Monthly Archives: September 2020

Karen Nicklin

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It is with great sadness that I have just learned of the untimely passing of one of our members, Karen Nicklin, who has dies sudden;ly and unexpectedly on 24th September 2020.

Karen has been with the Society for at least 10years and has been a popular and active member and was a regular face at our meetings, Karen had a great love for the outdoors and nature, in particular, a passion for ospreys which she dedicated a lot of time to as a volunteer warden at the Loch Garten reserve in Scotland. As a really keen walker and hiker, Karen spent time planning and undertaking walks that combined nature and the landscape and I remember well the talk she gave recently at our members’ evening when she wowed us with views of the spectacular scenery and wild flowers from a recent trek in the Austrian Alps.

Karen was also an active member of the Wakefield RSPB Members’ Group and was regulalry seen on the doorway greeting visitors. Karen also worked as a volunteer warden  at RSPB St Aiden’s where some of us had the pleasure of speaking with her on our recent field trip there in early September, little realising it wouuld be the last time we ever saw her.

Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.

 

 

When is Autumn?

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Meteorological autumn was on 1st September and astronomical autumn has entered the calendar this week.  However, the natural world around us has already started to spirit away our memorable summer into the four seasons departure lounge.

Surrounding hedgerows are laden with hawthorn berries and rose hips; hopefully these will attract flocks of winter visitors such as fieldfares and redwings provided the local blackbirds remember to leave them some.   At this time of year necklaces of hedge bindweed bugle the close of this plant’s beauty and the beast’s summer season (see photo).  In the wild the flowers are visited by insect pollinators, but elsewhere, especially in gardens,  it may be difficult to control and quickly grow to the exclusion of other plants.  Local oaks appear to have produced a bumper crop of acorns – a bounty for seed eating animals and birds such as squirrels and jays during the winter.

.hedge bindweed

Elsewhere on my walks around Wrenthorpe, Brandy Carr and Carr Gate there is a further changing of the guard in the species of butterflies.  Small numbers of speckled wood and small white still hold on faithfully to shortening days of fading sunlight albeit in reducing numbers.  In the garden a red admiral has been a regular visitor to the flowers of the buddleia x weyeriana during the recent warm spell, together with a comma nectaring on ivy flowers in readiness for hibernation.

comma on ivy

comma on ivy

red admiral

red admiral

Now I wonder if the single swallow I saw flying over Jerry Clay Lane on Sunday will be the last one I see until next spring?

Pauline Brook

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It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Pauline Brook who died today in the early hours of the morning. Pauline was a great character at the club, occupying her seat on the front row at every meeting, she always took my ribbing of her in great spirit and she always cointributed sightings and annecdotes as only she could. Pauline was a great friend and very popular amongst the club members and known to us all I think. As her health failed in recent years, she attended less and less but remained a keen naturalist and enjoyed watching the birds coming to her feeders in front of the window at the retirement home. Pauline was a really keen botanist and was a founder member of the Wakefield Flower Group. Her knowledge of flowers and her great personaility will be sorely missed at our club meetings.

Wildlife Under the Garden Radar

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How can one of the UK’s largest and most distinctive moth caterpillars go under the garden radar at home for so long without being seen until Sue found it feeding on her prize fuchsia.  This is one of Britain’s largest caterpillars growing up to nearly 9cm long with an eye popping front end and a punk rock style spike at the rear.  See attached photo.  This is the caterpillar of the elephant hawk moth.  The adult is one of our most elegant moths and beautifully photographed by our president, John Gardner. in his post on 27 May 2020.   The caterpillars also feed on rosebay and bedstraws before settling down in the autumn to pupate as a cocoon in leaf litter and soil.  The adults emerge and are on the wing during summer feeding on the nectar of night scented flowers such as honey suckle, which by coincidence is growing just next to the fuchsia in the garden.

elephant hawkmoth caterpillar

elephant hawkmoth caterpillar

Also going unnoticed under the garden radar until this summer have been some grasshoppers.  Quite a surprise in such an urban area and particularly as I have now been looking after the garden for over forty years!

A more obvious insect seen in the garden in the past two weeks has been the silver Y moth.  This is a regular migrant often seen flying fast and somewhat erratically during the day searching flowers for nectar and in the attached photo can be seen on heather.

silver y moth

silver y moth

September indoor meeting replaced with outdoor meeting

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I hope everyone is safe and well and surviving the current problems. The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted many things including the WNS outdoor meetings of which we only managed the August event and that was changed from the advertised at the last minute. Often, the field meetings didn’t go ahead not because we decided against it, but that the reserves were generally shut and so things were outside our control. Unfortunately, the same fate is set to befall the September indoor meeting as the Quaker Meeting Room is unavailable upstairs due to ongoing decorating and remodelling. We are able to use the lower floor but the Quakers have imposed some strict guidelines regarding sanitizing, hands and surfaces, staying 2m apart, no refreshments and, worst of all, wearing face masks.

At the ,moment. I am unsure how many of the regulars will turn up and due to either the restrictions or due to feeling cautious. I have no issues in our meeting up but not everyone may feel the same. With this in mind, and given the unavailability of the upper room, I have cancelled the speaker for the September meeting. I think in all honesty, I will cancel the October speaker too and then we will see how things have panned out from then. However, I would hate for us not to be able to meet up at all and so at the committee meeting this week, we proposed to have the September and October meetings as outdoor field meetings. This will commence with a walk around St Aiden’s on Sunday September 13th but I would suggest meeting a little earlier to ensure we get parked as it is busy with the general public just now. Those wishing to join us should meet in the car park at 09:45. There have been some excellent birds at the reserve lately, including spoonbill, curlew sandpipers and other waders. The October meeting will take place probably on 25th October and will likely be a fungus foray but I need to finalise the details and will advise once I have things firmed up.

Going forward, it is hard to say when we are likely to meet in the usual place and so I am looking to canvas opinion as to whether we make all the foreseeable meetings  outdoor meetings, have the indoor meetings online via ZOOM or simply cancel the meetings until further notice. I would be very grateful if members could let me have the preferred choice. Many of the camera clubs are running weekly meetings on ZOOM but it may not be for us. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I look forward to your comments and to seeing those of you who can make it to ST Aiden’s and do keep safe.