This is the 15th year during which residents around the village have taken part in monitoring the wildlife in and around their gardens. Sixteen people was a record, and they were situated in all parts of the village plus two just outside.

76 vertebrate species have been recorded over the 15 years, but each year, the species count is between 31 and 41 species, that high figure being this year. However counts of swifts, swallows, martins, sparrows, tits, goldfinches and, surprisingly, jackdaws were lower than recent years and the near absence of martins and swallows is tragic. The lower number of sparrows is worrying, so perhaps, along with cutting trees down, people have been tidying up, or removing dense hedges?

Over the 15 years, pigeons (wood, feral and stock doves) have the highest number of sightings, followed by blackbirds and jackdaws.

Fewer finches, particularly chaffinches, are being seen and we seem to have lost the flocks of goldfinches. House martins have almost disappeared, and I haven’t seen or heard swallows much, although some were recorded. This could be something to do with last year’s very wet summer when insect numbers were very low, but the number of insects has collapsed across Europe in recent decades.

So, like last year, my impression is that the larger, stronger species such as corvids (jackdaws, crows, blackbirds, magpies) and pigeons and doves thrive on human activity and their numbers remain high.

Doug Kennedy

Fourteen people took part in the event this year, which is pleasing because although we had lost a couple of regular participants, new people have joined us with a good spread across the village.

We collected 175 records against a 5-year average of 210 records, so considerably down which could be that there are fewer birds about. 37 species of birds were recorded which included a pair of rare tree sparrows in an Upper Church Street garden and a barn owl within the village.

Several people reported that all corvid numbers are up, particularly crows and magpies, whose numbers are high compared to other years along with jackdaws. On the down-side, swallows are almost absent (sad!!), and numbers of martins, swifts, finches, tits and starlings are on the low side.

House sparrows and thrushes are still far less frequent than they once were, but numbers counted remain fairly stable. Sparrows need poison-free seed on the ground and thick hedges to nest in: privet used to be excellent but is much less common now.

Finches have not had a good year and all species were at the lower end numerically.

There were 22 sightings of red kites, and we do have increasing numbers of them, but it’s probably more like 6 - 8 individuals resident around the village. A pair nested in a tree next to the playing field last year and you get a great view of them quite close-up sometimes.

Many more species can be found on the outskirts of the village, including The Mill, such as chiff-chaffs, yellowhammers, grey wagtails, buzzards plus the occasional egret or teal on the river.

The overall impression is that song-bird numbers are down, which seems to be reflected in the lower sightings total. However, we have a pretty good species count and really we should see numbers rising as many of the fields around the village are either not farmed or farmed without pesticides. Only time will tell.

MAMMALS

Foxes, badgers, rabbits, muntjack, roe deer, voles, moles, mice, rats and bats are all present in, or close to Cuddington. Sadly bat numbers and reported general sightings seem to be down, and we still have no hedgehogs reported. 

Also, close the river around Winchendon I have seen brown hare and there are one or two otters.

AMPHIBIANS

Common, or round newts have been present for many years in some garden ponds, but this year, the Sandersons report that they now have greater crested newts! There are frogs in our tiny garden pond since I introduced spawn a couple of years ago and they have produced their own tadpoles this year. 

No reptiles or fish have been reported.

CONCLUSION

Our survey is all very informal and unscientific, but as the years mount up, we get an increasingly good picture of wildlife in our village, and it gives us all a more rounded view of the state of nature in this troubled World.

Last year, the Parish Council agreed that a substantial new tree would be planted on the Upper Green, to take the place of the elderly horse chestnut that had had to be felled.  Since then, Cuddington has acquired a team of enthusiastic tree wardens; volunteer residents who are interested in the village’s diverse collection of trees and who are willing to spend some time raising awareness of how these trees enhance our environment and helping to look after them.

As one of those tree wardens, Paul Ridout was offered the chance to select a suitable tree for the Upper Green and, with helpful advice and suggestions from a number of people in the village as well as tree growers and others, he proposed that we plant a hornbeam.  This is a native species that is resistant to the sorts of diseases and pests that affect trees.  It grows into an elegant wine-glass shape – some of you may know the striking avenue of hornbeams on the Oxford Ring Road between the Banbury Road and the Woodstock Road, as featured in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.

It then emerged that Rectory Homes were keen to contribute to the improvement of the village environment, and they made a generous offer that not only enabled the village to buy a hornbeam, but also to buy another tree that is native to this area: a walnut.  This replaces the ornamental cherry on the corner of Bernard Close and Dadbrook which died recently.

On 24th March the team from Majestic Trees arrived with the trees and digging equipment and, over the space of about five hours, planted these two trees for us.

The hornbeam is a fine specimen, about 7 metres high and already about 25 years old; the walnut is a more modest affair, but a good size and a welcome addition to that grassy corner.

These trees will need a lot of watering in their first year in their new home.  Twice a week, someone will need to spend ten minutes directing a hose at the hornbeam, and five minutes for the walnut.  The tree wardens are investigating the possibility of acquiring a tank trailer, which could also be useful for watering the new saplings on the playing fields, but at this stage they are looking for volunteers to help with a watering rota.  If you might be able to help with this from time to time, please email Paul Ridout at ridout359@btinternet.com.

How you can get involved in making Cuddington a Greener Village

This summer we have all seen the horrific images of the Brazilian Rainforest burning, and of forest fires elsewhere around the world.  Trees are being cut down everywhere to make way for housing and development, even though everyone now understands how important trees are for combatting climate change, as well as providing homes for our much-loved wildlife.

What can we do about it?  One thing we could all do is plant a tree!

Cuddington is launching a new campaign called Plant for the Planet.  Our aim is to get every household to plant at least one tree, and to record every planting with a photo, which we will put on a growing display board in the Bernard Hall as well as on social media.  Who know what kind of ripple effect this could have?

Reasons to plant a tree: did you know that...

• The UK now has less tree-cover than any other country in Europe
• Trees produce 20% of the world’s oxygen
• Trees sequester carbon, which means they actively combat climate change
• Trees scrub pollution from the air
• Trees provide habitats for millions of insects, birds and animals
• Trees prevent soil erosion
• Trees release endorphins that make us happy

It is easy to feel that there’s little we can do individually to help our beautiful planet, but by planting a tree you are:

   🌳 Improving the ecological health of Planet Earth
   🌳 Enhancing our local environment
   🌳 Taking part in a new movement
   🌳 Spreading a vital message

Most people in Cuddington have gardens, but if you have a smaller plot, choose a smaller species such as an Acer, that will grow slowly and can even be grown in a large pot or barrel.  Bamboo is also a great option for smaller gardens as it creates a lot of oxygen, without growing very deep roots.

If you feel you have no space, Mike Cottman has kindly offered his own land for people to come and plant trees – Mike and Ben Clayton have been working really hard to make lots of wildlife-friendly improvements to the bridle path and field to the right of it, where they planted a bank of wildflowers earlier this year as well as 1,000 trees.

What to do next to Plant for the Planet:

1. Go to a garden centre (Haddenham, Hartwell Nurseries, or Askett are all nearby) and choose a seedling
2. Check what time of year is best to plant the species you have chosen (September and October are best in most cases)
3. Plant the tree in your garden, or arrange with Mike Cottman to plant on his land (email him at mikecottman@hotmail.com)
4. Take photos of you and your family, with your newly planted tree!
5. Email your pictures to Ilona_ecott@yahoo.co.uk with the subject “plant for the planet”, so that they can be added to this page on the village website too
6. If you have Instagram or Facebook, post your photos with the hashtag #plantfortheplanet, and spread the word

Let’s get going and Plant for the Planet!

Ilona Ecott

In the Village Voice July issue I wrote an article saying that the butterflies and dragonflies seemed to have largely disappeared from our local countryside.  That was following a series of outings during May and June and was true at the time.  Then I did my route on Saturday June 30th, and there were lots and lots of butterflies and some dragonflies. 

The butterflies were mainly meadow browns and small whites – there were dozens of them on a muddy patch in a cattle pasture below the village.  Recently I saw a big group of garden tiger moths in Holly Tree Lane and those have been around the village for a couple of weeks.

In a pond on Ridgebarn Farm, I was delighted to find lots of blue damselflies (at last!), one or two emerald damselflies and a couple of common darters.  Lots more banded demoiselles on the river and a brown hawker on the Thame.

Nature is very unpredictable, and all this was very good to see.  Hopefully more will turn up in the coming days.  We could do with some rain though!

Doug Kennedy

14 watchers returned their forms spread across the entire village.  For the numerical report for all 8 years, click here.

The House Sparrows have the prize once more – 69 sightings from 11 watchers, but the pigeons were close runners-up at 63 from all 14 watchers.  This year I combined feral- and wood-pigeons into a single ‘pigeons’ species because of uncertainty about identification.  Last year there were 51 pigeon sightings, and they are much bigger animals, so represent a lot more biomass which has increased by 15%.  As I roam the countryside, especially locally, pigeons seem ubiquitous, which is an extraordinary success story for the species.  House sparrow numbers have remained strong.

The Corvids have done well, with blackbirds increasing from 34 to 42 sightings and jackdaws increasing from 31 to 39, with a couple more sightings than last year.

Bluetit sightings are down a little on average while great tits are the best since 2012.  Coal tit sightings are back on track following last year when they were missing.

Finches are down somewhat.  Chaffinches are solid at 14 from 5 watchers and goldfinch numbers were up from 13 to 27 and greenfinches have returned after being absent last year.  All but 6 of the 32 goldfinches were seen on the north-east side of the village, where they seem to gravitate particularly to Karen Haining’s garden in Frog Lane, which possibly has something to do with the fact that she is very generous with high-quality bird food and several feeders.  She had a charm of 20 goldfinches on the day!  The only problem is that this is also highly attractive to predators, so a sparrowhawk was watching out for a meal: something that she is quite used to.

House martin numbers and sightings are well up while swift and swallow sightings remain fairly constant.

Only 2 thrushes spotted this year against 4 last year.

Overall, bird numbers are up, which is nice, although we may be a bit over-supplied with pigeons and jackdaws.

Other sightings of note are the many round newts in the Sanderson’s pond, and the existence of a flock of goldcrests in a garden off Frog Lane.

Among the notes provided by watchers, there are 2 barn owls around the allotments (in addition to the, possibly, 2 in trees around the marsh below the ‘tractor’ field).  Badgers, mice and rabbits have also been seen in open spaces around the village: there is a large badger sett in the nettle-strewn area below Tibby’s Lane.  Several people report bats being seen in the evening.

Making Your Voice Heard With Thames Water:

Our water and sewage supplier, Thames Water, has published its draft 25-year resourcing plan which you can read and offer your opinion on at https://haveyoursay.thameswater.co.uk/engagement/shape-your-water-future/

The Plan itself is rather long: there is a summary, but many related documents which are a lot of reading, however it is available for those prepared to really understand what is being proposed. The summary will give most of us a broader understanding, and it really is in everyone’s interests to understand what is being planned as it will affect everyone. We take clean water in our taps for granted, but it is not guaranteed if resource planning isn’t good! One concern is that the company says it is not going ahead with a new reservoir in Oxfordshire, in which case there is no spare capacity in the event of a serious drought.

And as for dealing with our liquid waste, in 2013, the company managed to complete pollute the River Thame which is still far from recovering: it could happen again – again, there are no guarantees.

To respond to the resource plan consultation, you can complete the response questionnaire, but again, this takes quite a lot of time and work. Thames Water and the Secretary of State have to ensure that all responses to the consultation are read and responded to, so you can email consultations@thameswater.co.uk with your own personal response: refer to the Draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019.

Some of the issues that do not seem to be well covered are:

• Leakage repair – the company keeps missing targets, is fined but continues to miss them. This is serious – if they were fixed, the pressure on water supply would ease.
• Badly connected or mis-connected drains are not being dealt with sufficiently and Thames Water is the worst performer.
• Investment in infrastructure: far more is needed than proposed to create a resilient water and sewage system.

(NB. Currently the deadline is April 29th, which will have gone, but there may be an extension.)

The results of the 6th Cuddington Vertebrate Watch Results 2016 are now in, so here is an outline.  If you want to see the full results, please email doug@doug-kennedy.com and I will send you them in pdf format.

8 people took part, spread across the northern half of the village (on and below the Aylesbury Road), but I am still looking for people around Dadbrook – if interested please do get in touch with me.

Overall, this is a better year than last year, when April and early May were much colder: it hasn't been warm this year, but there has been a nice mix of rain and sunshine so vegetation is doing very well.  There is a contrast between houses on the edge of the village and those in the middle, the former getting more farmland birds, and the latter the finches and tits.  27 species of  birds were recorded this year as well as grey squirrels, a muntjac, mice and common newts.

We are seeing a lot of consistency over the years and some trends are becoming fairly clear that echo national trends.  Corbids (crow, raven, jackdaw, magpie) are becoming more numerous, as are red kites and woodpigeons (everywhere!!).  Starlings are back this year and sparrows seem to be doing better than recent years.  We have good numbers of Greenfinches and goldfinches whereas chaffinches numbers are down.  Finches love the sunflower kernels which some of us use in feeders.

Only one thrush and no dunnocks, although I do see a pair of dunnocks in my garden on a daily  basis.  Bluetit numbers are down, but great tits are up a lot.

The lack of thrushes and cuckoos is very sad and reflects a national trend. On May Day at the church, we sang about the cuckoo, whose song seems to have been everywhere in the countryside in past centuries.  Of course, many cuckoos is hard on warblers and other host birds, but the lack of these is partially responsible for the cuckoo’s decline.

Bird feeders do a lot to help garden birds, especially through the winter, and I believe that they are instrumental in the good numbers of sparrows, tits and finches in Cuddington.

I hope that you found this interesting and am interested in any feedback.  If you would like to take part next May, please let me know, especially if you live anywhere around Dadbrook.

Doug Kennedy

In our corner of England today, what is the easiest way to make a lot of money, if you are lucky? Turn a green space into housing. In-filling has been going on for a long time, but the scale of building has been taken to a new level with central government’s requirement that Aylesbury Vale builds thousands of new houses; and in-filling doesn’t even count towards that total! It is a golden opportunity for people who own land and property developers to make a great deal of money as villages and towns expand over the countryside like rot on an apple. It is changing the character of places and putting stress on infrastructure and services, as well as diminishing the quality of life of existing residents. It also puts yet more stress on our already badly depleted wildlife.

The driver is, of course, a lack of housing. The government’s selling point is that there is not enough housing for ‘ordinary working people’, but much of what is going up is priced a long way beyond what an average wage-earner can afford. This is because higher priced homes enable the developers make more money, so they have to be coerced into including any lower priced units. Then there is the question of why Aylesbury Vale and other Home Counties localities have been required to add so much housing: have employment opportunities suddenly increased dramatically outside London? Probably not. A significant proportion of the new homes will be occupied by people who work in London and who will have to commute, unless they find work locally.

In the past, Lord Leverhume, the Cadbury brothers and other enlightened industrialists realised that people need good housing close to where they work: this is in the interests of all concerned as workers who are part of a community and happy with their home are healthier and work better, and it certainly seems to have worked for Unilever and Cadbury’s! However the people who work in businesses, hospitals, schools and so on in London do not have that luxury and are being forced by property prices further out because housing in the capital is not geared to the needs of the society, but to the greed of the wealthy. This is not intended to be a socialist statement, but one of fact that is not only an evil for London, but for the countryside that surrounds it.

The draft Vale Of Aylesbury Plan has completely changed the framework for housing development, undermining the entire concept of not allowing towns and villages to join up through ribbon and creeping development. Our village, along with many others, has been redefined as a ‘medium-sized village’, a bureaucratic change at the strike of a computer key that forces the building of more houses on it. We are watching the transformation of the outskirts of Thame and Long Crendon and Haddenham are following on, whilst green fields disappear under concrete.

Combined with HS2 and the apparent lack of concern for environmental issues within our government, what remains of our lovely Buckinghamshire countryside seems to be very much under threat, and the momentum of destruction seems far too great for our puny voices to make any difference. And how much do we care? Are we prepared to stand up and scream ‘No!’? 

Yesterday afternoon I was on the banks of the Thame at around 5pm on the look out for dragonflies (saw a few hawkers) and spotted a kingfisher shooting along the river near Winchendon Mill.  A few minutes afterwards, a barn owl flew out from a nearby tree – I got a really good look at it as it flew, but there wasn’t time to get my camera into action unfortunately. These are important sightings, as the Kingfisher indicates the river is returning to health, and the barn owl hasn’t been seen for some time, but seems to live at this spot.

I’ve seen small fry and little fish occasionally under the bridges, but I’m told that there are quite a few fish in the river now, for instance at Eyethrope.  This is all good news, and we can hope that wildlife will start increasing again from here. 

What we DON’T want is yet another pollution incident that kills everything on ANY of the river, now nor in 10 years time, and that is what Save The River Thame is about.  We have held our seminar (see http://www.doug-kennedy.com/ and select the heading) and now the working group team is forming and will have its first meeting later this month.

If you are interested in joining us, or just being kept informed, please send an email to doug@doug-kennedy.com.

Doug Kennedy

Click here for the accumulative results for the four Vertebrate Watch events since the first in 2011. The results show the number of each species recorded, and the number of sightings (forms) on which they were recorded that year.

There will be a number of inaccuracies, such as:

*Some people did not put the quantity of individuals seen, so there is some under-recording where more than one bird appeared in the hour.

*It is difficult to tell the precise type of sparrow, pigeon or thrush which means that these results are rather lumped together. I have recorded all pigeon results this year as wood pigeon as that's what the great majority are in the village.

However, what is important is the trend and new sightings or missing species. The broad range of birds remains consistent with wood pigeons and sparrows at the top.

I haven't included kites this year as we know that there are a few, but they fly all over.

No cuckoo recorded this year, though I'm sure that I've heard at least one.

We have a greater spotted woodpecker for the first time, but no great green woodpecker, though I saw one in the tractor field a couple of months ago.

Doug Kennedy

You will have noticed that horse chestnut leaves are turning brown and curling up as the summer progresses, and by the time the leaves normally fall, there are few left. The trees have lost a lot of their summer and autumn beauty as a result.

The cause is the Chestnut Leaf Miner Moth, Cameraria ohridella, which lays its eggs along the leaf veins in the springtime. When the eggs hatch, hundreds of minute larvae penetrate the veins and cut off the water supply to the leaf cells, so the leaf turns brown and usually curls up and falls off.

The larvae pupate and over-winter among the leaf litter, to emerge as moths in the spring and start the cycle over. This is not thought to be fatal as the trees seem to cope with it.

The only way to cure this currently is to sweep up the leaf litter and (preferably) compost it under 10 cms of soil, or 30 cms of other compost until at least May the following year. The quicker alternative is to burn it, but that is less sustainable and creates smoke and attendant emissions.

The Challenge:

Could we take this on as a village challenge this and next year, and remove all the leaf litter from under our horse chestnuts and dispose of it? It would be a real bonus to see healthy trees once again.