'Badger's Patch' is the area of countryside on a radius of the author's home town. It includes the Stort Valley and its tributaries as well as several nature reserves and sites of natural history interest. The area is also covered by the Bishops Stortford Natural History Society- hence bsnhsdiary!
Frogs spawned on Sawbridgeworth Marsh on the 9th March.
Pictures by DS. Sound recording RR.
The eggs in the spawn are surrounded by mucus which helps to protect the eggs from predators and changes in temperature.
The egg is dividing many times to form an early embryo called a blastula. This becomes a hollow ball of cells which then gets pushed inwards to form a cup shape which is called a gastrula. At this stage the fate of the cells becomes determined into which ones will become muscle, nerve and organ tissues.
Areas can now be determined which will become the head, body and tail. Small gill buds are appearing on the side of the head.
The gill buds have formed into feathery gills. The whole body is still contained within the egg membrane.
The developing tadpoles have now got some degree of muscular movement and start to break free from the egg membranes. They tend to collect together at the top of the spawn mass.
In his inaugural speech to the newly formed Bishops Stortford Natural History Society in 1935, PBM Allan, author and publisher described to the newly assembled members the wide scope of natural history available within a radius of the Corn Exchange which is the central point in Bishops Stortford, at the intersection of Wind Hill, Bridge Street, North Street and South Street. There is some uncertainty as to the actual size of the area and so I have chosen a 5 mile radius, which is the basis of Badgers Patch and is the study area for the Natural History Society today.
Although we have a lot of housing development taking place locally there is still a huge amount of varied countryside available for us to study and enjoy. To the North the area extends onto the Chalk with its characteristic fauna and flora. To the West we have typical Herts countryside with isolated woodlands in a rolling landscape. There is also here the River Ash which is a chalk river. To the South. We have the River Stort Valley with its backwater loops and mill streams set in a relatively un-drained alluvial floodplain. There are also a chain of nature reserves and SSS eyes. To the East we are onto the undulating Chalky Boulder Clay lands of Essex with Hazel and hornbeam woodland.
How fortunate we are to have all this relatively local to us. In the current crisis where travel is going to be limited and restricted we can still access these areas and in the coming weeks I hope to be able to illustrate some of these aspects but please do send me your own records and photographs to be added to the website and this blog.
