Musings from behind a window
Lockdown will undoubtedly bring its own effects on wildlife, some of which we are already seeing, helped by sunny and dry weather since the end of March, However, whilst much of this will not be effectively recorded, we might deduce from our knowledge of species’ behaviour and distribution in London, and the observations from very many Londoners, what the spring of 2020 will be like on the city’s nature.
It will be difficult to completely extricate these impacts from broader seasonal influences, such as the wettest February on record and the 5th mildest winter on record – even in a city that is subject to the Urban Heat Island effect. This means that soils are well-replenished (but still water-logged in riverside areas), although the paucity of frosts will have affected the germination of seeds and the budding of plants, leading to a disruption of emergence patterns. Some plants seem to have flowered early this year (with bluebells appearing in March), others much later, such as goat willow appearing a month later in March, and most cherries later in April. These may be nuanced differences to our eyes, but they can have disproportionate impacts on species that depend on food such plants provide which have evolved to levels of temporal synchronicity, for example aphids that eat young tree leaves emerging as the bird nestlings are born.
Nevertheless, lockdown will make a mark. By the first few days of April traffic across London was down to levels last seen in 1955. This will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect of reducing roadkill. Red fox, badger, hedgehog, rabbit and deer in the suburbs and rural fringes are the prevalent victims, and towards the inner city feral pigeon, grey squirrel and fox. So whilst it is difficult to predict the longer-term consequences, dependent on the length of the lockdown this may lead to a slight upswing of populations of some of the smaller smaller animals, and those that prey on some of them, such as buzzard and fox.
However, carrion-eaters, such as magpie, crow and red kite, may find fewer roadkills available1 and this is at a time when birds will be rearing their nestlings, requiring a constant supply of food. Whilst some corvids are adaptable to eating other foods, red kite may suffer, especially where numbers are high and competition is tough (mostly just outside London, in and around the Chilterns, but also over outer parts of west London). Indeed, red kites are increasingly spotted over inner London, for example Islington in mid-April, so they’re probably searching for food over a wider area.
The other benefit of less traffic, on the roads, railways and in the skies above, is less air pollution. Tiny particulate levels had dropped by 33-50% of normal levels by the end of March, as had nitrogen dioxide (35% drop from pre-outbreak, 1st January-10th February, compared to 15th February-25th March period). Between 16th March and mid-April daily averages of NO2 levels by roadsides in central London had dropped by 40%, and by 20% elsewhere in London.2 However, impacts of contemporary air pollution and wildlife are often indirect, for example damaging the vegetation and soils, and then taken up into the food-chain over an extended time frame. An improved air quality, which will benefit a few taxa more directly (e.g. amphibians, with their sensitive skin, and birds with higher respiratory rates), may only be relatively negligible in its impacts over this period.
And less traffic means less disturbance, so many mammals will become bolder, not only the wild goats of Llandudno, but also the fallow deer herds living around Harold Hill in Havering. They usually wander around the estate at dusk, occasionally causing night buses to brake sharply. They are loafing around in broad daylight. Other deer herds may also become bolder in their activities during the day.
With only the occasional police boat ploughing the waters the River Thames has become like a mill-pond in central London, which has brought moorhen and little egret pecking at low-tide shores. We haven’t yet heard whether it has led to an increase in seal or porpoise movements into the London stretches, but there’s certainly less to disturb them.
Parks and greenspaces, despite the recent good weather surges in visits, will witness fewer visitors if social distancing requirements are maintained. It may also result in fewer dogs being present. This may prove beneficial as there will be less disturbance, one of the main contributors leading to birds failing to breed. Many of our birds, such as robin, wren, chiffchaff, finches, long-tailed tit, skylark, meadow pipit, etc., nest on or low to the ground and are easily ‘flushed’ by dogs. Cats may too be roaming less now that their owners are at home. Too much disturbance can lead to birds trying to find safer refuges (often not possible in the highly contested habitats of London, where breeding territories are at a premium), or failing to breed completely.
There are also fewer events taking place, from Park Runs to music events, through to July. Whilst the impacts of these on biodiversity in London has not been studied, the likely benefits for wildlife will be less disturbance (breeding birds, bats), less compaction of soils (damaging vegetation, soil communities)3 –which can lead to increased surface run-off of water – and fewer trampled animals (e.g. stag beetle). So a few species may do well this spring. And there are those that usually pass much of London by, might drop in, such as one of BTO’s tracked cuckoos, Carlton, which rested a golf course in Dulwich on 17th April before resuming his migration northwards.
More importantly, parks management may lighten in intensity (few could argue that it is essential work, although H&S and security checks will continue). Fewer grass cuts and fewer applications of herbicides, will most likely lead to a blossoming of flowers that are usually kept in check (wild areas aside), which will be a boon to many invertebrates, especially bees, hoverflies, butterflies, bugs and beetles, and the amphibians, birds and mammals that feed on them. It could be an especially good spring for grasshoppers and crickets, which have become quieter – and therefore less abundant - over the past few decades. If the weather remains warm and only occasionally showery we will undoubtedly witness many many insects again – probably not to 1955 levels (they’ve taken too much of a hit since the ‘70s), but to a situation which exhibits what could be possible if only we took our foot off the pedal inintensive parks management. If our parks and verges look scruffier and wilder by June, and also abuzz with butterflies and bees, might that be something the public accepts into the future? And fewer chemical sprayers on our pavements is likely to allow a whole botany of ‘weeds’ to reveal itself.4
Waste collection is also likely to be curtailed, certainly DIY and garden rubbish is already identified as non-essential. Now that cafés and other cooked food outlets are closed, and food purchases becoming more restricted should mean less food rubbish cast on our pavements, roads and around bins. This might reduce opportunities for magpie, crow, gulls, grey squirrel and red fox (and brown rat), but there’s plenty of other food about (lots of worms present in the moist soils), so the impacts are likely to be negligible and welcome.
The other benefits seem to be ours, that lockdown is imposing constraints on daily routines, so that inevitably we are seeking hope, reassurance and stability, and some of that can be found in looking at, listening to, and engaging with nature as best we can. Birdsong is now heard much more easily that traffic has reduced and airplanes are mostly gone from the skies. We are taking more note of the emerging spring as trees and shrubs come into leaf, plants flower, and the early spring insects take to the wing – queen bumblebees, beeflies, brimstone and orange-tip butterflies. And we are photographing the birds that come to our feeders5, gardens6 and even windows.
Finally, we can only rely on what people see and tell us. Species surveyors are now mostly locked away from their usual study sites, so much of the usual recording of birds, insects and plants at this time will not be taking place. However, this is an unrivalled opportunity to gauge our garden wildlife. We can witness this seven days a week for the next month or so, so there will be a potentially much better picture of what wildlife is using our gardens from this spring; and hopefully this data will reach the portals it needs to (such as BTO’s Garden Birdwatch (free to access for a year), or to Greenspace Information for Greater London (www.gigl.org.uk/submit-a-record/), so that we can use these sightings to inform national wildlife databases.
The biggest question is what happens after lockdown. Will a ‘return to ‘normal’ mean a resumption of all ways of working? Will local authorities seek to maximise their income by intensifying their events programmes in parks, will there be a desire to bring parks back into ‘pristine shape’ by mowing out their wilder hairstyles adopted over this spring? For some habitats, this will be desirable, but for others, such as chalk grasslands, the economic kickback could make restoring these a bit harder. Traffic levels will no doubt rise again, and whilst many sectors will have taken a huge economic blow, the intention will surely be to right the ship as quickly and as painlessly (to people) as possible. Whether we can ensure that in this period of uncertainty, that we will be certain we want nature to be much more central to our way of life in the future, is the challenge for all of us that want a cleaner, greener and wilder London.
Mathew Frith
Director of Conservation
@frithinwood
1 Reduced traffic levels may lead to higher average speeds, with more likelihood of kills.2 However, there has been an increase in average NO2 levels between the hours of 00.00 and 05.00. Ozone levels are also up, but these don’t become a pollution problem until temperatures rise.3 apart from along those jogging routes, now that gyms are closed4 often a pejorative term for plants in the ‘wrong place’, weeds are adept colonisers and those in our urban environment, such as dandelions, sow thistles, groundsel, hawkweeds, and chickweed have evolved strategies that enable them to exploit niches difficult for other plants to survive, such as producing many tiny windborne seeds5 Birdfood purchases will probably remain stable or drop a bit; on-line purchases will rise slightly, but those from supermarkets will drop off (non-essential)6 Garden centres are now closed, switching to online sales, but I suspect gardening will be largely confined to managing what people already have