Nature Notes February 2023
Date Published: 03-03-2023
A very dry month with variable temperatures and some cold frosty nights.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen, heard or in flight): Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Tawny Owls, Sparrowhawk, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Goldcrest, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Female Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Siskins, Coal/Blue, Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Fox, Mole activity.
Plants in Flower: Common Gorse, Cotoneaster.
Fungi: Birch Polypore.
Insects: Buff-tailed Bees.
Butterflies/Moths: Brimstone, Peacock. Red Admiral
The first reported sighting of an early Chiffchaff was seen along the Hazelwood fence border.
Several sightings of a female Blackcap which might have over wintered on site.
Many species were already seen in pairs, visiting the nest boxes, which is very early.
Ferndown Town Council have gifted 4 Amphibian houses, for use on Slop Bog. These have been positioned on site.
NATURE FACT
Most Blackcaps are Summer visitors, arriving in April to breed. The male and female are different in appearance, with the male being grey with a black cap,whereas the female has a red-brown cap.
Recorders: C.Wilcox K.Wilcox
SITE MANAGEMENT
The work party thinned out some of the young Holly understorey that is shading other sapling species within the woodland retention. The intention is to encourage a richer variety of native species to gradually supersede the Pine dominated woodland.
