Starting out

My name’s Clare. I live in Chester, work part-time and my grown-up family have all long flown the nest. I've always loved the natural world but in recent years have become increasingly concerned about habitat loss and species decline.

I've joined many lobbies and campaigns but I think there are also practical things we can do individually, which can add up to make a big difference for wildlife. After joining Sustrans as a wildlife volunteer about two years ago, I got involved with the Nature Recovery Corridor project, now called Networks for Nature, which the Zoo, Cheshire Wildlife Trust and other partners are involved with. I went along on the Zoo’s Wildlife Champions course and since then have discovered all sorts of interesting initiatives, projects, and community groups that are all doing amazing things.

Recording Wildlife

I’m keen to try and increase wildlife habitat in the area, and with volunteer groups like Sustrans, with friends, or as a solo venture, I have planted native seeds, wildflowers and trees in a variety of locations. I’m also a keen recorder of wildlife and spend a lot of time out and about taking photos and uploading to iNaturalist, as well as volunteering on recording days with Chester LERC.

It’s important for local and global science projects to know what’s out there, what’s increasing or declining, year on year; which invasive species are appearing and where. Sometimes species thought to have been lost to an area are rediscovered. But also for community groups who have begun green projects, it’s a great way to see how biodiversity has increased with the introduction of different plants, wild areas, new mowing regimes etc.

I record wherever I go really, with camera or phone, but I am particularly interested in my local areas: the Greenway, (a short walk from where I live and a great wildlife corridor), the canal, Countess of Chester Country Park, and my own garden! iNaturalist is an easy to use app and website and when identifications are confirmed they are automatically uploaded to iRecord which can be accessed by the Local Environmental Records Centre. 

Rewilding

With encouragement and information from the likes of the Wildlife Champions course, I’ve been 'rewilding' parts of my own garden, which is perhaps the easiest space to monitor changes and note new visitors from one year to the next. We’re only about a twenty minute walk from the city centre, but it seems like there's a kind of magic that happens when you let nature have a little bit of a free reign. All these photos of different species were captured in my garden at home.

We have planted native species, allowed others to move in of their own accord, and keep a section of the lawn unmown for most of the year. We’ve adopted more of a hands-off approach and let nature take the driving seat to some extent. We never use chemicals or fertilisers, but still maintain regularly mown areas, some ornamental plants and fruit bushes. Our pond, which once was home to a few depressed goldfish, is now the chosen residence of newts, frogs and water beetles.

Garden Visitors

My wildlife camera confirms that we have at least one visiting hedgehog and a fox most nights. We have well stocked feeders but the birds also come to eat berries, seeds, insects, and in the case of the sparrowhawk, other birds! As well as some leafy areas and woodpiles left to their own devices, our old railway sleeper retainers seem to have encouraged lots of different types of solitary bees and (non stinging) wasps. Hopefully there’s an evolving ecosystem out there with predators, parasitic insects and pollinators all playing their part.

Just recording what’s there has become a regular pastime for me. I love to venture out on a warm sunny day and see who’s joined the party, see if I can recognise a bee species, get a good photo of a parasitic wasp, spot a butterfly or discover a new and exciting hoverfly to upload to iNaturalist!

New Guests

We have had some new and lovely guests this year. A beautiful elephant hawkmoth greeted me outside my back door a few weeks ago. They are not rare, but I’d not seen one in the garden before. This one had just emerged, it seemed, and allowed me to carefully carry it down to the flowerbed, where it pumped up its new wings ready for flight. More recently we had several visits from a female Hornet Mimic Hoverfly. This is the largest species of hoverfly in the UK and quite distinctive, with a yellow face, and orange, yellow and chestnut markings.

Unusual Discoveries

Back in May I was surprised by a big, lumbering cockchafer, one of the weirder insects to stumble upon, absorbed in its ponderous explorations and looking like a cross between a beetle, a sloth and koala bear. Wonderful. And just recently a pretty little sawfly whose species I couldn’t determine has been ID’d on iNaturalist as Athalia Lugens, also known as a Shady Tigress!

We've had some interesting visiting birds this year too including siskins, a goldcrest, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker. And back in February, the beautiful, cruel sparrowhawk.

Unexpected Wildlife on Your Doorstep

I've recently found two species which are not native to the UK but arrived in the south and have been spreading north over the past few years: the Southern Oak Bush Cricket (which can't fly so must have hopped here) and the Noble False Widow spider (which was by the front door so probably unrelated to rewilding activities!) When you start looking, it’s amazing what you can discover in your garden or local area. By looking at maps on iNat you can gauge how many sightings of any species have been recorded in an area, and it’s a great way of keeping records of your own discoveries.

Make Your Garden Wildlife-Friendly