After the Flood - riverside inhabitants recover

Sunday 17th June and it's life as usual on the river but with a sense of urgency, making up for lost time.

 Birds with nests that were destroyed by the floodwater started building anew the day after the floods receded which meant breeding activity had to start from scratch, with males perching on prominent branches, singing loudly - a second April.

The day was windy with sun and cloud alternating. Dog roses all along the river banks were now flowering together with Elder with buds and flowers just appearing on the brambles. The rich hawthorn blossom that dominated the riverbanks only a few days ago had disappeared, leaving small green berries which will sustain our winter migrants when they arrive.

There was abundant insect activity amongst the nettles, brambles and wild flowers on the river banks with the river flowing swiftly. In some areas the sound of the wind tearing through poplar leaves drowned out birdsong but poplars are not so popular with most birds - given a choice, oak, ash, willow, hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hornbeam, pine and all the hedgerow plants are preferred.  

Rosa canina - Dog rose - excellent for wildlife.

Heres a summary of wildlife seen on 17th June 2012:
Birds which were most likely to have been affected by the floods were busy singing or building new nests - wrens (17) were singing and rebuilding on the banks dashing across for moss and grasses - higher up this time; they had been used to low river levels during the months of 'drought' and have been caught again by the river in flood. Whitethroats (4), summer visitors, were late this year and had only started nesting recently here, with probably more to come. Blackbirds (17) were singing strongly and others were carrying food for young in hedgerow nests whilst numbers of robins (8) were singing too
with some thin calls from speckled fledged juveniles asking for food. House sparrows (54) were doing very well with large numbers of juveniles still being fed. Lots of chattering in the riverside bramble thickets and some expert 'flycatching' action over the river indicated that all was well with them.
Chaffinches (9) were calling and singing loudly and 2 goldfinches were singing from the top of an oak but only one greenfinch was heard. Appearing well before the whitethroats this year was another summer visitor, the chiffchaff (7). It's always audible as soon as the sun appears and never seems to give up during its season here. Much less easily distinguished, a garden warbler was singing, with only glimpses of it seen, also late to arrive this year. Blackcaps (9) arrived in very good numbers and have settled in well along the river, the males just giving very short snatches of their varied song as most adults were very busy feeding fledged juveniles or still busy carrying food to nests on the banks.
In a conifer where a blackcap family was foraging for insects, two goldcrests were also feeding - characteristically never still for a moment. Nearby a noisy racket broke out - a magpie had just flown into the tree - was it a fight to the death perhaps? A nest being raided?  No, just an adult bringing food to some hungry magpie nestlings. The small birds in the same tree continued foraging, unconcerned.
Keeping very quiet in a quiet bend on the river were 3 mallard, the female well camouflaged in the debris under the bank and close by a dunnock flew across to sing a short quiet song. The weather was  not ideal for the treecreepers (3) but one was seen flying from one tree to another more sheltered from the wind where two juveniles were calling.      
 Song thrushes (2) were quiet, flying low to collect food in the muddy banks and a single nuthatch was heard - a soft contact call to juveniles. Although they have several calls, the green woodpecker is always unmistakable - one flew across between the trees, giving a short yaffle and became visible.
Blue tits (43) and great tits (15) were very unlikely to have been affected by the floods, with numerous fledged youngsters being fed by exhausted-looking adults. With all the recent rain and very damp weather there would have been no shortage of caterpillars for the nestlings in the oaks and now some of the more daring fledged youngsters were seen foraging for themselves low down on the banks amongst the undergrowth and in the willows.
Each tree seemed again to have its own sentinel woodpigeon (28) which would fly out with a commotion of flapping wings when it spotted danger, alerting the smaller birds which would instantly take cover.
They all play their part in the diversity of the river habitat and although large, have predators seeking them out. A pile of woodpigeon feathers under a tree indicated a recent successful attack, probably by a sparrowhawk  - shortly afterwards a sparrowhawk was seen darting across the glade, perhaps the culprit.
The song of skylarks (3) alerted me to happenings in the sky where several swifts were flying extremely fast and low in the wind, catching insects and starlings (45) flew towards the riverside trees in groups. 4 crows followed and there was a fine view of a common buzzard, gliding over its territory, using the thermals created by the ground warming up in the sun.

Female Orange-tip butterfly of riverbank flowers

In a stretch of the river sheltered from the wind some Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies,

Banded Demoiselle damselflies and Large Red damselflies were flying low, settling on the nettles that had been well submerged only a few days ago. There were some micro moths low down amongst the grasses , 7 spot ladybirds amongst the nettles and bumblebees (white tailed) and hoverflies were busy on the newly flowering Elder.  It seemed too windy for butterflies but soon several Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral appeared together with a number of female Orange-tip butterflies flying strongly over the riverbank.

Dragonflies and Drama on the Riverside

15th June 2012
A fine male bullfinch flew across the recently reopened section of the Riverside and a silent green woodpecker was also seen flying across. Numbers of chaffinch, chiffchaff, robin, blackbird and 2 song thrush were singing and visible and three mallard, 2 male and one female appeared on the river in the dappled  shade where some Speckled Wood butterflies were chasing.
A fine rainbow appeared in the North East - it may have signalled the end of the floods - but more trials  were soon to beset the Riverside...

After the floods

13th June 2012 - 2 days after the floods and the river is flowing along its normal channel again, and the sun is out. To a female mallard 'it's all water off a ducks back' - well not quite. Although mallard pairs here almost certainly successfully reared several broods of about 13 ducklings each and sent them off down the Arun to fend for themselves, who knows what happened to them? This mallard has sought out a sunny spot and started to preen, exhausted after the floods - but the river is still very fast flowing and it seems that preening and paddling cannot be done at the same time, so it's preen, paddle against the river, preen again, then paddle again in order to stay in the same sunny and relatively calm waters.  

The vegetation on the river banks is now torn and muddy, stems lying flat and debris caught up everywhere.
Spent quite a long time removing debris caught up in the young trees we planted last year. Fortunately they were saved from being washed away by the dense grasses and nettles and brambles that surrounded them. The term for these are 'nursery plants' meaning plants that are allowed to grow amongst newly planted trees in order to protect them from being eaten, to prevent the the earth around the roots form drying out and cracking, to attract insects and - as in this case to prevent them being washed away by the force of the water. It certainly worked!

Contractor's work continued on the old oaks either side of the bridge, with ivy and dead branches removed from the oak on the left. I again observed before and during the work.
In addition to the female mallard, wrens and robins were seen singing and three blackcap families, adult males and females very busy feeding 'browncap' young were seen, one family close to the fallen oak, successfully finding insects in the enormous upturned root system - which has quickly become a favourite foraging location for many birds.
Further along, a whitethroat was singing - and a garden warbler singing, many house sparrows, a song thrush, blackbirds, starlings, several chaffinch, a jay, a magpie, woodpigeons and a male mallard floating downstream, calling softly. A moorhen on the river was also heard calling and finally three treecreepers were seen in different trees, their nests and young safely well above the flood level. It was a fine day with no wind or rain giving a chance for wildlife to recover from the deluge.

12th June 2012 - The floodwaters had subsided. Last-minute notice was given at a meeting yesterday with the developer and HDC planners that work on 2 old oak trees either side of the new bridge was to be carried out from today - The meeting was informed that the timing of this work was inappropriate -it being in the middle of the bird nesting season - so spent just about the whole day observing the work - which was to remove ivy and a few dead branches. An hour spent observing the tree before work commenced revealed wrens building a nest under overhanging shrub adjacent to the oak. The contractors were informed  and avoided any disturbance and removal of vegetation here. Blackbird, blackcap, more wrens, robin, chaffinch and dunnock were all seen collecting food for young in the adjacent riverbank area, with some robin, chaffinch, chiffchaff and wrens singing.

During the floods

The river on 11th June 2012 flowing along its natural river bed

11th June 2012 - My simple rain gauge recorded 35mms rain overnight but it's possible it overflowed.
The river was in flood, filling and swirling down its natural river bed, many metres wider than its usual channel, carrying debris and large tree logs with it. By 10.30am it was just about to come over the road and still rising. The flow was attenuated by the abundant riverside vegetation in parts where it spread out - but where the grass was short it washed across with great speed and force.
(more photos will appear on the River News page.)

4th June 2012 - 7mm of rain overnight left the ground very wet, an overcast day with a cold North wind. Growth of vegetation along the river seems to have suddenly doubled, with newly planted trees across the river doing well.
A quick look along the river revealed many birds: loud chaffinches singing from the trees, much wren activity and song, some collecting food for young. Chattering house sparrows were busy amongst their Bramble colonies and a few robins were singing. Blackbirds were also collecting food, others were singing and a silent song thrush was seen carrying food found on the damp river bank. Starlings were off on a survey of the fields and there was a great view of a common buzzard chasing a kestrel low down over the trees.
A 'nursery tree' held many newly fledged blue and great tits together with several juvenile goldfinches. The small tree, between oaks,  made it easy for adults to forage in the oaks then fly to the young lined up on the horizontal branches. A great spotted woodpecker called from its nest tree and two treecreepers, probably juveniles, flew across, A pair of collared doves kept together amongst ivy - they are less numerous now than in recent years whilst woodpigeons are always present and faring well.
Blackcaps are certainly thriving this year, busy building nests or singing. Just a single willow warbler was singing in a willow whilst a nuthatch called but quietly. It was good to see several swifts and house martins flying lo over the river, close by and three skylarks singing over their territory.

31st May 2012 - Banded Demoiselles and Blackcaps today.  Although overcast, there were numerous Banded Demoiselle damselflies about, low on the nettles on the banks of Boldings brook flowing well but shallow, indicating that we need more rain soon. Blackcaps were singing, foraging in the trees and thickets, with plenty of chaffinches and wrens, their songs louder than the Blackcaps song. Chiffchaffs were singing too and there was a fine view of a treecreeper in an oak.

A quiet  damselfly 'pond' in the river.

One of the many locations on the river favoured by damselflies which use the waterlily leaves to perch on. Blossom from an overhanging Hawthorn tree has fallen here, soon to be washed away. Damselflies once dried off and strong, will be flying high amongst the Hawthorn, Hazel and Oak trees or resting in the sun on nettle and bramble leaves on the banks.

Could it just be Summer?

 27th May 2012 - A fine sunny day becoming very warm. Towards midday the butterflies were out, together with the damselflies. Chiffchaffs , blackcaps and chaffinches were singing with a green woodpecker seen and lots of house sparrows and blackbirds busy foraging. 

Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Common Blue and madly spiraling Speckled Wood butterflies were seen along the river with many Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly males chasing each other, sometimes almost colliding with Orange tip butterfly males patrolling the river. More Speckled woods were also caught up with the damselfly antics. Some pairs of Beautiful Demoiselles were mating on riverbank leaves; Hazel, nettle, bramble - all form fine perches for damselflies and butterflies. More Large Red damselflies were flying today together with a few Banded Demoiselle damselflies. A Downy Emerald dragonfly was seen patrolling, looking far more aggressive and dangerous.