Do all come to the AGM

The 17th AGM of our group will be held on Tuesday 24 April 2007 at 7.30 pm at Chichester Baptist Church, Sherborne Road, (doors open from 7 pm) and will be followed by a talk from the Selsey Wildlife (Project) Group. Please note the change of venue from last year when more than 50 members came along – a great encouragement.

Your committee do their best to manage the Copse on your behalf during the year and we really appreciate the feedback, ideas and suggestions we get from you along the way – well, most of them!

We recognise that we won’t all agree on everything but hopefully we can get a consensus on the big issues such as the proposed housing development which threatens our Copse and its biodiversity. It is therefore particularly important that at least once a year we get as many members as possible together to ensure we are on the right track. So please do come if you can.

Footnote: At the AGM, only those who have paid the subscription (£2 per household) for the year ending 31 March 2007 are technically members and entitled to vote. So if you haven’t got around to it yet, now would be a good time to settle up! Subscriptions for next year are due on 1 April 2007. Subscriptions for both years can be paid on the night. They can also now be paid by standing order (which helps considerably with reducing administration). For convenience, a renewal form and standing order mandate are provided with this newsletter.

From the secretary, Tom Snow

With all the rain in February and early March, the Copse is very wet, with high water levels in all the ponds. What a difference from last summer! For another view, see below. Both photos by Jean Sagues

With many tasks completed, now it’s time for change

From Jim Ayling, task leader

Having been associated with the BHCCG since it started in 1989 following the great storm of 1987 it is with some sadness that I find I must resign from being the Copse task leader.

I have enjoyed being part of an enthusiastic team of volunteers who have turned out regularly, rain or shine, to maintain the Copse for all to enjoy. My only regrets are that the missing part of the footpath at the eastern end of Brandy Hole Lane has not been completed and that the WSCC has not been persuaded to reduce the 60mph speed limit alongside the parking area at the western end of the lane.

Some members of the public have complained that we are destroying the wood by cutting down the trees. It should be remembered that the Copse is a coppiced woodland and has been for 200 years, requiring the felling of the chestnuts every 10 to 15 years. We now have a rolling plan to fell the trees in four areas over 20 years.

The site is only leased and any work has to be done with the landowners’ approval. Advice from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Chichester District Council is strictly followed and we work closely with the Chichester Natural History Society to a master plan.

A continual complaint is of the inconsiderate dog owners who do not remove the dog mess from the footpaths. The whole area is covered by the Dog Fouling Act with a maximum penalty of £1,000 which could be enforced by the Dog Warden.

To continue the work of maintaining the Local Nature Reserve for the enjoyment of visitors the group is looking for someone with some knowledge of woodland and ponds, preferable living locally, to organise and direct the team. So if you feel you could help us and at the same time enjoy the outdoors please contact the chairman or any committee member.

Quacking and quaking

Judi Darley wonders whether the mallards will stay and raise a family this year

Everyone loves seeing the ducks on the ponds and two or three have been seen back on Brandy Hole Pond for some weeks now. There is great interest in them and a hope that ducklings will appear again in the spring.

The task group have worked on the southern bank of the pond to ensure that dogs and people can’t get along there very easily so that the ducks can have a chance to nest and breed. Last year a large clutch of ducklings appeared only to disappear within a few days and we didn’t hear what happened to them. Did you see anything that might explain their disappearance?

Did you know that mallards start to pair up in October and November and start to nest in March? The female looks for a site that is well covered in vegetation and builds the nest with leaves and grasses and lines it with down plucked from her breast. Eggs are laid between mid-March and July and a normal clutch is about 12 eggs, laid at one- to two-day intervals.

During the laying period the male has an important role protecting the female and their feeding areas but once the clutch is laid he gradually loses interest and joins up with other males. After breeding the ducks moult and lose all their flight feathers; this phenomenon is called the “eclipse”. The males also lose all their bright body feathers during this time which is why, in mid-summer, it seems that all the drakes have gone. The full colours are regained by October.

Mallards are dabbling ducks and get much of their food from close to the water’s surface. Adults often upend to reach morsels further down but rarely dive for their food, however youngsters of 4-7 weeks can be seen regularly diving for their food. Ducklings rely mainly on invertebrates to start with but eat more plant matter as they grow. Mallards are tolerant of people and are very adaptable which is why they can quickly learn to use food sources provided by people.

Feeding ducks is popular but can cause problems particularly on ponds that aren’t flushed by rivers. A regular supply of extra food can lead to supporting artificially high numbers of ducks and encourage large numbers of unattached males to stay. This can lead to the unattached males forcibly mating with the incubating females which are already weak from egg production and putting their lives at risk.

An increase in the duck population will mean a build-up of droppings in the pond which will favour the growth of algae, leading to a loss of oxygen and aquatic plants and the risk of botulism, a fatal form of food poisoning for them. In addition, extra food that is left by the pond and is not eaten by the ducks can be taken by rats and can inadvertently support and increase the rat population nearby.

Mallards and their nests are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. It is good to know that there is a lot of local interest in the welfare of the ducks that come to live on Brandy Hole Pond. Let’s hope that this season the newly resident pair will be able to nest successfully and see a clutch of new ducklings survive to maturity.

Information adapted from www.rspb.org.uk

The year in the copse, following the 2006 AGM on May 4

May: Donated hedging planted along bridge abutment (wire fence removed). Volunteer from Workability joined Wednesday work group. Both BHCCG site notice boards remade waterproof . Site walk for Havant Wildlife Trust. Leaflet box post which had been thrown into Brandy Hole Pond replaced with a more substantial metal post.

June: Tagging of all mature trees in the Copse in progress. Location map of all mature trees prepared for survey work . Site walk with Emma Livett, CDC Environment Officer. Request for leasing triangular field to BHCCG via CDC . “You are here” label added to information boards, which unfortunately were deteriorating. Beetle trapping event by Chichester Natural History Society.

July: Site visit by Chichester in Bloom judges. BHCCG talk at St. Wilfrid’s Hall for Chichester Festivities. Guided walk with Society for Chichester Festivities. Vandalised stile E12 repaired. Small seat installed in glade area. Pond dipping platform installed at Cops Pond. Ten ducklings disappeared from Brandy Hole Pond after two days.

August: Butterfly Conservation Society visit to LNR. Moth and bat evening event, Chichester Natural History Societ . CDC replaced damaged Centurion Way dog waste bin. Damaged Brandy Hole Pond platform repaired. Water level in ponds lowest ever. Damaged glade seat remade more substantially. Rotary Club talk.

September: Entrance E7closed off (to be replaced by a hedge). Entrance E8 repaired. Strimming along Brandy Hole Pond bank by CDC. Volunteers joined from Breakdown Support Employment Services and Workability Agency

November: Vandalised traffic sign at access E3 replaced. Pedestrian entrance E10 rebuilt as a stile. Damaged litter bin replaced by CDC at Brandy Hole Pond. Repairs to E1 access stile. Invasive weed and debris removed from ponds.

December: Installation of seven bird boxes produced by the Wrenford Centre. Damaged info panel at Willow Pond replaced by spare panel. Buckthorn alder whips planted with Chichester Natural History Society. Need for roadside hedging replacements assessed with Crumblies. CDC urged to replace stolen Brandy Hole Lane road sign.

January 2007: Work on providing additional footpath on eastern part on Brandy Hole Lane cancelled indefinitely by WSCC. E7 access permanently closed with banked soil and hedging planted.

February: Ducks’ nesting area at Brandy Hole Pond protected. Dangerous hides removed. Brandy Hole hedging replaced as required by Crumblies. Stakes cut for Chichester Tree Wardens project. Patches of invasive brambles strimmed. Woodcrete nesting boxes secured to numbered trees.

This view southwards through the Copse to Willow Pond was created by the Crumblies when they opened up one of several glades – which are providing valuable new habitat for insects and plants.