Category Archives: Society News

A moth with stickability: the Buff-tip

During the fairly recent spell of unseasonably warm weather with clear blue sunny skies every day, a Buff-tip moth was with us for a few days exhibiting what I think is very odd behaviour.

Around 10pm on May 24th, my wife Mairi and I went outside to look for a couple of hedgehogs which had recently appeared in our garden and to check the walls and fence next to my moth trap.

Mairi noticed a large moth fly in and alight on the unopened bud of an ornamental Poppy about 3m from the light of the moth trap.  I was surprised it had not flown to the trap so photographed it with flash.

I was even more surprised to see it still on the bud at around 5.30 am the next morning.  The sun was continuously on the bud and moth for at least the next seven hours.  Thereafter it was in shade until the last couple of hours of sunshine on that day.

The night time temperature was ideal for moths to take flight, and the attractions of the moth trap were still available, but the next morning (May 26th) it was still there!  So I took a photo showing its exposed position and another of the bud starting to open.

 

I took the following photo later that day as the bud continued to open.

With only a very small adjustment of position it remained on the Poppy head until it was fully in flower:

and still remained when the petals started to fall.  When all petals had disappeared, it finally left the seed head…

…on the night of May  28th/29th to the fence adjacent to the moth trap!

It then never moved until the night of May 30th/ 31st when it finally disappeared.

The Buff-tip is an exclusively nocturnal species and generally such species abhor direct sunlight, but this moth was in direct sunlight for much of several days.  That, and its unwillingness to fly on a series of warm nights seems extremely peculiar.

My knowledge of moth behaviour is very weak, so I have no likely explanation, but Buff-tip is notable for its confidence in the effectiveness of its well- camouflaged appearance, so that it does tend sit in very exposed situations around moth traps, rather than hiding away…..but for four days on the Poppy head and two days on the fence!!!

Moths are so great!  Get a moth trap, or put out a sheet with a light behind it on a warm sultry evening, while enjoying a glass of vino.

Andy Harding

CHANGES ARE AFOOT WITH OUR WEBSITE

After six years setting up and running our website from scratch Peter Hassett our webmaster finally stood down in March. We would like to thank him for the enormous amount of skill and effort he has put in to running such a great website and for his support during this changeover period.

To try and find a new team to carry this forward has been quite a challenge, but we are delighted to say that we now have two brave new volunteers who are prepared to give it a go. Both have little expertise in the running of websites so they will need a period of grace and understanding from Society members whilst they work their way into their new roles.

Firstly we have a new Administrator Rebecca Hiorns. Rebecca is a landscape architect, a profession she chose because of her love of the natural environment. She has recently joined the Society as she is keen to spend more time exploring and learning about our local wildlife. Rebecca will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the site making sure that it functions smoothly. She will also be responsible for implementing any structural changes that we have agreed are required to simplify the running and improve the layout of the site. We are hoping that these changes will enable our new team to run the site without having to be on-the-case every single day.

Then we have a team of three editors at present. However we are still keen to recruit one member more to join the editorial team.

Firstly a new editor Martin Ferns. Martin retired in 2018 from his post at the Open University where his roles included that of editor back in the 1980s – although not of websites. He has been resident in MK for much of the past 40 years interspersed with periods living and working in Malawi, Zambia (which he says is a wonderful country for wildlife/nature in general) and Cambodia. His interest in wildlife is general across the board.

Martin has agreed to take on the general editing of the site which will include postings of society announcements, society news, updating the Summer and Winter programme where/when necessary etc. The Recent Sightings page of the website is being re-focussed with the help of Mike LeRoy to make it more relevant to MKNHS members by encouraging the reporting of more local sightings of a greater diversity of wildlife.

Linda Murphy our Treasurer has offered to lead on commissioning of articles and other contributions to the website in the short-term (until another editor has been recruited) and Jenny Mercer has offered to support her in this role.

Julie Lane who is at present editing the Magpie, our twice-yearly newsletter, is looking at ways to integrate the newsletter more effectively with the website. More about this later and in the Magpie itself due out at the end of the month.

As mentioned above the changes involved with getting our new team up and running as well as the changes in the actual website will take some time, so we ask for your patience and understanding at this time. We will be in touch in various ways letting you know more about our plans but obviously the first go-to place for information will be the website itself.

New way to support MKNHS

Milton Keynes Natural History Society has registered with #easyfundraising, a website which supports fundraising for hundreds of charities and good causes.

The Society Committee decided to take this step as it offers a way for members to make small donations to MKNHS when they shop online without actually having to pay anything more than the price of their purchase, because the donation is made by the retailers who have signed up to the scheme.

The donations received will help the Society to build up the fund set up in 2018 to replace, or upgrade, as necessary the essential equipment and promotional display items purchased in previous years.

Currently there are over 4,000 participating shops and sites which will donate to us when you use #easyfundraising to shop with them. These include well-known names such as eBay, Argos, Amazon, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com, Tesco, Sainsbury, M&S and Expedia, covering most retail sectors, from grocery shopping to holiday and travel bookings.

So if you buy anything online, do consider signing up to easyfundraising to support MKNHS. Donations may be small, but mount up over time, the more people participate.

Click here to see how it works.

If you don’t shop on line but would like to make a small donation you can do this via the Voluntary Donations scheme, launched last year, which gives members the option of adding a voluntary donation to the annual subscription (currently £25 payable from 1st April). Amounts suggested were £5, £10 or £20 but any amount however small (or large!) is welcome It is your decision to make a donation and you can cancel it at any time. Speak to the Treasurer if you want more information.

Of course there are other ways to support the Society, not just financial. If you would like to take on a more active, practical role in running weekly meetings, or in running the Society, the committee would love the hear from you!

mobile phone 2 column test

Felmersham Gravel Pits is a 21.6 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest between the villages of Felmersham and Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire.

The site is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

Lewis Dickinson led the walk. He explained that the site was important for whorled water-milfoil and bladderwort.

During the second World War gravel was extracted from Felmersham gravel pits to be used in the construction of local war-time air fields and other military needs. Over the decades the disused and flooded gravel pits have been managed as a nature reserve and they provide a protected area for many varieties of flora and fauna. It is also important as bird sanctuary, both as a breeding habitat and for birds on migration.

It is one of the best sites in Bedfordshire for dragonflies and damselflies. One problem managing the site is that areas have become overrun with Water Soldier. You can view an interesting video showing its removal using the Truxor Amphibious Vehicle

Lewis explained that some dragonfly enthusiasts were unhappy with the removal of the Water Soldier as they were hoping it would attract the Norfolk Hawker dragonfly to the site. As a compromise, the Water Soldier is being removed from most of the lakes but is being left in one contained area.

To start the walk we crossed the road and headed North East where we had good views of damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies. There was lots of dragonfly activity, some ovipositing, a lot of aerial combat and one unfortunate dragonfly being eaten by another. After 1.5km we turned right as if we continued on our path we would have reached the fishing lakes which tend to be more shaded with less diversity.

We tried to spot Bladderwort in some of the lakes. There were no yellow flowers visible, but some people thought they could see the small hollow sacs that are used to capture and digest tiny animals such as insect larvae, aquatic worms, and water fleas.

We passed a couple of active badger sets and we saw a couple of Buzzards circling and calling overhead. Crossing the road, we continued in a circle back to the car park where we had excellent views of a Brown Hawker perched conveniently on a low branch.

We didn’t keep a species list, but some of the species we saw were:

Butterflies
Green-veined White
Holly Blue
Large White
Speckled Wood

Dragon/Damselflies
Brown Hawker
Common BlueDamselfly
Emerald Damselfly
Rudddy Darter
Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Insects
Dark bush-cricket
Dock bug (Coreus marginatus)
Forest shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
Scorpion Fly

Moths
Straw Dot
Mother of Pearl

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Unless captioned otherwise, photos are by Peter Hassett licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Click on the pictures for a larger image.

Female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) ©Paul Lund, Faversham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) ©Paul Lund

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) ©Paul Lund, Faversham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) ©Paul Lund

Dock bug sp. ©Paul Lund, Faversham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Dock bug (Coreus marginatus) ©Paul Lund

Ruddy Darter ©Paul Lund, Faversham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Ruddy Darter ©Paul Lund

Scorpion fly, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Scorpion fly

Holly Blue, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Holly Blue butterfly

Female Ruddy Darter, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Female Ruddy Darter

Brown Hawker, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Brown Hawker

Green Veined White, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Green Veined White

Speckled Wood butterfly, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Speckled Wood butterfly

Emerald Damselfly, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Emerald Damselfly

CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)

Guelder rose, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Guelder rose

Male Ruddy Darter, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Male Ruddy Darter

Small Red-eyed Damselfly, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly, CC BY-NC-SA by Peter Hassett, Felmersham Gravel Pits 11 August 2018

Common Blue Damselfly

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Trip Report – Linford Wood 15 April 2018

About a dozen MKNHS members and others assembled at Linford Wood at 2.15pm on Sunday afternoon 15th April 2018 at Breckland, by the north-west entrance to the wood. The weather was warm but cloudy and rain arrived shortly before the walk finished. There had been a rush of plants coming into flower over the preceding week of warmer weather and the first migrant birds had arrived not many days before.

In 2017, the MKNHS visit to Linford Wood had been on a Tuesday evening more than three weeks later (5th May) so this daytime visit, earlier in the season, provided a very different view of the wood and its flora. Mike LeRoy gave a brief introduction which was set out more fully in three handouts: 1) a map of the whole wood and its compartments; 2) a background note about the history, ecology and management of the wood; and 3) a note of ‘What to look and listen for’.

Grass Snake ©Ian Saunders, Stoke Goldington 19 April 2018

Grass Snake ©Ian Saunders, Stoke Goldington 19 April 2018

The group walked together on an anti-clockwise route along the western and southern sides of the wood, past compartments 13 and 7a which have been extensively coppiced and thinned during the past winter. At the south-east corner, we headed back towards the centre of the wood and diverted briefly onto the western woodchip path to find Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia before heading back to Breckland along the main horse-riding path as a shower started.

The main questions the group focused on were:
1. What plant species are flowering?
2. Where do you see Dog-violets or other Violets?
3. What bird species can you hear calling?
4. What woodpecker sounds do you hear?
5. Which Bumblebee species do you see?
6. What Bee-fly species do you see hovering?
7. Which of the ponds can you see?

Wood Anemone Anemone nemorosa had been in flower for a couple of weeks and there must have been tens of thousands to see, scattered throughout most of the wood. Although it was the most dominant plant in flower, there were also considerable numbers of Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis nemorosa still in flower alongside the paths. There were also still plenty of clumps of Primrose Primula vulgaris in flower in and among the trees and along the edges of the ditches. The delicate leaves of Pignut Conopodium majus were seen in a few locations on ditch and path edges. Only a few Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta were beginning to show. Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria were still in flower, but Greater Stitchwort Stellaria holostea had yet to emerge and no flowering Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon were seen. The first few Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia were just emerging into leaf, but had not quite flowered. The group found a few clumps of Strawberry which turned out to be Barren Strawberry Potentilla sterilis (identified by Mary Sarre).

With the undergrowth yet to burst into full growth, Dog-violets and other Violets Viola spp. were more evident and found in small numbers through much of the wood. Most of the trees were barely into leaf so there were clear views well into the wood.

Wood White ©Paul Lund, Bucknell Wood, 8 July 2017

Although tree species were not a main focus of what we looked for, Mary Sarre noted at the edge of the wood near Breckland some Norway Maple Acer platanoides which flower with bright yellow-green flowers before they leaf and have been widely planted in Milton Keynes. Mike LeRoy mentioned Ash Fraxinus excelsior trees close to Breckland with their brief display of purplish-brown male flowers.

Aside from the permanent ponds, there were many areas of the wood with water lying on the surface. At one pond on the western side Martin Kincaid found Pond-skaters Gerris spp.

As we walked, we noticed numerous Bumblebees hunting low down within the vegetation rather than searching for nectar. Species seen included: Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius and Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Another insect present in many places was the Dark-edged Bee-fly Bombylius major. Less common was the Hairy-footed Flower-bee Anthophora plumipes. In several places we found 7-spot Ladybird Coccinella septempunctata.

Sue & Andrew Hetherington led the recording of birds, almost entirely by calls and songs. In all they noted 17 species: Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Wren, Robin, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Jay and Magpie. Other species known to be sometimes present, but not seen or heard on this occasion, are: Marsh Tit, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard, Pied Wagtail and Stock Dove.

Postscript
A week after our visit the Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta are out in profusion. The first Greater Stitchwort Stellaria holostea have emerged. A few stems of Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon have been found, but are not quite in flower. And the first of the Early-purple Orchid Orchis mascula are just emerging.

There are species of flower in Linford Wood worth looking for in mid-April and others that don’t tend to emerge until late April into May. The wood is worth visiting at both these times to see how the season is changing.

Mike LeRoy
22nd April 2018

Bucknell Wood trip report

Bucknell Wood, just to the north of Silverstone, is a relic of the once extensive Whittlewood Forest. Owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, it is reputed to be one of the best butterfly sites in Northamptonshire and certainly lived up to this reputation when 16 MKNHS members and one other visited last Saturday. Following Martin’s request, members car shared as much as possible, but it was still something of a squeeze in the car park.

We were blessed with blue skies and warm conditions as we met at 11am. Even as we assembled in the car park, we were treated to views of White Admiral and Silver Washed Fritillary butterflies drifting around.

Butterflies were certainly the main focus of the walk and before long we had added the common browns, whites and skippers as well as a number of purple hairstreaks who would occasionally descend from the high oaks to tantalise us with brief views.

Martin had mentioned how long the wood white butterflies were lasting and sure enough, one appeared before long. These dainty little butterflies are currently the subject of a three year habitat restoration project in the Silverstone woods and as is so often the case, this individual led us a merry dance as it flitted along the main ride but refused to alight on any plants.

We eventually saw four or five wood whites and Paul Lund was lucky enough to see a female egg-laying on one of its food plants, meadow vetchling and get some fine shots. These late wood whites were the last of the brood which began way back in April and it will be interesting to see if the warm summer weather triggers a rare second brood this year.

The stars of the show though were the Silver Washed Fritillaries, of which we saw dozens in including several pairs in cop. Few of us had seen this many before.

Marsh Tit and Coal Tit were both heard calling and brief views were obtained with 2 Buzzards and a Red Kite soaring over the wood. A Common Lizard was glimpsed as it scuttled across a fallen branch.

A surprising sighting enjoyed by a few was a Bank vole which was climbing along a blackthorn branch. We all had fantastic views of Emperor dragonflies and Brown and Southern Hawkers were also on the wing.

Early July is usually the best time to see the elusive Purple Emperor butterfly, but they had emerged in the third week of June this year so the chances of seeing a male low down were slim. We had to settle for a brief view of one soaring regally over the oak canopy and of course more Purple Hairstreaks. A lucky view got a very close look at a White Letter Hairstreak on bramble flowers before a thuggish Ringlet chased it off.

We were joined by a local butterfly enthusiast Kevin Boodley, and he was a great help in spotting some of the more unusual species. The last target before we left was the rarer Valezina form of the Silver Washed Fritillary and Kevin said he has seen several earlier in the day moving between two large bramble patches in a large clearing.

We searched and searched but got no more than brief views of a single Valezina female. However, we did see her ovipositing low down on an oak. There were many more White Admirals in this area too.

We made our way back to the car park at about 2.15pm, a little weary but delighted with what we had seen. Those who had visited Bucknell Wood for the first time were keen to re-visit.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image. You will find more pictures from the field trip on our Members’ Photos page.

Text by Martin Kincaid.

Photos from top to bottom:

Members of the Society enjoying the walk©Peter Hassett  

Members of the Society enjoying the walk©Peter Hassett

Wood White in flight ©Paul Lund

Wood White egg laying ©Paul Lund

Wood White egg ©Paul Lund

White Admiral ©Paul Young

Silver-washed Fritallary (male) ©Paul Young

Ringlet ©Paul Young

Purple Hairstreak underside ©Paul Young

Large Skipper ©Paul Young

Gatekeeper ©Paul Young

Silver-washed Fritillary (valezina form) ©Kevin Booden

Emperor Dragonfly (male) ©Peter Hassett

 

Members of the Society ©Peter Hassett enjoying the walk in Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Members of the Society ©Peter Hassett enjoying the walk in Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Wood White in flight ©Paul Lund, Bucknell Wood, 8 July 2017

Wood White egg ©Paul Lund, Bucknell Wood, 8 July 2017
White Admiral ©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Silver-washed Fritallary (male)©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Ringlet ©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Purple Hairstreak underside ©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Large Skipper ©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Gatekeeper ©Paul Young, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017
Silver-washed Fritillary (valezina form) ©Kevin Booden, Bucknell Wood 8 July 2017

Emperor Dragonfly (male) ©Peter Hassett Bucknell Wood, 8 July 2017

Paul Young has provided this amazingly comprehensive species list from our visit to Bucknell Wood:

Species Common name Taxon group
Stachys officinalis Betony flowering plant
Bombus (Pyrobombus) hypnorum Tree Bumblebee insect – hymenopteran
Satyrium w-album White-letter Hairstreak insect – butterfly
Myodes glareolus Bank Vole terrestrial mammal
Lomaspilis marginata Clouded Border insect – moth
Milvus milvus Red Kite bird
Apatura iris Purple Emperor insect – butterfly
Gonepteryx rhamni Brimstone insect – butterfly
Periparus ater Coal Tit bird
Zootoca vivipara Common Lizard reptile
Centaurium erythraea Common Centaury flowering plant
Pyronia tithonus subsp. britanniae Hedge Brown insect – butterfly
Rhagonycha fulva Common Red Soldier Beetle insect – beetle (Coleoptera)
Aeshna grandis Brown Hawker insect – dragonfly (Odonata)
Phylloscopus collybita Chiffchaff bird
Thymelicus lineola Essex Skipper insect – butterfly
Anax imperator Emperor Dragonfly insect – dragonfly (Odonata)
Thymelicus sylvestris Small Skipper insect – butterfly
Vespa crabro Hornet insect – hymenopteran
Leptidea sinapis Wood White insect – butterfly
Sylvia atricapilla Blackcap bird
Potentilla anserina Silverweed flowering plant
Favonius quercus Purple Hairstreak insect – butterfly
Ochlodes sylvanus Large Skipper insect – butterfly
Columba oenas Stock Dove bird
Buteo buteo Buzzard bird
Filipendula ulmaria Meadowsweet flowering plant
Pieris napi Green-veined White insect – butterfly
Prunella modularis Dunnock bird
Troglodytes troglodytes Wren bird
Vanessa atalanta Red Admiral insect – butterfly
Turdus merula Blackbird bird
Limenitis camilla White Admiral insect – butterfly
Prunella vulgaris Selfheal flowering plant
Maniola jurtina Meadow Brown insect – butterfly
Stachys sylvatica Hedge Woundwort flowering plant
Sitta europaea Nuthatch bird
Pieris brassicae Large White insect – butterfly
Aphantopus hyperantus Ringlet insect – butterfly

Trip Report – Loughton Brook – 22 August 2017

With only two weeks remaining until the Society returns to its traditional home at Bradwell Abbey, we made a premature visit for the start of our latest summer walk, meeting at the upper car park. There was a distinctly autumnal feel to this walk – both sun and rain flirted with us but most of the walk took place under heavy cloud. However, there was still plenty of flora and fauna to enjoy.

Walking south from the car park, we took our time at the edge of the Loughton Brook. The water here is very clear in places allowing good views of the gravel beds. For once we were able to concentrate on fish, with large shoals impressing us with their speed and coordination. We saw Minnows, 3-Spined Stickleback, Rudd, Perch and Common Dace – and probably several other species which we couldn’t identify! But it was a good indication of just how much life small watercourses like this can support.

Few birds were seen (the stretch is particularly good for kingfishers) but a Little Egret flew overhead and large parties of Long Tailed Tits delighted us as they moved along the hedgerows. We heard, but did not see, a small party of Bullfinches.

Among the plants growing along the brook were Knotgrass, Purple Loosestrife, Marsh Woundwort, Himalayan Balsam and Meadow Cranesbill. We crossed the brook and walked through an area of old ridge and furrow grassland where we added Agrimony and Lady’s Bedstraw to our list.

The return leg took us along the course of the railway, through some flower rich areas and scrubby woodland. Roy pointed out some attractive ferns on the railway bridge. As the skies darkened, we began to find Mother-of-Pearl moths in good numbers and then, as dusk closed in, the bats appeared. Both Common and Soprano Pipistrelles were flying around us on the edge of Bradwell Village and were easily identified with bat detectors.

The finale was a walk through the somewhat atmospheric railway tunnel over the brook. Here we saw lots of Spiders on the walls (which, illuminated by the tunnel lights, looked superb) and a good number of impressive Old Lady moths clustered on the brick work. We arrived back at the car park just as it began to rain but before we left there was one more highlight, as a pair of Brown Long-eared Bats started hunting along the fence line of the pony paddock.

It was nice to see some new faces among the 28 people who attended this meeting. Everyone agreed that it had been a different sort of evening and we had seen an interesting variety of habitats and wildlife.

Text by Martin Kincaid
Photographs by Peter Hassett

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Briefing in the car park

Briefing in the car park

Looking for fish in Loughton Brook

Looking for fish in Loughton Brook

Spleenwort in wall of old railway bridge

Wall Rue growing in old railway bridge

Wall Rue growing in old railway bridge

Old Lady moth (Mormo maura) ©Julie Lane, Loughton Brook 23 August 2017

Old Lady moth (Mormo maura) ©Julie Lane, Loughton Brook 23 August 2017

Toadflax growing beside the railway line

Toadflax growing beside the railway line

Linford Lakes Development – Letter of Objection

Below is the draft letter which Milton Keynes Natural History Society is sending to Milton Keynes Council in objection to the proposed housing development, adjacent to Linford Lakes Nature Reserve,  we need to encourage as many people as possible to fight this development and  to write to Paul Keen at MK Council. They can either email him at paul.keen@milton-keynes.gov.uk or send a letter to the Civic Offices. It is important that the Ref No. 17/01937OUT is quoted in all correspondence.

Please use as much info in this template as possible but please put things in your own words as much as you can. I have been advised that the deadline for comments is 15th August 2017

Dear Mr Keen 07.08.17

Ref: Planning Application 17/01937/OUT Land at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes

We are writing to you with reference to this proposed development of up to 250 hours. We wish to express our deep concern about this proposal on behalf of the members of Milton Keynes Natural History Society, an action supported by our committee on 31/07/2017.

The land in question forms part of an Area of Attractive Landscape in the Milton Keynes Local Plan (2001-2011). The Society has commented with respect to Policy SD10 in the recent Draft Plan:MK Consultation that “the Society strongly endorses the policy statement relating to the Linford Lakes Area. It forms a key component of the Ouse Valley extended linear park and wildlife corridor as well as an ‘ecological resource’ in its own right. This is undoubtedly one of the most biodiverse areas in Milton Keynes and its importance cannot be overstated. Any development next to Linford Lakes is likely to have a detrimental effect on its biodiversity”.

The proposed development is immediately next to Linford Lakes Nature Reserve, owned and managed by The Parks Trust. This area of lakes, species-rich grassland, scrub and wet woodland is arguably the most important ecological site in Milton Keynes. Established as a wildfowl centre in the early 1970s, the site is now known to local bird-watchers and naturalists for its biodiversity. Among the many protected species which thrive here are otter, water vole, hedgehog, barn owl, cuckoo, great crested newt and at least eight species of bat. All of these are nationally rare and/or declining. No other single site in Milton Keynes can match this in terms of rare species. Twenty three species of butterfly and over 400 species of moth have been recorded in the past three years. A botanical survey in 2016 listed over 240 plant species.

Linford Lakes Nature Reserve and its Study Centre are open to the public on an annual permit basis. This means that everyone who visits the site has bought a permit and has a vested interest in the flora and fauna the site supports. It is one of the very few locations in Milton Keynes where cats and dogs do not visit and to some extent this explains the abundance of wildlife.

The site also has long been used as a centre for environmental education, originally by Milton Keynes Council and latterly by The Parks Trust who purchased the nature reserve in 2015. Generations of local school children have enjoyed education sessions here, learning about the natural environment and the variety of wildlife on their doorstep. Again, low visitor numbers and the absence of dogs make this site ideal for this purpose.

In my opinion, if this development goes ahead, there will be enormous and irreversible damage to this very important ecological site and the surrounding landscape. We can expect many of the vulnerable species to decline or disappear due to disturbance from humans and pets. Additionally, the site will lose its value as an education resource as visitor numbers increase and habitats are damaged. Fragmentation of landscape and habitats are a major cause of the decline in UK wildlife. Currently, the land in question is attractive to wildlife but the construction of houses here would leave many species isolated.

The Environmental Impact Assessment that the developer was obliged to carry out concluded that there would be a ‘significant negative effect on biodiversity at a county level’. The survey concludes that the zone of impact that the development would have could extend to 2km, which would of course include the nature reserve.
We can think of nowhere in Milton Keynes less suitable for housing than this site. If biodiversity has any future at all in our city it is vital that this development is not approved.

Yours sincerely

Julie Lane, Joint Chairman Linda Murphy, Joint Chairman

Martin Kincaid, Vice President

Milton Keynes Natural History Society

Trip Report – Edgewick Farm 1st August 2017

Field Vole ©Julian Lambley, Edgewick Farm 1 August 2017

Field Vole ©Julian Lambley,

The farm was a former dairy farm now maintained for local people. To find out more about this site, please visit our Wildlife Sites page.

Today members met in the town car park and, before reaching the farm fields, swifts were in the eaves of the local chapel.

Viola led the walk and was not hopeful of seeing lots to interest us. Wrong! Before long, in the second field visited, a Purple Hairstreak butterfly was seen, captured, viewed by all and then released. Several oak tree surrounded the field. After a few minutes a Short-tailed (=Field) Vole was seen taking a stroll through the short grass. This, too, was captured, viewed and released. How lucky was that!

Birds that took our interest were House Martins, Swallows and a Kestrel. Plants in flower were few – like Nipplewort, Birds’-foot Trefoil and Shepherd’s Purse. Immature Grasshoppers and Shield Bugs were plentiful but not able to be identified to species level.

Further into the site a wet area (erstwhile a pond) was encountered with Lesser Spearwort (evidence of the acid conditions). Leaving the fields we continued the walk along the adjacent footpath. Here a few brave souls were encouraged to take a quick nibble of a small bit of a leaf of Water-pepper. Within a short time the strong flavour was evident – not to be forgotten.

Time then to return to our cars by following the footpath and pavements between the houses. At one point along the path was a memorial seat behind which was the “flower of the evening” – Elecampane – a rare plant in Bucks. Thanks Viola for a good evening .

Article kindly supplied by Roy Maycock