Previous years at 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.

A special thanks goes to Billy Riseborough of Norfolk Conservation Corps, who guided and managed the tree work on the A1065 cypresses in autumn 2020.

Friends Linda Losito and Bob Cowley from Oxford visited in August 2021 and collected dung beetles from the plot and nearby.

The species found by Linda and Bob are listed on the Invertebrates page.

Winter 2023 in East Anglia

Winter 2023/24 was warmer than average (temperature anomaly 1.06C).

This winter was also much wetter than average.

The mild, wet winter followed a very warm autumn (temperature anomaly +2.42C).

Globally, 2023 was the warmest year on record.

Another dry April and record summer temperatures

April 2022 was, again, very dry.

In seven of the last nine years, rainfall in April for East Anglia was less than the long-term average. Rainfall for April 2022 was just 30% of average.

High pressure dominated for several weeks, resulting in very pleasant weather conditions, but these may not be good for farmers or wildlife.

Later, in July and August, record temperatures and drought were recorded in the UK. The temperature reached about 39 celsius in north Norfolk.

Mining bees, hoverflies, wasps

Mining bees were showing well on the plot in spring 2022.

Several Andrena species, including Andrena fulva and A. nitida, have been making nests on tracks near the shed.

The mason bee Osmia bicolor has also been around.

A solitary wasp Symmorphus has appeared earlier than in previous years. This little wasp nests in holes in the timber frame of the shed.

Various hoverflies (Eristalis spp., Syrpha spp., Syritta) have also been evident.

At least one of the smaller species of bibionid flies was numerous on warmer days.

Brash hedge work

The brash hedge along the south-eastern edge of the meadow has been rebuilt.

The work has tidied up the hedge, allowing the adjacent track to be shifted away from the reedy parts of the meadow.

The materials of the hedge will provide nutrients for detritivores such as beetles, centipedes, millipedes, isopods, and molluscs.

The hedge is already an excellent refuge for small mammals, including bank voles.

In time, several bird species may nest in the hedge, such as robin, coal tit, wren and chiffchaff.

More winter thrushes

The work done by Raynham Estate in recent years to renovate grazing fields near the plot seems to have had clear benefits for winter thrushes.

Fieldfares and redwings were both often on these fields in the latter part of the winter and early spring, though they had moved on by about mid-April.

An increase in thrush numbers might possibly reflect a tendency for ‘short-stopping’ with milder winters.

Summer 2021 warmer than average, then a warm autumn

Met Office data show the summer in East Anglia was rather warmer than the long-term average (by 1.08 celsius degrees).

Data for the autumn are now available and show that was also warmer than average, by 1.78 degrees.

Rainfall has been somewhat lower (89% of the summer average, 85% of the autumn average).

Interestingly, wintering swans started to arrive in Norfolk rather early this year. Seventeen whooper swans were at Burnham Overy on September 25th. 400 pink-footed geese were over Fakenham by October 14th. Early arrivals might perhaps be a response to colder conditions in the summering areas (mainly Iceland for these species).

Abundant berries in late summer 2021

Rowan and elder produced excellent berry crops this summer.

The crop at first seemed to be ignored but later mistle thrushes and blackbirds stripped it rapidly.

Thrushes, invertebrates thrive 2021

Despite the strange spring weather, many species seem to have thrived at Hillside House this season.

Blackbirds, song thrush, robin, green woodpecker and others have all done well.

As many as four reed warbler territories have been present just on the main pond -- others were on the meadow.

Successive waves of abundant insects were evident. Bibionid flies were common in May, then gall flies (perhaps Tephritis bardanae), soldier beetles, and later hoverflies (particularly Episyrphus, the marmalade hoverfly).

Bibionid flies became abundant at least 18 days later than in the warm, dry spring of 2020.

After a subdued start, dragonflies showed well, with more migrant hawkers than in any previous year.

Bizarre spring weather 2021

A very dry, cold April was followed by a wet, cool May.

A stubborn, northerly airstream dominated through much of the spring.

Rainfall in April was only 10.4% of the long-term average, whereas temperature was 1.85 (celsius) degrees below average.

Other highlights 2021

• Preliminary results of the CBC-style breeding bird survey for 2021 are now available
• The toad frenzy was a bit later than in some years but went well.
• Stone loach was recorded for the first time in March. The Carr Stream has been improved by the dredging work done by Raynham estate in 2019.
• A jack snipe was recorded around the same time.

Task work early 2021

Work at “top blackthorn” to create a brash hedge is well-advanced, but suspended in April 2021.

The work solves several problems simultaneously:

• Top blackthorn needs to be defended against intrusion by muntjac deer. (However the boundary “hedge” will not be tall enough to keep out roe deer).
• Brash from the A1065 cypresses (leylandii trees) needed to be disposed of. The trees have done us all a great service by capturing carbon for 30+ years, and burning the brash would have undone that good work.
• The smoke from large bonfires also creates a nuisance for neighbours.
• The hedge itself, though dead, will still provide good habitat for invertebrates, mammals and nesting birds.
• Finally, the materials used for the brash hedge are free. Fencing materials (posts, wire, wire-netting etc) are expensive (£300-400 for a suitable fence here).

Maintenance work, winter 2020/21

• Poplars needed extensive repair work to straighten them after summer gales again
• Cypress trees near the A1065 were topped in late autumn to reduce shading and risk of damage
• Ditch along east side of meadow was dredged (by hand) using crome, spades etc.
• Brash from the cypresses was formed into a 'brash hedge' to reduce deer intrusion on the meadow
• Nestboxes were cleaned out

Highlights 2020

• Seven warbler species were recorded singing on plot during spring 2020
• A CBC-style breeding bird survey for 2020 has been completed
• The 2020 CBC suggests that a total of 20 or more warbler territories were on or just outside the plot
• New record days plots, created using the R package lattice, are now available
• Common toad frenzy was about typical, lasted somewhat longer than in previous years
• First newt (common/smooth newt) recorded in April
• First records of water shrew Neomys fodiens
• The plot was within a local cuckoo territory in 2020 (a juv was seen in July)
• Barn owl roosted in the shed for several weeks during the spring (left numerous pellets for future analysis)
• Starling nest-prospected near shed in April
• Various birds nested successfully (jackdaw, stock dove, blackbird, goldfinch, sedge warbler, reed warbler, etc.)
• Territories of several other species (greenfinch, chaffinch, long-tailed tit, great tit, blue tit, reed bunting, etc)
• Evidence or sightings of various mammals (e.g. roe deer, noctule or serotine)
• Several insect groups were abundant, e.g. bibionid flies in April, hoverflies in June/July, fair numbers of bumblebees and butterflies. (Spring 2020 was exceptionally warm and sunny.)
• Yellow wagtail failed to show again, despite cattle grazing nearby in spring and summer

Main pond work

• Salix trees on west side of main pond were high-cut coppiced in autumn 2019
• Cut material was placed in 'habitat piles' to encourage amphibians, small mammals, invertebrates and certain birds
• Main pond will be partly dredged in autumn 2021 to remove leaf-litter and detritus
• Some reed will also be cut to expose more clear water

New website build

No more VBA!

This website is now built using Python and LibreOffice on Fedora Linux.

The Python code is based on helpful material by several authors, especially webpages by Christopher Bourez.