Knowle is a far better place for wildlife than for night-life. It is set amidst rolling, open countryside and surrounded by relatively small, non-intensive farms, so pollution and contamination by agri-poisons is minimal. The best impression of this bucolic scene can be obtained by walking the ridge between Coleford & Barnstaple Cross, a couple of hundred metres to the south of our farm. From a single spot on the ridge I am inevitably stunned by the 360° panorama, which includes a large part of the north edge of Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Sidmouth gap & thousands of acres of beautiful, rolling green farmland in between. It makes me realise how sparsely populated the heart of Devon is, and how lucky I am to live here. The photographs below were all taken from the same spot on the same day in late winter 2007.
So the stage is set: enter the wildlife.
We see plenty of Roe deer in the neighbouring fields when they come up a’foraging from the woods above Copplestone. Mercifully they don’t come into our garden, which is a well tended oasis within the ring of our orchard, that provides us with six or seven acres of natural wilding.
Within this orchard are areas of reed, which provide cover for ground nesting birds such as snipe. Naturally there are plenty of trees for small birds to use too. There’s mistletoe there, horse mushrooms the size of dinner plates, bullrushes, water iris and ‘ragged robin’ (flowering as I write this). There’s also a pond with it’s own island. Nothing flash, the island is only about ten metres by five, but it does provide sheltered accommodation for moorhens, mallards and Canada geese. The Canadas have only been breeding here for a
couple of years, since we sadly lost our domestic geese, and also since we hit on a way of removing the green layer of duckweed that used to cover the surface (but that’s another story). What I love about Canadas is they’re such dedicated parents. They’re never more than a foot or two from their young, and inevitably there’s one adult in front and the other bringing up the rear. David watched Titus – one of our predatory oriental cats – stalking the fortnight-old goslings. When he got near, both parents placed themselves to the fore, wings spread to the limit, heads down & hissing like steam engines. Off slunk Titus to look for easier prey and that, O best beloved, is why there are zillions of Canada geese in this country. To have a single breeding pair is wonderful, but Shobrooke lake in Crediton is now home to scores of them . In such numbers they are a tumultuous mob disturbing the peace, unsettling other birds & spoiling my early morning visits to watch the pair of Great Crested Grebes that nest there. These are the new grey squirrels.
We have two badger sets in the village & I’m told, by the Defra census, they are a healthy population, remarkably free from TB. They can be seen at dusk, especially on damp evenings, out looking for slugs & snails in the fields around their sets. A few years ago, in the middle of a scorching August, one started digging holes in our lawn. I decided to scare him off by setting up an arc light with a motion sensor. In the middle of the night I awoke to see the brilliant light from the 500 watt lamp shining through the curtains. Thrilled, I leapt up to look. There on my beautiful lawn, in the full limelight, was Brock, completely unscared and going about his snuffly business as usual. He only needed a top hat & tails, so I watched him for 5 minutes before rapping on the window at which he turned, gave me a baleful glare and lumbered off into the orchard.
We’ve another small pond at the far end of the garden; it’s under a big weeping willow with a twisted willow & Japanese maple nearby. We call it the Chinese garden & originally stocked the pond with two quid Koi tiddlers. Mr Heron waited a couple of years, when they were coming along nicely, then turned up and ate the lot. Afterwards he might have said “it was like shooting fish in a barrel”. Restocked with budget goldfish but a couple of years later I saw the largest grass snake I ever did see – head out one end of the pond, tail the other – and all the goldfish had disappeared. Sarah says this snake grows at every telling, but then snakes always do. After that our garden pond remains a sanctuary for indigenous amphibia only. It had plenty of frogs. toads and newts, although there don’t seem to be any around this year, either in our garden or anywhere else in Knowle.
Great place for birds too. Barn, Tawny and Little owls, kestrels and buzzards all nest within the village. Sparrowhawk, raven, heron and egret are often seen. Our garden is residence for a flock of goldfinch & the cob barn wall is a regular nesting site for pied wagtails. Skylark sing and I’m thrilled to record songthrush are back this year (heaven knows, we have enough snails to feed an army of them). I’ve seen Peregrine (3 in 23 years), Goldcrest, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and many other uncommon birds over the years too. However my favourites are the House Martins that nest in the corners of our upstairs windows. One can stand in a room and, from this brilliant vantage point watch their constant industries; nest building (cob again), brooding, rearing and flight testing. Sure they shit on the windows a bit but it’s easy enough to wash off in the autumn when they leave.
There was the fox, chased into the house by our dogs, the rabbits nibbling the lawn, & the squirrels our strawberries, and so many more. Hope I’ve given a glimpse at the wildlife in our (apparently) formal garden and natural orchard beyond.
