Gardens

GARDENS OF THE PARISH

A lot of people have chosen to live in Wool because it is a rural parish.
This means that gardens are often a reasonable size and abut wilder areas.
If the gardens have plenty of shrubs and trees, possibly a pond, and are not
too manicured, this can result in a wealth of wildlife being recorded on the
doorstep.

Birds are possibly highest on the list of records, but one person has a
regular fox visitor, from the wood opposite where they live, who enjoys a
nightly feed of Complete dog food and one night showed his true allegiance
with Europe by enjoying a spaghetti meal! The delight of seeing two Sika
deer rutting with on looking females may be offset by incursions on roses!
Hedgehogs are common in many gardens in this Parish as are the not always
welcome, moles looking for patches of dryer ground to burrow in. Bats roost in some roof spaces in Cologne Road, including the Brown Long-eared bat.

Recently a badger appeared on someone’s doorstep one night, so perhaps we will get them in 8 Acre Coppice in the future. Many gardens all over this
parish have Slow worms and unfortunately these are selected by one domestic cat and brought in time and again. Slow worms are legless lizards and are a protected species. Grass snakes are a feature of gardens where there are large ponds. Seeing them doing their zigzag wriggles swiftly through water is a strange sight. However, one resident had a grim view of one that polished off all the newts in their pond. Luckily this did not happen in the pond in the village where rare Great Crested newts occur, along with the much commoner Palmate and Smooth newts. Yet another resident was terrified by the large animal – up to 120cm – coiled up in a cavity of their pond wall. A picture showing the yellowish underhead and lack of V markings down the body finally convinced them that it was a harmless Grass snake, not an Adder – and saved its life! Adders do occur on sunny dry banks of gardens, particularly in the north of the parish. Usually they slip away at the first sign of human approach. All British reptiles are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is illegal to kill them.

The Wool stream running through the village introduces ever more rarities
into the centre of the village. On one occasion a resident sitting at home
observed a Water Rail, with its distinctive red curved bill and slate grey
underparts, walking along on its long legs carefully lifting its individually webbed feet out of the water. Reports here have been made of Water vole both in the Wool and Bovington streams where both run through some gardens. The Bovington stream has Stoneloach, Minnows and Eels in it, so it is used occasionally by Kingfishers. The strange loud hard call of ‘cheekee’, usually only performed two or three times followed by an electric blue flash above the stream, is magic. However, when Kingfishers and a Grey Heron visit fish ponds in the area they are not always so welcome - although
in the garden of one keen naturalist a pond is stocked to encourage visits
and, in yet another, a perching post is erected across the pond. In this
garden frogs,Grass snakes, House Sparrows, Bullfinches, Siskins – 20 at a
time – Goldfinches, Willow Warblers, Bramblings are all seen. Insects
include the dramatic Convolvulus Hawk moth, photographed by the delighted
observer, plus Golden-ringed dragonflies and the Four-spotted Chaser
dragonfly. The two latter species are visitors from boggy heathland behind
the property. A third boggy heathland species is added to the list in a
garden not far away – the Keeled Skimmer. This has a wide flat abdomen and the male is coloured Air Force blue.

In this garden, where Goldcrests visit along with frequent woodland birds –
Nuthatches, Tree Creepers and Long-tailed Tits in numbers - the declining
red alert Marsh Tit visits regularly. There are two pairs showing an increase over the last 2 to 3 years, possibly due to selective peanut feeding. They actually come for individually thrown nuts! The Long-tailed Tits particularly like to swing on the very lightest Silver Birch twigs, taking over the bird table looking like miniature zebras but with lovely pink/buff fronts. Fine grated peanuts and porridge encourage these, rather than the ubiquitous Chaffinches where there are always hangers-on, never a solitary pair. Thrushes also enjoy porridge – perhaps it is rather like snails! However a few doors away they come to crumbled brown bread. This is much better for birds than white bread. Here Greater-spotted Woodpeckers come daily, but not into the former woodland garden. It really seems that species select particular gardens according to their own particular preferences. Over feeding can not only result in disease spreading but also increase the numbers of birds, particularly the more robust commoner species, leading to a decline in numbers of different species. Bullfinches will of course come to eat buds of apple trees – possibly the decline of orchards and fruit tree filled gardens has lead to their decline. So when recently the wonderful cherry pink and black of a male was spotted consuming forsythia buds in the garden, it was counted as a bonus. Normally a pair visit every Spring to eat Forget-me-not seeds. An old oak tree in a garden attracted a Spotted Flycatcher to nest in a fork of its branches. The owner sat underneath it for a week without knowing it was there. However, once the young started chirping the cat also discovered them and, despite desperate fencing efforts and although the youngsters flew, the parents obviously felt it was a stressful season and did not take up residence again. Attentions from a Grey squirrel did not help. They will take eggs and young from a nest. The same oak tree acts as a calling post for Tawny owls, with the ‘twit’ often being answered by a ‘twoo’ from the wood opposite.

Many Cologne Road residents look forward to June to hear the strange ‘bbrrr’
of the Nightjar, and actually see it resting in the trees, although it breeds on the heath. This year it flew in from Africa in April (2007). Climate change will affect even our garden wildlife and a male and female Blackcap (female chestnut cap) are seen even in winter visiting a bird table in Bovington so, although normally a migrant arriving from Africa in March, they were obviously over-wintering. This garden has 18 different species of birds visiting every day with 12 more coming occasionally, including
Sparrowhawks and Jays which seem to be on the increase. Perhaps this is due to the way our smaller birds are surviving better in winter or due to a
boost in numbers of small bird species such as Blue Tits which can produce
12 eggs at a time!

A garden in the south west of the village reports Green Woodpeckers,
Fieldfare and the Yellow Wagtail – a water-loving species. Also Swallows
and House Martins are frequently recorded. These are reported from several
houses, mainly south of the River Frome that they obviously use as good
insect hunting habitat. Martins nest in the eaves of a house in Chalk Pit
Lane and Swallows nest in the porch of the House of God – Holy Rood – and
occasionally attend service!

Every garden should have a toad. They eat slugs amongst other things and
therefore save on other deterrents, some of which are bad for wildlife.
Many gardens in Wool are proud possessors. One toad insists on positioning itself on the front door step, occasionally shocking unprepared visitors. They possibly get a bonus from insects attracted to an outside lamp.

Many moths have been recorded on a light trap here. Over 90 in all have been recorded visiting one garden. Unlike lichens they have English names and wonderful ones at that. Often they are descriptive as in the Small Emerald, the Magpie moth and the Yellow Tail. The latter feeds on Hawthorn in the garden as does the large orange/brown Oak Eggar. Many feed on trees, particularly willow-sallow, such as the Chocolate Tip and the Sallow Kitten. Keeping feline, the furry-looking Puss moth is yet another Willow feeder. The Privet Hawk moth is a very dramatic one both in the adult, when it has pink stripes on the abdomen and hind wings, and the caterpillar, which is bright green with purple and white stripes. Other wonderful names include Maiden’s Blush with pink smudges on the wings and the Setaceous Hebrew Character with writing-like squiggles. The Grey Dagger also has its dagger feature as does the Double Kidney with four kidneys on its wings. This is also a Willow feeder and is a nationally notable species, as is the Festoon. The Broad-bordered Bee Hawk feeds on honeysuckle and looks rather like a bee. Perhaps the most curious name is the Uncertain! The best named is the Lobster moth but here it is not the adult which earns its name but the caterpillar which, when it nearly fell in an early morning teacup taken al fresco by the writer, gave quite a shock as it really does look like a lobster, although more the size of a prawn!

In Spring it is good to be able to record first sightings of the large
lemon-yellow Brimstone butterfly or the Holly Blue or Orange Tip. One waits for Autumn to see Commas visiting fallen fruit in large numbers along with Hornets – gentle giants compared with Wasps. The Orange Tip uses Cuckoo flowers, also named Lady’s Smock, for a food plant for their caterpillars. (We can use the leaves as a substitute for cress in egg and cress sandwiches). One garden, along with others left semi-wild to the
north of Cologne Road, acts as a veritable nature reserve. The untreated
grass only cut occasionally produces Cuckoo flowers. A variety of birds are
found in this garden, including Wrens, which love hedges especially when not too frequently cut, and Green Woodpeckers that enjoy the rough grass looking for ants. One lawn also in this area on drier soil is blue with the Common Dog Violet in Spring. This elderly enjoys counting and watching the numerous Bumble bees that visit her Lavender bush. Another elderly lady has her garden transformed in the Autumn. A picture book view appears of a ring of the red-spotted toadstool, the Fly Agaric. This fungus is linked with Silver Birch trees that occur in this garden. Two other trees, the Holly
and the Alder Buckthorn, both trees of wetter areas, are food plants to the
Holly Blue and Brimstone butterflies mentioned above.