Tales from The Council of All Beings – Part II
NLOW held our first ‘Council of All Beings’ meeting in September at Kingfisher’s Bridge Nature Reserve, leaving participants genuinely illuminated and inspired.
Tracey Graves
David Bradley
Sandra Ortuño, Shepreth Wildlife ParkDelivered by
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Tales from The Council of All Beings – Part I
NLOW held our first ‘Council of All Beings’ meeting in September at Kingfisher’s Bridge Nature Reserve, leaving participants genuinely illuminated and inspired.
Blog Post: A bad year for Butterflies – but opportunities ahead
If you were asked to close your eyes and imagine a warm summer’s day in the UK, the picture in your mind’s eye may very well include the flutter of butterflies, dancing from flower to flower. Sadly for many of us this year, imaginary butterflies may have been the only ones we’ve seen. The results from the 2024 Big Butterfly Count are in, and things are not looking good.
Over three weeks in July and August this year, more than 85,000 citizen scientists counted the species and number of butterflies and day flying moths they saw in a 15-minute period across gardens, parks, schools and other green spaces. Whilst public engagement with the project flourishes, the average number of butterflies spotted per count is down by almost 50% compared to last year — from 12 in 2023, to just 7 in 2024. What’s more, 9000 counts recorded no butterflies at all, which is the greatest number of ‘zero’ counts in the 14 year history of the project.
This sharp decline in numbers is most likely linked to the very wet spring and the late arrival of the summer heat this year, but extraordinary circumstances aside, these results are well in keeping with the general trend of falling butterfly and moths numbers seen in the UK. As the climate changes, and weather patterns shift, UK species will almost certainly continue to struggle. Throw in the continued use of butterfly-killing neonicotinoid pesticides, and it’s no surprise that the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation has declared a ‘Butterfly Emergency’.
But all hope is not lost!
Whilst 2024 has undoubtedly been bad for butterflies, there are things that we can all do to help turn things around next year. Gardening for butterflies and moths at home or in you local community is remarkably simple and rewarding: growing nectar-rich flowers, caterpillar foodplants and leaving even relatively small areas uncut and unkept to provide habitat throughout the year can go a long way to supporting butterflies, moths and a whole range of other invertebrate species.
You might consider signing the petition written by Butterfly Conservation calling for the government to declare a nature emergency and to ban the use of neonicotinoids under all circumstances, and even go one step further and write to your local MP directly, asking them to prioritise nature and take steps to help reverse the decline of butterflies in the UK.
Of course, another thing to do is to sign up for the ‘Big Butterfly Count 2025’ and help to collect the crucial data needed to keep track of butterflies and day flying moths in the UK. We’ve got all our fingers crossed for a bounce back next year!
You can find our full list of news content here.
A real buzz at Over ‘Open for Nature’ day
New Life on the Old West rounded off our Open for Nature days for 2024 at Over village green on the 17th of August.
We were thrilled to be joined by so many visitors on what was a wonderfully sunny day, and we really enjoyed the laid back and happy atmosphere created by all who stopped by to get involved.
We were fortunate to be joined by a number of stalls and experts who had made our Open for Nature day in Little Thetford such a success the week before, as well as a number of others this week: The Wildlife Trust BCN, RSPB, Operation Turtle Dove, Ely Nature Friendly Farming Zone and the team from the agroecological Briar Farm in Willingham all added to what was a really wild buzz!
Slightly further afield, a group led by wildlife guide David Chandler spent the morning strolling along the ditches of RSPB Ouse Fen spotting and learning about damselflies and dragonflies, which then proved to be excellent inspiration for some of the stunning images produced by those who took part in the printmaking workshop with local artist Sherry Rea. It was absolutely amazing to see so much talent on show, and really highlighted the beauty to be found in nature!
With huge thanks to all those who helped to put on the day, and to everyone who came along and got involved (special mention to anyone who played our ‘Otter Steals Fish’ game!). We had a blast and we hope that you did too.
With best, wild wishes until we do it all again next year,
Karen and Tate
Little Thetford ‘Open for Nature’ day Success
New life on the Old West hosted the first of their two annual ‘Open for Nature’ days last week at Little Thetford Village Hall, and the adjacent recreation ground.
From getting up close and personal with moths, searching for damsel and dragonflies and investigating the language of animal track and sign, there was plenty of activities for all ages to get involved with. There was also plenty of opportunity to find out more about the work the project conduct, with East Cambs Climate Action Network taking part in the event.
There was plenty of opportunity to think about how and why “We ‘Otter’ Connect” with nature in our local landscape as we marked wildlife sightings and interactions on our giant map, as well as lots of fun and laughs playing our “Otter Steals Fish” game, with participants winning a limited edition pin badge!
NLOW will be in Over, on the village green, from 11am-3pm on 17 August 2024 hosting their second ‘Open for Nature’ event. Additionally, there will be a ‘Dragons and Damsels’ walk at RSPB Ouse Fen with David Chandler, local wildlife guide, from 10am-12pm. You can book your place here. These aerial acrobats should provide you with the best inspiration for a print-making workshop with local artist Sherry Rea in Over Pavilion on the same day. You can book your place here.
Keep an eye out on future news and events by following us on social media below.
Migrating warblers
Photo: Sedge warbler at RSPB Ouse Fen by Tracey Graves – a shortlisted entry to our Summer Photography Competition.
As the migratory warblers head back to warmer climes, we look back at the warblers we’ve seen and heard in the NLOW project area this spring and summer.
This spring and summer we have been lucky to hear and see a range of warblers in the New Life on the Old West project area. We’ve heard chiffchaffs signing along the Aldreth causeway in April and spotted sedge warblers and willow warblers at RSPB Ouse Fen on one of our birdwatching for beginners walks with local wildlife guide David Chandler. On a guided walk with Nick Davies in June, we got to see up close a reed warbler chick as well as eggs in a reed warbler nest, which had managed to escape parasitism by cuckoos so far!
Some species of warbler are resident in the UK and can be seen all year round. However, the majority arrive in early spring and migrate back to warmer climes in late August or September. Below are some of the warblers you might have seen or heard in the NLOW patch this summer.
Reed warbler
Usually arriving in mid-April, the reed warbler is a plain brown, medium-sized warbler, with a pale throat and a short, pale stripe in front of the eye. The reedbeds of the Cambridgeshire fens provide an ideal habitat for the species. It has a complex song with many phrases and a distinctive monotonous call. It begins its migration in early autumn some 5,000 km back to West Africa.
A reed warbler nest – a beautifully constructed deep cup!
Sedge warbler
A small, plump warbler, similar in size to a great tit, it is largely brown with blackish streaks on its’ mantle (upper back plumage), a blackish cap and a distinctive cream supercilium (stripe above the eye). It often has a lively song and rarely repeats the same phrase twice. One of the easier warblers to spot, you may see one perched atop a reed stem. Males may also be seen performing elaborate display flights. It is also a summer visitor, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
Grasshopper warbler
Another small summer migrant, unsurprisingly this warbler has a high-pitched, insect-like trilling song much like a grasshopper. It is secretive and rarely seen, and the movement of its head during calling makes it even trickier to pinpoint its location. It is now a Red List species having declined in population significantly in recent years.
Cetti’s warbler
Resident all year round, this is a species that you’re also much more likely to hear than see. They have a distinctive loud and fast song. They like wetland habitats with dense reed cover, so the wet Fens are perfect for them. Although they are most likely to be heard during the breeding season, you may hear snatches of song in winter.
Chiffchaff
A small olive-brown warbler, so named because of its repetitive “chiff chaff” call. It can be seen all year round but most arrive in the spring. It will often flit between trees and shrubs, with a distinctive, quick tail-wagging movement.
Willow warbler
Very much like the chiffchaff in habits and appearance, it can be distinguished by its song. The legs of a willow warbler also tend to be lighter than those of a chiffchaff. They tend to leave the UK quite early between July and September to spend the winter in Africa, south of the Sahara.
Blackcap
Males of this species have a black cap, whereas females have a chestnut brown one. Their song can be confused with the garden warbler but is louder, higher and shorter. It is a summer visitor but they are increasingly choosing to overwinter in the UK. Scientists are predicting that as the UK experiences milder winters due to climate change, more warblers will spend their winters here.
Garden warbler
A secretive summer visitor, it is fairly inconspicuous with its plain, brown plumage. It prefers dense scrub understorey and woodland edges – not so much gardens as its name might suggest! Its song is a beautiful low warble, longer and sweeter, though similar, to that of the blackcap.
Whitethroat
Another summer visitor that may be distinguished from other warblers by its conspicuous white throat, which is especially noticeable when it swells when the bird is singing. It can be found in hedgerows and scrubland. Its song is a short, harsh warble, often sung excitedly as the bird flutters up from a hedge and drops back sharply into it again.
To listen to the different species’ songs and calls, you can find them on https://xeno-canto.org/
Why not take a walk in the NLOW project area and let us know if you see or hear any warblers that are still about?
Take a bird guide out with you, such as this one, download the Merlin app on your smartphone to help with identifying by calls and songs, or use xeno-canto to help with ID.
We love receiving your records and we’ll submit them to CPERC (the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre) to contribute to building a better understanding of biodiversity in the area.
You can email us at info@newlifeoldwest.org.uk or tag us on social media @newlifeoldwest #newlifeoldwest
Wildlife-friendly activities for Autumn
Nights are getting darker, the temperatures are dropping but there is still so much going on in the wild in our Cambridgeshire Fens. As the seasons change, get outside and enjoy a journey of discovery as our countryside prepares for winter. Here’s some inspiration and don’t forget to share photographs and stories with us via info@newlifeoldwest.org.uk or on social media with the hashtag #NewLifeOldWest.
- Take a stroll surrounded by colour, spot wildlife and connect with nature at a National Trust location. It’s free to experience the awe of the season thanks to a free, single-use pass that can be used between 18 September and 20 October 2023. The pass allows free entry for two adults and up to three children, one adult and up to four children, or two adults on their own.
- We’re big fans of hedgehogs and Autumn is the perfect time to make your garden hedgehog friendly. Create an awesome hibernation site for these prickly gardeners’ friends. They love piles of leaves or logs, or you could build a hedgehog house. Download our special hedgehog information sheet from our website for help.
- The first migratory birds are arriving in Cambridgeshire to enjoy winter with us. Why not visit WWT Welney near Wisbech to see what you can spot. They have an open day on Sunday 24th September and lots of other autumnal activities on site including wetland walks with guides. Families may like to visit during October half term for their eek! week – an interactive trail where you can discover the eek!citing and mysterious world of wetland nature.
Candlesnuff fungus, also known as ‘Stag’s Horn’
- Are you a fungi fan? Weird and wonderful fungi may be found in woodlands at this time of year. Look out for the purple glow of amethyst deceiver, the enchanting red caps of fly agaric, and the white antler-like fruiting bodies of candlesnuff fungi. Remember, look but don’t touch – they could be poisonous. Find out more about fungi and lichens with the Woodland Trust.
- Secret spot – Chippenham Fen. Chippenham Fen NNR is one of the best remaining areas of undrained, semi-natural fen in Europe. Due to its many different wetland habitats, it is home to a variety of wildlife, including snipe, woodcock and several hundred different moth species. A great place to visit on your own or join us for a guided walk with a Natural England guide on 10th November.
- Can you spot the signs of autumn? Visit the NLOW website to download our ID sheets for hedgerow berries, nuts, and leaves. Keep a record of what you spot and share photos of what you’ve found on social media using the hashtag #NewLifeOldWest so we can see too!
- Feed the birds with an apple feeder. Apples are plentiful at this time of year so use this super food to create a bird feeder. It’s simple to make and the birds will love it! Details are here courtesy of the RSPB.
- Have you visited RSPB Ouse Fen recently? Autumn arrivals and departures include wigeons, teals and lapwing gathering in large flocks on the riverside meadows. Look out for great white egrets, little egrets and cattle egrets; can you tell the difference between them? Redwings and fieldfares will also be arriving in Autumn to escape the colder winter in Scandinavia for berried hedgerows and worm-rich fields.
- Help us to monitor some of our habitat enhancement works at our NLOW sites. See our habitat monitoring and recording wildlife guides for details and let us know what wildlife you see by emailing info@newlifeoldwest.org.uk or submitting records via our data log. Citizen science is so important for our project and we appreciate all the records that we receive.
There you have it – nine wonderful places and activities to enjoy outdoors this autumn. Do let us know where you go and what you see – we love hearing from you!
Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, New Life on the Old West (NLOW) is a programme delivering small-scale habitat improvements across the Cambridgeshire Fens, important strongholds for rare and threatened species.
If you’d like to become a volunteer doing something as simple as counting wildlife spotted on a monthly walk or supporting community activities, do get in touch via info@newlifeoldwest.org.uk
Summer photography competition winners
We love that so many of you enjoy the Old West River and the surrounding countryside and villages as much as we do. We received so many wonderful photographs for our summer photography competition, all taken in our project area in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Judging the competition was a difficult task. After much deliberation alongside our partners Keystone Marketing, we chose photographs that we felt captured the wildlife of the Fens – but we could have chosen so many images. Well done to our winners who will enjoy RSPB memberships for a year.
Take a look at just a few of the entries to our competition and choose your own winner. Which one will it be?
The Winners
Under 18s category – congratulations to Alfred
This image of a Ruddy Darter dragonfly (Sympetrum sanguineum) was taken at a NLOW Dragonfly Workshop at RSPB Ouse Fen on 10th August, 2023
The Ruddy Darter favours shallow water with lots of emergent vegetation. Away from the water, the dragonfly usually perches in a tree or bush facing out over open space where they can scan for prey or rivals.
Adults category – congratulations to David Bradley
The Green Hairstreak butterfly (Callophrys rubi) was captured on camera in Les King Wood in Cottenham over the summer, 2023.
The UK’s only truly green butterfly has a vibrant metallic sheen on the undersides of its wings. It can be tricky to spot as it is a small, fairly shy butterfly, can be well camouflaged, and often occurs in small colonies.
Our other favourite entries include:
Hobby catching a mayfly in flight at Wicken Fen by Simon Stirrup
Sedge warbler at RSPB Ouse Fen by Tracey Graves
Mayfly at Wicken Fen by Guy Pilkington
Brimstone butterfly in Aldreth by Laura Burgess
Sunset over Old West River, Aldreth by Simon Stirrup
Little owl at Burwell Fen by Kevin Pigney
RSPB Ouse Fen by Roger James
Chinese water deer at RSPB Ouse Fen by Andrew Hoy
Young tawny owl in Willingham by Tracey Graves
Roesel’s bush-cricket in Aldreth by Laura Burgess
Newborn Konik pony at Wicken Fen by Simon Stirrup
Dragonfly in Wilburton by Annalise (under 18s entrant)
Scarce chaser dragonfly at RSPB Ouse Fen by Christopher Hughes
Old West River, near pumping station, Aldreth by Simon Stirrup
Damselfly at RSPB Ouse Fen by Roger James
Reed bunting with spider at RSPB Ouse Fen by Tracey Graves
Thank you to everyone who entered. We simply love all the entries!
Shepreth’s Scottish wildcats
By Olivia Boult (NLOW Natural Heritage & Communities Officer)
Once widespread throughout mainland Britain, Scottish wildcats are now one of Britain’s rarest and most threatened mammals, confined to the Scottish highlands. Known as the tiger of the Highlands, there are fewer Scottish wildcats than there are tigers in the wild, with some estimates as low as 35 individuals. Saving Wildcats is a project led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) aiming to prevent the extinction of Scottish wildcats in Scotland by releasing captive-bred wildcats back into the wild.
Shepreth Wildlife Park in Cambridgeshire is involved in the project and last month I went along to see the four new wildcat kittens that were born there in April.
I met with one of the keepers, Alice, who kindly told me about their involvement in the breeding programme. The kittens were at an age where they were boldly clambering around their cage and though they look quite similar to domestic cats, watching the adults hiss as they were being fed confirmed their wildness! The kittens are the first of their species to be born at Shepreth and the second most endangered animal that the park looks after.
A sub-species of the European wildcat, Scottish wildcats are solitary and largely nocturnal, patrolling up to 10km a night to hunt through a range of habitats including woodland and open moorland. They are a shy and elusive species – the kittens especially so to avoid being predated by predators such as golden eagles.
Though they look similar, Scottish wildcats are a different species to our domestic cats. They have stockier bodies, bushier tails and wider jaws for eating prey, which consists mostly of rabbits and rodents. However, one of the threats to their survival is interbreeding with domesticated cats. If the wildcats have any white on them, it’s one sign that they have some domestic cat in them. To be involved in the Saving Wildcats breeding programme, the cats have to be 75% or more true Scottish wildcat. David Barclay, ex-situ conservation manager at Saving Wildcats, investigated which organisations and people held captive wildcats in the UK. Sequencing and analysis of these cats’ DNA was then used to carefully determine which wildcats had hybridised with domestic cats in their past and which wildcats could be used in the breeding programme.
The parents of the kittens at Shepreth (Canna and Raymond) were found to be sufficiently true Scottish wildcat to be involved in the breeding programme. Their kittens could be released into the wild in the Scottish Highlands next year or be used for future breeding and release efforts. The kittens were sexed and microchipped in July and David Barclay will decide where they should go.
Canna. Image taken by Sandra Ortuño, Shepreth Wildlife Park.
Raymond. Image taken by Sandra Ortuño, Shepreth Wildlife Park.
It is possible that the kittens could have a similar future to the 22 cats which were born in 2022 and released into undisclosed locations in the Cairngorms National Park in June earlier this year. Approved under a licence by NatureScot, this is the first year that the project has begun releasing wildcats and it follows several years of extreme preparation. The project plans to release up to 60 cats into the wild over the next three years. Starting with a soft release, the cats are initially put into a pre-release enclosure with an open top and large mesh, so birds, rats and mice can make their way into the cage and the cats can practice hunting before they are fully released into the wild. The enclosures also minimise the cats’ exposure to humans and disturbance.
The project is working closely with the local community, gamekeepers and landowners and has been carrying out a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return programme of feral domestic cats to mitigate the threat posed to the wildcats by hybridisation. The wildcats that have been released into the Cairngorms legally protected habitat have also been fitted with GPS-radio-collars so their movements can be tracked and analysed.
In addition to the dilution of Scottish wildcats’ genes through interbreeding with domestic cats, other threats to Scottish wildcats include persecution and habitat loss and fragmentation. Only with projects such as Saving Wildcats and support from the local community, can there be hope that the Scottish wildcat population may become viable again.
It’s great to see somewhere local in Cambridgeshire helping to bring these cats back from the brink. Shepreth Wildlife Park has historically been involved in similar projects, such as red squirrel and polecat breeding programmes, and has a hedgehog hospital and rehabilitation programme.
To find out more about the Saving Wildcats project and how you can help, and to watch some videos of the kittens soon after they were born, follow these links:
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=294848046205307
www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/reintroductions-key-species/key-species/wildcat
Image copyright Sandra Ortuño, Shepreth Wildlife Park.
Terrific tansy beetles
By Olivia Boult (NLOW Natural Heritage & Communities Officer)
Iridescent, jewel-like and shiny, tansy beetles (Chrysolina graminis) are a leaf beetle about 1cm long found beside riverbanks or in wetlands. They were once widespread across the UK, however are now currently endangered, not just in the UK but worldwide. They are only found in three locations across the UK: along the River Ouse in York and at Woodwalton Fen NNR and WWT Welney in Cambridgeshire. They were thought to be extinct in the East Anglia Fens, until rediscovered in 2014.
As part of the New Life on the Old West (NLOW) project, we were invited to help Natural England staff survey their tansy beetle population at Woodwalton Fen. I went along with a few NLOW volunteers and other Natural England volunteers to help. Coincidentally being in York the day before, I also visited the River Ouse population. The ecology of the populations differs, which I’ll mention below.
Monitoring involves walking through suitable habitat and recording the number of beetles spotted, their location and what plant they are found on. At Woodwalton Fen, they are still researching the beetles’ preferred food plants but they have been found feeding on: water mint (Mentha aquatica), gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus), hemp-nettle (Galeopsis bifida) and marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris). Whilst walking the transects, we were looking out for signs of nibbling on these plants. Our success in finding the beetles reflected the fact they are scarce but we found a few (nearly all on reeds above clumps of water mint). The transects and recording effort are used as a proxy for how many beetles are present at the site.
Tansy beetles found near clumps of water mint at Woodwalton Fen. The beetles were much easier to spot in the sun as they caught the light. You can see why the Victorians used their wing cases as sequins!
Woodwalton’s resident ponies helping with the surveying!
In York, the beetles contrastingly feed almost exclusively on tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), which is how the beetles got their name. Tansy is a distinctive yellow plant and when looking for clumps of it along the river, it didn’t take long to spot it and hundreds of tansy beetles! Because the beetles are found along stretches of the River Ouse, surveying them is much easier and counting them is possible without causing damage to their habitat. It’s therefore simpler to get an accurate estimate of their abundance than in the Fens.
Tansy beetle on the tansy plant.
More hope for next year’s population!
In the York population, the beetles spend their entire lifecycle on and around tansy. Adults feed, mate and lay eggs around the tops of tansy plants from April until June. Eggs are laid on the underneath of the tansy leaves or surrounding plants and hatch between May and June into larvae. The larvae feed on the tansy leaves and then burrow underground at the base of the tansy plant until the pupae hatch in mid-July and can be seen again on the tansy plants until September. The beetles then burrow underground and spend the winter there until emerging again as adults in April.
In the East Anglian Fens population, how adults overwinter is less certain. The winter water table is often at or above ground level, and flooding (which is a known threat to the beetles) can be a common occurrence, so it’s perhaps less likely that the beetles burrow deep into the soil during the winter like the York population do. Further research is needed!
The severely restricted range and declining distribution of tansy beetles is a result of threats such as loss of their food plants, summer flooding, mowing of riverbanks, reduction in suitable wetland habitat, and invasive species, such as Himalayan balsam outcompeting native tansy plants. Even though the beetles have wings, they don’t seem to fly and are only capable of walking up to 200m – as such, ensuring there are regular pockets of their foodplants is so important. The beetle is now a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) priority species, meaning that public bodies have a duty to protect it, together with its habitat.
Attempts at reintroducing the tansy beetles to other areas, such as at Wicken Fen, haven’t been successful so far. Nevertheless, there is hope that the beetles are resilient enough to recover if given appropriate habitat conditions. The beetles were thought to have gone extinct at Woodwalton Fen in 1973 when they were last recorded at the site, but their rediscovery in 2014, and at WWT Welney in 2018, gives hope. More research into their ecology will be invaluable.
Many thanks to Natural England for letting us help with one of their surveys!
Tansy beetle street art by York train station to raise awareness of this nationally scarce species.