A wildlife diary
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM 14 2HJ
The Exhibition and Social meeting was an excellent event again, with lots of new people:
members and guests and four children. Several new exhibitors and a wide variety of
displays made this another success. As usual, the money we don't have to spend on
postage for about 100 copies of the Essex Naturalist actually more than covers the cost
of the event. Next year's date will be Saturday 22nd November 2008 (not 6th December).
This is earlier than usual due to our regular date being already booked at the hall. But in
2009 we are back again to the first Saturday in December which is the 5th. Please put
these dates in your diaries now, and do make the effort to exhibit and/or attend. It really
is worthwhile!
The EWT magazine 'Wild Essex' is always informative and interesting reading. The
only thing that amazes me every year is the summary of the garden survey that members
and others do about the wildlife (mainly birds) they have seen in their patch. The largest
cause of death of garden birds is being killed by a cat or dog, and second is flying into
windows. Now some years ago I had an accident involving an invisible plate glass door
to a shop, so I can sympathise with the birds here, and people can put net curtains or all
manner of things on the windows at home to help prevent birds flying against them
unawares. But dogs and cats! It is not just the number of bird deaths, but I understand
that many birds will not even go near a garden where a cat or dog roams free. The dog
or cat does not have to be a frisky youngster; an old obese, moth-eaten one with no teeth
is just as scary to a bird. Putting a bell on its neck is one way that helps to reduce the
number of birds being killed, but if some of the birds won't even approach, then they
can never get any of the food you put out, nor the nest-boxes unless they are very high,
and it is no wonder that birds that nest low in shrubs or on the ground never stand a
chance. We have foxes in our garden, and they are just as bad as cats and dogs, if not
worse. But how do you bell foxes?
Ken Adams sent me a map showing what Essex would look like when the Greenland Ice
Sheet finally disappears and sea levels rise by 7 metres. He also alerted me to some
scary news from recent television programmes, which I have confirmed by looking things
up on the internet. We all know the Greenland Ice Sheet is melting. It is now (2006-7)
melting 3 times faster than estimates made in 2002. The mechanism seems to be that
small pools form on irregular parts of the ice surfaces as it melts on top, and these run
down to lower layers of ice and thus lubricate the layers so they slide over each other
more easily than before and fall off into the sea more often. So deep holes in the ice
form, allowing more water to ran further down, causing more lubrication. Thus the rate
of sea level rise is increasing and when all the ice there is gone the sea levels around the
world will have risen by about 7m (24ft). As if that were not enough, ice in Antarctica
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 56, May 2008 3