June 2020

14 Buckden Roundabout June 2020 Buckden Wildlife I ’ ve been able to spend more time then usual enjoying our local wildlife this spring. This is due to working from home, like so many, and ensuring I took my daily exercise walk each day. As a result, there is so much to write about and a great many interesting species found in the Parish, many of which I was pleased to discover are first records for it. Regular readers will know I am quick to trumpet Buckden ’ s incredible wildlife and wild places and a couple of friendly events organised by the Cambridgeshire Bird Club gave us more accolades on that front. Events in April and May set the task of trying to see and hear as many species of bird as they could in and from your garden and on a one hour walk from home and back. I ’ m pleased to say that I, and Buckden, won them both, beating 40 other participants from across Cam- bridgeshire on each occasion. My April score was 75 species and May was 82, which all taking part agreed was evidence of how rich Buckden is in birdlife and how lucky we are here. I ’ ve been spending a lot of time walking down to Pumphouse Pit and the river and taking in different parts of the wonder- ful Round About Buckden walk. I was pleased to find two rare Green - winged Orchids in a paddock, which is a new site for the county and other exciting finds included migrant Whinchats and Wheatears. Lis- tening at night from my Greenway garden has revealed anoth- er Nightingale in the Parish off Mill Road and Little Ringed Plov- ers making a lot of noise. On one occasion an Avocet was call- ing and I heard migrating Whimbrels too. I have been moth trapping too which has produced many spe- cies: lovely, chunky Lime and Poplar Hawkmoths and some the wonderfully named Chocolate - tip. Trapping involves running a light overnight to attract the moths who settle into egg boxes until you release them safely next day. I love to see the wildlife habitat at The Towers, especially the dead wood left to decom- pose, where I found six Lesser Stag Beetles together one day. No doubt you have been enjoying the wonderful verges full of wildflowers this year on your walks. Mill Road has looked stun- ning, but verge mowing occurred while everything was still looking lovely and full of insects, providing not just food for all the baby birds, but in their own right wonderful crea- tures. Our Orange - tip butterflies had laid eggs on the Hedge Garlic that was growing there and birds were nesting. It was the day after I ’ d found several rare species that I saw they ’ d been cut. Verges need cutting near junctions, and for safety reasons in the right plac- es, and it needs to be done. However, in the Neighbourhood Plan with which I ’ ve been assisting the Parish Council , a de- sired outcome is that the highways and local authorities sign up to Plantlife ’ s national campaign to save our Buckden wildflowers, doing less mowing and at the right time of year, saving money and time as well. I ’ ll write more about this in a future column and hope we follow the lead of so many across the UK, with stunning results. Do take a look for now to read this wonderful campaign and please sign the petition if you love our wildflowers and how nice the Parish looked this spring: https://plantlife.love - wildflowers.org.uk/ roadvergecampaign I ’ m sure many of us would prefer to see blooming, lush green verges full of bees and butterflies than bare, scuffed, lifeless bits of yellowing grass strewn with dead vegetation. On Mill Road, a proportion was left which was great to see, but there could definitely be a wider strip left, especially by the pave- (Continued on page 15)