At Remus we are very mindful of how lucky we are to have such a beautiful area of Essex for our Sanctuary. We are very committed to caring for our environment and the wild creatures, birds and plants that share the land with us. The Sanctuary land and parts of the buildings are home to many species of wildlife, birds, foxes, hedgehogs etc.

With this in mind we are developing and encouraging conservation areas  and are actively planting trees, shrubs such as Hawthorn, Field Maple,  Hazel, Beech, blackberry and dog rose to encourage insects, small mammals and birds.

The land has been intensively farmed in the past but one thing is for sure we will not use any chemicals on the land whilst it remains in our care.  Using our small flock of sheep and rotating the grazing we can prevent the pastures becoming ‘horse sick’ through over grazing and therefore we have no need of chemicals. The original fields at the Sanctuary have an enormous variety of birds  feeding along with our animals.

As well as providing homes for various species of wildlife hedging will do an important job and  provide much needed shelter from winds for the resident horses, ponies, sheep goats and pigs living in the fields.

We are particularly lucky with the variety and numbers of birds attracted to the site and buildings. The buildings are alive with nesting Sparrows, Starlings, Swallows and House Martins. The sparrows over winter in the barn and their noisy chatter always greets us in the morning, Summer or winter.

During the evenings it is particularly pleasant to watch the bats that fly around catching insects and returning to the buildings to feed their young and rest until the following evenings hunting foray.

The site and buildings generally have become a resting spot for many a homing pigeon, Pheasants, noisy and voracious in their appetite are often to be seen picking over the fields and the muckheap, could they be aware they are safe here from the sportsman’s gun? Recently we have been so excited to see a flock of approximately 300 Fieldfare feeding in the lower fields, these birds are occasional visitors and to have an almost resident flock of so many must be a testament to the now ‘organic’ state of our original fields.

Although we are not lucky enough to have a wooded area within the Sanctuary boundaries we are surrounded by various areas of deciduous woodland and popular and regular visitors to the Sanctuary include Green Woodpeckers. Yellowhammers, a low nesting bird, are here in some number in the hedges we already have and the resident flock of noisy starlings are seen daily feeding and searching out the best feed areas of the day!.
 
We have already seen an increase in wildlife using the newly acquired 20 acres behind the Donkey shed and barn, this land would normally be now planted with Winter wheat or similar wheras it has been rested and not cultivated and the benefit to wild creatures though small at the moment is encouraging.

One of the greatest assets to any site in attracting wildlife and birds is the presence of water and we are privileged to have the River Wid running along  boundary of the fields. We have seen up to five Herons at one time and another very special delight are the Kingfishers, often perching on the measuring pole adjacent to the ford looking for a tasty snack.

To the front of the Sanctuary we have our garden with its flower border and fruit trees, the blossom attracts insects for pollinating and the resulting fruit is then fed to the Sanctuary animals.  The border is especially planted with shrubs including Buddlia, Golden Rod and Hydrangea to encourage Butterflies and bees. 

Next to this formal garden we have a small area of uncultivated wild ground, whilst this may look unkempt it is left like this quite deliberately, again this area plays host to many insects and  small mammals such as hedgehogs, field mice, voles etc, toads and frogs, the one reliant on the other for survival.

Between the uncultivated area and the silos we have our new small wildlife pond, the pond was home to hundreds of tadpoles and tiny frogs and toads which we raised in the pond for the first time in 2005, we look forward eagerly to this year’s spawning season, many species of aquatic insects and snails have also made a home in this pond. We have plans for a further larger natural pond in the area between the silos and the new fields, we will use this pond also for  tadpoles etc but  we plan to leave it in its natural state and observe what plants, creatures decide to make their home within it.

Seen at the Sanctuary

Wasp Spider

We were intrigued a short while ago on a short walk around the Sanctuary boundary to find a strange but very distinctive looking spider in the long grass at the bottom of one of the fields.

We hastily looked up the spider in books and the internet and to our delight discovered that we had a rare Wasp spider colonising our land. The area where we found the spider is exactly right for the conditions it requires to thrive, long grass undisturbed,  the spider is a nationally rare spider and very rare in Essex so we are thrilled to find it on the Sanctuary land, another testament to the way we manage the land and our conservation commitment. The correct name for the spider is Argiope bruennichi.
The female is larger than the male and in common with many spiders sometimes eats him after mating so he has to take care.

The female builds her web close to the ground in long grass to catch grasshoppers and crickets – which we also have in some abundance at the Sanctuary.

Although this spider is very highly coloured – this is a defensive measure only to deter preditors,  these spiders are not dangerous unless you are a cricket or grasshopper.  

Broad Bodied Chaser

This Dragonfly has a broad abdomen, pale blue in the mature males and brown in the females and immature males. Both sexes have yellow spots along the sides of the abdomen and a dark patch at the base of each wing. It breeds in well vegetated ponds and is present between May and August. It was first seen in early June flying around the new Wildlife pond and has been seen regularly since. One of the darter family of dragonflies it is often seen perching on the tall wild flowers etc around the pond.

We are very pleased to see this unusual dragonfly in our conservation areas so soon after the pond was dug, sightings like this prove that our conservation efforts are a worthwhile and a success.

We are very keen to develop our conservation areas but  we do need help with the work, as always,  and so if anyone is interested and would like to become involved in helping us with this work please do make contact with us through the Sanctuary Office.