GOING TO TOWN

When I moved from my country cottage into the centre of Beccles I knew that things would be different. For a start I would miss the blackbird that sang from the wires outside my bedroom window each morning. What I had not expected was a dawn chorus of sea gulls. A colony of lesser black-backed gulls has taken up residence on a near-by disused factory building and as soon as it starts to get light, 3.30am in June, they do a circuit of the area, screaming like banshees. No one seems to know why they are here. Blackbirds are in plenty and at least one pair bred either in the garden or very close by. The adults were very tame and collected worms around my feet as I gardened. Later their offspring appeared, with others, and up to ten birds were in the garden at a time. House sparrows, which were a thorough nuisance in Ringsfield, are absent but there are more starlings. One pair nested under the eaves but in the last few days their numbers have grown and they have started to roost in my walnut tree. Wood pigeon and collared doves are also common but smaller birds are scarce with just an occasional blue tit and chaffinch.

Two sides of the garden are bounded by brick walls, covered with ivy, and trillions of snails. When I moved in some plants from my greenhouse were ‘parked’ on some gravel in front of the rear wall. Next morning they were almost leafless and I declared war. I may be criticised for using them but little blue pellets worked wonders and very quickly there were countless shells around my plants. However, the ivy does have some benefits: in July there were numerous holly blue butterflies around, up to six or more at a time. There have been few other butterflies though; large and green-veined whites, tortoiseshell and peacock are all I have seen. There were almost no flowering plants in the garden when I arrived but I am working on that. The only moth of note so far was an old lady in the shed one morning.

Another surprise is the number of frogs, eight on one very rainy day, no sign of spawn in the pond but the goldfish would see to that. I think these must have been introduced by the previous owner, I do not think there are any other ponds near-by and the garden is surrounded by walls.

When the gas fire was serviced recently some walnuts were found behind it, presumably dropped down the chimney by birds. It will be interesting to keep a watch and see what takes them when the current crop ripens. A few fell to the ground during the summer and each had teeth marks around the base of the stalk. I have no idea if this happened before or after they fell and have seen nothing that might be the culprit.

I am ashamed to say that I have not yet studied the mosses in the garden, lots of the liverwort Lunularia cruciata around the edge of the conservatory and several species of moss on rocks around the pond. These will be investigated during the coming months as I look forward to what, if any, wild life I get during the winter.

Richard Fisk

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