The Wandering Ecologist Podcast

The Sussex Study - 56 years of monitoring invertebrates and flora on South Downs farms

In this bitesize episode I’m out in the field at the Wiston Estate with a team from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. They’re here to collect data as part of an exciting long-term study which, at the time of recording, has been running for 56 years.  This study is the world’s longest-running scientific monitoring project measuring the impact of changing farming practices on arable flora and invertebrates. We learn how decades of data collection from a dedicated team carrying out annual suction sampling and botanical surveys, over several farms on the South Downs, are helping us better understand how nature is changing on farmland in response to agri-environment policies.  Due to the sound from the suction sampler and the team’s tight schedule this is a shorter than normal episode, but I do hope you enjoy it! For more information check out this webpage: https://www.gwct.org.uk/research/long-term-monitoring/sussex-study/50-years-of-monitoring-an-agricultural-ecosystem/

Drumming Up Enthusiasm: harnessing technology to monitor Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers

In this episode we shine the spotlight on the remarkable Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, one of Britain’s rarest and most secretive woodland birds. Join us as we hammer into the details of a pioneering survey with passionate woodpecker-philes, Ken and Linda Smith, who have been deploying innovative audio recorders to find out if these small woodland birds are more widespread than we thought. Ken and Linda share field stories from years of monitoring such an elusive species and how recent breakthroughs in technology and sound analysis have been a real gamechanger for finding where lesser spots are nesting. We’ll find out why the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is so special and why it’s very difficult to find! We explore where they nest, what they feed on, and how this new approach is giving conservationists the tools to help protect these birds and their habitat for the future.

The Way of Water: bringing water and life back to High Fen

I head up to Norfolk to visit my pal Matthew Hay, at High Fen Wildland. This 292 hectare site was originally farmed for arable and daffodil growing but was too wet to farm commercially. So, in 2022 nature restoration company Nattergal purchased the site with a wonderful vision to recreate a mosaic of diverse fenland habitats, akin to how it might have looked before it was drained for farming in the 17th Century.  Installing a series of sub-surface bunds to re-wet the site will boost species richness and, just as importantly, preserve the site’s peat. Peat is an enormous store of carbon and, as Matt points out, it is ‘the unsung hero of the natural world’. Historic drainage of the peat resulted in huge amounts of carbon being released so the re-wetting of the peat will help save this really important carbon store from further degradation, and also enable new peat formation in the future. Matt shares the fascinating history of the Fens, the habitats they are restoring, species reintroduction already underway and how Nattergal are harnessing natural capital investment to fund the restoration project and revive the ‘Spirit of the Fen’.

Living the High Life: saving House Martins and Swifts

In this episode I visit my friend Paul Stevens, just down the road from home, to gawp at a fantastic set-up on his house. His sidewall is bedecked in Swift nest boxes and House Martin nest cups, providing a beautiful bird metropolis where these declining red-list birds can thrive. Paul makes these boxes and nest cups from scratch himself, drawing on his experience he has gained from working with these birds. The successes he has had at home for Swifts and House Martins has really fired up a widespread surge of interest by communities in Sussex villages and towns, and further afield, to get their birds back too. Paul has been sawing, building and nailing away in his workshop and installing boxes and nest cups all over the county and the results have been amazing. We talk about how to identify these birds, their migration, the threats they are currently facing and what we can all do to help them. We recorded at dusk so we’re surrounded by lots of wonderful sounds as the birds come into roost.

Warblers, Wolves and a Wild Finca - Part 2

Transport yourself to the beautiful mountains of northern Spain as we visit our lovely friends Katie and Luke at their Wild Finca – an old farm they are managing through agri-wilding, creating the most wonderful diverse habitat mosaics for nature and a refuge their young family.  This episode is a departure from the normal format with a long and wide-ranging discussion on how they manage the land with Asturcón ponies and Casina cattle, the importance of environmental education for local children, and the celebrations and challenges as apex predators return to the land. There was so much to talk about I have divided this episode into two parts to share it all with you.  We discuss everything from pond creation to the everyday management of the livestock, we hear Grasshopper Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes, Nightjars, Field Crickets and, most importantly, Luke’s impression of an Eagle Owl. It’s worth tuning in just to hear that! This is Part 2 of 2.