Winter and spring

Winter has come to an end in the Sandbach Wildlife Corridor and spring is "icumen" in, as the mediaeval song puts it. Now that we are all confined to barracks, we can at least hope to get out along the nature trails or at least enjoy the wildlife that comes to visit us. But it has been a sodden one until now, hasn't it? The only wildlife that has stayed pristine is that which has stayed above the wet ground, like this fungus on a mossy branch near Filter Bed Wood.

However, all sorts of things will be springing up soon. Walkers in Dingle Wood should watch out for the brilliant yellow Marsh Marigolds that will shortly produce their fine display. A dashing male Sparrowhawk was hunting near Brook Wood. But should care for our woods; last autumn I was inspecting an impressive colony of Giant Horsetail near Filter Bed Wood when I was  displeased to find one fine tall spike of it growing in a very artificial environment - out of a large traffic cone:

Nevertheless, the birds and the bees are moving, even if the human world has suddenly stopped. We saw a fine Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Nuthatch in Dingle Wood, and the local Buzzards are frequently over the valley. At the Sandbach Park Pond the resident Moorhens are rarely seen unless you pause and watch for them slinking through the waterside vegetation, but they will prepare to nest soon. And finally, here's one more  piece of evidence that spring has arrived!

Ringlet in the changes!

Roger F was delighted to photograph a new butterfly for Sandbach at the weekend, in the rough ground below the lower Waitrose roundabout. That is in the area that is downstream of St Mary's Dell. The Ringlet butterfly has been spreading steadily northward so it is hardly a surprise, but it is an attractive addition to Sandbach's fauna. At first glance Ringlets might be taken for dark Meadow Browns, but they have no orange panel above or below; and when they land an examination with reveal their eponymous rings on both upper and lower wings. Of course, if it is hot you may wait a long time for them to land! Well done, Roger! - George H

Water Rail!

A great bird sighting at Sandbach Park Pond has been passed along by birding expert Andy Goodwin. In about November, he spotted a Water Rail feeding right underneath the boardwalk beside the pond (and it could well still be around for the winter, so look out for it!). This is the first he has seen there since the 1960s.

Not a sad flower!

A very nice discovery yesterday was a rather rare wild flower beside the new Dingle Bridge footbridge. No wild flower seed has been sown - or plants introduced - at that spot, but a large and healthy-looking plant (or maybe two plants) of Melancholy Thistle has appeared there. A tall, thornless thistle with big purple heads, Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) is a rather rare species of damp places on northern hills and mountains and forests. Although it has a sad name, it was not given that name because it made people sad but because the cheerful sight of its big, bright heads was considered good for melancholy!

It was almost certainly introduced with stone or limestone chippings (it grows on the Derbyshire limestones) when the new footbridge was built. It is not, of course, a native species here. But since no-one deliberately introduced it, it counts as a "wild" flower for botanical record purposes.So it has now been accepted as a proper Cheshire record - and Dingle Bridge is now one of only three known sites in Cheshire for this plant. (The other two are  thought to be a site in the eastern hills where Melancholy Thistle is a native species, and another "accidental" site in the middle of Delamere Forest.) - George

Town Hall Clock!

And one more new flower was found to be a rather pretty feature of the trail past Dingle lake in April. beside the path there grows a small carpet of that odd little plant, Moschatel or Town Hall Clock. I understand Roger Foden has photographed it. His images and more on the Trails will appear soon in Sandbach Town Talk. get ready for your copy!  George

Spring flowers!

The new Sandbach Bridges Trail (North) is really the nicest of our Trails at this time of year. Its wildlife is especially attractive in spring. There are, of course, the carpets of golden Lesser Celandines which flower right along the valley, particularly near the roundabout, near Brook Bridge and along the new path right beside the bypass.
But an organised  stroll today by a few members of the 'Friends of A Rocha in Sandbach' group discovered quite a bit more. We looked over the upstream parapet of Brook Bridge to see if one of the resident pair of Grey Wagtails was in sight along the stream, but saw none. But then at the bottom of Front Street some slightly unfamiliar birdsong caught our attention and we looked up. On the roof of the end house of the street, a remarkably fine-looking male Grey Wagtail was perched on the ridge tiles and serenading his mate, who was looking up at him from lower down the roof. His black bib was so well marked that for a moment I wondered if he was one of the foreign subspecies which has a black head.
Sadly the uncommon Black Spleenwort fern that grows in the wall at the same spot appeared rather sorry for itself - perhaps frosted?
But when we set off over the fine new footbridge, things looked up dramatically. A pair of Nuthatches and later a Chiffchaff were nice finds. Alongside the new path there are now lovely carpets of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, a wild flower that thrives in the willow marsh near Dingle Lake. Further along were some rather magnificent clumps of Marsh Marigold, which grows amongst a mesh of fallen branches and sticks.
But the best surprise was still to come. On the right hand of the path, between it and the bypass, a couple of bends before the bypass river bridge, I noticed a curious scattering of little light green objects. Looking closer, they turned out to the the flowerheads of a colony of that curious plant Moschatel, otherwise known (from its square head of flowers) as 'Town Hall Clock'. This is not rare but in my experience is rarely noticed; in the Sandbach area I can only recall meeting it once before, near Wheelock. This is evidence that the new Trail certainly (and carefully) passes through some lovely country.
The only downside of this discovery is that I shall clearly have to amend the new (online downloadable) guide to the Sandbach Bridges Trail (North). That may not be done for a little while; but I thought any readers of this blog might like to know about our new botanical discovery while the plant is still in flower. But I suggest you look Moschatel up in a flower book before you go to find it, and remember that it is small, so that you can locate it. Then just enjoy!  George Hill     

Ongoing projects

Today saw the AGM of the Sandbach Woodland and Wildlife Group, and a Powerpoint display (compiled by Roger Foden) of the amazing work of the Group over the last five years. The Sandbach Bridges Trails, north and south, are now complete (including the brilliant footbridge on the former), and so is the loop around Dingle Meadow. This year's targets, described by Dick Macaulay, include the new path through Filter Bed Wood, and a link to planned new paths through Offley Wood. Watch this space! And look forward to walking them - perhaps when the weather is a little better. 2018 is go!