Monday 22 February 2010
things to look out for in february.
Spring is fast approaching now so lots of animals are becoming more active,plants are starting to push up from their roots to show the first green leaves.Lords and ladies are one of the first plants to appear as we move through February.You can also look for the green leaves of cow parsley and hogweed,Sweet violet and colts foot are to native plants to seduce early hover and drone flies,Look out for both of these along canal towpaths,Road verges and field edges,dogs mercury will start to appear during February as well but be careful with this plant as the whole plant is highly poisonous,it was said to only be fit for dogs and it was supposedly found by the roman god mercury hence the name dogs mercury.Badgers start to breed during February so its quite a good month to watch your local badger sett,The best time to watch badgers is between dusk and dawn.Blue tits and robins will be seen on the feeders a lot now as they start preparing for mating and building their nests.Its important to keep up a good supply of food for your garden birds,they will come to rely on the food on the feeders and fly quite a long way sometimes for the food.Rookeries are also worth watching.There will be lots of flapping to accompany the cacophony.Watch out for the rooks flying in with distinct bulging throats full of food, a sure sign that their chick have hatched high up in the nests,Its also quite common to see jackdaws in the rookeries as well,These birds are smaller than rooks with a lovely grey collar.You should be able to see Blackthorn blossom in all of its splendor during this month,Although because of the cold snap it night start appearing in march.Sloe gin is a must later on in the season of autumn.The first daffodil shoots will be appearing now,Taking over from the glorious snowdrops.The first invertebrates will slowly start to appear as they start to prepare for the busy months ahead,small tortoiseshell's,peacocks and brimstone's butterflies will start to emerge from hibernation,Especially if we get a couple of days of sunshine.Queen bumblebees are now becoming active as well,Bombus terrestris(buff-tailed bumble-bee) is one of the first to be seen as we move towards spring,she makes her colony on a hedgerow bank,The reason they can start flying early is because they can generate metabolic heat by relaxing and contracting their large thoracic flight muscles.They can do this by taking their wings out of gear and disabling the clutch like attachment of the wing.Rather than the flying muscles working in antagonistic pairs, and almost oscillating within the insects body under their own momentum,as they do in flight,they are then filled with nerves to stimulate both pairs at the same time so any motion they might have generated is cancelled out.This warm up occurs internally.A sign that something is going on is a pumping of the abdomen as the blood is circulated and a slight shivering of the bee's chassis.To help keep this heat in,The bumblebee also has thermal insulation in the form of it famously furry coat.Catkins on aspen trees are also starting to appear,when parted from the grey overcoat look out for the beautiful purple stamens.
Good luck aston villa in the carling cup final
Now i know this has nothing to do with the seasons,But as i am a massive Aston Villa supporter and travelling down to wembley next Sunday i would just like to wish Aston Villa all the best and hope that they bring the league cup back to villa park.
Wednesday 17 February 2010
The mustelidae family
Part one the weasel
The weasel is the smallest member of the weasel family,It looks like a long,slim fast moving mouse.The weasel is Britain's smallest carnivore,and a fierce hunter by day or by night.Like all the other members of the weasel family it has a long,sinuous body and comparatively short legs.The weasel has brown fur and a wavy flank line,This then reveals white underparts with small brown patches on its throat,With a brown tail.Unlike the stoat ,its coat does not normally go white in winter,Apart from in northern Europe where the climate is colder.The male is about eight inches long with a two inch tail,The female is slightly smaller.Mice are their main food along with voles,rats,and small birds,They kill their prey by a bite to the back of the neck.Their territory depends on the availability of food,This is normally between ten and twenty acres.Most weasels don't live for more than a year as they are preyed on by cats,foxes,birds of prey along with quite a few killed on our roads.Weasels are found in woods,farms and in large gardens,They are active by day or night.They normally nest in abandoned rabbit or badger burrows,Weasels live alone and they only come together to mate,So its the female that raises her kits.These are born in April or may and normally number about six,They are born blind,They open their eyes after about three weeks,leaves or dry grass is what their nest is normally made from.They may have a second litter in July or august and unlike other British carnivores, the first litter may be capable of breeding in their first summer.The young stay with their mother for about twelve weeks,By which time they are fully grown.
The weasel is the smallest member of the weasel family,It looks like a long,slim fast moving mouse.The weasel is Britain's smallest carnivore,and a fierce hunter by day or by night.Like all the other members of the weasel family it has a long,sinuous body and comparatively short legs.The weasel has brown fur and a wavy flank line,This then reveals white underparts with small brown patches on its throat,With a brown tail.Unlike the stoat ,its coat does not normally go white in winter,Apart from in northern Europe where the climate is colder.The male is about eight inches long with a two inch tail,The female is slightly smaller.Mice are their main food along with voles,rats,and small birds,They kill their prey by a bite to the back of the neck.Their territory depends on the availability of food,This is normally between ten and twenty acres.Most weasels don't live for more than a year as they are preyed on by cats,foxes,birds of prey along with quite a few killed on our roads.Weasels are found in woods,farms and in large gardens,They are active by day or night.They normally nest in abandoned rabbit or badger burrows,Weasels live alone and they only come together to mate,So its the female that raises her kits.These are born in April or may and normally number about six,They are born blind,They open their eyes after about three weeks,leaves or dry grass is what their nest is normally made from.They may have a second litter in July or august and unlike other British carnivores, the first litter may be capable of breeding in their first summer.The young stay with their mother for about twelve weeks,By which time they are fully grown.
Monday 15 February 2010
ways to encourage wildlife into your garden
1,Make a wildlife corner in your garden that includes,daises,clover and nettles.
This will encourage bees,hoverflies and peacock,comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies.
2,Make a log pile in your garden.
This will encourage slugs,woodlice,centipedes and ground beetles.
3,Plant some wild flowers in your garden in spring and summer.
To include forget me nots,sweet rocket,primroses,lady's smock,buddleia,lavender,red valerian,scabious and knapweed.
4,Make a compost heap.
5,Paint natural yogurt on stones in your garden to encourage lichens to grow.
6,Make a stag beetle bucket by putting holes into the bucket,then filling it with wood chips and soil,try and leave it somewhere it wont be disturbed as stag beetles take a long time to mature.
7,Put up a bird or a bat box.
8,Do some bark rubbing as a family and remember to write down the tree's you rubbed.
9,Collect some cow parsley stems(collect them after it has gone through its cycle) and twigs and cut them into ten inch lengths,after this tie them with bio degradable string and place them in a corner of your garden.
This will attract lady birds,lacewings and other insects.
10,Make a bee home with hollow bamboo pipes.
This will attract mason bees that lay their eggs one at a time in the pipe,they then leave a supply of pollen or nectar and a plug of mud between them.
This will encourage bees,hoverflies and peacock,comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies.
2,Make a log pile in your garden.
This will encourage slugs,woodlice,centipedes and ground beetles.
3,Plant some wild flowers in your garden in spring and summer.
To include forget me nots,sweet rocket,primroses,lady's smock,buddleia,lavender,red valerian,scabious and knapweed.
4,Make a compost heap.
5,Paint natural yogurt on stones in your garden to encourage lichens to grow.
6,Make a stag beetle bucket by putting holes into the bucket,then filling it with wood chips and soil,try and leave it somewhere it wont be disturbed as stag beetles take a long time to mature.
7,Put up a bird or a bat box.
8,Do some bark rubbing as a family and remember to write down the tree's you rubbed.
9,Collect some cow parsley stems(collect them after it has gone through its cycle) and twigs and cut them into ten inch lengths,after this tie them with bio degradable string and place them in a corner of your garden.
This will attract lady birds,lacewings and other insects.
10,Make a bee home with hollow bamboo pipes.
This will attract mason bees that lay their eggs one at a time in the pipe,they then leave a supply of pollen or nectar and a plug of mud between them.
Monday 8 February 2010
The canidae family(foxes).
Part one the fox.
Foxes are mainly active at dawn and dusk and By now foxes have just about finished mating.During the mating season the dog fox and the vixen are normally seen together,They hunt and travel together for about three weeks.The gestation period for the vixen is about 53 days.You may hear foxes barking during the mating season.Their cubs are born in march or April,They are born in the den on the bare soil as the vixen makes no nest.The litter may contain between three and five cubs.After the vixen has given birth she spends the majority of the time in her den,The male fox will make frequent trips to and from the den,making provisions for his mate,this continues with solid food for the cubs when they are between four and eight weeks old.The cubs open their eyes when they are between ten and fourteen days old,And after about six weeks they leave the den for the first time.The cubs are born blind and have a dark chocolate brown fur,This changes to their familiar red coat after about eight weeks.Foxes are carnivores and great scavengers, they will eat almost anything from voles to rabbits and carcasses,Their prey is usually detected by sound,The dog fox will leap on the spot the sound came from,Pinning the prey with his forepaws. During summer and early autumn they may eat beetles and berries,They are really resourceful animals,and they manage to thrive in all sorts of places from our towns and cities to the countryside.The territory of the dog fox overlaps the vixens.Even though most of the time you see Fox's on their own,They actually live in family groups,Made up of a dominant dog fox,a breeding vixen,her cubs and maybe a couple of non breeding vixens ,Who may help to bring up the cubs.Foxes may meet up during the night to play or for mutual grooming.Alert and wary,Foxes have acute hearing,a keen sense of smell and their eyes are quick to detect movement,But they may struggle if their prey stays stationary.As foxes are extremely adaptable they are doing really well in our towns and cities,They are less likely to be as wary of humans in our towns as they would be if seen in the country.A fox will look its best between October and February,During may they will start to moult from their winter coat .They have amber eyes and a big bushy tail,Its coat may vary from yellow brown to their distinctive red coat,They have a silvery rump, their lower legs and the backs of their ears are black with a white tip at the end of their tail.The dog fox stands about 16 inches tall, their head and body is about 26 inches long.Vixens have been seen with dog Fox's around her,but equally if numbers are high the dominant male will leave his vixen,his territory and go in search of other vixens to mate with,But he may also mate with other vixens from his family group.Half of the DNA of an individual fox comes from his father,The other half comes from his mother.Subordinate males may mate with other vixens from other groups,but not with the dominant vixen from their own family group,Towards the end of the year young male cubs will have to find their own territory,The dominant dog fox may drive them away from the group. When populations of foxes were lesser because of sarcoptic mange(also known as scabies) which is a skin disease caused by an infection by the sarcoptes scabei mite,Which killed a lot of foxes,dominant male foxes and dominant vixens became monogamous,meaning they paired up together and stayed together for life,Consequently there were fewer subordinate males so less competition so they became less promiscuous.But when the population of foxes grows again the dominant male becomes polygamous,This is when a dominant male will pair with two or more vixens,This can be with vixens in their own social group or with vixens from neighbouring groups.
Foxes are mainly active at dawn and dusk and By now foxes have just about finished mating.During the mating season the dog fox and the vixen are normally seen together,They hunt and travel together for about three weeks.The gestation period for the vixen is about 53 days.You may hear foxes barking during the mating season.Their cubs are born in march or April,They are born in the den on the bare soil as the vixen makes no nest.The litter may contain between three and five cubs.After the vixen has given birth she spends the majority of the time in her den,The male fox will make frequent trips to and from the den,making provisions for his mate,this continues with solid food for the cubs when they are between four and eight weeks old.The cubs open their eyes when they are between ten and fourteen days old,And after about six weeks they leave the den for the first time.The cubs are born blind and have a dark chocolate brown fur,This changes to their familiar red coat after about eight weeks.Foxes are carnivores and great scavengers, they will eat almost anything from voles to rabbits and carcasses,Their prey is usually detected by sound,The dog fox will leap on the spot the sound came from,Pinning the prey with his forepaws. During summer and early autumn they may eat beetles and berries,They are really resourceful animals,and they manage to thrive in all sorts of places from our towns and cities to the countryside.The territory of the dog fox overlaps the vixens.Even though most of the time you see Fox's on their own,They actually live in family groups,Made up of a dominant dog fox,a breeding vixen,her cubs and maybe a couple of non breeding vixens ,Who may help to bring up the cubs.Foxes may meet up during the night to play or for mutual grooming.Alert and wary,Foxes have acute hearing,a keen sense of smell and their eyes are quick to detect movement,But they may struggle if their prey stays stationary.As foxes are extremely adaptable they are doing really well in our towns and cities,They are less likely to be as wary of humans in our towns as they would be if seen in the country.A fox will look its best between October and February,During may they will start to moult from their winter coat .They have amber eyes and a big bushy tail,Its coat may vary from yellow brown to their distinctive red coat,They have a silvery rump, their lower legs and the backs of their ears are black with a white tip at the end of their tail.The dog fox stands about 16 inches tall, their head and body is about 26 inches long.Vixens have been seen with dog Fox's around her,but equally if numbers are high the dominant male will leave his vixen,his territory and go in search of other vixens to mate with,But he may also mate with other vixens from his family group.Half of the DNA of an individual fox comes from his father,The other half comes from his mother.Subordinate males may mate with other vixens from other groups,but not with the dominant vixen from their own family group,Towards the end of the year young male cubs will have to find their own territory,The dominant dog fox may drive them away from the group. When populations of foxes were lesser because of sarcoptic mange(also known as scabies) which is a skin disease caused by an infection by the sarcoptes scabei mite,Which killed a lot of foxes,dominant male foxes and dominant vixens became monogamous,meaning they paired up together and stayed together for life,Consequently there were fewer subordinate males so less competition so they became less promiscuous.But when the population of foxes grows again the dominant male becomes polygamous,This is when a dominant male will pair with two or more vixens,This can be with vixens in their own social group or with vixens from neighbouring groups.
Monday 1 February 2010
The tytonidae and the strigidae(owls) family.
Part one tawny and barn owls.
These two birds are fundamental to the British countryside,There's nothing more magical than seeing a barn owl hunting at early evening over a meadow on a summers night as the sun starts to set.Barn owls prey mainly on voles,rats and mice and this is what is fed to the chicks.A barn owls clutch varies from three to eleven eggs,depending on the food that's available.The male will feed the female during the 32 day incubation.But if food runs short due to supply or bad weather the eldest chicks will eat the smallest member of the group.Year after year many barn owls return to established roosts and breeding sites,these are normally at old barns ruined building or hollows in trees(unlike tawny owls, barn owls likes to have an elongated hollow in an old oak tree).The adult has white underparts,and golden-buff upper parts mottled with grey,And they have white faces.Both the sexes are alike,and about 34 Cm's in size.They breed from February to November and have a eerie,prolonged shriek that's often uttered in flight.Like the adult birds,Their young make a hissing noise,But if they get disturbed they will snap their bills together loudly.The young fly at about ten weeks old.Tawny owls are slightly bigger than barn owls,up to 38 Cm's in height,Their call is a 'hoo hoo hoo......hooooo' and not a 'too Whit too woo' as is more commonly thought.Their Young will call 'ke wick'.so you may sometime hear the adult bird calling to their young.Owls are silent in flight because of their soft plumage and the comb like leading edge to their wingtip,This allows the tawny owl to pounce from a perch,unheard by its prey.The tawny owl has really sensitive eyes and ears,This enable them to locate its prey in a really dim light.Their diet consists of small mammals,frogs,fish,insects and if the weather gets bad they will even eat worms from the floor.They nest in woodland,farmland and large gardens that have mature timbers.They nest in shallow scrapes at the bottom of tree holes,A single clutch is born in march of up to seven eggs,They are laid in intervals of up to a week,The incubation starts with the first egg and are white in colour,so once again like the barn owl there will be a big difference in the size of the chicks.Their young fly after about five weeks,after they have branched they will stay close to the parent birds.They have big black eyes to show they will hunt at dusk or at night,Both sexes are alike with their dark brown faces,and dark brown primary feathers that are creamy and brown underneath.Recently because of habitat loss for the tawny owl and loss of barns for the barn owl their numbers have started to decline .I want you to tell me of sightings of these two magnificent birds of prey,or if you have heard them calling let me know so i can start to find out how many of these birds there are around the Droitwich spa area,Because i have seen tawny and barn owl's that i have watched and studied move away from their old roosts because of a loss of a barn they were in and mature trees have been felled,Is this the story from other areas around the Droitwich spa area?
These two birds are fundamental to the British countryside,There's nothing more magical than seeing a barn owl hunting at early evening over a meadow on a summers night as the sun starts to set.Barn owls prey mainly on voles,rats and mice and this is what is fed to the chicks.A barn owls clutch varies from three to eleven eggs,depending on the food that's available.The male will feed the female during the 32 day incubation.But if food runs short due to supply or bad weather the eldest chicks will eat the smallest member of the group.Year after year many barn owls return to established roosts and breeding sites,these are normally at old barns ruined building or hollows in trees(unlike tawny owls, barn owls likes to have an elongated hollow in an old oak tree).The adult has white underparts,and golden-buff upper parts mottled with grey,And they have white faces.Both the sexes are alike,and about 34 Cm's in size.They breed from February to November and have a eerie,prolonged shriek that's often uttered in flight.Like the adult birds,Their young make a hissing noise,But if they get disturbed they will snap their bills together loudly.The young fly at about ten weeks old.Tawny owls are slightly bigger than barn owls,up to 38 Cm's in height,Their call is a 'hoo hoo hoo......hooooo' and not a 'too Whit too woo' as is more commonly thought.Their Young will call 'ke wick'.so you may sometime hear the adult bird calling to their young.Owls are silent in flight because of their soft plumage and the comb like leading edge to their wingtip,This allows the tawny owl to pounce from a perch,unheard by its prey.The tawny owl has really sensitive eyes and ears,This enable them to locate its prey in a really dim light.Their diet consists of small mammals,frogs,fish,insects and if the weather gets bad they will even eat worms from the floor.They nest in woodland,farmland and large gardens that have mature timbers.They nest in shallow scrapes at the bottom of tree holes,A single clutch is born in march of up to seven eggs,They are laid in intervals of up to a week,The incubation starts with the first egg and are white in colour,so once again like the barn owl there will be a big difference in the size of the chicks.Their young fly after about five weeks,after they have branched they will stay close to the parent birds.They have big black eyes to show they will hunt at dusk or at night,Both sexes are alike with their dark brown faces,and dark brown primary feathers that are creamy and brown underneath.Recently because of habitat loss for the tawny owl and loss of barns for the barn owl their numbers have started to decline .I want you to tell me of sightings of these two magnificent birds of prey,or if you have heard them calling let me know so i can start to find out how many of these birds there are around the Droitwich spa area,Because i have seen tawny and barn owl's that i have watched and studied move away from their old roosts because of a loss of a barn they were in and mature trees have been felled,Is this the story from other areas around the Droitwich spa area?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)