Nature Notes: January 2015

What is the difference between a weasel and a stoat?

A weasel is 'weasely' identified but a stoat is 'staoatly' different.

I found a rather large but unfortunately dead stoat (Mustela erminea) on the old Bilbrough road which had no signs of injury. I watched another hunt in the garden. It would disappear down summer rodent burrows that were hidden by the falling leaves and then pop up in a different place.

However, once I looked at some photographs that I took I could see that it had no dark tip to the tail and was therefore a weasel (Mustela nivalis).

On the subject of carnivores I saw a fox twice in the same field on two different days. Although he was quite a distance off he wasn't taking any chances and took of at quite a rate.

A very distant fox puts a bit more distance between him and me

Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) can still be spotted in the fields and on the 17^th I saw five.

Birds

I found a dead barn owl (Tyto alba) on the road near the Street Cottages bus stop. It had a ring on a leg which I took to report to the BTO.

We are attracting some long tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus) which love to peck at the suet.

I also saw a grey wagtail (Motacilla cinereaon) the roof but he hopped off before I could get my camera.

Here is what the RSPB have to say about the grey wagtail;

The grey wagtail is more colourful than its name suggests with slate grey upper parts and distinctive lemon yellow under-tail. Its tail is noticeably longer than those of pied and yellow wagtails. They have gradually increased their range in the past 150 years and in the UK have expanded into the English lowlands from the northern and western uplands. They are badly affected by harsh winters, and because of recent moderate declines it is an Amber List species.¹

Another rare sight was a red kite (Milvus milvus) flying over the fields of Bilbrough on January 1^st at 11:10. The Kite is described by the RSPB as;

This magnificently graceful bird of prey is unmistakable with its reddish-brown body, angled wings and deeply forked tail. It was saved from national extinction by one of the world's longest running protection programmes, and has now been successfully re-introduced to England and Scotland. It is an Amber List species because of its historical decline.²

Other sightings

The first snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) were seen in the garden on the 11^th and green shoots could be seen poking up through the leaf litter of B woods.

1 http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/g/greywagtail/index.aspx

2 http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/r/redkite/index.aspx

Nature Notes: December 2014

Birds

A normal December day started with the blackbirds (Turdus merula) arriving in the half light of morning. The alarm call of the blackbird always heralds the first light as they stake their individual claims to the feeders. They expend a lot of energy sorting out the pecking order and local disputes. There is one female who seems to be the boss or perhaps she is just the most aggressive. I suppose females compete for resources and males compete for mates.

By 08:00 the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), robin (Erithacus rubecula) and tits are beginning to arrive. The next on the feeders are the gang of sparrows, who together with the tits pick their favourite seed and then scatter any they reject.

Under the table is the spent dried mass of fallen leaves and decayed flower stalks; it is here that we find the hedge sparrow or dunnock (Prunella modularis) picking up the fallen seed. 

He is not alone in this occupation as up to ten chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) can be found flitting between the seed of the table and the ground.

The time is now 08:30 and the first woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) arrives. Suet is usually their favourite food and their first port of call. However, they are rather fond of peanuts as well. The one thing that makes peanuts more attractive is the fact that a second woodpecker has arrived and is tucking into them. This usually always ends with a chase.

On a cold frosty morning when the birdbath is frozen solid and the daylight lasts for a little more than six hours the birds race to get as many calories inside themselves before night falls again. They jostle for position, they flap their wings, they peck each other, they fight territorial squabbles and then they are startled from their occupation to flee to the safety of a nearby bush.

Then little by little the bravest return and the feeding starts again.

Other bird sights for December were:

A mixed flock of thrushes, redwings and fieldfares eating the holly berries and fallen crab apples on the Roman Road.

Ten blackbirds eating the remains of the fallen apples in the garden.

One starling (Sturnus vulgaris) came to feed at the table but didn't stay long. I wonder if he had been part of the murmuration I saw last month?

Two buzzards (Buteo buteo) still flying about B woods area.

Ten collared doves (Streptopelia decaocto) were seen in the garden on the 20^th. This is really exceptional as we usually only have two or three at the most.

Three long tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus) in Junk Woods

A cock pheasant comes into the garden every day to search for seed under the bird table.

Mammals

Two groups of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are often seen in the fields near the house. There is what looks like a larger individual and a smaller companion. There is also another group of three.

One evening after Christmas I was walking on Yellowcraig beach at dusk when I spotted a dead porpoise on the beach. The head and tail were intact but the blubber had been removed from the rest of the body. This gave it the appearance of an anatomical model. Close by was a flock of crows silhouetted by the moonlight as they waited by the tide line.

The next morning I walked the same stretch of beach and all that was left of the porpoise was the backbone and the upper jaw. I suppose such a good meal doesn’t turn up everyday.

July 2014 Nature Notes

Birds

A month when most of the birds have deserted the garden to pursue their interests in unknown places. The grain harvest started on the 14th and the oil seed rape on the 17th, which means there is spilled grain and wide open spaces for the birds to investigate.
However, some birds have remained in the garden; mainly members of the tit family.

Juvenile blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus).

On the 7th seven young starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were seen on the bird table. They barge and jostle each other like young boys waiting in line for school lunch. By the 21st I saw 15 of them at one time in the feeder area.

Other juveniles that have been spotted were three young robins (Erithacus rubecula) on the bird table on the 5th.

 The same evening I saw four blackbirds (Turdus merula) chasing a barn owl (Tyto alba) down the farm road.

We also have a large flock of sparrows which can number up to 50 at a time. They love to bathe in the dust of the farm track on dry days and can be heard squabbling among themselves in the clump of conifers as they settle down for the evening.

I don't often see the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) coming into the garden but I spotted this one hunting around the gate.

Mammals

On the evening of the 1st at 21:00 I saw two roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns and their mother at the end of the farm road near Junk woods. I also saw four hares at the same place and time. Hares (Lepus europaeus) became a rarer sighting once the fields were harvested. However I did see a group of hares chasing each other and standing up on their back legs in what appeared to be an almost 'pronging' movement.

Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are still visiting the garden and a rabbit proof fence had to be installed around part of the veg plot to keep them out. Rabbit scrapes are proving more of a nuisance than what they are nibbling.
Mice can be seen scuttling about and one mouse used the tall dahlia stems as a ladder to the bird table so that he could eat the spilt seed.

Insects

I caught this couple in the field margin near B woods.

Soldier beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)

A common beetle found throughout the UK between March to October and feed on small soft-bodied insects.

 It's quite rare to see them singly. More often they are seen as mating pairs, earning them the nickname of 'bonking beetles'.Ref: 1

Their brown, maggot-like larvae live in soil and leaf litter.

These wasps decided that a bird box would make a great place to build a nest.

Fungi

Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus)? growing on dead beech tree (Fagus).

Nature Notes: February 2014

February

The month started with a slight frost leading to a sunny day. It was the first day I saw a GSW male take nibbles from the bird table or a robin feed from the seed feeder.

The female GSW is not as regular a visitor as she was but still makes an appearance on the peanuts. The two males have been seen arriving at the same time and chasing each other off.

A pair of starlings have started visiting the feeders but don't stay for long. This is also the case with a male yellow hammer which sat by the water bath on the 28^th for about ten seconds and then flew off. We also had our first visit of two long tailed tits on the 19^th. Unfortunately i didn't get any photographs but here are some other tits.

Blue tit

Coal tit

On the 23^rd I counted ten goldfinches feeding at the same time; the norm was usually about five or six.

A house sparrow was seen guarding the garage nest box and once away a starling entered the box and left again.

The bird count for this month showed that the finches were the most numerous with the goldfinch and chaffinch taking the top two spots.

There was a big decline in the number of sparrows.

The seed feeders were the most popular.

Mammals

The only sightings this month were three deer on a local walk and the long haired Siamese (LHS) cat. He was sighted in the garden for the first time at 08:00 on the 6^th.

A very distant deer

Other sightings

I uncovered two frogs that were living under a dense mat of damp dead Geranium leaves when I was raking about. I put the leaves back on them and hoped I hadn't disturbed them too much.

Average temperature 6°C

Total rainfall 66mm