Information taken from HARGRAVE - A LOCAL PERSPECTIVE.
May 2004 

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Personal notes from a nature diary recording the year in the garden, together with contributions from neighbours, and from observations whilst walking the village footpaths, form the basis of this section.

TREES are not a prominent feature of the village.  The farming methods of the 1970’s which took out many of the hedges and the hedgerow trees changed the landscape, producing many acres of prairie-like country-side.  Dutch Elm disease was rife in the early seventies and the loss of these trees also changed the landscape.

Worthy of mention are the Red Chestnuts planted on Hargrave Green and the old Evergreen Holm Oak (quercus ilex) at Grove Farm. There are some sizeable Oak Trees in the fields belonging to the old rectory and on the path leading to the church there is an ancient Beech Tree and two Ash Trees.  During the past twenty-five  years the Parish Council has planted trees at Little Knowles Green and on some of the verges.

ANIMALS

DEER   Roe deer and muntjac visit the village occasionally.  Keen gardeners on the Ousden road have had to fence off their precious plants.

FOX  A vixen and three cubs were reported to have been seen in a coppice behind Grove Farm.

FROGS   A number of small frogs inhabit the herbaceous border all summer.  Later in the year very handsome 4/5 inch frogs observed, one with marked tiger stripes and one possibly an edible green frog.

HARES   Seen on a number of occasions, particularly at night and in 1998 three leverets were born in the garden at Freiston Lodge.

HEDGEHOGS   Common inhabitants of the garden, but unfortunately too often found squashed in the road.

COMMON LIZARDS   A family group found under stones in an old rockery where they have lived for many years.

GREY SQUIRRELS   Usually frequent visitors, but this year there are no acorns on the oak tree and no squirrels, but the garden has many tiny oak trees sprouting from previous squirrel plantings.

OTHER SPECIES   Seen occasionally:  rabbits, voles, weasels, bats, common shrew, field mice, toads, rats, moles and a crested newt reported in the pond at Wash Cottage.

BIRDS

Common visitors to the bird tables    :  Great Tits and Blue Tits, Green Finches, Chaffinch, Jackdaws,  Robin and Starlings.
Unusual visitors:  a small flock of  Long-Tailed Tits  

Very unusual visitors: 3 Cock Bull Finches pecking the prunus buds ( not seen again all year).  Goldcrests observed on one occasion only.  A handsome Jay visited the Oak Tree looking for acorns.
Mallard & Moorhen on village ponds.
Rare sighting of Thrush & Goldfinch and 3 Red-Legged Partridges.
Magpies ever present - a small colony noted on the Ousden Road.
Kestrel & Green Woodpecker sighted at Alma Cottage.
Green Woodpeckers & Great Spotted Woodpeckers seen at the Cock’s Head.
Yellowhammer & Treecreeper reported at Alma Cottage.
Cuckoo heard on 1st May, but was not much in evidence after that.
Larks nesting in the setaside after an absence of many years.
Flocks of Golden Plover & Lapwings in the fields.

Other Species Sighted:  Pied Wagtails on the verges, Hedgesparrows, Fieldfares, Linnets, Housemartins, Willow Warblers, Collared Doves, Pigeons and Rooks.

NESTS    Found in the Garden:  Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Chaffinch, Hedgesparrow, and Blue Tits in the nesting box.  Thrush seen with fledglings, Flycatchers and Whitethroats nesting at Grove Farm.

Newspaper report  11.6.99  “ British Trust for Ornithology report that the numbers of Tree Sparrows, Bullfinches, Grey Partridge, Linnet and Cuckoo have fallen by at least a 3rd in a single year.  The increasing absence of weeds, hedges, seeds and insects have created imbalanced environments that struggle to support birdlife”.  Certainly, observation in Hargrave would agree with this report .  There has also been a decline in the number of House Sparrows, Song Thrushes and Willow Warblers.

BUTTERFLIES 

Small Tortoiseshell    Ringlet
Meadow Brown    Gatekeeper
Peacock ( seen rarely in 1999) Brimstone 
Red Admiral     Skipper
Orange Tip     Comma
Large & Small White

FLOWERS

Hargrave is fortunate in having a protected Roadside Nature Reserve on Barrow Hill.  The Suffolk Wildlife Trust works with the County Council to make sure that this reserve is cut only at the appropriate time, usually in the Autumn after the flowers have set seed.  Flowers of particular interest found on Barrow Hill:
Crested Cow-Wheat    Bee Orchid
Sulphur Clover     Pyramidal Orchid 
Quaking Grass     Spiny Restharrow

It is a great pleasure to record the return of the Cowslips, so rare in the early seventies.  Now they are common along the verges, and where they are seeding down on lawns, they are being left to flower.

Many species of Wild Flowers have been recorded through the year, 24 species in the garden.  On the 25th June 43 varieties were recorded along the Golden Mile, including Red Bartsia, Black Horehound, Meadow Vetchling, Agrimony and Perforate St John’s Wort.  On the 21st July, 39 species were collected along the Wickhambrook Road including , Great Willow-herb and Rosebay Willow-herb, Water Mint, Marsh Valerian and Meadowsweet. In the Spring a clump of Kingcups ( Marsh Marigolds) were observed by the stream running from Great Knowles Green.