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.