Friends of Chesworth Farm Annual General Meeting

Weekend Round-up

Dotted Chestnut - Warnham Local Nature Reserve

A busy weekend around all the sites meant that there was lots of fantastic wildlife reported. Starting off with the moth trap at Warnham Local Nature Reserve which has finally started to get some results after the Beast From The East part 2 hit us last week! The best moth of the weekend was the Dotted Chestnut (Conistra rubiginea) which is nationally scarce and always nice to see in the traps. It is one of the few moths that hibernate after first being on the wing in October/November before reappearing in the spring. The second moth of note which we don't trap very regularly at Warnham is the Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus) which can be seen below. It is quite similar to the more common Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) but the former is generally paler with the dark antler marks at the head end helping with identification. This is also an interesting moth as its larvae have a tendency to be cannibals!

Grey Shoulder-knot - Warnham Local Nature Reserve

The ringing has been very quiet at Warnham lately and there have been very few opportunities to actually get any of the nets up on the Reserve either due to windy conditions or flooding so it was nice to be able to catch a few birds this weekend. The highlight was this Greenfinch which was the first of 2018. They have been very few and far between in recent years which is a theme carried out nationwide sadly as many of the Greenfinches seem to be struggling to beat some of the avian diseases found in the UK.

Greenfinch - Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Meanwhile at Chesworth Farm I added a new fly to the species list when I found the larval mine of Chromatomyia ramosa on Teasel. This is part of the agromizid fly family, all of which mine leaves of various plants. The adults are very difficult to identify and most of them need genitalia examination to be sure of their identity but many of the leaf mines are quite simple to recognise. In the picture below you can see the light coloured markings which are moving away from the central vein. These are caused by the larvae of the fly eating the leaf from within the leaf structure itself.

Chromatomyia ramosa on Teasel - Chesworth Farm

Finally at Southwater Country Park a quick check of the oldest stand of Blackthorn on the site produced a number of the scarce Brown Hairstreak eggs. They are absolutely tiny so I make no apology for how bad the picture is! This is the second site we have found the eggs at this winter after the Friends of Chesworth Farm found some earlier in the month when carrying out a hedgerow survey on the Farm.

Brown Hairstreak Egg - Southwater Quarry

Chesworth Farm

Today's Sightings:

Little Egret 1, Robin 5, Magpie 4, Carrion Crow 3, Black-headed Gull 30+

Chesworth Farm

Surfacing works at Chesworth Farm

31 volunteers joined Ryan at Chesworth Farm as Horsham Green Gym got stuck into the surfacing which we have been planning over the winter. The aim of the task was to not only cut back some of the vegetation such as the ever encroaching Bramble but also to surface with aggregate some of the worst affected gateways which you can see above. It was excellent to see such a good turn-out at what is undoubtedly a tough task with lots of barrowing and digging the order of the day.

Not much was seen on the wildlife front as all of the volunteers had their heads down grafting but Ryan did manage to see a couple of Grey Herons on the wetland fields. David Verrall also managed a nice picture which he took over the weekend of one of a number of Greenfinches seen around the site.

Greenfinch - D. Verrall

Also of note if you are not already aware the Friends of Chesworth Farm are running their next event this coming Saturday which is a guided walk around the Farm. This is a fantastic opportunity to get to know the Farm, see the livestock as well as learn about how the site is used by the wildlife at this time of year. 

Chesworth Farm

Stonechat - D. Verrall

Stonechat - D. Verrall

Ryan managed to find a Stonechat or possibly two a week or so ago when leading a GreenGym task at the Farm. But despite a few looks whilst checking the livestock in the proceeding days I couldn't seem to find them. However today in the pouring rain when checking the cows in Parlour Mead Field this little beauty popped up right in front of me and showed down to about 20ft which was fantastic. Unfortunately I did not have a camera to hand but David Verrall once again came up with the goods and managed to photograph the bird later that day.

Chesworth Farm

Platt Pond Reflections - R. Allison

Horsham Green Gym were down on the Farm this morning and the two main jobs were some Bramble clearance in Parlour Mead Field as well as some reedbed management. If you visit the Farm you will notice that a section of the reedbed at Platt Pond has been cut down to water level and some of the reeds roots removed to help create a new reedbed at Warnham Local Nature Reserve.

The reeds are cut in the winter for a number of reasons, the main reason is to stop the reed totally covering the open water area which would happen if left to its own devices. The second reason is that having a mixture of different aged reeds within the pond gives the best diversity for the reedbed itself.  It is also very important to remove the cut reeds as this stimulates growth in the cut reed as well as stopping the pond silting up as the cut reed begins to rot.

Before

During

After

As you can see from the photos above the volunteers were very busy and managed to get all the reed cut that we wanted. Straight away you can see the benefit of this job as it has created a muddy edge to the pond which is perfect for birds such as Moorhen and Water Rail to feed around during the winter months.

Lastly we have now moved the cattle into Parlour Mead Field so please be aware they are now on the Riverside Walk and remember to close the gates if you are using the path through the field. On the wildlife front the following species were noted:

Meadow Pipit 9, Redwing 12, House Sparrow 8, Herring Gull 1, Cormorant 2, Moorhen 1, Grey Heron 1, Goldfinch 20+, Jackdaw 2, Carrion Crow 2, Woodpigeon 8, Blue Tit 3, Chaffinch 3

Chesworth Farm

Robin - D. Verrall

David Verrall paid the Farm a visit today and managed to get the best of the weather and as a result some lovely photographs as well. There is nothing better than a nice Robin photo at this time of year and pictures of Song Thrushes are never easy so well done David and thanks for the photos once again.

Song Thrush - D. Verrall

Chesworth Farm

Grey Heron - D. Verrall

Goldcrest - D. Verrall

Song Thrush - D. Verrall

Treecreeper - D. Verrall

David Verrall visited the Farm and had an excellent day with the camera photographing lots of lovely species including the images above. Goldcrest and Treecreeper are never easy birds to see on the Farm let alone photograph so these are just reward for the amount of time David spends in the field.

Chesworth Farm

Chesworth Farm

A beautiful evening on the Farm doing the final preparation for the Christmas Wreath Making event which the Friends of Chesworth Farm are running tomorrow involved coppicing lots of bendy willow whips, collecting seasonal vegetation such as pine cones and Ivy leaves as well as stocking up with logs and kindling to ensure the attendees aren't too chilly whilst making their own wreaths.

After dropping off the supplies to the Volunteer Centre, Sam and I had a quick mooch round the Farm to check the animals and also to inspect a reported blocked stream which was as a consequence was flooding the path. Lots of birds were whizzing around the hedges in preparation for a cold night, trying to find the best roost spot. A summary of the species noted is below:

Blackbird 3, Magpie 12, Chaffinch 1, Blue Tit 1, Herring Gull 40+, Robin 3, Song Thrush 1, Woodpigeon 4, Jackdaw 10+,

Chesworth Farm

Meadow Pipit - M. Ayling

Mike Ayling carried out a bird survey of the Farm today which produced the following list of species:
Blackbird 6, Bullfinch 2, Dunnock 2, Goldfinch 20, Great Tit 3, House Sparrow 2, Magpie 3, Nuthatch 1, Song Thrush 3, Woodpigeon 17, Blue Tit 4, Carrion Crow 3, Fieldfare 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Herring Gull 20, Jackdaw 4, Meadow Pipit 5, Robin 7, Stock Dove 1, Wren 1

Chesworth Farm

Eddie Bew carried out his regular bird survey at the Farm which produced the following:
Robin 5, Goldfinch 7, Woodpigeon 30, Moorhen 4, Common Buzzard 2, Mallard 1, Blackbird 7, Song Thrush 1, Carrion Crow 6, Jay 2, Pheasant 1, Magpie 5, Jackdaw 6,  Green Woodpecker 1, Long-tailed Tit 2, Blue Tit 2, House Sparrow 2, Dunnock 1

Chesworth Farm

Riverside Fields - Chesworth Farm

There were plenty of birds around making the most of the sunny conditions. There was a steady stream of Woodpigeon moving over the Farm in a south-westerly direction including a couple of decent flocks of over 40 birds. There was a single Meadow Pipit on the wires by Tip Field and bright pink male Bullfinch in the corner of Parlour Mead Field. Also of note was a flock of 23 Redwing in White Gate Lag.

The herd of British White cattle have done an excellent job in grazing the flood meadow over the past month or so and will soon be moving into Gravel Pit and Spring Barn Fields so keep your eyes peeled for on Farm signage.