Nature Notes December 2023
Date Published: 04-01-2024
Wet and windy weather with mild temperatures making it a quiet month on site.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, CarrionCrows, Hooded Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Heron, Sparrowhawk, Tawny Owls, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Grey Wagtail, Stonechats, Siskins, Redwings, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Goldcrest, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches,Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Fox, Roe Deer, Hedgehogs, Wood Mice.
Plants (in flower/berry): Holly, Ivy, Common Gorse, Cotoneaster.
Insects: Midges
Redwings were spotted feeding on Holly berries.
Due to the mild temperatures, Midges were massing above water in ponds, ditches and streams. Hedgehogs were spotted throughout the month choosing not to hibernate, probably for the same reason.
NATURE FACT
Redwings arrive when the weather is inhospitable in the north of the country where they normally overwinter. They are nomadic in habit and travel throughout Britain, looking for food. Their diet is varied and includes snails, earthworks, slugs and insects, then progressively more berries and fallen fruit in winter. Hawthorn, Holly, and Rowan berries are the native species eaten. They move freely with other Thrushes and are most often found in the company of Fieldfares, another migrant from Scandinavia. On mild days in late winter and early spring, flocks of Redwing indulge in an attractive twittering subsong.
SITE MANAGEMENT
The monthly work party continued the clearance of scrub from the eastern enclosure bordering the boardwalk.
