The wildlife pond near Gid Lane has a good population of Great Crested Newts that also breed there. The number of newts has increased substantially since the pond was constructed in 2016 when the first newt was recorded there. By 2021 a professional survey using bottle trapping recorded a maximum count of 28 Great Crested Newts and 23 Smooth Newts. This year 2023, I counted 35 GCN larvae on a warm day in June that were close enough to the water surface for identification with perhaps ten times that number out of sight while hiding in the pond vegetation. This is an outstanding success story achieved by Froyle Wildlife and the volunteers who give their time and effort to maintain the pond and surrounding wildflower meadow.

In the last 12 years there have been a number of newly constructed ponds in Froyle with some in gardens and fields. Froyle Wildlife asked Pete West (from Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Conservation) to survey selected ponds in April with landowner permission. Smooth Newts and Great Crested Newts were seen in all four ponds surveyed with evidence of breeding in two ponds at Upper Froyle. Unlike frogs and toads, newt eggs are laid singly on submerged vegetation wrapped in a folded leaf (Water Mint is a favourite).
Historically there has been an enormous national decline in their range and abundance over the last century and the Great Crested Newt previously had no records from Lower Froyle but it is now found there as well. The newly constructed ponds don’t just benefit amphibians, they are a magnet for dragonflies, damselflies and other wildlife. Even a small garden pond can help to increase local biodiversity and provide a fascinating window into aquatic life. As the saying goes ‘Just add water’, you could be amazed by the results!

So why do organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts, the Tree Council, the Woodland Trust and the RSPB all extoll the importance of hedgrows in our landscape?  Hedges are more than an essential refuge for wildlife. Small but mighty, they also clean our air, capture carbon, reduce flooding and give clues to historic land management. In Froyle most rural hedgerows follow the field boundaries shown on the 1847 Tithe Map and are likely to have been hedges for hundreds of years.

Upper Froyle view winter (above)             Lower Froyle view autumn (below)

There are an estimated 500,000 miles of hedgerow in Britain which could be looked on as our largest nature reserve. Hedges come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can include many different species. Rural hedges are often a mix of shrub and tree species, such as hawthorn, blackthorn, spindle, hazel, ash and oak. In more urban and landscaped settings, they are likely to include species like box, yew, privet and holly.

They provide wildlife corridors through a farmed landscape to connect habitat areas. 130 nationally rare species are closely associated with hedges including lichens, fungi and reptiles. Many more use them for food and shelter during some of their lifecycle. Bank vole, harvest mouse and hedgehog all nest and feed in hedgerows as well as birds, while bats use them as ‘commuter routes’ for foraging and roosting.

Some species of birds depend on hedgerows for their survival. At least 30 species nest in hedgerows. According to the RSPB several of these, such as bullfinches and turtle doves, prefer hedgerows more than 4m tall, with lots of trees, whereas whitethroats, linnets and yellowhammers favour shorter hedgerows (2–3m) with fewer trees. Dunnocks, lesser whitethroats and willow warblers prefer medium or tall hedgerows with few trees.

Wrens, robins, dunnocks and whitethroats usually nest low down, but song thrushes, blackbirds, chaffinches and greenfinches nest well above the ground level. Grey partridges use grass cover at the hedge bottom to nest. It is therefore important to manage for a range of hedge heights and tree densities and to maintain a grassy verge at the base of the hedge.

Redwing (photo right) in a Froyle hedgerow
Grassy hedge bottoms and field margins provide nesting material and insect larvae for chicks to feed on. Wild flowers and grasses growing up into a hedge also help to conceal nests from predators. In winter, hedgerows can be feeding and roosting sites for resident birds and winter visitors such as fieldfares and redwings.  Conservation organisations say that no cutting should take place during peak bird nesting season, which runs from March to September. Where possible, delay any maintenance work until January or February, as hedgerow berries provide a valuable autumn and winter food source for birds.

The Wildlife Trusts advise that rural hedges should not be cut every year, as flower buds often form on second-year growth. Trimming hedges on a two or three year rotation, targeting different sections each year, will make sure there are always flowers for pollinators in spring and berries for birds in autumn. Hedges cut every three years can produce two and a half times as much blossom as those cut annually. Rotational cutting can also save time and money that would be invested in annual cutting. The main message for hedges in the landscape is that ‘Big and Blousy’ is better for wildlife than ‘Neat and Tidy’.

Acknowledgment: Some of the text above was copied from information sources.

Wildlife recording:  If you don’t know what you’ve got, then you won’t know when it’s gone

Many of us are interested in wildlife and watch  the species which visit our gardens or favourite local places. Unfortunately, far fewer record the wildlife they see and don’t pass on this valuable information. And that is where you can help! Wildlife records describe the presence, abundance, associations and changes, both in time and space, of wildlife. In its simplest form it is no more than writing down a little information about what you have seen, where and when you saw it and sharing it with County recorders.

In doing so you can help to contribute greatly to local knowledge of our wildlife and habitats. Records can help to establish the distribution and size of populations, and regular recording may enable detection of changes over time. They help to identify the location of rare and locally important species, and can be used to help protect them and their habitats from damage. Over time they help to understand how our environment is changing, for example in response to climate change. Even records of commoner species can be valuable too – what is common today may not be in the future. So why not help by sending in your wildlife records and make the information available to present and future generations. A list of where you can send Hampshire records (depending on the species identified) is available from https://documents.hants.gov.uk/biodiversity/Hampshire-County-Recorder-List.pdf.

Briefly a wildlife record is WHAT you saw, WHERE you saw it, WHEN you saw it and WHO you are. There are websites to help with identification, see links to some at https://www.froylewildlife.co.uk/links/.  The Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre (HBIC) has an extensive database of records for the County and collates records with partner organisations. HBIC and their partner organisations such as Butterfly Conservation, Hampshire Flora Group and Hampshire Ornithological Society have provided us with past records within the parish of Froyle. Lists of species found in Froyle can be viewed at https://www.froylewildlife.co.uk/recording/species-lists/. Some of these local records were originally submitted by Sue Clark and myself.

A recent talk organised by ACAN ‘Can Nature Count on You?’ introduced HBIC and explained the importance of biological recording, also with a contribution from a local Alton amateur botanist, email altonclimatenetwork@gmail.com if you would like to watch this recorded talk.

Call in anytime between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 9th July to visit the wildlife pond and meadow, near Gid Lane, Upper Froyle. There should be plenty to see especially if it’s a sunny day.
Members of Froyle Wildlife will be on hand to assist with identification of wildflowers, dragonflies’ and butterflies. Wildflower species to look out for include; knapweed, lady’s bedstraw, sainfoin, self heal, purple loosestrife, water figwort and bird’s-foot trefoil. Last year on the ‘drop-in’- day 12 species of butterfly and 8 species of dragonfly/damselfly were noted; ladybirds, hoverflies, bees and grasshoppers were also seen. No need to book, anyone can just pop in and see what you can spot.

Find out what flies after dark?  We plan to run a moth lamp on Friday 10th June at the meadow surrounding the wildlife pond near Gid Lane (weather permitting).  Come along anytime, starting 9.30pm until late, warm clothing and torch are useful.  Also we will have a bat detector to hear the echolocation calls of any nearby bats.

There are nearly 2000 species of moth that occur in Hampshire. Moths and butterflies are useful indicator species for the health of our natural environment.

A good night out? So what was it like. We ran the moth lamp on two evenings at the meadow surrounding the wildlife pond in Upper Froyle. The first evening on 10th June recorded 15 species even though the temperature quickly plummeted under a clear cold sky. The second on 12th July with ideal weather conditions recorded an amazing 68 species under overcast sky with a temperature of 21 C at midnight. These included the colourful Elephant Hawk-moth and our largest British species the Privet Hawk-moth. Amongst the hundreds of individual moths seen and some photographed, there are more micro-moth species still to be identified. Hardly any of the moths recorded would be seen during the day. Butterflies and moths are useful indicator species for the health of our environment.

Flora recording amble on Sunday 8th May, around Froyle organised by Alton Natural History Society. Walk led by botanist Isobel Girvan, meet 10am at Froyle Village Hall.

This joint project with Alton Natural History Society recording plant species in Froyle started in 2021 as an update to a previous survey in 1991. The variety of locations surveyed includes roadside verges, field and wood edges alongside public rights of way as well as other areas with landowner’s permission.

All welcome, come and find out what plants occur locally and learn to identify them. See link to Froyle churchyard.

Swifts, the iconic ‘birds of Summer’, are in trouble. These beautiful and charismatic birds have declined across Hampshire and the UK by more than 50% over the last 23 years, see www.swift-conservation.org/.  The plummeting in their numbers is believed to be due to a big reduction in available nesting sites. However, it has been shown that if nesting places are once again provided, with either nest boxes or swift bricks, this can significantly boost local swift populations.

By mid-August the swifts that we all enjoyed over Froyle this Summer with their aerial displays will be heading back to their African wintering skies. Amazingly an adult swift can fly 7500km in just 5 days!  However, we can think ahead for next year, when the swifts return in late April/early May, aiming to maximise the number of swift nest sites that are ready and available to them, thus helping to boost swift numbers in future years.

Tim Norris from Hampshire Swifts www.hampshireswifts.co.uk/ is happy to check your house to see whether you have a suitable site for a nest box.  He and a colleague can then provide and fit a nest box for you. There is a small charge for this. Tim has fitted some nest boxes in Lower Froyle this Summer, and these have already attracted visits from swifts – please see photo on left. This bodes well for their intended use next year.

If you are interested, and would like to see whether you might be able to help with siting of swift nest boxes around Froyle, please contact info@www.froylewildlife.co.uk.

Jayne Fisher

In the last month, a pair of Turtle Doves has occasionally visited a garden in Upper Froyle. They used to be widespread but have suffered a 94% UK population decline since 1995. At this current rate of change if we don’t find a way to help them scientists calculate that complete UK extinction as a breeding species will be a real possibility within just a few years. In Hampshire there are just a few sites where these birds hang on. Finding extra food in gardens can be an important source of nutrition for the birds. Turtle Doves are ground feeders, although you may see them on a bird table and even at a hanging feeder. They often struggle to find sources of water in the summer so please do fill up any bird baths that you may have – or simply put out a shallow dish with water.

Keith Betton is the County Bird Recorder for Hampshire and is keen to hear from anybody who sees these birds around Froyle – or hears their gentle purring call when out on walks. If you can help with sightings (which will not be made public) please contact Keith on 07809 671468 or at keithbetton@hotmail.com.

There are quite a few moth species that can be encountered in the daytime comprising the true day flying ones and those that are easily disturbed from vegetation.  A free guide can be downloaded as a .pdf from Butterfly Conservation. Some you may see include Scarlet Tiger, Ruby Tiger, Mother Shipton, Silver Y, Burnet Companion, Cinnabar, Six-spot Burnet, Hummingbird Hawk-moth, and Large Yellow Underwing.  If you spot a day flying moth search ‘UK Moths’ for identification help or email a photo to info@www.froylewildlife.co.uk we may be able to assist.

To see what moth species have been recorded in Froyle, click on the .pdf. Other wildlife lists recorded in this Parish are available here.

We ran a moth lamp in July at the wildflower meadow that surrounds the wildlife pond near Gid Lane. It was well worth staying up to the early hours as over 40 species were recorded from the large Privet Hawk Moth to the small Apple Ermine which is only 10mm long. The list of moths seen can be downloaded as a .pdf.