Monthly Archives: September 2015

Shad does the Solar Heritage

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Imagine gliding silently across a stretch of calm water, watching sea birds dip their heads under the still surface while the autumn sun warms your face and puffy clouds float high across a pale blue sky.  This was my experience as I sat with John on the Solar Heritage this weekend for a wildlife discovery tour made possible by the friendly and environmentally attuned humans of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy.  The Solar Heritage is a pollution-free solar-powered catamaran that takes people out to Chichester Harbour to learn more about the coastal waters and the resident wildlife.  This clever boat is kind to sea-life because it has no exhaust emissions and it can even pick up electromagnetic energy from moonlight to charge its batteries.

Chichester Harbour

Chichester Harbour02

Chichester Harbour, which has received international recognition as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is full of wide expanses and intricate creeks making it particularly attractive to wildfowl many of which feed on substances found in the mudflats and saltmarshes.  Fear not, an intellectually advanced pussy cat such as myself does not feel the need to chase these birds despite a little rumbling somewhere deep in the depths of my genetic code!  According to the brilliant wildlife expert aboard, there are more than 50,000 birds who either reside in or visit the harbour throughout the year such as swallows, house-martens, oyster catchers, brent geese and lapwings.  We managed to get photos of some wonderful birds including the dark-feathered cormorants and the grey and white coloured sandwich-terns (note the yellow-tipped black bill and the black crest on its head).  The cormorants were particularly keen on showing me their diving skills, cutting sleekly into the water like a missile where they can submerge several feet to catch their dinner of small fish and invertebrates.

For some reason I started feeling peckish and discovered to my horror that John forgot to pack the chicken niblets that I normally have for my mid-morning snack.  Luckily the boat master came to my rescue with a piece of tuna from the skipper’s lunch box.  The skipper appeared slightly bemused and I was just about to give him one of my ‘gets ‘em every time’ looks of innocent melancholy when the nice lady from the Chichester Harbour Conservancy announced that a group of common seals were sunning themselves along one of the stony beaches that border the indented harbour coastline.  Quite honestly I thought at first that they were rocks on the sand until one of them lifted their head lazily to glance in our direction before gently lowering its back to the ground.  Apparently seals don’t believe in wasting energy and I respect that!

It was a real treat to see these wild animals looking relaxed and well fed in their natural environment.  This small colony of around 27 animals is of great scientific importance because it is a breeding colony estimated to have 2 or 3 pups each year.  If you look carefully to the right in the seal pictures, you will see a larger seal behind a smaller one which we believed to be a pup, as well as a russet coloured grey seal slightly to the left of them.  Common seals (known in Canada and the US as harbor seals) come in a variety of colours but can be identified by the shape of their heads and nostrils, and grey seals aren’t even grey!  Who thought that up?!  Anyway, the biggest threat to this small but significant population of seals is human interference, like over-fishing or changes in water chemistry resulting from toxic boat engines or the over- clearance of vegetation.  The Solar Heritage stayed move than 100 metres away from the seals so as not to disturb them but unfortunately there were other curious humans on boats that ventured far too close to the animals.  This stops them from engaging in their natural behaviours and leads to them eventually leaving that particular area, or haul-out as it’s known in the trade, and I’m sure no one wants to see the seals disappear.

As we made our way back to the Harbour Office, I wondered what creatures were hidden beneath the shimmering surface of the gentle waters.  The wildlife expert told me that there were probably lots of crabs, shrimps and worms which all sounds a bit slimy and unpleasant to me but no doubt sounds yummy to the marine life that hopefully flourishes beneath the water.  The harbour is designated as a bass nursery too which I thought was quite charming as I imagined parent bass taking their baby bass to a playgroup for craft activities and learning to play with other baby bass in the sand-pit!

Witterings

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Shad visits a windmill

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When John asked me if I wanted to see my first windmill, I thought windmills grind flour, flour makes bread, bread attracts mice, mice are fun to chase, Shadow likes windmills.  So I agreed wholeheartedly, not just for the opportunity to chase a mouse, but also because this particular windmill is part of a community project which is helping to keep a little bit of history alive.  Estimated to have been built in around 1750, the High Salvington Windmill worked for nearly 150 years before it ceased full-time milling in 1897 possibly due to industrialisation and the invention of steam mills which rendered old-fashioned hand-cranked flour milling uneconomic.  The mill underwent a couple of transformations and a period of neglect before the High Salvington Mill Trust was formed in around 1976 to tend to this unique timber structure which had been ravaged by the death watch beetle and the forces of nature.

The mill stands on a small grassy hillock alongside a quaint outdoor tearoom that serves reasonably priced refreshments and is staffed by a group of friendly local volunteers with an in depth knowledge of the mill and its past.  They were thrilled to see an inquisitive black cat amongst the visitors and the cheeky chappy who took us on the tour told me that I would have made an ideal miller’s cat, probably due to my pluckiness and obvious athleticism!  Employing a cat was a common method of mouse control no doubt essential in a place that stores and grinds wheat grain.  My imagination started to wander as I pictured myself staunchly patrolling the entrance to the mill and stealing cheese from any mouse bold enough to attempt entry.

Suddenly I was whisked into the air as John scooped me up and we joined the group climbing up the stairs to the buck (the main body of the mill).  The buck was built to contain 2 pairs of giant stones for grinding and weighs around 30 tons.  The tour guide gave us a demonstration of how the whole buck can be spun around on its 21ft 6in central post so that the sails face the right way into the wind.  The outside of the buck is even aerodynamically designed with a special shape that enables the best use of the airstream, impressive for 18th century physics.  The tour ended outside the front of the mill with a talk about the enormous sails which are 58 feet in diameter and capture the current of air required to power the complex system of shafts, wheels, hoists and brakes that work the grain into flour.  While John busied himself taking pictures, I headed purposefully towards the benches and explored the back of the tea-hut, checking every inch for mice.  I didn’t find a single one and can only presume that they didn’t dare risk a confrontation with me!  Either that or they were probably hiding behind the fallen log giggling squeakily as I prowled around like a panther, a legend in my own mind!!

Shad goes to Huxley’s Bird of Prey Centre

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Hidden at the back of a garden centre in Horsham is a beautifully kept lawn bordered by fragrant honeysuckle, purple violets and pretty pink rhododendrons.  As you walk around the garden, you can view a collection of wonderful birds, each with a story to tell.  John and I visited Huxley’s a couple of years ago but we decided to return last weekend to see Huxley himself and support the efforts made by the staff and volunteers who care for the residents.  The humans dedicate their time building trust with the birds, training and flying them, cleaning the aviaries, weeding the paths and carrying out lots more not so glamorous work required to keep the centre functioning and ensure the welfare of the birds.

Athene Noctua

 

In an aviary at the top of the garden is a 42 year old eagle owl called Huxley who presides over the staff and the rest of the birds with dignity.  As I ambled towards him, he fixed me with his piercing gaze and sounded that uniquely soulful hoot that said he recognised me straight away.  We exchanged a look of mutual understanding – two animals, wild at heart, living in a world where we relied on kind humans for our care.  I wondered how Huxley had ended up in an aviary and felt grateful that he was prepared to be on display to show people how handsome he is and help educate them about the ways of owls.  The birds at Huxley’s have arrived from various places.  Some were injured in the wild and many of these are taken to another location away from public viewing where they are treated and rehabilitated for release back into their natural habitat.  Some birds cannot be returned to the wild such as the falcons that have been illegally bred as hybrids (unnatural crosses with different species of falcons) and are not allowed to be released as they might contaminate the natural breeding stock.

Huxley - 42yrs old

Huxley – 42yrs old

Igor (another eagle owl) was found tied down in his owner’s garden being buffeted about in a rainstorm.  He was obtained as a 4 month old by someone with no understanding of his needs and kept in a shed before being tethered in a garden for years with a poor diet and no opportunity to exercise.  In poor physical condition and lacking the skills required to survive in the wild, Huxley’s took him in and began his journey back to health and happiness.  The staff said that owl feathers are not waterproof so poor Igor must have been very cold that night he was rescued in the rain and it took 2 or 3 years for Igor to regain his trust of humans.  So I was chuffed to bits when he appeared with one of the keepers sitting calmly on his arm while everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at his soft feathers and fluffy belly.

 

Huxley’s practice the principles of falconry with the captive birds in their care and are careful to ensure that each bird only does what it is comfortable and willing to do.  This gives the birds the chance to engage in some of their natural behaviours and the opportunity for people to watch and learn.  Some of the more confident birds were brought out one by one to give us a great demonstration of their flying and swooping skills.  A lovely barn owl showed me how to catch the lure (an imitation of a prey animal used to entice the bird) and one of the hawks showed me a clever way to make sure no one pinches your food.  It’s called mantling – a special posture that involves using the wings to shield their prey from other birds.  I don’t have wings and there are no predators at home trying to steal my food, nevertheless it pays to be ready for any eventuality!  As John and I said goodbye, a busy worker bee buzzed past me on his way to collect pollen from the geraniums and the kookaburra laughed haughtily as I asked John to pick me up and put me in my basket.  I was one tired pussy cat.