The ranidae family.

Part two the marsh frog.

The marsh frog is slightly bigger than the common frog, it also has a more rounded snout that helps to distinguish it from the common frog. The marsh frog eyes are also closer together, their is no black patch either behind their eyes. The female is about five inches in length with the male being slightly smaller. Although the marsh frog is bigger than a toad, a marsh frog has the smooth skin and leaping gait of a frog. Its colouration varies from a brownish colour to even bronze or green.This frog was first introduced to Britain by a zoologist called Percy Smith in 1935. The marsh frog is the largest frog that if found in Europe. They like marshland habitat and can be found around the dyke's and ditches of the Romney marshes in Kent. They can also be found in the Sussex area but they haven`t spread any further across Britain. Marsh frogs like to bask in the sun, but if they get disturbed they will quickly take to the water. They catch their food by using their sticky tongues, and feed mostly on land on mayflies and other insects and occasionally on worms. They breed between May and early June, normally a few weeks after emerging from hibernation, the males gather in water in small groups and croak loudly. They are all trying to attract females, once mated the frog spawn is deposited in clumps amongst water-weeds and the tadpoles are rarely seen. The tadpoles start to emerge from the water in September or early October. They are mainly predated by foxes or grey herons. They hibernate from late October to early November at the bottom of ponds in thick mud or stones, they start to emerge from hibernation in April.

Things to look out for in December.

We are now moving towards the winter solstice at which all of nature will be re-born, the first signs of this will be appearing quite soon. Snow has taken up a lot of the headlines, Worcestershire has had quite a lot of snow over the last week. Field and bank voles will be punching up through the snow to make air holes. They will find plenty of shoots and grass under the snow.  They will spend long periods looking for their food. Stoats and weasels may be stumbled across while they are out hunting for wood mice or rabbits. Brown hare tracks may be seen as well as they move through the snow. Their will be two smaller fore prints followed by two larger hind prints. This pattern is caused by the hares as they run through the snow. As a hare is digging through the thick snow to find shoots of grass under it, it will be listening out with its large ears for anything that is approaching it. You will be able to get quite close to a brown hare before it bolts aware from the area that it has been digging. For the brown hare it is much a challenge to survive as well as eluding predators during any month especially the cold ones. Foxes start mating from December until February, the vixen will only be receptive for between two and three days. Because of this the dog fox will not leave the vixen. Foxes become vociferous as the breeding seasons approaches. The "wow-wowing" bark and the blood curdling scream, produced mainly by the vixen, are their way of getting to know who is in their neighbourhood. Their will be lots of redwings,fieldfares and blackbirds around the red berries of holly during this month as they all try to seek out food. Look out for mistletoe on old oak trees as you are walking in the countryside. Rooks and jackdaws will be busy in their rookery as they start to prepare their nests for the forthcoming breeding season. The noise that comes from their rookery is for me one of the most enjoyable noises in the countryside. Blackcaps may be seen coming into your garden during the long winter days to seek out food. My mum has a single blackcap male that will stay in her garden until almost spring and then come back next winter. Yellowhammers and corn buntings may be seen concentrated together looking for food in large flocks. Their bodies resemble larger sparrows, because of this the word bunting means plump or stocky. The yellowhamer is a canary lemon yellow colour, but during winter this is not quite as striking. The corn bunting is a larger bird than the yellowhammer but hasn`t got quite as striking colours, they are normally a light brown colour with a pale chest. Rough grassland and arable land are favoured sites for these birds. Blue tits,great tits and chaffinches may be seen in mixed flocks. Small tortoiseshell  and peacock butterflies have now found somewhere to hibernate. Queen wasps will also be looking for somewhere to hibernate. After mating in the summer they will look for old wood mice nests or our house for favourable sites. Centipedes and millipedes are still wriggling around in the depths of the soil in our gardens. Scarlet elf-cup fungus,dead man fingers and jews ear fungus are three fungus's to look our for while taking a stroll through one of our deciduous woodland during December.

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is a pagan quarter festival when it is the shortest day and longest night of the northern hemisphere. The earth has been withdrawn inside her-self, after the winter solstice she will start to be awoken. At the moment winter is bring quite a lot of hardship for all of the natural world including ourselves. Very little growth will happen as the mother earth tightens her grip on us all. But deep with-in the earth roots are starting to grow, bringing nutrients and stability to all the plants and trees. In the coming weeks new buds will start to form on trees, bulbs will start to push up their new shoots as well. All of nature has slowed down, waiting for the energy to change and for the warmth to return. Due to the restraints of winter we too have slowed down and conserving energy. The time between samhain and yule (yule is Norwegian for wheel) is the dark time of winter and it allows all of to enter into dream time. As the outer world has darkened we can now experience the inner energies of the world within. We can now get in touch with our dreams and its a great time to make inner journeys for our wisdom and understanding. It has been a great time for us to lay down our own personal  plans and ideas which with the return of the active outward energy, all of these can slowly begin to manifest. This is the suns birthday and also a celebration of the suns re-birth after the suns sacrifice of death slowly after laying down seeds at lammas. Life will become more active from now on as the days start to get longer and  nights shorter. We are all part of this cycle as-well so we too are re-born at this time. We will then bring the wisdom of our own inner journeys out into a manifesting natural world, that will grow with the increasing light from the sun. This is a time to celebrate the active principle whose positive qualities of intellectual and rational thought, determination and assertiveness bring Independence and purpose to our lives. Happy solstice to everyone and i hope you all enjoy it.

Counter current flow heat exchange.

How do ducks manage to stand on the ice and not melt it and fall through? How come they don`t stick to the ice?

Their feet are made up of bone, tendon and scales that are dead tissue with very few nerves in them. Because of this they don`t feel the cold as much as we do. But they do stand on it in one place for a long time. They manage this by having biological counter current flow heat exchange. It relies on a remarkable network of blood vessels called reat marabiley. Basically they cool the warm blood coming down from the heart and through the arteries by exchanging heat with cold blood that is coming back up from the feet. The cold blood is pre-warmed so it does not shock their system and their metabolism. The warm blood going to their feet is pre-cooled to pretty much ambient temperature. This is just above freezing  so therefore they don`t melt the ice. There is also no moisture to freeze and stick as birds feet do not sweet so they are dry.