Bicknoller in 1883

 In June 1883* the writer Richard Jefferies visited Somerset. There is a little confusion as to why he visited Somerset during the long days of summer given the main work published the following year was a book on red deer, with unsurprisingly the title of Red Deer. This now classic study of deer was a detailed natural history of the landscape red deer roamed over with meticulously researched methods of hunting and products created from them. Which is why visiting in the summer is a little confusing as the deer hunting season happens during the winter months. To gather the information for his book he therefore spent a few days in Exford with the master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds Arthur Heal. 

I don't wish to go into more detail about the book, as there are better sources than me. And you can read more of Jefferies Somerset Adventure and a synopsis of the book via the Richard Jefferies Society Website beginning on page 54 of the Societies' Journal Number 39 – 2024

 link here : https://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/p/the-richard-jefferies-society-journal.html

My visit to the Quantock Hills this week was to finally begin researching locations for a maybe fanciful idea of mine of producing a Jefferies in Somerset self guided tour. He covered a large area in the 19 days he spent here, he must have never stopped, but for this visit I began, where else, at the beginning, the hamlet of Bicknoller. 

My visit on a cool but beautiful sunny January day maybe contrasted with a summer visit in 1883. On my visit it was cool. Snowdrops were in flower and early daffodils in St George's churchyard. It really is a peaceful place today, blackbird and great tits were calling in the neighbourhood, but in 1883 it might have been a lot noisier. We forget that when these rural communities were all about farming, a lot of the villagers would have been abroad walking to or working in the fields. Horses pulling carts would be trundling through the lanes, cattle and sheep on the hillsides, tradespeople delivering produce, even poachers at night. The rural landscape is relatively empty today but that is a recent change.

I know Bicknoller only to drive through as it is close to where we come to watch nightjars on a summers evening (no evidence Jefferies saw nightjar here, I'd be surprised if he didn't do so). This however was the first time I'd explored the hamlet, or maybe it is a small village as it has a pub and a shop? First I walked through the churchyard, greeted as I crossed through the gate with a riot of spring flowers, quite early considering it is only January. Rooks and jackdaw were noisily prospecting for nest sites above me as I wandered through the gravestones, not looking for anything in particular just something I like to do.

Oddly having bought a pamphlet in the church it failed to say how old it was. The historical record stated that it was a manorial chapel during the reign of Henry 3rd which at some point thereafter became a church. It must be older than that however as the yew tree hard by is reputed to be 1000 years old.

Exiting the churchyard through a gate commemorating Queen Victoria I found a little remembrance area with a few seats. From here, a flask of coffee and my copy of Red Deer by my side, I could observe the toing and froing of Church Lane. Which I have to admit was limited. Two dog walkers, a car and a post van in half an hour. Where was everyone? But I'd particularly come to see Lock's Farm, as it was in 1883. Jefferies stayed for a few days with a Mrs Thorne who leased the farmhouse and was joined by the painter J.W. North. It is not known if Jefferies knew North before visiting but as a result of this visit they became good friends. On this visit I sat quietly looking at what is now a residential house I could imagine Jefferies wandering up and down the lane making notes in his field notebook, chatting to North and hopefully enjoying the clean crisp air of West Somerset. It is known that Jefferies walked up onto the hills behind the house as he mentions Crowcombe and Will's Neck both are nearby and he was a keen walker, though by now he'd become ill with tuberculosis. His arrival at Bicknoller was after alighting from the train at Stogumber. My next destination.

Once part of the Great Western Railway Stogumber is now part of a heritage line, the West Somerset Railway. No trains are running in January but on my arrival I spent a very agreeable half an hour chatting to some of the volunteers there undertaking winter maintenance. Stogumber is around two miles from Bicknoller and how Jefferies got from the station to there is not known. Possibly he walked, possibly he was collected by a horse and cart? We don't know but I like to imagine he walked along the narrow lanes with their tall hedges enjoying a very different landscape to the one he'd left in Sussex just a few hours before.

In 1883 this building would have been the ticket office, now serving as an information point and kitchen (I was informed cream teas are a must in the summer and a new kitchen is planned for 2026). Jefferies would have seen this building, no doubt handing his ticket into the platform attendant as he left. Tangible reminders that although we're nearly 150 year after his visit, the landscape still contained clues and real connections to the past. Did North meet him at the station, pleasant introductions proceeding a friendly walk to his lodgings? All pure conjecture of course.

After a few days in Bicknoller Jefferies headed over to Exmoor staying at Exford. He also visited a number of other places including Dunster, Watchet, Minehead, Horner Wood, Holincote and Porlock  where he stayed in the Anchor Inn. Those destinations are for my next visits here. Today however I said my goodbyes to Stogumber and drove up to Crowcombe Gate where the sunshine was strong and the sense of peace exhilarating. 

* some sources quote 1882, but later research confirmed 1883.

On line version of Red Deer https://archive.org/details/reddeera00jeffuoft

Embargoed Beavers

 I'm not sure where to begin with this. Maybe a photograph of me out birdwatching one day will provide enough impetus for everyone to run in horror and move onto the most important part of the story. Beavers!!

For reasons that become apparent I can't say where all this action took place, and of course is still taking place. However now the news has been released from Natural England onto Social Media I can say this is somewhere on the vast Somerset Levels 'Super' Reserve. That's all you're getting I'm afraid. But for over a week now I've kept the news to myself. After-all wildlife comes before Social-Media.

It all began between Christmas and New Year. I was idly out birdwatching with no real plan and then it was while having a break for a coffee from my flask that something strange on an island just ahead of me caught my eye. Branches at the water line were nibbled, and then scanning this island through my binoculars I noticed a couple of trees showing distinct 'Beaver Engineering'. Really? There are no beavers in this part of Somerset, the nearest known established population miles away on the River Frome and a smaller population on the River Brue. I looked again. There was no doubt about it, freshly nibbled branches at the waters edge and those two trees showing a lot of gnawing, with one leaning at a rakish angle. Back home I emailed Natural England.

A flurry of e-mails then took up much of the next few days until on Friday evening when I received a telephone call from the Senior Reserves Manager (Somerset) for Natural England. We chatted and the conversation ended with an invite 'could I meet him and someone from Somerset Wildlife Trust at the site at 1pm the following day, Saturday?' 

I only need one invite.

It transpired that the report I'd put in was not the first they'd had, it was the second but the first from a member of the public. A few days before my report a volunteer for Natural England out doing survey work had alerted the team and they'd put trail cameras up. On the day I was invited back to the site the plan was to look for other evidence and also check the cameras for any activity for the first time.

At the allotted time I was scooped up in a vehicle and after a short drive myself and Phil from Natural England and Lucy from Somerset Wildlife trust set off into wet woodland well off the public path. Evidence of beaver activity wasn't that hard to miss, with the nibbling of bark a sign they're relaxed enough to be feeding at the site. What I wasn't ready for was the sight that greeted me where the trail cameras had been placed.

Oh my! That oak tree has received some engineering. And that is interesting, it seemed as we wandered about looking for evidence that these beavers are preferentially targeting oak, specifically mature oaks that have been here since this was peat cutting territory. An ecological conundrum then. These oak are hugely valuable to the diversity of species found here, however if the beaver fell them, great for the beavers less great for the other species. It's a minor point but one I found fascinating. As was the amount of engineering which had gone on in a short time, maybe a week to 10 days?

I put my binoculars at one tree just to show the scale, and height, of this activity. On their hind legs beavers can reach almost a meter high, they are after all the second largest rodent on the planet. But it is only when you see this in reality that you realise what they can do, and how extensive the gnawing is. Ultimately this engineering is very beneficial to a habitat. Very few mature trees are clear felled. Many fall with a living hinge to re-grow horizontally as it were, the trunk providing new and different habitats for many species. Mice and mustelids such as stoats and weasels love these aquatic bridges for example, allowing safe and dry crossing across water. Birds like owls or sparrowhawks perch here and plan their next strike, likewise kingfisher using these as a perfect perch to drop into the water below. Increased shadow and cover provided by the felled trees brings with it safe refuge for fish and other aquatic species, which then brings in otter who both feed and rest up in these shady areas. All in all having beavers in a habitat is good.

The three of us spent a lot of time discussion where these beavers have come from. Quickly dismissed was a legal introduction, they happen elsewhere under strict licence, and definitely not here. An illegal re-introduction? That is a possibility but this was also discounted as where they are is not easy to get to by vehicle and would someone carry beavers over a large distance. What seems more likely is a natural expansion, and arrival. I was informed that a few miles away is a fishing lake and for a year or so there has been evidence of beaver living there. But being a private business there's not been a lot of information about their activity. Potentially however they could be the source of these animals. The same individuals or possibly young moving territories. The jury is out. What seems almost certain is the arrival of beaver here is a natural process of territorial expansion rather than human-assisted.

I spent around an hour at the site with Phil and Lucy. The more we looked for evidence the more we found. I particularly like the image below showing the effect of the two huge gnawing teeth beavers have, somehow shows the power of these animals. What we did not find was any evidence of lodges or dams, and that's not to be unexpected. If these are new arrivals, as they are it will take a while for their exploration activity to become structured into holding territories and sustained habitat. There was one loose structure that looked interesting, I'll keep an eye on that.

And that's where we left it, a discussion as to whether I'd be interested in both keeping an eye on this site and looking elsewhere for evidence under Natural England supervision. I've said yes, but at the moment I've not had time to go back there. It is all however very exciting.

A few hours later while once I was back home I received an email from Phil. He'd gone through the Trail-Cam footage and there without a shadow of a doubt a beaver gnawing the very same oak tree in the image above on December 30th. That said, the Trail-Cam only confirms what was plainly evident on the ground, the beavers are back here on the Somerset Levels after hundreds of years.