Hillside House
Hillside House is a small wildlife conservation site run by David Max and located at South Raynham in Norfolk, UK.
Many thanks to the various volunteers who have helped with habitat creation and maintenance here.
Groups from Norfolk Conservation Corps have visited several times for reed-cutting and other work on the meadow.
Oxford Conservation Volunteers arrived in autumn 2014 for a residential task and successfully moved many of the trees on the meadow to their present locations.
Billy Riseborough from the Corps has also visited separately on many occasions to guide, among other things, tree maintenance work in various places on the plot.
Mark Woolfrey has helped with various projects, including the audio playback system designed to attract swifts to the site. Mark has also very kindly loaned a Bushnell trailcam on a long-term basis.
Red List and Amber List species at Hillside House
Red List
- woodcock (winter only)
- cuckoo
- swift (non-breeding)
- mistle thrush
- marsh tit
- linnet
- greenfinch
Amber List
- mallard
- kestrel
- moorhen
- snipe (non-breeding)
- stock dove
- dunnock
- wren
- song thrush
- sedge warbler
- whitethroat
- bullfinch
- reed bunting
Highlights 2024
Sedge warbler (2 or 3 territories) and reed warbler (4+ territories) have both done well.
Conditions on the main and ‘new’ ponds have improved following digger work in autumn 2023. Water in these ponds is now clear and large numbers of whirlygig beetles, pond skaters and water boatmen have been present this summer.
The reinvigorated ponds have attracted more dragonflies (broad-bodied chaser and four-spotted chaser) and damselflies (azure damselfly, large red damselfly, banded demoiselle).
Several new spiders have been identified (orb-spinners Mangora acalypha and Larinioides cornutus, the jumping spider Hypositticus pubescens, and a species of Dictyna, probably D. arundinacea).
Kestrels nest successfully at Hillside House in 2022 and 2023
A pair of kestrels successfully reared three fledged juveniles at Top Blackthorn in 2022 and 2023.
This year a pair was present but they did not nest successfully, perhaps because food availability was lower.
Warming trend continues in summer 2024
The temperature anomaly for July in East Anglia was again positive.
This is the nineteenth month in a row with a positive regional temperature anomaly.
The year 2023 was the warmest year on record so far.
Year 2024 is now expected to beat last year’s record.
State of Nature 2023
The 2023 State of Nature report summarises continued declines in biodiversity in Britain.
In England, some invertebrate groups such as moths show particularly strong declines. Among butterflies, specialist species have also declined, but generalist species are fairly stable. Common breeding birds continue to decline.
Arrival dates of summer migrants
This plot suggests arrival dates are getting earlier even in just the last ten years.