Courtship, Mating and Bringing Up The Family

Very many thanks to David Mears, the National Trust South Wight Warden for breaking this news on the forum last Friday – haven’t had a chance to put it up until today. Here it is for those of you who missed it on the forum last week.

Courtship, Mating and Bringing Up The FamilyWith the warmer weather, longer days and the plants starting to grow again there can be nothing more pleasant than a stroll in the countryside with your faithful companion. As you walk along the footpath your companion charges around with a happy smile, wagging tail and tongue hanging out. Every so often a small inconspicuous bird takes to the air and then another. But wait”¦.

Why have they taken to the air? More often than not these birds are either Meadow Pipits or Skylarks, both of which nest on the ground. Sensing that a predator is near they have run away from their nest and taken flight to distract the would-be egg eater. It is not so bad if the disturbance is just once, but when it is regular the parents could quite easily abandon the nest.

To help prevent this happening the National Trust is encouraging people to keep to established paths and keep their dogs under close control this spring and summer on the Ventnor Downs and Easton Field in Freshwater Bay. The two main areas where this restriction is in place on the Ventnor Downs are Luccombe Down and the eastern end of Wroxall Down from Bridleway V8. By minimising disturbance to the birds you can help them to have a successful breeding year.

Ventnor Downs - Joe Cornish NTPLThis restriction will be in place from the 1st March through to the 31st July which is the main part of the breeding season, although the Skylarks and Meadow Pipits may be bringing up the family well into August. This is the third year that we have asked people to respect the nesting birds and so far the results have been positive.

David Mears, South Wight Warden said, “Although the birds can nest anywhere on the downs, by taking these positive steps and with the co-operation of the local dog walkers I feel we can really improve the chances for breeding birds whilst still enabling people to walk their dogs and enjoy the wonderful open countryside. Being the owner of two young Springer Spaniels I realise that your dog likes to run free, but I do ask that if you can’t keep your dog under close control in these areas then please keep it on a short lead.”

One question often raised is regarding the cattle and ponies trampling nests. David answered this “Although there is a possibility of nest trampling by livestock or people, this is very rare. The greatest problem is disturbance”.

The National Trust will be once again monitoring the success of breeding birds on the Ventnor Downs to assess the effectiveness of this approach to visitor management. [Meadow Pipit image courtesy of The Natural Stone and Ventnor Downs Image courtesy of Joe Cornish, NTPL]

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Steve Draper
1, February 2013 8:36 am

So Pennyfeathers!!!! – 904 more homes, great. 904 / 1808 extra unemployed, or 904 single teenage, drinking swearing Mothers with 2700 uncontrollable kids from various Fathers, maybe 904/1808 untaxed, uninsured vehicles and a probable increase in Council Tax for all of us to help pay the Benefit, Policing, Medical and Emergency Services bills. Good news for Tesco and no doubt for those who will be transferred from… Read more »

playingthenumbers
Reply to  Steve Draper
1, February 2013 4:02 pm

Oh my, where to start? The sweeping generalizations you make are completely without foundation. Cut ‘n paste jobs from tabloids, if you haven’t worked it out yet, does not constitute informed opinion. Neither does your comment address the perilous state of the economy. Determined as it is by an ageing population, who are living longer & being supported in their homes, reducing housing availability & raising prices… Read more »

Bystander
Reply to  playingthenumbers
1, February 2013 4:40 pm

playingthenumbers? more like playingthebully from where I’m sitting.

One massive hole in your logic: Workfare, ie people forced to work for their benefits. Stifling growth, wealth distribution and the creation of real jobs which pay real money,cash, wonga, bread, call it what you will – if workers aren’t paid it they cant spend it.

playingthenumbers
Reply to  Bystander
1, February 2013 5:14 pm

prewitt, I’m not sure if you’ve picked up on earlier contributions I have made to OTW, but I can assure you my interpretation of workfare is that is one of the most disastrous models to get people into work ever conceived. As an intervention it allows companies to adjust business models to factor in cheap labour, reducing the purchasing power of individuals & as you quite rightly… Read more »

Bystander
Reply to  playingthenumbers
1, February 2013 8:36 pm

As I said any mention of workfare was totally omitted from your OP, even though it was highly relevant to the point you were making when talking down to Steve Draper and very much part of the equation. I’m not familiar with your earlier posts, I didn’t realise I was supposed to be, I seldom make it past the first few lines as I find them long… Read more »

Steve Draper
Reply to  playingthenumbers
1, February 2013 8:48 pm

I’m not aware that you’ve actually addressed the prime issue of whether the Pennyfeathers development is viable, economically or ecologically acceptable. Your “Utopian” view, although interesting, would appear to be somewhat textbook and far from reality!! I could mention Tony Blair’s award from Poland for opening up the workplace in the UK – that’s embarrassing! I could argue that the socially inept of today and the general… Read more »

no.5
1, February 2013 9:12 am

I take it you are happy for the 20,000 children born to Island residents in the next 10 years to move in with you?

Steve Draper
Reply to  no.5
1, February 2013 1:15 pm

….and the point of this comment No.5 is……??

no.5
Reply to  Steve Draper
1, February 2013 11:14 pm

I thouight that was obvious….where are our kids going to live? they could stay at hoem with their parents, or they could move of the Island depriving us of a key asset…youth. Yes we need to resolve employment problems and infrastructure problems (hang on don’t these two sorth themselves out when we employ people to sort out the intrastructure problems) We could of course kick all the… Read more »

Bystander
1, February 2013 10:33 am

The flooding doesn’t look very extensive on that map, it must be in summer as its a lot worse in winter.

Incidentally No. 5, the Isle of Wight Society are opposed and say there is no need whatsoever for a huge complex especially one that desecrates an area of green countryside.

Kind of makes your argument look like scaremongering

David
12, February 2013 3:48 pm

http://pennyfeathers.info/blog/2013/01/planning-application-registered/ 40% of the Island’s housing needs until 2027- too good to be true, surely? This alone is a good case. There is still PLENTY of green space around. How many people use it now? Will it also mean an increase in the use of public transport (ie: Train)? The merits of this application should be on the quality of the build and design, not on the… Read more »

Bystander
21, February 2013 10:30 am

Trying to access the information in order to comment on the Pennyfeathers proposals but the Councils website is unable to cope and is grinding to a virtual halt. This isn’t good enough all comments have to be in by tomorrow, 22 Feb., and as usual the Councils IT provision is hindering rather than assisting us. I suspect this is the intention.

Mr Einsteins Ghost
21, February 2013 7:35 pm

http://www.wightbay.com/notices-events/pennyfeather-development-bad-news/4703065

If this is typical, then I sincerely hope this goes ahead, if this indicative of the hysterical, bigoted, snobbish and quite frankly, highly dysfunctional protesters. Whoever posted the above link (not here, but WightBay) or if you support such attitudes, then shame on you.

chas
3, March 2013 3:42 pm

Its building for profit and not a genuine need as usual , planning dept are using mainland consultants to process planning applications……recent visit in west wight from Manchester company to process 40 in 3 days !, no doubt a thorough job done ……

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