It was 1:03pm, lunchtime in our drive when I saw a drama unfolding from my car.

A female kestrel had just killed a female blackbird and was having her lunch. Mr. Blackbird was not pleased and was bombarding the kestrel as she tore at the carcass on the ground.

I stopped and took pictures through the windscreen from a distance, just to catch the moment.

But both birds had higher priorities than being bothered with me, although the kestrel was constantly looking up at me as it fed. I crept closer and closer until I was, perhaps, ten feet from the beautiful little raptor. Now with my window down... snap!

Annoyed at my intrusion, the kestrel tried to carry the carcass away, but it was too heavy and reluctantly dropped it. She flew on into the nearest tree to watch over it from a short distance while the blackbird sheltered in the hedge.

The moment I drove on, I could see the drama, Scene II, in my mirror.

Kestrels are the amazing, medium-sized birds that hover like living drones over the corn fields and verges before plunging meteor-like onto an unsuspecting vole. Some other birds can hover but none so well or so long as the kestrel. Their numbers declined in the 70s, according to RSPB, probably because of changes in farming and so they are now on the amber list. However, they do adapt well and can be seen in the centre of large cities.

Kestrels do not build their own nests but, like the 'cuckoo bumble bee' (see the next story below), use old or disused nests of crows and other stick nesters, as well as stone ledges and old buildings. They will also take over nesting boxes and will return year after year. Their territory is at least 1 km.

Like the barn owl, their principal food is voles. While the female has chicks she will only hunt if food is short but this kestrel’s family will have flown in June or July. In the autumn, they may move to be nearer a more prolific food supply, only to return to their old nest in the spring so, hopefully, she and her family, will be regulars in South Leigh. I noticed from my photograph, that she had been ringed on her right leg.

For more information, see: the hawk conservancy website and the RSPB kestrel page.

Martin Spurrier, July 2021

There was this 4 or 5cm hole in the middle of our lawn and I didn’t know what animal had made it. I still don’t, but I do know who lives there, now.

As I stood pondering, I saw bumble bees arriving, hovering over the hole, gently landing and crawling into their underground home while others crawled out and set off. They came and went sometimes as often as every ten-seconds.

As usual, I rushed to consult Google and Wikipedia (and Heather Horner, of course) to learn that some bumble bees do nest underground in places such as abandoned rodent holes (these are called 'cuckoo' bumble bees), but also under sheds and in compost heaps. Of those that nest above ground, some make their homes in thick grass, while others in bird boxes, lofts and in trees.

Mine are very busy bees, in a casual bumble bee sort of way. I guess they are feeding their young with pollen but they do not make honey because they don’t need food for the winter. Instead, after 28 days, most die while the season’s new queen hibernates before emerging the next year to find her own new nest.

Can you believe it… there are over 250 species of bumble bees (the genus Bombus) of which 24 species live in Britain? By the way, I still don’t know what made the hole in my lawn.

Bumblebees rarely sting. This is good news and the chance of being stung can be reduced even more by not provoking them or making them aggressive. It is important to be calm when working with bumblebees.

If you are interested to know more, there is lots on line.

Also, by identifying bumble bee species you can help to conserve them. You can do this by adding your bumblebee sightings to the online wildlife recording survey iRecord, or by signing up for BeeWalk, a national monitoring scheme where you walk a short local transect once a month, recording the bumblebees you see along the way. A bumble bee species guide can be found here.

PS: An interesting but useless piece of info: When a honeybee stings, it dies a gruesome death. As the honeybee tries to pull out the stinger, it ruptures its lower abdomen, leaving the stinger embedded, pulling out instead a good chunk of its guts – a string of digestive material, muscles, glands and a venom sac. Yuk!

Martin Spurrier, August 2021

Did you see it on 23rd / 24th June?

This wonderful occurrence was the last of four in 2021. Its name is not, apparently, based on its colour but on the fact that it is seen when strawberries start to ripen. That said, it has several different names in different countries like the blooming moon, egg laying moon and the honeymoon moon, the last because it is at the most popular time for weddings.

It appears about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. This is because it is a full moon that coincides with being closest to the Earth (the 'perigee') during its elliptical cycle. That’s about 226,000 miles away.

My picture is not very good, but I took it in Station Road at the football field wall.

Martin Spurrier, August 2021

I don’t know if this year's crop is especially wonderful or if it is just because I am noticing them more because of our village's planting initiative, led by Graham Soame. But here are some pictures of wildflowers growing wild and some ‘sown’ wildflowers.

Top left, clockwise: Did you know that the ubiquitous daisy gets its name from 'day’s eye' because it opens its petals at daybreak and closes them at night? Graham's garden display – 2 pictures – red and white Campion and Everlasting Betony, the blue ones are Evergreen Bugloss. Heather Horner's hard work on the Station Road verge is magnificent. St. James the Great's churchyard is a splash of colour. Barnard Gate Road's natural blooms. If you'd like to see Graham’s flowers or want to know more about planting wildflowers for next year, please contact him using the details below:

 planning@soame.co.uk
 07932 172873

Martin Spurrier

Also known as the 'peewit', 'green plover' or 'pyewipe', it is around too, as this photo shows. It was kindly sent to me by a resident but I have lost the original email. Many apologies. Please can whoever sent it let me know - thank you? This wonderful bird is in decline largely because of farming and its very unwise nesting habit. The peewit lays its eggs on the ground - in a scrape in spring-tilled arable land or in short grass land - no wonder only about 25 percent of chicks make it through the 4-5 weeks growth period before they can fly. Frankly, it‘s amazing any survive.

Between 1987 and 1998, lapwing numbers dropped by 49 percent and 80 percent since the 1960s. I hope they can think of a better place to nest.

Martin Spurrier

This statuesque ‘little egret’ was back in Barnard Gate Road and behind Station Road in early May working the Limb Brook but, apparently, without a mate. They stand about 55-56 cms tall and have a wingspan of 88-95 cms. Our one also likes to perch precariously high in the oak trees overlooking the stream. The much rarer Great White egret is 94 cms with a wingspan of 155 cms (similar to the more common grey heron). There are only about 4,500 little egrets that winter in the UK. The males and females are almost identical with the male being the slightly larger of the two. The little egret has a black bill and yellow feet whereas the great white egret’s bill is yellowy orange with black feet. Egrets were nearly wiped out in the 1800s for their feathers used in fashion. I haven’t seen him or her for a while but I certainly hope our egret friend comes back.

Martin Spurrier

My grandson found this little chap under a rotting log near our ditch while searching for bugs for his terrarium. We had to move him slightly lest we squashed him. He is a yellow, or smooth, newt (also called the 'common newt') and this baby is just 15mm. He will grow to 7-11cms and will get much darker. When new born, they are called 'tadpoles', like frogs. Newts are protected.

These amazing creatures are amphibians, breeding in ponds and spending the rest of the year feeding on invertebrates in woodlands, hedgerows, marshes and grassland, mostly at night.

Down to Earth

Talking of terrariums, this is the one we made (not for the newt!). It was unnecessarily expensive and can be made much cheaper. They bring a whole new meaning to, and interest in, 'bugs' to the kids. As long as you / they read up on them so they do not become a pressure cooker or a swimming pool or dry out, they are both interesting and charming.

Martin Spurrier

Never the twain shall mix, it seems!

Look at this! The water from the Limb Brook coming from under the bridge in Barnard Gate Road refuses to mix with the water coming from the ditch that runs through from Stanton Harcourt Road near the Old Crossing.

Who to ask why? Our resident biochemist, Rita Sawrey-Woodwards, of course!

"That is interesting", she said. "It is to do with the difference in temperature, speed, water density, e.g., of algae, dissolved salts and pollutants of the two streams. The deeper one will be colder, of course. The mixing time also depends on several other variables including stream bottom formations and turbulence". So now we know. Thanks, Rita!

A week later, my grandson - the very same one who features in the newt story above - wanted to go rummaging in the mud at the side of the Limb Brook. As I knew that Rita is always interested in feedback on life in the stream, we pulled up a single small plant with its roots from the water's edge and took it home. There, we found a host of snails, leaches, worms and other living creatures. This is most encouraging as we are down stream from the sewage works, so there is hope. Rita is running the programme to understand pollution in our stream.

Please contact Rita if you’d like to help: limb-brook@southleigh.info

Graham Soame continues to see 'Ratty' and his family in the Limb Brook at Acre Cottage. In the evening the Soame family sits and watches them forage. By 'Ratty', I mean water voles as in The Wind in the Willows. Graham sent me a message:

Yesterday, Janet, myself and Tim Partlett, stood mesmerised watching the return of the water voles. One fat one (male!) leapt into the pond like an Olympic swimmer, while another adult, a bit smaller, was sitting partly hidden under the sedge grasses. So cute. The day before, Janet and I heard a "scrunch" while standing by the brook, and before our eyes, a very long piece of grass started to reduce in height, step by step as a 'creature' ate it from the lower stem – classic vole action! Gets me excited every time. They don't seem to care about humans talking, but don't like sudden movements, so if anybody wants to see them, call in one evening and we can wait, and are usually disappointed but, if we are lucky, you'll see their performances.

Lucy Stoddart, Bio-diversity Officer with the Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) recently visited Graham’s stretch of the Limb Brook. Here are parts of her report:

I recorded 27 feeding signs (+ 4 inconclusive + 1 old feeding sign), 1 old water vole latrine (these tend to be found more during the spring / summer months when the voles are maintaining territorial boundaries), 1 old dropping, and 6 burrows (+ 1 possible old burrow and 1 inconclusive - likely rat). Most of the water vole activity was focused around where you had seen the voles in front of the house, particularly in the more open areas, with less trees / scrub and where sedge was dominant. I did however find a feeding sign as far east as the fence line just before the pub. I’m sure you are very familiar with what the 45º angle cut feeding signs look like, but I have attached a few photos of the ones I found on your land in case of interest”.

Martin Spurrier

Three important environmental initiatives have started, and all hands and eyes are welcome!

They are Flooding, Water Pollution and the encouragement of Water Voles and other wildlife along the Limb Brook. We shall report on water voles (and Forest Restoration) in due course, but while work on the other two has just started, here is an update and a call for help from anyone who might like to be involved. Much more will follow in the months and years ahead.

Flooding

This is a recurring problem in South Leigh and it has multiple causes. These range from inadequate drainage to blocked drains and seriously overgrown and congested streams. While the problem goes far beyond our Parish, it certainly starts in it because so does the Limb Brook. There are steps that we can take locally to help, but first we need to understand the problem.

Parish Councillor, Lysette Nicholls, has taken this long-term project in hand and, with others, has been researching the Limb Brook and other areas where run off causes problems - most of which end up in the Limb Brook.

Lysette has been in contact with our County Councillor highlighting the flooding issues and has drafted an in depth email with photos which has been escalated to Oxfordshire County Council to get them to look at issues that are directly under their remit. The areas highlighted include High Cogges, the pipe inlets on Chapel Road near Shuttles Cottage, the pipe inlets by The Mason Arms and where the Limb Brook passes under the road on the Barnard Gate Road through to Station Road.

Thames Water is also going to be contacted in regards to the brook in Lymbrook Close once further investigations have been completed in regards to pollution.

Flooding, Limb Brook Pollution

Like flooding, water pollution is a serious and long-term problem that we believe has increased over the years and must now be assessed and addressed. Again, we must understand it, but what we already know is that it starts in our Parish. Why? Because, like noted above, the Limb Brook starts in our Parish. Also, as above, we need help!

The pollution in the Limb Brook is there for us all to see. Murky water, thick brownish foam, even a smell. With polluted water, the whole natural cycle suffers - plant life, water-borne life and other animals all of which live, or would like to live, along the banks or in the stream.

Here, Parish Councillor, Graham Soame, has been making vital early steps and has formed a close alliance with similarly concerned people in Eynsham and the Eynsham Nature Recovery Network.

The Preliminary Plan

Initial tests have been done and Lymbrook Close resident, Rita Sawrey-Woodwards, has brought her invaluable knowledge as a bio-chemist to the task to help us understand what the results mean and how to go forward. She has recommended a programme that is this, in brief:

1. Map the course of the Limb Brook and its source. This has been done.
2. Identify land use / industrial use / possible sewage sources along the brook.
3. Start chemical water testing to identify the pollutant(s).
4. Start regular fauna / flora observation.
The above schedule of activity would be monthly for a year in order to cover the farming and climate cycle and to see 'patterns'. Then:

5. Collate, quantify, analyse and understand the data.
6. Understand what levels are acceptable/liaise with local and national bodies.
7. Approach possible polluters to make changes of practice.

This process will continue until the pollution itself can be eliminated at which point the re-wilding can be started. As noted, this is a long-term initiative and supporters are most welcome to help build the data and clean up what was in living memory, a natural haven for wild life.

Martin Spurrier (February 2021)

Certainly, it was pretty cold in South Leigh in February, this year.

The annual Bond’s Lane winter lake at the crossways froze solid with 30mm of ice (below, left) and ornamental troughs in the village struggled to keep going (below, right).

We don’t have a weather station here, but the maximum / minimum thermometer in my sheltered carport read just above -5 C (right).

The coldest winter on record in the UK, according to dailyinfo.co.uk, was 1962-3, with a mean temperature of -1.0°C. This was also the snowiest winter on record, with 67 days of snow cover.

The coldest day on record was 27th January 1776 with a midday maximum of -8°C. On this day, Dr. Hornsby, who kept these early recordings, was moved to add a personal note to his meteorological journal: "Wine keg froze in study!" More recently, on 13th January 1982, the mercury failed to rise above -7.1°C. Dogs on ice

The Met. Office reported that, nationally, January this year was the coldest the UK has seen in 10 years. The average temperature was 2.2C. This made it the coldest January since 2010, when the average was 0.9C. The coldest January on record, according to Sky News, was in 1963, when conditions averaged -1.9C.

February, this year, got even colder. On 11th the Met. Office reported that the overnight temperature at the weather station at Braemar dropped to -23.0°C, one of three stations in the UK to dip below minus 20.0°C.

Martin Spurrier, March 2021