Village Lives – Chapter 5 – Natural History

BIRDS AROUND BROADHEMPSTON

Peewits? Yes, dozens of them. Have you ever seen so many around the village? Some folk call them Green Plovers, some Black Plovers and some even Pyewipes. There were 47 on the ground with Gulls, in the first field, over the brook going up toward Beeston the other day and over 60, again with gulls, on Brooklyn Bow Mill Farm on 11 January. Although it’s plumage looks black, it is in fact a dark green, with a touch of purple.

A bigger surprise was in store the next day with the appearance of 40 or more Skylarks on a rather sad looking potato field on the Denbury road. It seemed as though all the larks for miles around had got together for a discussion or an outing, but seconds later they were airborne and making for the village. A similar number were seen around Waterford Cross last Friday, both morning and afternoon.

Not so many Redwings nor Fieldfares are around at the moment. Having stripped most of the Holly Trees of berries before Christmas, they seem to have moved elsewhere, just a few roosting in the yews of the Churchyard and the odd two or three with Starlings between Waterford Cross, Forder Green and Woodland. Fewer Yellow Hammers than last year, perhaps, but Wrens must have enjoyed a wonderful breeding season last year. They seem to be in every garden and hedgerow in Broadhempston.

Of course, it is not long now before 14th February, St. Valentines Day (the birds Wedding Day) and already the Song Thrushes and Blackbirds are tuning up and even the Great Tit (bicycle pump bird to some) is trying out his distinctive call. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker has been busily ‘drumming’ for several weeks, high up from those very tall trees at Sneydhurst, and as I write on this mild 20 January, a Dunnock is attempting his first notes of the season. Better known perhaps, as a Hedge Sparrow, but so different in habit and manners from the ordinary Sparrow, this charming, rather shy little bird, known in some parts as a Shufflewing, spends most of it’s time on the ground and is easily distinguishable from other Sparrows by it’s almost apologetic, hesitant, jerky sort of movement, whether walking or hopping on the lawn or across the flowerbeds.

E. W. C., February 1977

SOLAR HEATING

Mr. Leakey is, we believe, the first in the village, to have solar heating installed. There are solar panels on either side of the roof at Applegarth, and when the sun shines the water gets very hot indeed. The cost in this case was around 2,000 pounds, and normal fuel saving is about 80% in the summer and 15% in winter.

Editor, September 1980

WOODLAND STORM

June started off with a terrible thunder storm. It did not last long but it did a lot of damage to Levaton. It split the chimney and went right through to a bedroom. The electric wires and plugs were blown off the wall. At Levaton Farm it melted a telephone. The lightning hit electrics at the kennels and knocked a telephone off the wall. It also put other phones in the area out of action. The poor old dog at Pulsford was knocked against a wall by the force of it. It must have been very frightening to be near it.

Anon, July 1989

RAINFALL JANUARY

January rainfall of 9 inch is not exceptional, but since 1978 we have not had a combined December – January rainfall of over 20 inches until this year. Of course it has not been just the rainfall but the wind that has made this year exceptional, with the fierce storm of 25th and continuing gales since then.

Is this the Greenhouse Effect? “Nonsense” say some. Yet the past decade has been the warmest since records were kept, and the sea has warmed up; strange things have been happening to the weather with exceptional droughts and excessive rainfall, not just here but all over the world; plancton not being where they should be because of the warming of the sea, and so depriving fish, seabirds and humans of their normal food supply. Small signs like the overwintering of birds, such as Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs that normally migrate.

But why such gales and rain? Warmer seas, greater evaporation, more cloud, more rain; with uneven warming, winds rushing from warmer to colder regions. Some say the Greenhouse Effect is with us now and that we cannot stop it; all I can say that by the middle of next century Venice, Bangladesh, the Thames Valley and many other parts of the world could be under water due to expansion of the sea on warming. Would the sea be lapping at Totnes and Newton Abbot?

Perhaps we have been pushing Mother Earth around for too long and she is saying, “Enough is enough”, that we do not own her, rather, she owns us, and while she could get on very happily without us, we can’t do without her!

John McElderry, March 1990

COUNTRY COMMENTS

I am sometimes upset by the comments of people who move into our beautiful countryside and then criticise the farming, hunting, shooting and fishing methods of us, the local people. Contrary to what these green conservationists may say, modern methods have not destroyed the wildlife, in fact the reverse is true.

In my 54 years, in the Parishes of Littlehempston and Staverton, we have seen a healthy increase in deer, otters, hares and partridges. What is more exciting is the increase in kingfishers, dippers, barn owls, geese, woodcocks and hawks. However the daily visit to the Dart Valley by a pair of Peregrine Falcons has decimated the Ring-Neck Dove population who are slower than our local Wood Pigeons. Another un-natural explosion is that of the magpie, which is bad news for the hedge birds, whose eggs and young they feed upon. Humane larson traps are available to catch them and thousands have been caught this way. Their cousin, the aggressive jay, seems to remain at the same population.

I am no expert on fauna but the wild flowers, especially in the hedgerows are thriving. The flail hedge trimmer is mainly responsible here for, instead of felling hedges and burning the top growth, flails mulch the year’s growth and return it to the hedge. My one concern is that (except for road safety) there should be a ban on hedgecutting between February and July to protect nesting birds.

Foxes and badgers are a problem. Their increase has exceeded their natural food supply and many die of mange and starvation. However that is nature’s way of balance. The mink, once at epidemic proportions, seem to have disappeared as fast as they arrived from North America. I caught 103 at Littlehempston Bridge in 1970s. I also lost 120 duck in the same period. The rabbit population rises and falls with nature’s food supply and myxamatosis; buzzards and foxes are also a hazzard for baby rabbits. The non-indigenous pheasants add a splash of colour to the countryside but they would die out within three years if shooting them were to be banned. Very nearly all of them are raised in captivity and released for shooting.

I hope that I have laid to rest some of the fears which people have about the destruction of wildlife. The country farmer, shooter and fisherman are all very concerned about our environment, long may it continue. Keep your eyes and ears open, slow down in the lanes and enjoy your surroundings; it’s a beautiful part of the world.

Peter Davis, June 1997

A MEANDER DOWN THE HEMS

I wonder how familiar readers are with the river Hems which lends it’s name to two of our villages, two hamlets and several properties including an old manor? No prizes for naming them all, but does anyone know where the word ‘hems’ comes from?

It is a geography teacher’s model river system in miniature. Starting off as a clear, fast flowing shallow stream, it broadens it’s girth at Tally Ho bridge where it meets the Ambrook. It then slows and colours Devon red, winding through the orchards above Littlehempston. Here it’s flow is boosted by the sparkling little Gatcombe Brook which heralds from the Berry Pomeroy Castle estate. Below the Parish Church, the Hems changes nature again as it becomes tidal and, after a series of brackish meanders, it finally discharges into the Dart upstream of the sewage treatment works.

Unfortunately, there is little public access to the river and it’s pretty valley, although it can be admired by train or from the road from Hemsford to Littlehempston, and there is a stretch of public footpath below the Church. But it is probably this unspoilt aspect of the valley which makes it home to herons, kingfishers, mallard, buzzards, foxes and otters, all of which I have either seen or found traces of in my piscatorial ramblings.

What drew me to investigate the Hems was the lure of fish! I cannot pass a stretch of water (as my wife will vouch), no matter how small or shallow, without wondering what angling opportunities it may hold, so you can imagine my delight to find when we moved to Hempstone Park that the Hems had real prospects! At least according to our then Australian neighbour (who, I later found, is prone to a little exaggeration – but only a little!).

The Hems holds a healthy stock of wild (as opposed to stocked from a fish farm) Brown Trout – not gargantuan mind you, but real trout nonetheless. Over the last four years I have fished, often with his daughter. We have tried with worms and spinners (very effective but frowned upon by purists) and this season with the fly rod fishing, fishing wet (sunken) and dry (floating) imitation flies. In flood water in March I landed a hungry salmon parr, not much longer than my forefinger (believe it or not, I have it on good authority from the master fisherman Nigel ‘Pheasant’ Gipson that salmon do run the Hems).

In April things improved with a trout of over a foot long, (this is big by River Dart standards). In June, July and August we have the insect fest, as anyone spending any time near a river will know. Not to miss the opportunity of taking advantage of the gung-ho feeding frenzy that can attend the evening rise, I have at last mastered my seven foot brook rod well enough to hook and land a trout on dry fly and on a good evening, maybe even three or more in a session.

All fish have been returned to fight another day, so no worries on that score beginning to wonder whether there are any left. So next time you walk the river or cross a bridge, incline your head and see what may be darting below your feet. Now what I really want to catch is a Hems Sea-Trout but so far these have eluded me, but again my sources tell me they are there…..

Vernon Clarke, September 2002

THE ORIGIN OF HEMS

In last month’s Parish News, Vernon Clarke asked if anyone knew where the word “Hems” came from. Fortunately, I have the answer, thanks to the reliable research of a previous vicar, Rev. H.R. Evans.

It is all down to a West Saxon called Haemma, who moved into this area round about 9th century AD. The Welsh had previously been top dogs in the South West and their last bastion near here was Denbury Down. In 710 the Welsh king, Geraint, was defeated and slain in battle with Ine, the Saxon king, somewhere between the Teign and Denbury, and the Saxons pushed as far west as Totnes. Geraint’s army retreated towards his capital at Callington. For decades after that there were skirmishes between the Saxons and pockets of the remaining Welsh, who tended to settle on the uplands and around Dartmouth. Later on, in 815, King Ecgbert defeated the Cornish near Lew Trenchard and the South West became a relatively peaceful place.

So it was probably some time after 815 that Haemma packed his bags and came down here. It isn’t known what part of Wessex he came from, but he would have had to get permission from the King to move, as Wessex was becoming depopulated. Every man was needed. Nevertheless it was also necessary to colonise the new territories and to prevent any further incursion from the scattered Welsh. Each colonist was allowed to take only his key workers with him – his reeve, his smith and his children’s nurse. Two other Saxons arrived about the same time, Bicca and Bagga, and they set up independent farms whose names, Bicaton and Beeston, still reflect their originators. However it was Haemma who was the dominating personality. He must have settled roughly where Broadhempston Church is now, where the land sloped gently down towards the river. Borough Farm (now being turned into houses) was established in his day. The river became known as Haemma’s Ea (and before you ask, ‘Ea’ meant river – add a ‘u’ and it is french for water.

By the time of the Norman conquest, the settlement had become well established and was known as Hemeston (‘ton’ meaning farm). The ‘Broad’ bit came later still and had nothing to do with the width of the valley. In 1166, the Red Book of the Exchequer tells us that the Mano of Hemeston was held by one Bosco Rahardi, whose name was changed fortunately to Ralf de Borehard. Borehard was tacked onto Hemeston as a prefix and of course, in time became Broadhempston. As to the origins of Littlehempston and Uphempston, you can draw your own conclusions.

Moira Mellor, October 2002

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD, 1930

After my sister and I attended Sunday School in the Village Institute, my father Sam Germon would take us for a long walk around the hamlets of Beaston, Bickington and Dansford and usually it was a nature walk. Dad would point out to us girls wildlife, especially wild flowers, one of his specialities. Sam knew the names of all wild flowers and various plants. He taught us what species were poisonous, like the Foxglove, Bluebells, Laburnum seeds and Monkshood. Monkshood grew in abundance in my childhood, by streams and brooks of running water. I vividly remember our Broadhempston Flower Shows; it was a joy to gather flowers to exhibit in the event, arranged in 2lb. jam jars. Not all wild flowers were allowed in the collection or class, like Honeysuckle, Oxeye Daisy and various Shaky Grass. Sam was a great gardener exhibiting vegetables, Sweet Peas, Carnations and soft fruit at the flower show. He could recognise different bird song, really he was just a true naturalist.

One thing of the past that does not occur, because the little gem, the Primrose, is now a protected species. In 1930 there was a market for picking Primroses in the month of March to 19 April which is Primrose Day. The same goes for the Fair Maids of February, the Snowdrops. We used to pick a bunch, pack and and send to Smithfield Market in London, by rail from Staverton Station to Paddington. We used to get 4 1/2d or 5d a bunch. People in 1930 were very poor, it was a way of life to earn some money in Devon.

I must thank my father for giving me both knowledge of the simple life and a character of strong belief. My Dad lived in Broadhempston for 60 years.

Written by his daughter, Mrs. Hazel Evans nee Germon (aged 87 years), May 2008

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