Twitching In The Slow Lane

Saturday, 30 March 2024

A Guide To Garden Wildlife - 2. Ponds

A GUIDE TO GARDEN WILDLIFE - 2. PONDS (320kbs-m4a/31mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 31st May 2017

Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol.

With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and Tom Lawrence, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in a garden pond.

Brett and Phil begin by watching pond skaters (the wolves of the pond) and whirligig beetles on the surface of the water. These beetles are able to look down and up at the same time. Imagine if we could this!

Below the surface, life is anything but quiet as water boatmen communicate with one another by stridulation - producing a remarkably loud tapping sound. There are also backswimmers (so called because they swim upside down), which can be identified explains Phil as "the ones that bite really painfully" so best left alone.

Further below the surface, you might find frogs (their loud purring courtship calls announcing their return to the pond after hibernation and the arrival of spring), and the terrors of the deep; the dragonfly nymphs. These are fearsome predatory larvae with needle-sharp pincer-like jaws, "jet propelled" and feed on tadpoles.

These larvae are transformed into the beautiful flying adults, which are not uncommon; species like the Southern Hawker Dragonfly readily colonise small garden ponds and "they'll come and check you out. They're curious insects, they hover round your head and come and look at you." Don't be alarmed they are completely harmless despite their old names such as 'Horse stinger' and 'Devil's darning needle'!

Producer Sarah Blunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.

Friday, 29 March 2024

A Guide To Garden Wildlife - 1. Log Piles And Long Grass

A GUIDE TO GARDEN WILDLIFE - 1. LOG PILES AND LONG GRASS (320kbs-m4a/31mb/13mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 30th May 2017

Brett Westwood joins naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol.

With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in different habitats around the garden.

They find "tiggy hogs and coffin cutters", local names for woodlice; endearing little armoured scavengers that feed mostly on fungi. And where you find woodlice you might also find their predators; a spider, "which has got these enormous fangs and the woodlice meets a sticky end!"

The decaying leaves which accumulate in log piles are also good hibernation sites for bumblebees; which in spring will emerge to collect nectar and pollinate garden plants. So log piles can help ensure pollination.

In the long grass nearby, Brett and Phil go looking for cuckoo spit, and an insect which can catapult itself to a height of 140 times its body length! They are also attracted by a hive of activity; the sounds of red mason bees buzzing around artificial nesting sites which have been built for them; these are short lengths of drainpipe containing dozens of hollow tubes in which the bees make their nests and lay their eggs. Artificial nests are a great way of encouraging pollinators into your garden.

Finally they discuss the merits of wood mice in a garden and the creatures they attract:

"What could better than being in bed at night and hearing Tawny Owls hunting in your garden, wood mice are something you really do need!"

Producer Sarah Blunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.