Life Story

Back in May, I received a very thoughtful birthday present - a pair of tickets to a concert at the Proms.
So three months later we went down to the Royal Albert Hall. 

I'm not a particular fan of classic music, but this was a rather special concert, the music from the BBC wildlife series Life Story, played by the BBC concert orchestra and presented by Sir David Attenborough.

Prior to the concert we attended a BBC Proms Extra - a 45 minute discussion at the nearby Royal College of Music - with the composer Murray Gold (best know for his work on Doctor Who) and series producer Michael Gunton.
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Who discussed the problems of producing a program that was constructed from 2000 hours of film footage and composing a complex score from very rough edits.

One hour later was the proms itself, whilst the orchestra received a warm applause the greeting which Sir David received was almost rapturous.
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The concert took the form of Sir David introducing (basically the Life Story narration) the corresponding clips which were projected onto several large screens around the hall, whilst the orchestra played the corresponding score.
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I have never been a particular fan of music in natural history programmes - preferring the sounds of the natural world or finding it a distraction from the narration.
Yet in this instance I have become to appreciate how important it can be to help the narrative, especially when the scene itself features very little natural sound.

For example, the use of exotic percussion to enhance the situation comedy that is hermit crabs forming their own housing chain.

Or using a violin and accordion to construct a tango to reflect the final fatal dance of a male Peacock Spider.

The subtle use of the string section (and clever editing) to reflect the emotion and pathos of a herd of elephants examining the remains of a long dead relative:

And constructing a dramatic sense of tension as young praying mantis start to make their way in the world - which matches anything out of Hollywood (or in the case of Alien, Pinewood) and a twist at the end which surpasses most films:

Certainly the music adds a huge amount to each scene and considerably enhances the dramatic effect, it also reflects emotions that may or may not exist in the natural world - comedy, fear, grief and suspense - but without it, the series would be significantly less impressive.

And for me, not only seeing a true icon, but to hear such excellent music played by some of the finest musicians has been one of the highlights of the year.

At the time of writing, the concert is still available on BBC iPlayer and is well worth listening to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/edxwhn#b0684vct

As is the BBC Proms Extra:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezfgwh#b0680hp8

All films are copyright BBC.

Grant Museum of Zoology

Most visitors to London, who are interested in the natural world, flock to the Natural History  Museum, yet on the corner of Gower Street and University Street is the Grant Museum of Zoology, the last university zoological museum in London
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It doesn't have a plaster cast of a Pennsylvanian diplodocus or a near complete stegosaurs, and is considerably smaller than it's more famous counterpart on Cromwell Road.
But it does have many interesting and fascinating items on display, including a hippo skull:

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A fascinating boa constrictor skeleton:
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A cast of an archaeopteryx fossil:
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And a skeleton of a Thylacines (Tasmanian Tiger), which become extinct in 1936:
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Although some of the displays are just bizarre, including a jar of pickled moles:

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Yet the most interesting and fascinating thing is the Micraium, a collection of over 2000 of the universities slides, backlit by light boxes:
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A fascinating and clever feature which hopefully other Natural History Museums might emulate.

Cygnets & Ducklings

It is very challenging for an aquatic bird to raise young on the Ock.  In the water they face threats from otters, mink and pike, if they stray onto land they face predation from stoats, foxes and uncontrolled pet dogs and from the air there is the permanent threat of kestrels and buzzards

Yet despite these risks, a pair of swans have managed to raise three young cygnets.

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Swans normally have large broods of 8 to 10 cygnets, so this pair may have already lost a large a large proportion of theirs.

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Whilst it is unlikely that all three will survive, at least they have two attentive parents who will do their utmost to care and protect them, unlike this lonesome duckling.
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With no parents or siblings it has either been abandoned or it's relatives have been predated leaving it will very little chance of it surviving the night, yet alone to adulthood.

Sophie the Stegosaurus

The Natural History Museum in London is famous for it's dinosaurs, yet it's most iconic, Dippy the Diplodocus in the entrance hall is actually one of ten plaster casts of a dinosaur in Pennsylvania and it now has a rival - Sophie the stegosaurus

Named after the daughter of the benefactor who helped pay for it, this young dinosaur (whose gender is actually unknown) is 85% complete is the most complete stegosaurs yet found.

And it makes a mesmerising display in the Earth Hall when entering via Exhibition Road.

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Sophie is a Stegasarus stenops and belongs to the group of dinosaurs known as the stegosaurs which are defined by their heavy body armour and defensive tail spines.
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Sophie isn't the only stegosaur at the Natural History Museum, located across from the vast display of itchyosaurs are the fossilised remains of a Dacentrurus armatus:
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Whilst not as impressive as Sophie - consisting of only a pelvis, vertebrates, femur and the defining tail spine -  it is the first ever stegosaur to be described and whilst Sophie was found in Wyoming in 2003, this one found in Swindon in 1875.

Reference:

The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/04/sophie-stegosaurus-london-natural-history-museum

Dinosaurs of the British Isles by Dean Lomax: http://www.deanrlomax.co.uk/Books.html

Top Ten Tips for watching water voles:

In a comment to a previous post, Becky asked the following question:

Any tips for the best time of day to look for water voles

And whilst I answered the question in the comments section  I thought the subject of finding and watching water voles warranted a longer post, so I have compiled this list of top 10 tips to finding and watching water voles:

1. Identify Habitat
Perhaps the most important thing for spotting water voles is to identify is suitable place where they may live.  As the name suggests water voles inhabit water courses, but many sites are not suitable as they require steep banks to burrow into, such as these local water vole habitats.
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The bank itself does not have to be too deep, about 10cm is the minimum, hence water voles can be found in water courses with comparatively shallow banks such as the Oxford canal (near Jericho) and the river Thames (near Chimney Meadows).

Vegetation is very important to water voles, - sedge, arrowhead and water crowfoot are some of the river plants that grow in rivers and streams and provide excellent opportunities to watch them swim across the river to feed:
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Along the river bank, long grasses provide an additional source of food and bedding as well as cover from predators, and for the determined water vole, there are always nettles.
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Unfortunately the ideal water vole habitat - steep banks and plenty of vegetation - does not always make a good place to watch water voles, like this ditch in north east Abingdon, where there is a very strong water vole population, but it's virtually impossible to see them.
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2. Look for field Signs:
Having identified suitable water vole habitat, the next stage is to identify if water voles inhabit the area and there are three key field signs to look for - burrows, latrines and feeding.
The most obvious sign of water vole activity are burrows, these can be close to water - with grazed lawns or further up the bank:

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Unfortunately the existence of burrows is not sufficient to prove there is an active water vole population, these burrows may have been caused by a now extinct colony or created by another animal - such as  Signal Crayfish (invasive crayfish introduced in the 1970's) that are notorious for burrowing and causing damage on river banks.
Therefore, it is often necessary to find other field signs as well.
Like a lot of mammals (badgers and otters included) water voles use their faeces as form of communication to indicate the existence of a vole's territory and are known as latrines.
Although they can be tricky to spot, when seen they are very distinctive - small, black (sometimes green) and ovoid (often described as looking like tic-tacs).

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The third key field sign are the characteristic feeding plies -  vegetation (usually grass or sedge) with their ends cut at 45 degrees - and are easily identified when spotted, 

The combination of all three should mean there is an active water vole population

3. Look out for predators
Whilst they are bad news for the water voles, the presence of predators can be indicative of a water vole population.
The sight of an owl or a kestrel flying above the river can mean there are water voles present.  And the presence of rats can make water voles more active during daylight, hence making them easier to spot.

Whilst they normally eat fish and amphibians, herons are also known to eat the occasional water vole (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJZ00MV6YFU), so if one is stalking a ditch, which doesn't seem to have a large fish population then it might have learnt of the presence of water voles and there is one currently stalking the lower Ock, where there is a high water vole population at the moment.
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The nadir for all water vole spotters is the evidence of American Mink, a single female can wipe out an entire colony. 
Depsite their fearsome reputation, they are shy creatures and are really seen, so the most obvious indication of their presence is their dark, twisted, foul smelling faeces (known as a scat).
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4. Listen
Even when water voles can't be seen, they can often be heard - a rustling in the vegetation, the nibbling of sedge (water voles are surprisingly loud eaters) and the distinctive plop made when they dive under the water if inadvertently disturbed can indicate the presence of water voles.

5. Look for them in spring:
Water voles do not hibernate and are active all year round, indeed I have seen them in the snow in winter (http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/winter-water-voles.html ) and are most active during their breeding season which runs from April to September.
I have found the best time to spot water voles is in spring - especially April and May - when the breeding season has started and the first generation are leaving their burrows and themselves looking to breed as well.
Surprisingly, as the population continues to expand they can be harder to see.  Perhaps due to the younger generations seeking new territories, the increase in population may attract predators and perhaps the biggest factor for decreased water vole sightings is the increase in riverside foliage making it a lot harder to see the river and the banks.
As this graph of my average water vole sightings along the Ock over the previous 4 years shows:

6. Look in the morning and evening:
During the breeding season water voles are active day and night, but maybe because they are avoiding predators I have found the best time to see them is either early morning (7 to 9am) or early evening (6pm to 8pm)


7. Do water vole surveys:
I first leant about water voles through doing the BBOWT surveys - these have several advantages for a would-be water vole spotter - the opportunity to attend a training day to learn about the field signs and understand water vole habitat; an opportunity to explore areas which would normally be out of bounds; and the chance to meet fellow surveyors.
More details on the BBOWT water vole recovery project can be found at: http://www.bbowt.org.uk/what-we-do/protecting-wildlife/water-vole-recovery-project-0

For those who don't live in the three counties, other wildlife trusts and organisations may offer similar survey opportunities.

8. Visit a water vole reserve:
Several places have introduced water voles into safe suitable habitats including WWT Slimbridge (http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/) and WWT London Wetlands Centre (http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/london/) and can provide excellent viewing opportunities - if you are not distracted by the other wildlife.
But on my visits I have never actually seen any water voles.

9. Go on a water vole safari
For those wanting to take photographs of water voles photographers Ian Greene (http://www.wildwonder.co.uk/adult-courses/) and Terry Whitaker (http://www.terrywhittaker.com/#!/p/workshops-and-tuitio) run workshops with highly photogenic water voles in photogenic locations.
Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to attend any of these courses, so cannot make a personal recommendation on them.

10. Be patient:
A key skill I have learnt whilst watching water voles is to be patient, even if there are plenty of signs of them and it is early evening on a warm spring evening, there is no guarantee of actually seeing a water vole.
But with a lot of patience, sometimes many weeks, all it takes is one glimpse of these charismatic creatures to know it has been worthwhile.

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Whilst waiting, there are plenty of other things to enjoy along a river, I have also seen kingfishers (http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/kingfishers.html), a great white egret (http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/great-white-egret.html) and even otters (http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/otters.html)
- all whilst failing to see water voles.

A Bless of water voles?

The concept for collective nouns originated back in the 15th century in the Book of Saint Albans and some of them - a pride of lions, a shoal of fish and a pod of dolphins - have made it into regular use.
Yet some seem just bizarre - an unkindness of ravens, an ostentation of peacocks and fluther of jellyfish - and are unlikely to make it into a typical conversation.

The collective name for voles is rather dull - a colony - and there isn't one specifically for water voles. A conversation on twitter suggested a plop and a nibble and these are good descriptive words for the behaviour for water voles, but maybe they are not obscure enough for a collective noun. 
I prefer 'a bless of water voles' as this is the word quite often said when someone sees one of these small, endearing, yet endangered mammals.

And so far this year, there has been a big bless along the Ock.

Source: Wikipedia

Spring 2015

After what seemed like a never ending winter, spring arrived a couple of weeks ago and along with that, the river and the surrounding area have returned to life. 

The most obvious sign of the spring is the huge sway of blackthorn blossom along the hedgerows, especially along the old canal, where unlike most of the hedgerows in the area, they are not cut.

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Another sign that winter is behind us is the songs of warblers, who have returned from Africa where they have spent the winter.
Whilst it is not the most distinctive of the warblers, the chiffchaff does have the most distinctive song.
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The reed buntings, who may not have come from as far as Africa have also returned to the river to raise this years young.

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Along the Jubilee walk near Marcham, the hares can be easily be seen before the crops get too high.

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And after a very disappointing year last year, there is a lot of water vole activity, maybe because of mild winter and the perhaps because the Ock didn't flood over winter.
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Another side effect of this late spring is the unexpected return of the blogging muse.