Nature notes: Hedgehogs! Terns! And a BIG Thank You to Haringey's Volunteer Litter Pickers!

Local Nature News

BIG Thank You to the Borough’s Volunteer Litter Pickers!

I'm going to start this week’s Nature Notes with a heartfelt thank you to Haringey’s volunteer litter pickers who have been battling the tide of waste that users of our parks and green spaces have left over lockdown and beyond. As I reported last week, pickers at Alexandra Park removed 26 tonnes of litter in May, compared to 14 tonnes the year before, with 5 tonnes alone collected in 24 hours on 28th May.  The same story was repeated across the Borough and daily volunteers went out early and removed the waste. While it beggars belief that people leave so much rubbish, without these dedicated pickers the parks service would undoubtedly be unable to cope. 

I’d like to say an extra big thank you to the remarkable Ruth Edwards of Friends of Parkland Walk who collected over 100 bags of rubbish from sites in the west of the borough. Click through to see a picture of Ruth on July 12th with her 100th bag. 

Since then Ruth has had a fall (not while litter picking) and broken her patella, so I’d also like to wish her a speedy recovery. 

Parkland Walk Wildlife Trail Open

Friends of Parkland Walk have been able to open their wildlife trail, with social distancing measures in place. The Trail is open 9.00am to 6.00pm, subject to the availability of volunteers to open it. 

Go see flowers, butterflies and, at this time of year, look out for dragonflies. 

Please don’t bring dogs into the area or ride bikes on the paths. This is an environmentally sensitive area so please follow the rules. To find out more, click here

Hedgehogs in the Hood

I was delighted to read last week that HOL member Shariq has hedgehogs in the garden. On this post, he is seeking advice on how to care for hedgehogs while keeping foxes out. While this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of local people finding hedgehogs, this is definitely the first Ladder sighting reported.

Read all about hedgehogs, including tips on how to encourage them here

Count your Butterflies

If you’re out and about this weekend or you have a garden, don’t forget theBig Butterfly Count is still going on until 9th August. Looking at the map, it seems that plenty of Londoners are counting, so why not join them? 

Walthamstow Wetlands Photography Competition

Open until 10th August, Walthamstow Wetlands are currently holding a photo competition

Categories are:

• Young photographer – under 16s
• Amateur photographer 
• Smartphone photographer

Themes for the competition are:

• Wildlife from your windows/self-isolated snaps
• Wild well-being
• Invertebrates in action

To find out more and how to enter, click here

Sandwich Terns at Woodberry Wetlands

Local birder, Chris Farthing, reported this week via Twitter of a sighting of a pair of Sandwich Terns at Woodberry Wetlands, the 4th site recording.

Take a look at his photos here

Nature Notes

Can Green Prescriptions Improve England’s Health?

Last week, Environment Secretary George Eustice announced £4m for a pilot project to prescribe “green” alternatives to pills in order to improve people’s health. Patients in four English locations will be encouraged to join cycling or walking groups, take outdoor exercise classes, join tree planting projects or take up gardening. Although GPs in New Zealand have been doing this for years and NHS Shetland since 2018, this is the first time that money has been put towards English schemes.

There’s a growing body of research to suggest that spending time in Nature has physical and mental health benefits and that even small actions like listening to birdsong, noticing wildflowers, watching sunsets can improve mood. 

This Croydon blog discusses birding and mental health and in this post Ian Young writes about his “comfort walks” in his local area during local down.  

Does a walk in the park, watching birds in the garden or a spot of pavement botany work for you?

 Pavement botany - Wild flowers on Wightman Road N4

Surge in Fly Tipping Across the Country

As well as the litter in parks and green spaces, local authorities have been confronted with truly shocking fly tips including articulated lorries tipping semi-processed waste onto farmland, causing serious problems for wildlife and water courses and which the farmers are then left to clean up at their own expense because the dump is on private land.

The Local Government Association is calling for  tougher sentences to act as a stronger deterrent and a reminder to the public that they should not be tempted by offers from unlicensed waste disposal, an area organised crime are now moving into as the penalties are so low. 

Is it time to Change the Language we use to Discuss Non-Native Species?

An interesting read by Sophie Yeo about the language ecologists use to describe non-native species. Many of these are introduced by well-meaning humans or by accident as we increasingly import plants from other parts of the world. Some of them do damage native species without doubt but is there a way of discussing these problems without drawing upon xenophobic language? 

It’s always worth remembering that many of the “native” species we treasure are nowhere near as old as we might imagine and that many species that we see in the English countryside (for good or ill) were introduced by past inhabitants as food

Make a B-Line

Insect charity Buglife are mapping and creating a B-Lines network of wildflower pathways, covering in total some 48,000 sq km of England. The hope is to reverse the declines of insects in this country and support struggling pollinators. Read more about the project here

Finally 

The rain clouds above the New River created a bit of a Constable Moment 

New River at Mattison Road

Have a good week and don’t forget to watch the clouds