December Nature Notes

January Nature Notes
 

February Nature Notes

March Nature Notes

February Nature Notes

BIRDS

Saint Valentine's day falls in mid-February and was thought to be the day when birds chose their mates. Many birds begin to sing much earlier. Male chaffinches sing now to claim a territory. Their chests are a rich pink and their caps a strong blue. The song, which begins slowly, increases in speed and ends in a final flourish, will need practice before it is perfected. Later in the month rehearsal will have paid off and they will be note perfect.

Mistle thrushes, largish birds with buff, strongly speckled chests, may be paired now. You can see them on school playing fields or open spaces hunting for worms. They may be far apart but if one gives an alarm call and flies, its mate will immediately follow.

Blackbirds are beginning to sing and wrens, generally silent during the winter, start to call for a mate. They have an incredibly strong song for such a small bird.
Goldfinches have started to frequent garden feeders in recent years now that people are filling specially-designed feeders with niger seed. In the wild they eat thistle and burdock seeds. Most of these have now fallen and the goldfinches may be seen flitting down to the ground, gold-barred wings flashing, and then darting away to eat the seed at a safe distance, twittering as they go.

Starlings are changing their plumage, becoming sleek and glossy and loosing their white winter speckles. Their beaks are becoming yellower and males are singing to defend good nesting sites. Many of our winter starlings come from the Continent and will be flying homeward to breed in a few weeks' time.

PLANTS

The hazel catkins out now are the male flowers of the plant. Close examination will reveal the tiny red filaments of the female flowers appearing from buds along the branches. Wind will blow pollen from the yellow catkins to fertilise these flowers.
The cherry-plum will be showing its small, vivid green leaves now and the small white flowers will soon follow. They are often mistaken for blackthorn blossom, but blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves - usually later, in March - and flower on more prickly twigs.
Cuckoo pint leaves are emerging from the ground. They are shiny and shaped like a giant arrowhead, and may have dark blotches. Beware of young nettles which are showing now - they may be small but they can still sting!

The catkins of sallow bushes are silver and furry on the branches now. These are the 'pussy willow' twigs which are carried into church on the Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday).

FLOWERS

There are still remnants of last summer's flowers. Teasels stand erect and prickly, though the seeds have long since been shed. Spikes of rosebay willow herb have matted, white clumps of once-fluffy seed heads still clinging on. The flowers of hogweed have died, but the umbrella-like dried spokes of the flower heads linger on and in some places red dead-nettles survive in sheltered spots.

April Nature Notes

Wildlife Interpretation Board
Progress on our new Wildlife Interpretation Board

Fungal Foray Wednesday 22 October 2008