Top 10 Gatwick natural history highlights: 2015

Seeing as I'm desk-bound and continually procuring new strains of rhinopharyngitis previously unknown to medical science, this seemed a good time to round up my Gatwick wildlife highlights....

1. Black is back

One sunny morning early in the year; a stunning, entirely black Grass Snake...

Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)

It turned up on several occasions in the North West Zone, so fingers crossed it will make another appearance this coming spring.

Grass Snake - Natrix natrix subsp. persa?

Also hanging out with blackie was his unusually stripey pal... perhaps related to the European subspecies of Grass Snake, which are also striped. Some DNA swabbing and testing is hopefully in the pipeline....

2. Encounters of the fluffy kind

Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius)

Two of them!!! Found after around 3 years of surveying the ancient woodlands in the Land East of the Railway Line...

TICK.

3. Another Long-horned beastie

Long-horned General (Stratiomys longicornis) female - Photo by Andrew Halstead

On our Wildlife Recording Day back in May, along the River Mole, Andrew Halstead turned up our star find - an impressive soldierfly named the Long-horned General. This very scarce species is normally associated with coastal habitats and salt water, but a few have recently appeared in land-locked areas.

Andrew also swept our first Long-horned Bee (Eucera longicornis) of the year.

4. Tigers on our Jerseys

It was just another evening at Gatwick Moth Club with bickering, car-biscuits and male Glow-worms trying to mate with the green generator light. 

A massive Tiger Moth turned up suddenly on Brad's jumper, sparking off another, erm, discussion....

Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria)

In the end we had to believe our eyes; not just one but two Jersey Tiger Moths at Gatwick Airport... A new tick for life-long moth-er Jake Everitt!

5. Ashley's new record

Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) Photo by Julia Gregory

It might just be a plain-ol' Grass Snake, but for us it was a landmark moment as this one had turned up in Ashley's Field... another first in 3 years! This is hopefully an indication that our grassland enhancements are paying off, with amphibians and reptiles benefiting.

6. Ninja bats

I spent a suspenseful dawn with Laurie Jackson, standing in the twilight with detectors on, awaiting bat re-entry into the roost at the old Charlwood Park Farmhouse...

Pipistrelle activity on a bat detector

We picked up plenty of activity and had great views of Long-eared bats landing up on the eastern side of the building, scurrying up and disappearing under the loose tiles. At least three different species of bat are using this building as a roost!

7. The Lost Jewel

Jewel Beetle (Agrilus sp.)

A bitter-sweet highlight (and one Scotty Dodd has not yet forgiven me for) was the time I let go of this stunning Jewel Beetle before he had identified it to species. Not matter that we also procured a carabid beetle called Amarus strenua (Red Data Book 3 species), which was probably even more interesting, so should more than make up for this.

Scotty's tentative i.d: Agrilus sp. indet. cf.bickerisabloodymindedliberator

But I think insult to injury were my rubbish photos.

8. Badger Badger Badger Badger

Just that one step closer to getting some good footage of Badger (Meles meles) at Gatwick.

A Work In Progress (like all of my photography).

9. My kind of human

Meath Green Primary School counting our nest boxes in the Dormouse Challenge

The Forest Schools are Tom Simpson's project, and I've really enjoyed meeting this keen bunch from Meath Green Primary. These tiny humans have been learning all about their surroundings in Gatwick's woodlands, east of the railway line.
   I wish I'd gone to this school!

Woodland festivities

10. The smallest of owls...

Undoubtedly one of my best moments was all the way back in February, while on a bird survey with Tom Forward. This was my first sighting of a Little Owl (Athene noctua) in the wild.
Is it very tiny, or just very far away... or perhaps a blurry picture of a lumpy branch?

Coming up in 2016: even more wildlife photography!

Late winter bird surveys 2015

February 12th - North West Zone

Despite dreary conditions it was a cheerful group of us who met in the morning, just north of the airfield. Traipsing through the wet and boggy grasslands, right away we picked up the drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the raucous cries of a Ring-necked Parakeet, a recently naturalised species which is well established in Reigate and spreading southward. 

Ex-arable grasslands west of Brockley Wood; thanks to their inaccessibility and 

the airport's boundary, they have been largely left undisturbed.

The hearty tune of a secretive Song Thrush could be heard emanating from the hedgerows, with their distinctive repetitive style which you can clearly see in this sonogram...

In fact, they were in all the bloody hedgerows! It was like Song Thrush City, with exceptionally high numbers possibly due to migrants passing through on their way to their summer homes.
   Wandering through the Solar Panel field, we flushed four Common Snipe with their characteristic erratic flight pattern. They even left us a calling card...

Common Snipe smatterings

Where the Mole begins to meander, we stood high on the track and observed two large shapes winging their way towards us... a wandering pair of Greylag Geese are an usual sighting on our surveys. Looking in the deeper wheel ruts of the rough track, tell-tale movements gave away the presence of Common Frogs gathering to spawn. Every year they take a gamble laying eggs here, but sometimes the froglets do make it! 

Wishing for a Water Rail in the reedbeds - no such luck

There is a great mix of habitats in one small area, so we can pick up woodland, scrubland and wetland species. Long-tailed Tits, Moorhen, Jackdaws and a Green Woodpecker were all in close proximity, along with the same group of Common Snipe we had just seen earlier. A pair of Bullfinch were piping loudly from the scrub...

If you look really, really closely, it's definitely a Bullfinch

Still getting to grips with this camera.

The River Mole is at a relatively low level for this time of year

Towards the end of our transect we saw a Little Egret and Grey Heron taking flight. I've seen this duo hanging around quite the past few weeks, one might be following the other around in order to find the best fishing spots. They always keep a respectful distance from each other though.

Little Egret in the foreground, Grey Heron at the back

Either a Great Tit spontaneously combusted, or a Sparrowhawk just had breakfasted

At the end of the transect near Povey Cross, we picked out a few more Ring-necked Parakeets perched up close to a group of Magpies. I had another go with the camera....

Getting better!

NWZ total: 29 species

1	Blackbird	Turdus merula
2	Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
3	Bullfinch	Pyrrhula pyrrhula
4	Carrion Crow	Corvus corone
5	Chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs
6	Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto
7	Dunnock	Prunella modularis
8	Goldcrest	Regulus regulus
9	Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
10	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Dendrocopus major
11	Great Tit	Parus major
12	Green Woodpecker	Picus viridis
13	Greenfinch	Carduelis chloris
14	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
15	Jackdaw	Corvus monedula
16	Jay	Garrulus glandarius
17	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
18	Magpie	Pica pica
19	Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
20	Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
21	Nuthatch	Sitta europaea
22	Redwing	Turdus iliacus
23	Reed Bunting	Emberiza schoeniclus
24	Ring-necked Parakeet	Psittacula krameri
25	Robin	Erithacus rubecula
26	Snipe (Common)	Gallinago gallinago
27	Song Thrush	Turdus philomelos
28	Wood Pigeon	Columba palumbus
29	Wren	Troglodytes troglodytes

Greylag Goose Anser anser (fly-over)

February 13th - Land East of the Railway Line

A brand new dull wet day, we reversed the usual direction of our transects and began instead on the Gatwick Stream floodplain. This area has been re-profiled on a large scale as part of a flood alleviation scheme, so now consists of extensive wet grassland habitat,

The first species to greet us were Chaffinch, Coal Tit and Green Woodpecker. A lonely Meadow Pipit flew overhead followed closely by a Pied Wagtail.

A series of large Oak trees can be found on islands of raised land, ringed off with post and rail fencing. They make a perfect perch point for this flock of around 20 Linnets...

As lovely as the Linnets were, it was something else which got us excited this morning...

Tom F. had spotted a pair of Little Owl perched up in the Oaks! Quick... Photo photo photo!

Bah. 

Yet again I was no where near quick enough with the camera settings, so this distant shot was all I got before they nipped off. Little Owl is a new species for our surveys at Gatwick and I am yet to see one close up. This pair were being very covert and quiet, but as it is ridiculously cute here's a recording of their calls from the Xeno-canto website...

The tracks of different birds and mammals stood out clearly in the bare mud, telling us which who had recently passed by:

More than one Red Fox

Roe Deer

We left the floodplain and entered the woodlands, where we picked up a roving flock of Blue Tit, Great Tit and a pair of Goldcrests. Further into the woods and the outskirts of Goat Meadow, we caught the song of a lonely Coal Tit and we glimpsed a sneaky Tree Creeper.

Craning our necks to look high up in the canopy, the swaying Scots Pines made us feel rather sea sick...

Which was about when my camera battery finally gave up after having taken many bad owl photos.

   Our transect then ended at the western edge of Horleyland Wood, finally bringing us Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, and the incessant calls of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

LERL total: 27 species

1	Blackbird	Turdus merula
2	Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
3	Carrion Crow	Corvus corone
4	Chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs
5	Coal Tit	Periparus ater
6	Common buzzard	Buteo buteo
7	Goldcrest	Regulus regulus
8	Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
9	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Dendrocopus major
10	Great Tit	Parus major
11	Green Woodpecker	Picus viridis
12	Jackdaw	Corvus monedula
13	Jay	Garrulus glandarius
14	Linnet	Carduelis cannabina
15	**Little Owl	Athene noctua
16	Magpie	Pica pica
17	Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
18	Meadow Pipit	Anthus pratensis
19	Pied Wagtail	Motacilla alba
20	Redwing	Turdus iliacus
21	Robin	Erithacus rubecula
22	Song Thrush	Turdus philomelos
23	Starling	Sturnus vulgaris
24	Stock Dove	Columba oenas
25	Treecreeper	Certhia familiaris
26	Wood Pigeon	Columba palumbus
27	Wren	Troglodytes troglodytes

**New species to this survey

Many thanks to Tom F., Bethan, Sian and Donald for your help on these surveys!