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Nature Notes by Ian Bennett
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March: Love is In The Air…
I know that received wisdom states that the pace of the year quickens in the spring as the sap rises, the first spring bulbs raise their timid heads above the leaf litter of autumn that still bedecks the bare treed woodland, but… we birdwatchers should be forgiven for perhaps giving too much regret to the advance of the year. The British Isles probably have more migrants present in the winter than we do in the summer, and most of those are a lot easier to see, firstly because they are birds of open farmland, fields and estuaries, secondly because winter migrants are invariably much larger than our summer visitors and finally because even when they do try and had in trees, the distinct lack of foliage is a great help when you are trying to spot something smaller than your thumb against a bright sky at the top of a tree! Migration was never a mystery to our forebears (even Goldilocks on had three!); it was common knowledge that swallows and swifts spent the winter at the bottom of our ponds, lakes and meres and (this one I have never understood) Barnacle geese somehow sheltered from the worst excesses of our winter by hibernating in barnacles! Nope! I still don’t get it!
 All those spring bulbs must resent the darkening of their native woodland floors as our deciduous forests burst forth into leaf; that is why they flower so early, they are trying for the best show they can achieve whilst they still have access to sunlight. If they left it too late then the trees would beat them to it and there would not be enough sunlight to illuminate a snowdrop, let alone those laggardly blue bells who leave it till the very last minute to strut their stuff! Don’t get me wrong, I love the sight of spring bulbs, violets and all those other harbingers of the coming summer. Down by St Just Creek the trees are covered in catkins and we saw some pussy willow down at Porthcurnick beach just before the end of February. Where we used to live up in Macclesfield (a lot further further north and at about 800 ft a lot higher) pussy willow was almost unknown before mid-April.
Another, sad harbinger of spring is road kill, badgers are moving groggily off to their summer sets (no, they aren’t all heading north for a holiday in Weston-super-mare!) on trails they have used for centuries and which sadly cross too many roads, sometimes with lethal consequences. I found myself wondering what a fatal impact  with something as compact and muscular as a badger must do to a car. To be honest - I hope it’s very expensive! We were coming back from Philliegh the other night (yes, of course we had been to the pup why else would you go to Philliegh on a February night?) when we came across a badger trapped between us and two high Cornish hedges. We came to a halt, but the headlights were still putting him (Her? I guess they know, but then they need to know how to sex a badger a lot more than I do!). The animal wasn’t exactly panicked and went about looking for a way out. This involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, but eventually he walked up the road away from us and disappeared into a small copse by the roadside. We were able to watch this handsome beauty for quite a few minutes and felt so privileged to be able to see him on his way. I think there is space for us all, don’t you?
We were down on the beach between Pendower and Rosevine at the end of February. Saturday morning and the sun was shining through a little cumulus – fair-weather clouds if ever there were, but with one or two cirrus telegraphing the arrival of stronger winds from the continent. Down from the heavens drifted the clear  squeal of a buzzard soaring high in the cerulean heavens. No, not one but five buzzards, several of them strutting their stuff and trying desperately to impress the ladies in their number. They stooped and soared, pirouetted and turned on their wing tips in such effortless style and grace. Slowly the thermal they were riding took them along the beach towards Pendower, but they were so high I am sure they could just as easily have drifted north to Ruan Lanihorne and off the peninsular into the Tregothnan woods. The scale of their world is so different to our own, and they ruled the skies, high, high above the petty attentions of crows, rooks and all those lesser birdies that make their lives so mundane at lower levels.
Anyway, spring and summer – bring it on, leaves and all! I hope you get to enjoy the quickening pace of our countryside - be a devil! Go for a walk!
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Ferbruary: Even though I had to be out and about in the car, with one trip up country, I still thought January’s snow was so beautiful. For just a few days, everything is swept clean, covered by a delicate layer of natures Tippex. Imperfections are brushed away, leaving a dazzling, twinkling blanket of freshness. This blanket of white lends a new dimension to how we observe our wildlife. There was a brand new, snowy white page laid over the fields and beaches that allowed us to see what had been out and about when we were tucked up warmly at home.
Along the ridge between St Just and St Mawes we were amazed at the wealth of animal tracks. Rabbits had explored beyond their normal domains just under and  around the bramble patches in huge numbers (or maybe there was just a few hyper active bunnies under there!). Hares had been lolloping across the fields, far more determined in their tracks, clearly on a mission, with only an occasional flurry of investigation through the snow. Also highly focused were the tracks of at least one fox, which may have been the same one that was foraging on the small plot of land just across the road from us during broad daylight. He may have been taking a leaf out of his urban cousins’ book, and considered that the poor pickings necessitated a more audacious hunting stratagem. We hear them barking regularly during the night, and I reckon there are at least three that live within shouting distance of our house. Down on the beaches the larger treads of Gulls, Ducks and Waders crisscrossed the white-topped sand and stones, webbed feet showing their load spreading abilities as Herring Gulls stalk across the top of snow whilst smaller birds with un-webbed toes make heavier work of it
One morning whilst the sun was still very low we could easily pick out the tiny shadows lying within the tracks of various birds; small birds (LBJ’s to bird watchers and twitchers alike) like Robins, Dunnock and Finches leaving the shelter of the hedges to forage at the margins of the snow left their tiny scratches in the soft snow. Further out the tracks became more substantial; our Thrush population is hugely increased at the moment as is there diversity. Our resident complement of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes have been joined by great swathes of Mistle Thrushes, Field Fares and Redwings. If anyone does spot a ring Ousel, please let me know then we will have the full set! (It’s a fairly rare visitor to northern upland  moors and unique in that, in the thrush family it is a summer visitor)
So, lots of evidence of the wildlife that surrounds us laid bare for us to see, and then slowly it fades back into the fields and leaves the blackened hedgerows to shelter the first signs of spring. Already we have seen early primrose’s regretting their precociousness at being out so early. On one of our favourite walks we saw how one sentinel snowdrop had been joined by hundreds of its compadres, to shy yet glorious effect in a sheltered copse of woodland carpeted by collapsed ferns and ivy.
Many of you will know that the RSPB and National Trust have been working with local farmers to reintroduce Cirl Buntings into the area. I have been reluctant to report on such an important development, primarily because I know so little about it, and, in its early stages I knew that discretion and a low profile would probably do more good than harm. But, there comes a point in any project when you have to gear up and spread the message more widely, so I am delighted that Nick Tomalin, the RSPB’s Project Officer, has agreed to contribute occasional articles on the progress of this important project. I look forward to liaising with him.
 But, why is this an important project? Surely the presence or absence of one fairly nondescript Bunting is, in the overall scheme of things, not of great importance. Well, yes, I think it is important, not least because biodiversity is such an important measure of the health of our environment. Environments with diverse flora and fauna are so much more resilient to disease and pestilence. With more interlinked populations of plants, birds and animals all relying on each other, the whole becomes stronger. Managing our countryside to deliver a rich and varied wildlife means we are actually managing it, nurturing it to be able to sustain ourselves in the long run. Monocultures have had their day and we need to recognise our place within a diverse, strong and balanced environment.
Small wires have little strength on their own, but mix up enough of them and they can hold up bridges!
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January:I am finally writing these notes in January, but as most of the highlights we noticed out an about on the Roseland came late in the month I hope you will bear with me! The common seals have returned to St Anthony’s Head. I guess they first appeared in late October, but by mid December there were at least 8 adults with two immature pups getting in and out of the middle tide.
Frost always brings the birds flocking back to our feeders, maybe someone, somewhere has correlated bird types with temperature but over Christmas a male bullfinch joined our resident blue tits, great tits, coal tits, dunnock, wrens, long tailed tits, chaffinch, goldfinch and blackbirds. We still have a pair of blackcaps that visit the mixed seed feeders and what I think is a straggling garden warbler which should be right down in the south of France or even as far as Spain by now. Maybe it decided the exchange rates meant it couldn’t afford to winter abroad this year! A few weeks ago we were coming back from Bristol and noticed a flock of lapwing swooping over the Somerset levels. I commented that I hadn’t seen lapwings on the Roseland and hey presto! A beautiful flock of maybe 75 lapwings was swooping and wheeling over the field across the road from the house. These are such graceful birds to watch, even when standing out in a field. Another favourite of mine that is currently spending most of its days either skulking on the top of telegraph poles re soaring effortlessly over the creek  slopes is the buzzard – they are everywhere at the moment and must surely have overtaken the kestrel as our most populous raptor, at least locally. I always think buzzards look like they are having a great time, even if they are sitting hunched up against a westerly gale, they look like they are ready to party hard!
We saw our first wild snowdrop between Christmas and New Year, I think it is probably regretting being too previous what with the frosts we have had since. At this time of the year the weather has a fine line to walk between fine clear skies and plummeting night-time temperatures and cloudy overcast skies full of rain. Sunny and cold or mild and wet! I know which one I prefer – you can always rug up against the cold but try keeping the rain out!
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Click here to read Ian's 2009 Nature Notes |
