandered and flowed through the bottom of the valley).

Prior to the tree works, some parts of the reach between Amersham and Quarrendon Mill were heavily over shaded allowing limited light into the river. Therefore, the aim of the tree works was to create dappled shade in the channel and allow more light into the river. This is to encourage vegetation on the margins and in the channel to establish which should help to create flow diversity (slow and fast flowing areas). In addition, with maintenance, this will improve the health of the trees. This will also be contributed to by the creation of in-channel benches, which form part of the planned river restoration works.

These more natural features will create habitat diversity for plants, fish and macroinvertebrates. Moving and re-meandering part of the channel to the bottom of the valley should help to reinstate natural chalk stream features and improve the rivers connection with groundwater. The channel through this section is currently perched above the valley bottom and groundwater as it was historically diverted and straightened away from its original course to provide water to Quarrendon Mill.

The driver for this work (the river restoration works) is the Water Framework Directive (WFD) as the River Misbourne is currently failing to achieve Good Ecological Status. The aim is to achieve GES by 2027. This project is at no cost to Chiltern District Council and is fully funded by Affinity Water in conjunction with Water Framework Directive.

Tina Abbott

Estates Officer – Joint Estates Team
Chiltern & South Bucks District Council.

The Time of Year.

It's the time of year when birds are starting to pair up, getting all territorial & showing aggression towards each other, as is the case with these Canada Geese at Wilstone Reservoir.
Stewart.

Image Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

More Water.

When this valley behind the village temporarily floods it's a sure sign that the earth is saturated & can take no more.

Image Copyright : Simon Murrell.

Water, Water Everywhere.

With unprecedented amounts of rain falling over the weekend on top of already saturated ground, there was only one place for it to go, down hill on to lower ground where once again it caused havoc for those residing near water courses.... but still governments are not convinced enough to acknowledge climate change, take it seriously & do something positive, they press ahead routinely destroying the environment with what Boris calls 'massive infrastructure projects' such as HS2.... the train soon to be leaving plateform one will be the super fast train to more climate chaos in the years ahead.
Meanwhile in the here & now :
Any slight dip in a field has now been turned into a  temporary pond.

All field ponds are all nearly full.

All ground burrowing creatures are mostly flooded out & moved to higher ground, even Badgers as evidenced by this flooded Sett.

                                  Don.

Early Signs of Spring.

With the days lenghtening, we are greeted by our resident Robin serenading us before we rise from our slumbers in the morning, just a few weeks back he would be one of the first birds on the lawn, along with the Blackbird, as I scattered bird seed at the break of day. A pair of Mallards have been visiting the garden ponds for the last fortnight, they generally turn up a few days before the Frogs lay their spawn, this year they seem to have arrived to early, as no sign of any spawn yet.
Goldcrest, Great Tit & Chaffinch have been in song.
Elsewhere in the garden buds are breaking out all over the place on various plants:
Bramble.

Hawthorn.

Hazel.

Wild Plum is beginning to flower, even though the Bullfinches have been busy devouring the buds.

Elderberry is even leafing up.

Down at ground level Bluebells have been pushing through the soil since the turn of the year.

 Don. 

Badger.

Stewart captured this on his trail camera.

Calvert Jubilee Nature Reserve.

A nice tranquil scene on a crisp Winters day at Calvert, where Bitterns frequent the reed beds from October through to March, some years joined by Bearded Tits, along with thousands of roosting Gulls, Wildfowl, Waders, Warblers & many rareties, one of the few places in the county where Green & Black Hairstreak butterflies can be found..... but all that's about to change forever as the destructive force of HS2 slices through the site.

Early Nesting Robin.

Received this picture taken last week in Manchester of an early nesting Robin sitting tight as she broods three chicks in her nest, now that we’re in a cold snap, don’t think the out come will be to good. Image arrived via Stewart's sister from her Nephew.

Image Copyright : Mike Wilson.

HS2 : Train in Vain.

Well the inevitable has happened & dear old Boris has given HS2 the signal to proceed, just recently Boris said '‘We must reverse the appalling loss of habitats and species, it's only by repairing the damage to the natural world that we can address the problem of climate change’                         

It's all very well TALKING THE TALK, but until governments learn how to WALK THE WALK things will never change, it needs someone bold enough to break the links of the chain & not be driven by the pull of business, I know the old saying of "money makes the world go round" is true from the bottom to the top & we all take our share no matter how big or small. But as I get older I'm beginning to think there has to be a better way.

Today I had to visit a friend who’s moved to North Bucks, so dug out an old OS map from the early seventies, which showed a train line running north from Aylesbury, through Brackley & on towards the Midlands, I know some of it still exists today, now this would have been a far less destructive option if it could be re-instated, albeit at a slower speed (do we really need to live our lives at break neck speed anyway??) & be accessable to a larger travelling public.

6th February..... River Chess at Chenies.

Visited the area up stream from Chenies & down past Frogmore Meadow Nature Reserve as far as the water cress farm. A total of 26 species seen, those of note included a male Stonechat ranging widely over the rough field down stream from the road bridge, Grey & Pied Wagtail, a lone Yellowhammer & 3 Buzzards wheeling around in the clear blue sky.

Don.

Images Copyright :  Don Stone/Stewart Dennis.