On Sunday I led a conservation volunteer group at the
private nature reserve we’ve been maintaining for a year now. Yorkshire
Wildlife Trust were asked to carry out some heathland maintenance and as it’s
near to the Allerthorpe Common reserve, our volunteer group got the job. The heathland
looked fantastic with a covering of frost. Our task for the day was to remove
the birch seedlings and brambles growing around one of the ponds and pollard the
willows, allowing them to produce bushy growth which will suit the birds.
The reserve on a frosty morning
Frosted grasses
Heathland restoration in progress
Pollarded willows around the pond
It
snowed here on Sunday evening, so I went down to Badger Wood on Monday morning,
to see if the badgers had been out. They are supposed to be less active in cold weather,
but not this lot. They’d had a busy night, with
tracks everywhere and well compacted, muddy snow around some of the sett
entrances. I’ve noticed before that latrines appear within the area of the sett
during the winter. For most of the year, their latrines mark the perimeter of
their territory, but in severe weather some of the badgers just nip out a few
yards from the sett entrance – and who would blame them!
Signs of heavy badger traffic
Badger tracks through the woods
Cold comfort: badger latrine in the snow
Juvenile badgers on a night out, unfazed by the cold
weather
At last, the wind dropped and we had a dry night. I went back up my ladder to watch the badgers, but left a camera on the ground to get some eye-level photos. It's been a while since I used the Wi-Fi on that camera, so I tested it out with my tablet before setting off. I positioned the camera carefully and got to my seat. As I was turning on the tablet, a badger appeared at the hole on my left. Nicola emerged and was soon joined by Nigel. He was in just the right position for a photo, but I had no Wi-Fi connection - very frustrating. Nicola checks the Wi-Fi settings Jeremy joined the cubs and they hoovered up all the peanuts before wandering off through the brambles to the big oak tree. They played on the slippery logs underneath, with Jeremy joining in, then they all had a chase around the centre of the sett, largely obscured from my view by brambles and bracken. The cubs had a final check of the feeding site, to make quite sure there were no peanuts left, and the clan we...
Today I’ve been to Fulford Ings, to collect seed from tansy plants to sow next spring. Each plant produces dozens of flower heads and each flower contains hundreds of seeds, so the small amount I’ve collected will have no effect on the natural spread of the plants. I’ll aim to produce another 1000 tansy plants next year. Dead flower heads now contain ripe seed The seed will be left to dry out in my kitchen The new generation of tansy beetles that emerged from pupae in the summer have now gone underground for the winter – except for one, which was still wandering around! The last tansy beetle still active I was concerned that the tansy we planted in August was being nibbled by rabbits (see Helping Barn Owls and Tansy Beetles ). Today I saw that new growth has appeared at the base of the plants, which the rabbits haven’t touched, so I think they will be OK in the spring. The wild flower meadow is now being grazed by sheep. They eat tansy plants...
The two most common birds on the island of Dhigurah are the Asian koel and the Maldivian house crow. The koel, being a type of cuckoo, is a brood parasite and the crow is its host - the koel lays its eggs in the crow's nest. The koel is a protected species in the Maldives, whereas the house crow is regarded as a pest. Both are noisy birds. The koel is more often heard than seen, as they tend to perch in the densest vegetation and betray their presence only by their extremely loud calls. The house crow is a bolder bird. It will call loudly at passing humans, apparently in defence of its territory. Call of the Asian koel Call of the Maldivian house crow The Oriental garden lizard is often seen around the village. They are large lizards, up to 37cm in length, including a very long tail. They can move each of their eyes in different directions, like chameleons, and change colour to match their surroundings. During the breeding season, the male's head and shoulders turn ...
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