Animal Collection and Nature Reserve
April 2020 Newsletter

This month has been the major lockdown month so far in the Coronavirus saga, and onto some of the effects of this on us.

But first, I must report the sad death from the virus of the father of Izzy Wyer who is one of our Trustees and has been utterly supportive since the beginning of the charitable trust in preparing and maintaining our website. The Trustees, including Cherry and me, our staff and all of our volunteers send our most sincere condolences and good wishes to Issy and her three children. She is a grand young woman, full of energy and we really appreciate her.

I spent my birthday, ironically April 1st, gardening and on that day and the next spotted a huge number of gulls, mainly herring gulls whirling around in high flight and mewing constantly. Two actually settled on the sheep field for half a day, I do not know why we had this visitation; no bad weather, in fact April was the driest and warmest on record, sunny most days. Such that at our suitably distanced lunch we have been able to sit with staff and volunteers outside everyday.

On the 2nd I saw a young grey squirrel jumping around the jackdaw boxes, possibly prospecting for eggs. Squirrels will be squirrels.

It has been a superb month for butterflies. On the 4th I spotted our first orange tip and that same day our first male blackcap with a fabulous song. I tend to think of him as our West Country nightingale which we do not find in the South West often. He has a strident song and has sung to his nesting mate for the whole month. She is very beautiful but has a soft brown cap.
On the 5th of the month we had a little, at last, light rain and it was very mild and warm.

Our keeper, Lauren, who I prefer to call ‘Pixie’, as she always wears a little hat and is very neat and tiny, developed sickness and a very sore throat on the 6th April, so self isolated for 10 days. During the whole week we had cold nights and warm days. By now the Rookery is very active in the large oaks – we now have eleven nests.

On the 8th April a very highly plumaged pair of siskins fed on the hangers outside our bedroom window and blue tits collected dog hair from a hanger continually.

Good butterfly sightings continued:

Small white
Small tortoiseshell
Peacock
Red Admiral, as well as orange tips.

These were all seen in the woodland garden which has been developed over th last three years with many indigenous trees, arches and a pond.

On 9th April, whirligig beetles and pond skaters were seen on the ponds and I spotted frogs and toads in various habitats while gardening.

The red eared terrapins which live on our big pond came out of hibernation today. They hibernate at the bottom of the pond in the mud. Oddly enough these were rescues some thirty three years ago when the Ninja Turtle fad was at its height. They are now a foot long and like just sitting on the island basking in the sunshine.

One of our volunteers, Mike, a master carpenter, made a dramatic Bonsai table with shelves for my Bonsai – all out of recovered wood. It really is very attractive.
On the 10th it was again a super day for butterflies. All recorded while seen as well as a male brimstone, a small heath (much too early). Orange tips were numerous.
By 11th April the female Canada goose was sitting on her nest on the ‘big pond’ island. Mr goose was on guard.

Cherry blossoms have exploded on the trees both in the ‘pig field’ and the ‘horse field’.

Lord and Lady plants, I like to call them snake poison, are growing strongly, the whole place is white with wild garlic and blue with violets.

Our friendly heron is forever hoping to catch a morsel from the otters and is ever more brave.

The jaguarondi, who unfortunately had a fight with his dad acquired a wound. It healed nicely and he has recovered. He is now enjoying safe ownership of his own enclosure.

By mid April the primroses are beginning to fade away, replaced by pink campions and ‘blue’ green alkanet.

The birds really are now singing at dawn, the famous Dawn Chorus, including:

House sparrows
Nuthatch
Rook
Dunnock
Blackbird
Jackdaw
Blue tit
Songthrush
Magpie
Great tit
Chaffinch Cock
pheasant
Wood pigeon
Wren
Blackcap
Chiff Chaff

And later, buzzard mewing, heron ‘croaking’ common crow cawing and raven ‘barking’.

Four pairs of grey wagtails frequented our new pond on 15th and our first swallows flew over after a cold night, but warm day.

I watched a squirrel playing around the jackdaw boxes again, while the birds themselves busied themselves collecting dog hair from our bird table to line their nests.

The male Canada goose is still very much on guard. We reckon babies are due about 6th to 9th May.

By Sunday, 19th, tiny blue ‘birds eye’ flowers are just coming out and one of my favourites, ‘buglos’, standing upright, the soldiers of the plant world.

The youngest couple of jackdaws are still building their nest of totally unsuitable sticks, some twice as long as the nest box, getting them stuck and then finding it difficult to get in and out of the nest box.

In last month’s list of birds I omitted the chiff chaff which first arrived on 21st March and is now singing continuously, its repetitive “chiff chaff” call.

In my tropical green house, the bananas, Ethiopian and canarian, cannas, tree ferns and a wonderful new plant Persian silk tree are budding well and beginning to come out of the winter shutdown. I was wondering it I should have cut off all the tree fern fronds, but it does seem to be coming on stronger. The bird of paradise plant is growing a new central spear.

Rab, our ‘do everything’ man is cutting down a large leylandii tree and a slightly smaller one that are beginning to break up a wall nearby. The smaller one we are cutting down to make a substantial bird table. The top will be a recycled old broken fridge door. The large tree is to be reduced to about sixteen feet, all already happily covered in ivy where a ten foot peanut feeder is being hung. The idea came from the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten where a fixed ten foot pipe ends in a normal wire netting peanut feeder. It does not need continual filling which our smaller ones do. As normal, we use everything, the large boughs are cut up as logs and the greenery is all taken to the various animal enclosures as ground cover.

While taking a wheelbarrow of logs to the log shed I was amazed to see a pair of stoats courting, he holding her by the neck. On my approach, they dashed into some brush wood near the shed. That night we placed a camera trap outside the shed baited with chicks. We have a video of a rather sad looking stoat as he has five ticks on his head and neck. Thereafter we failed, only filming magpies stealing the chick bait.

On 24th April it was only our second sighting, this time of three swallows. On the same day we spotted our first comma butterfly. The great tits are collecting dog hair for their nests.

On the 25th, again I sat out for the dawn chorus and heard all the same singers as recorded earlier.

That same day I spotted an unusual fly with a very long proboscis darting to the flowers in a primrose area. Identified as ‘Bombylious Major’ it was a bee fly. It looked like a miniature humming bird hawkmoth.

On the 26th, looking at the big pond, thousands of frog tadpoles were swimming in rafts. It was quite a sight. That same day one of our peacocks landed on the young jackdaws nest box and knocked it to a ridiculous angle. Rab climbed up to re-straighten the box and confirmed the birds were still sitting on four warm eggs in spite of the rather unnatural angle of the nest. The birds returned as soon as Rab left.

April 28th. It appears that the African civets have mated. Last week he would not leave her alone. Today they are reclining separately in the sunshine.

We also think the jaguarondi and rusty spotted female cats as well as the lynx females are pregnant.

We are still holding our last young lynx and two baby (not so small) pumas because of the lockdown and we should have received three Rothschild’s mynah and a pair of ravens, but all has been put off till further notice.

Dragonflies and damsel flies are just beginning to emerge. (See list).

I hope all our members and readers take care and we all hope to get back to normal soon.