LWVP Events in 2020

2019 has been as busy as ever for the Lower Windrush Valley Project, and we're already looking forward to next year's events!

Winter Wildlife Talks

We're delighted to be joined by three wildlife experts in the early months of next year

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - Sunday 26^th January, 12-1.30pm
Come and join us as we throw open the doors of the hide at Rushy Common nature reserve to participate in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch. For one hour we’ll count the total number of each species we see. The data will help identify not only the species using the site but will help establish trends and determine just how the birds and wildlife are doing.

You’ll also be able to learn more about the Lower Windrush Valley Project and how we look after the nature reserve. New and inexperienced birders especially welcome. Be part of the world’s largest wildlife survey and help count the wildlife that’s counting on us!

Getting here: The Rushy Common car park is on Cogges Lane, a single-track road that runs from Cogges to Stanton Harcourt. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is SP 381 074 and the nearest post code is OX29 6UJ.

https://www.facebook.com/events/457533748481459/

More events to come later in the year...

We will also be running our popular Gill Mill Quarry tour later in the year, so look out for emails with information on signing up in the spring, as well as other events that we'll be putting on later in the year!

LWVP Forum 2019 - Roman settlements and little mammoths

We had a fantastic turn out for our annual forum event, which took place at Standlake Village Hall on 25^th November. 

We started by giving an overview of what’s been going on with the Lower Windrush Valley Project in 2019, giving updates on improved signage at the reserves and paths, wildlife surveys for water voles, reptiles, birds, events we've put on and attended, and what we’ve got planned for 2020. We also displayed the maps created by the Thames Valley Environmental Record Centre which show all of the habitats across our project area.

 

This year we had a local history theme to the forum – gravel extraction works have given researchers a unique opportunity to reveal some fascinating secrets of what used to happen in the project area.

Paul Smith, the recently retired director of Oxford Archaeology first talked about the settlements uncovered at Dix Pit. As well as Iron Age ring barrows, both early Roman and middle Roman features have been discovered, with a road running though the site. The settlement is thought to have had an unusual focus on raising cattle - this is suggested based on the layout of the road and buildings, with only a few domestic buildings present and the presences of artefacts such as the spoke of a wheel that cattle would likely have pulled. Various other small objects have also been found during the dig, including shrines, carved figures, gemstones and over a thousand coins.

Dr Kate Scott from the University of Oxford then spoke about the prehistoric mammals that used to roam across Oxfordshire. Excavations at Stanton Harcourt revealed that a previous course of the River Thames flowed through the area several thousand years ago. Over a thousand bones from mammals that were drawn to the river, including lions, bears, wolves and mammoth, have been found, as well as well preserved vegetation and molluscs. Mammoths made up the majority of the finds, with over 50 tusks excavated, many of which were complete – interestingly these are not the larger woolly mammoths that were adapted to cold environments, but instead are smaller steppe mammoths that were found on grassy plains.  

Many thanks to our speakers for such fascinating talks.

We are so grateful for the continued support from our volunteers, whether coming to our work parties, helping out at our events, surveying for wildlife or doing admin and research at our office. We hope 2020 will be an even bigger year for our project, and we look forward to seeing you all then!

Building a Bug B&B at Rushy Common

Families and volunteers gathered this week to help build a bug ‘B&B’ at Rushy Common. Habitats like this are important for overwintering insects such as woodlice, ladybirds, beetles and bees which hibernate in sheltered places. Tree holes, leaf litter, and under logs and rocks are common lodgings for overwintering adult insects.

Pallets were sourced free from a local garden centre, which acted as the frame and structure for the B&B. The pallets were stacked underneath the bird feeders next to the bird hide, and bricks were placed in between to give height to the gaps for materials. 

Building up the first few layers

Volunteers Denis and Chris put their conservation work party skills to good use by sawing up deadwood and trees blown over by recent winds to create logs and branches that were placed in the bug hotel by the children. Families also brought their own branches from their garden, and broken pottery bits to give some colour and solid shelter to the B&B’s gaps. Chris also brought along logs from his garden that already had some holes filled by nesting solitary bees.



Sawing up a fallen tree

Adding branches and logs with solitary bees

Filling the top layers

Moss was gathered from the gravel shore of the lake, to stuff gaps in the logs and branches. Bamboo canes were also cut up and placed between the pallets. As deadwood was collected from the surrounding scrub habitat, unsuspecting worms and woodlice were ‘moved in’ to the hotel as its first residents!

The B&B was finished off with a Lower Windrush Valley Project sign. Visit the Rushy Common bird hide to have a look at our new habitat feature

 Mini bee hotels were also created by the children to take home and put in their gardens. This is a great way of recycling plastic bottles, whilst creating homes for beetles and solitary bees. For more information on how to create a bug B&B, visit the RSPB’s website - https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/kids--schools/teaching-resources/make-a-bee-house.pdf

 

How can you help insects in your garden?

• Make a bug hotel using bamboo canes – these are easy to make using a plastic bottle, milk carton or pot
• Plant wildflowers, or spread wildflower seeds for our native pollinators
• Create a pond – even a small pond made from a washing up bowl can help insects, as a whole new ecosystem is created for them to forage in and drink from
• Stop using pesticides on your plants – these don’t just cause damage to garden pests, but insects that aren’t the targets such as bees are also affected
• Keep your garden ‘untidy’ – leaving grass to grow a little longer and allowing flowers such as daisies and dandelions to grow create small stepping stones that pollinators can forage on – and it’s a great excuse for not mowing the lawn

The Bats of Tar Lakes

On the 16th September, a bat walk was held at Tar Lakes, with a great turnout of people keen to see what wildlife the night sky had to offer. 14 of the UK’s 18 bat species can be found in Oxfordshire – the county’s woodland and hedgerow habitats make it a great place to see a range of different species. The group hoped to collect information on what sort of bats are using the lakes and their surrounding habitats, and find out a bit more about these elusive nocturnal creatures. Using bat detectors that lower the bat’s ultrasonic calls to the range of human hearing, the participants listened in on a number of different bat species as they made their way around the lake complex. Here is what we saw;

Common and soprano pipistrelles

Common pipistrelles Pipistrellus pipistrellus were the most frequently heard bat on the walk. This small species can be found in woodland and urban habitats, making use of holes in trees and buildings to roost in. Their calls sound like fast slaps as they pass by, at a frequency around 45kHz.

A soprano pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus was first bat species spotted on the walk, foraging over a patch of scrub habitat. This species looks and sounds similar to the common pipistrelle, however their calls are pitches higher at 55kHz – as their name would suggest!

Both of these bats were seen flying over scrub and hedgerow habitats, where their insect prey was most abundant – ‘feeding buzzes’ were heard on the detectors as the bats honed in on their prey. Hedgerows are incredibly important for bats, due to their use as navigational tools as they commute from roosting to foraging grounds.

A common pipistrelle bat © Paul van Hoof

Noctule

Noctules Nyctalus noctula are one of the larger bats we have in Oxfordshire – they are associated with woodland habitat, and can occasionally be heard without detectors by children and adults with good hearing, due to their calls sometimes being just low enough for humans to hear at around 20kHz. Noctules were heard several times on the walk, but despite their large size, the group could not spot them in the air as they few rapidly around!

 

Noctule © Branko Karapandza

Daubenton’s bat

A bat that is commonly associated with water habitats is the Daubenton’s bat Myotis daubentonii – this species is seen trawling across rivers and lake with its large hairy feet, catching the midges that hover above the surface. Using high-powered torches, we were treated to a few sightings of this bat foraging across the lake.

Daubenton's bat © Paul van Hoof

Mystery myotids

Bats that are part of the Myotid genus, such as Natterer's bats and Bechstein's bats, are very hard to tell apart using only a bat detector due to their similar sounding calls – they can even be challenging to identify when in the hand! Their rattling call was heard a few times briefly above the hedgerows bordering the lakes, perhaps commuting between roosting and foraging sites.

Other nightlife

The group also spotted some other wildlife whilst on the walk – several common newts and toads were encountered on the northern path around the lake, which narrowly avoided being trodden on at times! A surprisingly large number of devil's coach horse beetle were also seen, with their long black bodies and scorpion-like poses spotted in the grass.

Many thanks to the Oxford Bat Group for lending us their bat detectors for the evening – for more information on the work they’re doing across the county, visit their website - http://www.oxfordshirebats.org/

Thames Water Blitz - Lower Windrush Valley

The 8th Thames Water Blitz took place on 26th - 29th April 2019, involving hundreds of volunteers carrying out quick and easy to use tests for phosphates and nitrates in ponds, lakes, ditches, streams and rivers across the Thames catchment.

The testing can help give a snapshot of water quality across a catchment, raise awareness about nutrient pollution and create data for use by scientists, policy makers, land managers, catchment partnerships and local communities.

LWVP volunteers tested 28 sites across the Lower Windrush, the results are summarised here:

The good news is that these results support the findings of more focused surveys coordinated by LWVP in 2016 and 2017 - lakes and ponds in the Lower Windrush Valley are an important clean water resource. Most are fed by groundwater flowing very slowly through gravel, which helps keep the water clean and free from nutrient pollution, and allow freshwater wildlife to flourish.  The bad news is that, like in most areas of lowland Britain, the majority of streams and rivers suffer serious nutrient pollution.

Full results of the Thames Water Blitz, including those from the Lower Windrush Valley, can be viewed via an interactive map on the Freshwater Watch website: https://freshwaterwatch.thewaterhub.org/totally-thames-water-blitz

Case Studies from the Lower Windrush Valley surveys conducted in 2016 and 2017 can be found on our website here: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/environment-and-planning/countryside/lower-windrush-valley-project/what-we-do

Protecting Water Voles in the Lower Windrush Valley

Water Voles are Britain’s fastest declining mammal. They have lost a staggering 95% of their range since 1900. 

A Water Vole



Why have Water Vole numbers declined?
Water voles inhabit the edges of ditches, streams and rivers and make their burrows in the soft riverside banks. They feed on the reeds and grasses found nearby. The feeding and burrowing activity of voles creates favourable habitat alongside river edges for other animals and plants such as Kingfishers, who often use Water Vole excavations for nests. The impacts of the loss of this habitat on Water Voles is huge, and it has been exacerbated by predation from North American Mink.
The North American Mink is not native to Britain, but they are now widely established throughout the UK, largely due to escapes and releases from Mink farms in the 1950’s. Mink can have a devastating impact on our native fauna, and the decline in Water Vole populations is directly linked to predation by Mink. Mink are successful predators of Water Vole because they can swim well and are small enough to enter Water Vole’s burrows. 

Water Voles in the Lower Windrush

The Lower Windrush is designated as a Local Key Area for Water Voles, and Water Vole presence has slowly extended along both arms of the Lower Windrush Valley since a population were reintroduced in 2005. In fact, the results of the most recent survey, in 2016, found that Water Vole activity was only absent in areas with unsuitable habitat. Of particular good news is that Water Vole activity has been detected in the area immediately above the confluence with the River Thames, linking the Lower Windrush Valley to other Local Key Areas nearby, effectively creating one extensive Local Key Area for Water Voles.




A Water Vole in the Lower Windrush

Mink monitoring and control in the Lower Windrush
Monitoring for the presence and control of Mink is carried out in the Lower Windrush Valley using Mink rafts provided by The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). The rafts have a tray of soft clay, positioned in areas where Mink are likely to be present. The Mink pass across the clay and leave footprints, indicating their presence. Possible Mink prints were recorded in ten different areas of the Lower Windrush Valley during a 2016 survey.



Mink prints on clay from a raft near Standlake


There are currently Mink rafts in the Ducklington area but controlling populations in the lower end of the Windrush is particularly important to reduce the number of Mink travelling upstream from the River Thames.  


New Mink rafts in place!
As of May 2019, a further three Mink rafts are now in place and a new team of volunteers have begun to monitor the rafts on a weekly basis. If Mink prints are identified during monitoring visits, then a trap will be deployed. Once a Mink has been captured, it will be humanely killed following best practise guidelines.


One of the new rafts in position



Volunteers helping to put a new raft in position


Further information
Lower Windrush 2016 Survey Report: https://www2.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/sites/default/files/folders/documents/environmentandplanning/countryside/protectedspecies/WaterVoleUpdate-LowerRiverWindrush2016Report.pdf
Lower Windrush 2016 Survey Map: https://www2.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/sites/default/files/folders/documents/environmentandplanning/countryside/protectedspecies/WaterVoleUpdate-LowerRiverWindrush2016Map.pdf
BBOWT Water Vole Recovery Project webpage: https://www.bbowt.org.uk/wildlife/wildlife-conservation/water-vole-recovery-project

2019 Rushy Common Birdwatch

On the 27th of January we opened up the doors of the Rushy Common bird hide once more to take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch for the second year running.

We had an amazing 28 visitors this year who came and took part in the count. Some were regulars to the hide but many had never visited the site before and it was great to see all of the new faces.
During the hour we counted a total of 25 bird species and 194 individual birds. For comparison, in 2018 we counted 19 species and 167 individual birds.
We also spotted a Roe Deer, making the total species count 26!

The full results from Rushy Common are here:

Species	2018 Count	2019 Count	Difference
Black-headed Gull		4	4
Black Swan		1	1
Blue tit	3	3	0
Buzzard		1	1
Canada goose	2	6	4
Carrion crow	2	1	-1
Chaffinch		1	1
Coal tit	1		-1
Coot	38	85	47
Cormorant	14	31	17
Dunnock	1		-1
Gadwall	4	8	4
Goldeneye	2		-2
Great crested grebe	4	4	0
Great tit	4	5	1
Herring Gull		1	1
Greylag goose	2		-2
Lesser black-backed gull	8		-8
Long-tailed tit	4		-4
Magpie	3	1	-2
Mallard	10	1	-9
Moorhen		1	1
Red-crested Pochard		5	5
Redwing		1	1
Roe Deer		1	1
Robin	2	2	0
Shoveler		19	19
Stock Dove		2	2
Teal		1	1
Tufted duck	13	5	-8
Wigeon	50	4	-46
Wren		1	1
Total	167	195

Results have been submitted to the RSPB and they will publish a summary of the 2019 results here in due course: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/