Wildlife at the Glebe
There is an earlier birdlife leaflet from 2009 Click here to download the 'Birds in Barton' leaflet#
MARCH 2022 UPDATE - Officially the first week of Spring and the weather did not disappoint - sunshine all the way and no wind. Marvellous. So were the birds. 5 singing chiffchaffs, the first of our Spring migrants to return from wintering in Southern Europe and North Africa. Singing chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds robins and yellow hammers were all in fine song. Singleton kestrel, buzzard and a red kite all hunted over the North Glebe. Surprisingly, there were still up to 200 fieldfares ground feeding ahead of their exodus eastwards for the next 8 months or so.
FEBRUARY 2022 UPDATE - As we leave a wet and windy February so too have the c150 fieldfares and up to 80 redwings which have been with us since last November. They have stripped most of the hawthorn trees of their red haws. Robins, Chaffinches,Goldfinches and Greenfinches have started to develop their Spring songs. The first pre-vernal plants have blossomed - led by snowdrops and daffodils. Trees are developing their leaf buds which will be in full flower in a month or so. Spring is almost here.
Bringing Bees to Barton
The Arbory Trust are engaged in an initiative to improve the ecology at the Barton Glebe Woodland Burial site. Of course, the Glebes are already a home to wildlife fauna and flora. This includes being a natural habitat for a huge range of birds and insects, all propagating our trees, shrubs, and flowers. So, the initiative is to increase the population of bees by introducing Apis Mellifera – the European honeybee.
To that end, in the summer the Trust invited a group of local beekeepers to investigate the viability of the siting an apiary at Barton. In addition, specialist advice from the Cambridge Beekeepers Association (CBKA) as to whether the Glebe flora, could support more bees, was sought. The consensus was that the site could embrace more bees and that a 12-month trial should be run. Four discrete small apiaries would be sited in areas of the Glebes not frequented regularly by the public.
So over the autumn, the bees earmarked for relocation were given health inspections by our local seasonal bee inspector, clearings were made by the Trust in quiet copses, stands were prepositioned by the beekeepers and at the beginning of November, on a wet and windy day, the first of the active hives arrived. After allowing a couple of hours for the bees to settle after their bumpy journey, the doors of the hives were opened. A rather nervous beekeeper watched, as the wind took his bees away to explore their new home. On the following day, he returned to find they too had returned, and he gratefully fed them some encouragement “stacation” light syrup. Other hives are to follow in due course. Hopefully, our new residents will settle quickly into their new surroundings.
The Trust’s is hoping that you will do your bit to support this venture. The next stage of the project is to help the bees through winter. Honeybees don’t hibernate – they huddle – mainly around their queen. So, whilst in the winter the hives may look quiet outside, inside the bees are wide awake and working hard to keep warm. Bar feeding them some icing fondant occasionally, the beekeepers will leave the hives alone to over-winter. So, the Trust hopes that, you too will do that. If you do spot the hives, please do not stray off the beaten track to investigate. Leave the bees alone and they will reciprocate. The Trust hopes, that in walking around the site, you will hardly notice the extra honeybees amongst the plethora of other insect residents. The Trust hopes you realise that the risk of getting sting remains virtually unchanged. All that said, in the unlikely event of getting stung and of that sting developing into a serious medical condition, you should phone the emergency services on 999.
This project is managed jointly by Barton Glebe Beekeepers Association (BGBA) and the Arbory Trust. If you wish to know more about it, please contact us. If you see something you think is unusual in relation to the bees or the hives, please contact the on-call responsible beekeeper on 07801 270029.
And perhaps in summer 2021, who knows there may be some Barton Glebe honey for sale – fingers crossed?
Quick Links
