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By Martyn Stenning
November 2025
November is a strange month for British wildlife. Rarely cold enough for snow here in the south, and yet chilly and often damp. Most leaves have dropped from the deciduous trees by its end, and most insects have died or are overwintering as eggs, hibernating adults or pupae, or have migrated south. Earthworms, (mainly Lumbricus terrestris) are tunnelling in the soft wet soil and are dragging in dead leaves to make new food for them. They often partially emerge from their tunnels and ‘rain-bathe’ during wet nights. November is probably the highlight month of the year for humble earthworms. They are hermaphrodites (all both male and female) but do not mate with themselves, but form partnerships with neighbours. They live up to 7 years and continuously breed by mating once every 7 – 11 days. This in turn is welcomed by badgers, whose main food is earthworms. There are 29 species of earthworm in Great Britain. These animals are essential for maintaining the quality of the c. 50 cm soil depth required to grow our food and maintain our natural environment.
If, like me, you have one of the Wealden District Council issued black cone Rotol Compost Converters for dealing with kitchen waste, you will probably see within it a different, small reddish worm extatically reproducing and munching your waste every time you lift the lid. These are known as manure worms or red wriggler worms (Eisenia fetida). They do a great job of decomposing food waste. We never put any kitchen waste in our normal domestic dustbin. One binman commented to me recently that we always only have one small bag of waste in our black bin. However, our recycling green bin is another matter. So much single use plastic and cardboard. We are so fortunate to have a district council that helps us to be environmentally friendly.
Sticking with the reproduction of invertebrates and weather, let’s go back to the warm summer that we have just had. As temperatures fall, we will be seeing fewer honeybees now. However, as worms love wet November nights to mate, honeybees love a warm calm sunny day to go on their nuptial flight. The colony will produce a batch of virgin queens and male bees (drones) during late spring and summer. Between 1 and 4 pm on a warm (18 - 19 °C or more) afternoon, drones from many colonies will form assemblies which attract the virgin queens who will mate, on the wing, with as many drones as possible and store the multiple sperm where her sting is in her abdomen. This ensures genetic diversity. Males have no sting, but the process of mating explodes their abdomen, so it is the last thing they ever do. The now fertilized queen returns to her natal hive. This successful queen will stay in the hive, laying eggs, while any other sister queens in the hive are often eliminated by her or the workers or may leave the hive with a swarm led by the old queen to a new location.
October 2025
Just as an addendum to September Nature Notes, January (named after the Roman god Janus, who was the god of beginnings, endings, doorways, and transitions) and February (from the Latin word februum or februare, meaning "to purify," and from Februa, a Roman festival of purification and atonement held mid-month). These were added to the monthly calendar by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, around 713 BC. The additions were made to account for the full lunar year and the period of winter that was previously left unassigned. This part of ancient Rome's lunar calendar considered winter to be a monthless period, which originally only had ten months starting with March. The word ‘month’ should be ‘moonth’ as a lunar month accounts roughly as the period from one ‘new moon’ to the next, which is approximately 29.5 days. This period is also called a synodic month and represents the time it takes for the Moon to go through all its phases and return to the same alignment with the Earth and Sun. A harvest moon is when the moon is particularly bright, such that farmers can harvest crops during the night and usually occurs in September, but sometimes early October.
August, September and October are months when many birds migrate south to escape the short cold days of winter. Maybe the most remarkable of these is the arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea), which breeds in the northern Arctic zones and spends the winter in the Antarctic. I am also fascinated by cuckoos (Cuculus canoris), who never meet their biological parents, but instinctively know where and when to go (Africa) for the winter after fledging in late summer. Other bird species can at least migrate in mixed age groups, often with their parents, but most cuckoo adults leave Europe in June before their offspring have fledged the host’s nest. The other thing to look out for in the autumn is spiders’ webs. They often show up with dew or frost in cold mornings. Most insects die at the end of the summer, and nature is never wasteful, there is always a use for its products. Some insects lay eggs, and then die with the first frosts or are eaten by spiders or birds. Others hibernate as larvae, pupae or adults, and some such as painted lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies migrate south like some birds.
One of my specialities is the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). I studied how they planned their families to optimise breeding success for my doctorate. What I found has been published in my book called ‘The Blue Tit’. One relevant thing is that female British blue tits often migrate for short distances, maybe 100 miles or so from where they bred, usually southwest and near the coast. The south-west of England is probably the warmest place on our island in the winter due to the relatively warm Atlantic Conveyer current flowing from the Gulf of Mexico to Britain. Male blue tits tend to remain at their nesting sites.
September 2025
September – the seventh month? (Latin septimus meaning seventh). So, why is it the ninth month, if we start from January? Because it comes before October – the eighth month (octaua Latin for eighth), and it follows that November (Latin nonus for ninth) and December (Latin decimo – tenth) conclude the year. So, January to August are alternative month names in sequence. Incidentally, I will just mention that the name of March comes from Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named after Mars, the Roman god of war, and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons Romulus and Remus. Similarly, August comes from the Latin word augustus, meaning "consecrated" or "venerable," which in turn is related to the Latin augur, meaning "consecrated by augury" or "auspicious." In 8 B.C. the Roman Senate honoured Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, by changing the name of their sixth month (Sextilis) to Augustus. It follows that Augury included a Greco-Roman religious practice of observing the behaviour of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" can mean "looking at birds". Auspex, another word for augur, (Latin: auspicium) "one who looks at birds". It augers well if you do!
September contains the autumn equinox, about the 21st when daylength equals night length. Nature responds by forcing our deciduous trees to decide to shed their leaves, the insects they support either die, or hibernate, as do other animals such as dormice and hedgehogs. Many bird species such as swallows and the various warblers fly back to Africa, at least most of them do. With global heating, more birds are deciding to stay all year round. As insectivores, this means that more insects are also remaining active all year as well. It also follows that the plants the insects feed on are continuing to grow. Am I the only one who has noticed a few roses or primulas still flowering in December? Roses support aphids, which are a favourite insectivorous bird food. As I write now it is August. The world is buzzing with insects, it is frequently hot, and many plants of all sizes are wilting in the drought. The reservoirs are running short of water, and we are told to use it wisely. This spring, I took advantage of the offer by South East Water to purchase another water butt from them at an amazingly low price. It is useful now as I can water my roses etc to keep them alive through the drought. The mosquitos also seem to be benefitting from them as a breeding site. Another SEW initiative was to offer a reduction in our water bills if we have a soak-away (we do) in the garden to cope with surface run-off. It reduces pressure on the drains and can reduce flooding risk, it also keeps rainwater in the garden to support the trees and other plants. Many people may not even realise they have a soak-away, but it may be recorded in the house documents. Auspicium Melioris Aevi. (Latin for 'Hope of a Better Age').
August 2025
We are now in high summer. We have had the longest day (21st June), and now the days are getting shorter by several minutes each day. However, the high sun is heating the UK planet surface a little more day by day. This includes the waters of the sea around our islands warming the breezes that pervade the air we breathe. The outcome is that we enjoy a warm August before the September dews and dark evenings cool things down. Our swifts will have reproduced in our church and house rooves and returned to Africa by the end of August.
I have been delighted to see many six spot burnet moths (Zygaena filipendulae) emerging from their pupal cases in our garden this summer. They are also gracing our roadside verges that have been designated as wildflower verges by the council and are replete with birds-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), black knapweed (Centaurea nigra), ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare), meadow buttercups (Ranunculus acris), self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) and many more meadow flowers and grasses. The Six-spot Burnet moth is a distinctive, brightly coloured, day-flying moth with a wingspan of 30-40mm. Its most recognizable feature is the dark metallic green/black forewings, each adorned with six bright red spots. These spots can sometimes merge or be yellow or even black, and the hind wings are red with a blackish fringe. The moth is aposematic, meaning its bright colours warn predators that it is poisonous. However, it is no danger to humans unless we try to eat it. It also has a similar rarer cousin called the five-spot burnet moth (Zygaena trifolii). Their yellow and black larvae feed on the leaves of bird's-foot trefoil. Both species overwinter as caterpillars (larvae).
In our quest to halt climate change and species loss, I was struck by an initiative on the news recently when one person said that ideally, we should all be able to see 3 trees from our house windows. It follows that each tree is a vertical habitat supporting a complex food chain and provides ecosystem services. Each leaf is a solar panel absorbing CO2 and producing O2 while keeping the C (carbon) to build its body. Insects and other organisms eat the leaves, but the tree keeps producing new ones through the summer. Birds and other animals eat the insects and use the trees to reproduce in. The animals defaecate and eventually die generating a fertile soil below to feed the tree with additional nutrients. The tree also produces fruit and seeds to feed the animals including us. What a dynamic process! However, we must be careful to keep the trees as safe structures. Always at least 7 metres from the house, and occasionally pruned or pollarded to be safe in strong winds. They will also serve the purpose of helping to provide a cool shade and a tranquil habitat for quiet times in the garden. Providing extra food and water baths for the birds is also a good idea.
July 2025
I hesitate to report this, so please forgive me, but the origin of the word orchid is derived from the Greek word (orchis), meaning testicle because of the shape of the double root tubers in some species of the family Orchidaceae. Such is the conflict between propriety and science. These rather rudely named plants can also be the most beautiful. They turn up in the most unlikely of places. One reason for this is that their seeds can be tiny, like dust. They are released after flowering and fly on the wind over long distances. They can, therefore, sometimes be pioneer species that colonise new habitats. An interesting example of this can be found near Dover on the Samphire Hoe nature reserve. This land was reclaimed from the sea using the spoil from digging the channel tunnel opened on May 6th, 1994. On completion, it was, therefore, a pristine chalk slurry plateau with nothing growing on it. However, it soon supported a thriving population of one of the rarest orchids in Britain, namely the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes). This rather inconspicuous plant also grows on the South Downs, below a Late Bronze Age or early Iron Age hillfort, part of a larger system of defensive earthworks occurring from some 4,000 years ago. The hillfort was defended by the occupants stripping off the turf from the slope, exposing a steep chalk slope and forming a fertile terrace at the foot of the hill, thus making it difficult for (Viking? Or French?) invaders to climb the hill. Therefore, it is likely that the tiny seeds of this plant were brought to England on winds from Northern France where it still exists. Maybe, millions of seeds travel in this way, but only those that find patches of exposed chalk will succeed in germinating.
Orchids are a fascinating family of plants, and they are the second largest family of flowering plants in the world. They are also one of the most diverse families, with over 25,000 species worldwide. Orchids can be found in almost every habitat on Earth, from tropical rainforests to arctic tundras. They have evolved a wide range of adaptations to survive in different environments, including specialized pollination mechanisms and unique growth forms.
There are about 55 species of orchid native to Britain, and they are among our most beautiful wildflowers, but most of them are very rare and can be very difficult to find. Orchid species variously flower from April to September, but flowering times tend to be short. The early spider orchid is one of our earliest flowering and rarest orchids, occurring at a very few sites in southern England. The flower resembles a crouching spider but is pollinated by male buffish mining bees (Andrena nigroaenea). The orchid emits a perfume mimicking that of a female buffish mining bee. These fumes lure the male of the species to try mating with the (spider-like) flower. During this activity, the pollinia of the flower attach themselves to the bee which transfers the pollen to other early spider orchids when the bee attempts to mate again. The flowers then give way to plump seed pods containing copious powdery seeds that burst out when ripe to colonise new pastures. The plant then withers but remains underground to emerge again during subsequent Aprils. Another orchid that you may see during July and August is the pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) and the common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). Also, if looking in August/September you may find autumn lady’s tresses (Spiranthes spiralis).
June 2025
My wife and I are currently in France. It is early May as I write. Summer here is experienced several weeks earlier in Aquitaine than it is in Sussex. The wheat and barley have already formed their seed heads, and the weather is very summery. We went for a walk this morning and encountered at least 5 European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) chasing each other and running across fields. Plus, several species of orchid in flower. We also identified several birds calling/singing to mark their territories; these included a black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) and nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos).
The environmental scenario that generates the highest biological diversity, as here, is habitat diversity, such as a mix of woodland, grassland, heathland, wetland and arable. This has also been the tenet of good gardening, and this is what we are trying to generate on our patches in both England and France. However, the two ecosystems are strikingly different. The human population density of Britain is about double that of France. Also, Great Britain is an island, but France is part of a giant continent stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to eastern China on the Pacific Ocean coast. Much of this land has not been modified by humans. Many species cannot or will not disperse across water, so Britain’s biodiversity is always going to be isolated and limited. Most of it became trapped when the Channel separated Britain from the continent about 6,100 BC. Then, Britain became an archipelago of offshore European islands that broke free of mainland Europe for good. This was during the Mesolithic period - the Middle Stone Age. There are relicts of a human Mesolithic settlement located NW of Uckfield spanning what is now West Park Local Nature Reserve and Lake Wood Woodland Trust reserve.Here Mesolithic rock shelters can be seen and about 10,000 flint tools have been found. Many of these people would have been the ancestors of truly British people still living.
Island populations generally have lower species diversity than continents, but also generate endemic species that are found nowhere else. For example, I have been studying blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) for many years, and the British population of this bird (C. caeruleus obscurus) is a sub-species unique to Britain. Also, the Canary Island blue tits have generated 4 further populations of distinct species (not sub-species) of blue tits (C. ombriosus, C. degener, C. palmensis and C. teneriffae). Their ancestors initially came from Africa, and before that from China where true blue tits no longer exist.
Back to France, and our walk. We were also delighted to see a large green and blue lizard (Lacerta bilineata), posibly Eurasia’s largest and most striking lizard. Later, we saw one of these running, dinosaur like, across our front lawn.
May 2025
We have just experienced a very dry March, and we are now experiencing an April with equal and unusual dryness and warm sunshine raising the temperature to the low 20s Celsius - warm for the time of year. The pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) tree leaves are breaking bud along with several other species, and the wildflowers are decorating the countryside. There are also a few trans-Saharan migrant birds arriving, including chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita) and blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla). However, some birds of these species have been shown to stay in Britain all year recently, and I even saw a swallow (Hirundo rustica) in January this year at Pevensey Bay. During April, we should also expect to see willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus), common whitethroats (Curruca communis), northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe), common redstarts (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), common nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos), more swallows, western house martins (Delichon urbicum) and many others looking for places to breed and feed on what should be a seasonal abundance of insects, nectar, worms and other food types. May should bring the swifts (Apus apus). I only hope that we will have enough insects to feed them all! Eurasian cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) have become very rare in Sussex in recent years. The only place that I have found them reliably is Ashdown Forest. Also, the only local place for turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur) seems to be Knepp Castle rewilding project in West Sussex. Ashdown Forest is also the place to go to hear European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). This is a bit of a misnomer, because this bird spends most of the year (like most of the others mentioned) in Africa. They just come to Europe to breed for about 3 months. They come for our short-term seasonal abundance of insects.
We really must do something about restoring our insect populations. We can all do small things about this, like not using insecticides, releasing succession in parts of our gardens, simply by not mowing, pruning or weeding a patch. We can make a pond or at least have a bird bath; insects will use it as well. Cultivate native species hedges rather than fences and prefer to plant and cultivate other native species such as common foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), native common poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris). Planting a native British tree, or better still, let a naturally germinated tree seedling mature if it is 7 metres or more from a building. It really does work magic by bringing insects and birds into the garden. Some insects such as the seven spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) will consume unwelcome insects such as aphids (Aphidoidea). Others such as the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) pollinate flowers, necessary for them to form seeds. If you are lucky enough to get common glow-worms (Lampyris noctiluca) - not worms at all, but beetles, that hatch from eggs into larvae and mature into adult beetles. Both will eat your slugs and snails!
April 2025
Waking up in Uckfield recently, at soon after 06:00 h., my first sound has been the song thrush (Turdus merula) singing its variable sequences of repetitive notes high in a local mature tree. This snail-eating specialist became scarce in England in recent years, but currently, appears to be making a comeback. The garden includes several mature trees, various shrubs, climbers such as ivy (Hedra helix), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), wisteria (Wisteria floribunda), flower beds including roses (Rosa spp.), plus a garden pond, there is always something to observe or listen to. E.g., our woodpigeons (Columba livia) love ivy berries, and sometimes hang upside down when trying to pick them.
This morning, I saw a large red fox (Vulpes vulpes) hunting the many common frogs (Rana temporaria) that recently laid litres of spawn in our pond. Here we have a wonderful example of a food chain. Each frog was probably a tadpole in that pond several years ago. The tadpoles would have fed on algae and detritus in the pond, then, becoming frogs, spend years feeding on invertebrates in the garden, many of which could be undesirable (to a gardener) such as aphids (super-family Aphidoidea) that damage roses and other plants. The fox then feeds on the frogs and would be considered a top predator, as not many animals hunt and eat foxes. However, this fox was finding the frogs very difficult to catch. The foxes would also eat any brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) that they encounter and catch. In modern communities, we are told that we are always within a few metres of a brown rat. I like seeing our local foxes, badgers, and the deer that share our communities. I’m also a keen birdwatcher and listen to the spring dawn chorus and watch courtship behaviour at this time of the year. When the natural world is in balance it is a truly stable and beautiful place to be. When I was a budding ecologist, someone told me that “some have to die for others to live”. Almost everything we eat is part of, or was a complete living organism once. This may seem brutal, but without eating other organisms, nothing can live. I particularly enjoy a large plump lettuce (Lactuca sativa), chopped, and dressed with a vinaigrette made with 2 tablespoons of olive (Olea europaea) oil, a teaspoon of honey and one tablespoon of cider vinegar, plus a little sea salt and pepper (Piper nigrum). I also enjoy salmon (Salmo salar) and occasional red meat. Every animal will enjoy its food, and those organisms not eaten will survive to make more new copies of themselves. That’s life. Most animals will only take what they need. Lions often drink at the same waterhole as antelope, that they would at other times hunt. My fox soon gave up trying to catch the frogs, even though there were about 20 of them in the pond. Most organisms eaten tend to be the ones least able to defend themselves. This leads to the refined balance we see in nature. This includes sheep (Ovis aries). Sheep prefer the soft fine grass to eat, such as sheep’s fescue (Festuca ovina). They also hunt and eat snails! Including the hairy snail (Trochulus hispidus).
March 2025
In every grassland there is a forest trying to get out. This ecological principle summarises succession, where small organisms are succeeded by larger ones that come to dominate them. Succession describes what nature is constantly trying to do and why humans need to know how to be gardeners if they do not want a forest to develop. Even our gardens become woodlands if left. I am constantly removing young oak (Quercus robur) and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) saplings from our Uckfield garden. These saplings come from several of our garden’s mature trees that produce seeds every year. We also have much wildlife in that garden, ranging from wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes) to European badgers (Meles meles) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). However, I am actively encouraging some succession in our French place on purpose. We are attempting to cultivate biodiversity there, allowing parts of a very large lawn to succeed into woodland. It saves on the mowing and increases the wildlife. First there were small grasses like red fescue (Festuca rubra), then umbrella sedge (Cyperus diffuses) a relative of the sedge papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), from which paper can be made, also wildflowers like vervain (Verbena officinalis), oxeye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare), black knapweed (Centaurea nigra), and much more. Young trees, especially oaks start to appear quite quickly pushing though the grasses such as Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), and forbs such as spear thistles (Cirsium vulgare) particularly enjoyed by insects.
In response we get many butterflies, including 2 different types of swallowtails: old world swallowtail (Papilio machaon) and scarce swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius). Also, a wide range of other insects including praying mantids (Mantis religiosa), wort-biter bush cricket (Decticus verrucivorus) which in past ages have been used to remove worts. We also have rare stripeless tree frogs (Hyla meridionalis), wall lizards (Podarcis muralis), field/wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), breeding European brown hares (Lepus europaeus). Another mammal in the garden is the occasional stone or beech marten (Martes foina) which we hear vocalizing at night, they are related to weasels and badgers. There are also many birds considered very rare or now absent from England such as cirl buntings (Emberiza cirlus) and black winged kites (Elanus caeruleus), little owls (Athene noctua), and Melodious warbler (Hippolais polyglotta). We have also had hoopoes (Upupa epops) and Eurasian golden orioles (Oriolus oriolus), and much more. All this is helped by the fact that we have a copse of mature elm (Ulmus glabra) trees that are loved by the birds and butterflies alike. You will notice that I am including the Latin names of the organisms, I thought you may like to see the correct scientific descriptive terms.
I am happy to say the experiment is a great success, and we have more species of living organisms since letting parts of the garden take its natural course.
February 2025
Fields. Uckfield, Framfield, Heathfield, Isfield, Maresfield, Rotherfield, Mayfield, Hartfield, Henfield, Cuckfield, Itchingfield, Staplefield, Lindfield, Netherfield, Westfield, Mountfield, Catsfield and Ninfield, are all places nearby where the trees have been felled. It is (was) our great Albion’s Andredes weald, meaning "the forest of Andred" a Roman region reduced and renamed Pevensey by Anglo-Saxons (meaning "River of [a man named] Pefen"). Anderida Forest extended over Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Settlers felled trees forming clearings to build villages. The clearings maybe got the local name first, assigned by the folk who created them. The village names then followed. Now, we have more clearings (fields) than forest, because further clearings allowed the ground to be farmed to provide food for the villagers. However, most food we now eat from day to day is no longer grown in a felled area down the lane. Much of it even comes from different lands, the Americas, Africa and Eurasia. Now, just short of 14% of the UK is woodland, up from about 9% in the 1980s. This increase is good, because it shows we are making progress with planting trees and allowing some ecological succession to progress from fields back to woodland.
In some ways, UK leads the way in combatting climate change globally. Our carbon dioxide footprint is better per capita ranked 70th/208 in 2023 (Wikipedia) than many other leading countries. However, our species decline record is not so good. Insect loss is particularly worrying, because they are an essential part of a balanced ecosystem. It is easy to make toxic chemicals that kill insects, and these chemicals are used to maximise crop yields, control flies, ants, and wasps, all to make our lives easier in the short-term. However, many plants and animals depend on insects to survive, including birds such as swifts and swallows that eat nothing else, and just about any land-bird species raising a family. E.g. just one family of blue tits requires up to 1,000 insects per day for about 20 days when nesting. Also, a rare bird of prey called a honey buzzard specialises in eating copious bees and wasps. No surprise that this bird is rare, because wild honeybees are also now rare, and we are good at killing wasps. Hot news - I saw a swallow (Pevensey Bay) hunting insects on 3rd January 2025!
Also, consider local places called …hurst; Penshurst, Staplehurst, Ticehurst, Hawkhurst, Goudhurst, Wadhurst, Lamberhurst, Speldhurst, Ashhurst, and Sandhurst. Hurst is probably Anglo-Saxon (German), meaning woodland thicket or wooded hillock. Forests in these localities are probably very old and home to biodiverse ancient woodlands. Humans are ecosystem engineers, whose ancestors lived and worked much closer to nature than us now. However, the further we get from nature, the less we consider its welfare, often writing it off as collateral damage as we build towards some “greater goal”. Ultimately, nature is our essential life support system. All things originate from nature.
January 2025
“Asia is home to about 4.5 billion people. More than the rest of the world put together.” This is a quote from the 7-part documentary series narrated by Sir David Attenborough. This remarkable series should still be available to watch on BBC iPlayer. I do strongly advise this. A striking aspect of the constituent films is learning how wild animals have integrated with the people of this huge continent. Among many other animals, we see sequences of sika deer traversing a zebra crossing over a busy road with people able to touch them as they walk, just as if the deer were also human. There is no fear or hostility between them. Sika deer are close relatives of our own fallow deer. Another sequence includes 2-metre-long monitor lizards squabbling over food in an Asian public park in the middle of a city, where there are also flying red squirrels gliding between the skyscrapers. Tigers were coming into a city to feed at night, but not on humans. Elephants are demanding food tolls on busy Sri Lankan roads which they block until paid with a cob of sweet corn or loaf of bread, which is willingly given by the drivers. Humans and animals living in modern harmony.
Some of the footage is filmed by camera traps. These are night vision cameras triggered by movement. I set one up in our Uckfield suburban garden. I was delighted to record red foxes and Eurasian badgers, foraging for food and enjoying themselves in the darkness. I also see common frogs, a grass snake and many invertebrates. I feed birds with sunflower hearts. Delightfully, the garden hosts breeding blue and great tits, wrens, robins, blackbirds, house sparrows, collared doves and wood pigeons. Also, greenfinches, nuthatches, great-spotted woodpeckers, coal tits, long-tailed tits, starlings, jackdaws, goldcrests, song thrushes, chiffchaffs, treecreepers, bullfinches, carrion crows and sparrowhawks all visit and looking splendid. We recently ‘house-sat’ for our son at Rushlake Green and were delighted to see fallow deer walking through the wood, visible from bed early one morning. We are integrating with nature. We just need to be observant and friendly to animals around us and not see them as enemies but potential friends. As our human population grows, it is currently at c. 8.2 billion, the only way to preserve the natural world is to learn how to integrate with it. To me, there is no such thing as vermin; from Latin ‘vermis’, meaning worms, it is a biased derogatory term that some have chosen to use for animals they dislike and persecute, as pests, often un-necessarily.
As we come to understand ecology (home-study) we realise that a balanced ecosystem will control excessive numbers of most organisms that bother us. Good animal husbandry and home management will usually prevent inter-species conflict. An attitude of kindness to nature will lead to extraordinary discoveries within the natural world around us, both at home and the ones presented so well by Sir David Attenborough and others on our televisions.