What do lichens look like?

Unlike mosses and flowering plants, lichens do not have green leaves or a stem. They may be pale or bright coloured and commonly occur in three forms.

1, Leafy lichens have leaf-like lobes closely or loosely attached to the bark from the lower surface.

2, Bushy lichens are branched and shrub-like, attached to the bark at the base.

3, Crusty lichens are closely attached as if painted on the bark.

What are lichens?

In my next set of blogs i am going to be talking about lichens and the air quality that surrounds them.

Lichens are made up of two or more different organisms living together, a fungus and an alga. The fungus provides the body (thallus) in which the algal partner can live, protected from damaging conditions such as high levels of light (ultraviolet radiation) and lack of water (drought). The algal partner provides the essential carbohydrates (food for the fungus) from carbon dioxide and water, with the aid of sunlight. This close, interdependent relationship is referred to as a symbiosis.

The cervidae family.

Part six the reindeer.

Around two hundred thousand years ago reindeer were numerous in Britain, the icy landscape must have resounded to the noise of thousands of clicking hooves as herds migrated between summer and winter feeding grounds. But the herds started to dwindle, maybe it was of the climate change as the climate got warmer after the ice age. The remaining reindeer lived in Scotland. Knowbody knows when the last reindeer`s died out, but their was a small colony reintroduced to the caingorms in 1952 which is believed to total around one hundred and fifty today. They were a domesticated herd from Sweden that were released by Aviemore. The reindeer`s long, sweeping antlers and large hooves are distinctive. Their coat colour varies widely, but many of the animals are greyish or brownish. Their thick winter coat is paler. In late Summer bulls grow a prominent mane of white hair that persists through the winter. Bulls are about forty eight inches (1.2 meters) at the shoulder with the cows being smaller.During the summer months the male reindeer`s (bulls) are usually solitary, they join up with the female (cows ) herds and the young animals for the September-October mating season. This is called a rut when a male reindeer will challenge rival bulls for the right to mate with as many cows as possible. The bulls will roar and scrape their hooves in the mud and thrash around in any vegetation. They will also urinate so that they can leave their scent, they will hold the cows in a harem. After the rut, the bulls separate from the herd but follow it. Cows grow antlers, the only female deer to do so. The antlers have flattened main branches and points with forward pointing branches with secondary branches. The bulls antlers are bigger than the cows. The bulls shed their antlers in Autumn or in early Winter, the cows carry theirs until Spring. In winter, therefore, the cows can use their antlers to defend feeding patches cleared for themselves and their calves. Short grasses, sedges and lichens are the reindeer's main food. In winter they use their hooves to scrape the snow away to expose the lichens, perhaps they find them by smell. In the Spring they enjoy eating willow and birch shoots.  In North America they are known as caribou, this derives from a Red Indian word meaning shoveller. Calves are born in May or June, unlike most other deer, have no spots and can walk within an hour. The calves begin to develop antler pedicles (stalks) when they are about two months old. Their antlers are fully grown after their first winter ends. Old bulls cast their antlers soon after the rut in September or October, they then grow new ones during winter. A reindeer's broad, cloven hooves are splayed to spread its weight and prevent it from sinking to deep into the snow. The hooves make a clicking sound when they walk.

Habitats.

Part thirteen the beauty of limes.

As far back as the roman times, the tall, stately lime tree was planted for its shade and sweet scent diffused by its flowers. Avenues of lime graced the formal gardens of Louis XIV in France and Charles II in England. Afterwards, lime avenues took their place in landscaped gardens of the great landowners. Many of these trees are now reaching the end of their lives, and need to be replaced by young trees. One lime, the silver lime, is particularly resident to heat, drought and pollution, so does well as a street tree where there is space for it to grow. Various species of lime flower at different times, giving bees a continuous supply of nectar for much of the summer. The flowers of large-leaved lime open in June and July, hanging from long, pale green, leaf like bracts.

Atlantic Salmon

Every autumn salmon return from the sea to mate in our British rivers. One of autumns greatest spectacles is seeing them leap up waterfalls to reach their spawning grounds. But this spectacle could be in trouble. In recent years there have been many alarming reports of declining numbers of salmon. In August the salmon are coming back from their feeding grounds way out in the atlantic. They will travel to the most northern tip of Scotland and other parts of the U.K. The salmon have to leap fast to get up the waterfalls, they do this by tucking their pectoral fins (these are located just behind their gills) in when they leap. They do this to make them as streamline as possible enabling them to make a successful jump. Their pectoral fins are then pushed back out to cushion the blow for when they fall back into the water. For this a swollen fast flowing river is essential for the salmon to be able to leap up the waterfalls. They also need deep water so they can have a good long swim up before they jump. The brown salmon that you may see have been in the river since spring waiting for the river to be swollen by the autumn rains, the silver salmon have come straight into the river from the atlantic. The movement of these fish has created a massive fishing industry that dates back for hundreds of years. The Atlantic salmon used to be fished very commonly, but now only a few fishing boats remain. The salmon are caught as they return back from the open ocean, when they are looking for their spawning ground rivers. But local fishermen  believe that the number of salmon are actually increasing. Last seasons catch was the best for the fishermen for over two hundred years. So are all the reports of the species being in trouble a myth, if the local fisherman's accounts are true. The St andrews university have been monitoring the local fisherman`s catches for over a decade. Their results show that although the quantity isn`t a problem the quality of the salmon is. The weight is the first thing that's important, the second is the fat reserves that have been stored up. All of the fish need this for their energy, to get up the river, spawn and then back out to sea. Low fat reserves mean less energy for the salmons migration  up the rivers. Size is an issue to, in 1997 the average size of salmon was about 29% higher than today, the salmon are a third smaller now than they were fourteen years ago. Large fish produce more eggs than smaller fish, so if the size of the females are a third down then the amount of eggs being deposited in fresh water is down aswell. It appears though the research being done, their numbers might be up but their physical quality(thats for their ability to reach their spawning grounds and mate) is definatly going down. The obvious reason is climate change, oceans warming and the salmon are migrating out to the norweigen sea. Their disrtibution of their food seems to be changing beacause of the ocean temperature. They are arriving in the right place but the food isn`t there. What can we do about it? In short probaly not a great deal, but we can maximise the quality of their fresh water habitats. Manage these habitats better, making sure the adults have every oppurtunity of spawning so the rivers can produce as many juveniles as possible. Only time will tell if the change in the quality of salmon through our management of fresh water habitats will make them bettter fish for the future. They are in urgent need of conservation.

Hedge Fund.

When it comes to our autumn harvest for our birds there can`t be a richer picking than our hedgerows. In the U.K we are lucky to have masses of them. If you were to line them all end to end they would stretch twenty times around the planet. They are a very rich habitat, replicating a woodland edge they can contain as many as six hundred different species of plants and trees.Many of which produce fruit and berries. During the winter time, birds would do best by eating seeds and insects. The problem is they have to find them and handle them. But berries occur in vast numbers and are easy to spot. In one square metre of hawthorn hedge there can be up to ten thousand berries. Its the bright red against the green background that makes them easy for the birds to spot. They get lots of energy from berries, one hundred grams of blackberries equals fifty calories, one hundred grams of elderberries equals seventy calories and there are as many calories in ivy berries as are in a decent sized chocolate bar. So that's what the birds get out of the hedgerow, but what about the plants? They are demonstrating a fantastic example of co-evolution. These plants have put energy and resources into producing the berries. They have invested so in return the seeds get dispersed, the birds eat the berries and then digest them but not the seed inside. They then fly many miles, the seed then passes through them to germinate somewhere else, not in competition with the parent plant. The seed then colonises another area. Zoochory is what this is called. So if any farmers read my blog, its so important for our hedgerows to be left in the autumn for the birds. Eighty% of our farmland birds rely on our hedgerows for food and for shelter and nesting. If we cut the hedges to early the plants will not be able to establish a longer growth pattern, meaning they will not be able to produce the fruit that is so vital for our farmland birds in autumn.

Magpies-do they have an effect on our small birds?

Should magpies be culled?

Magpies like the rest of the crow or corvid family which include rooks, jays, ravens, choughs, and nutcrackers are all known for their intelligence and adaptability. But theres no getting away from it that they are unpopular with some people because they raid nests taking eggs and chicks. Magpie numbers have doubled since the 1970`s where we have seen farmland and garden birds suffer dramatic declines. Is there a link-are magpies responsible? Do magpies make any difference to the overall survival rates for our songbirds? No, magpies and crows have lived alongside our farmland and garden birds for thousands of years. Songbirds can deal with there presence . The way they deal with it is by having more chicks to make up for any numbers they may have lost. They are the masters of probability, because they know that by having lots broods and chicks they can deal with the predators. But some gamekeepers might not agree, larson traps are used on some estates to trap magpies and other corvid members. Which are then killed humanely. Gamekeepers control the amount of magpies and crows where they keep game birds(grey partridge and pheasants) because they say they(magpies and crows) have a damaging effect on their game birds. But the B.T.O  looked at thirty song birds species, which are prey species and seven predator species. Both predators on adult birds, hawks and kestrels and also predators on nestlings and eggs of songbirds-magpies,crows and grey squirrels. There were very few significant relationships between the growth in the predator population and the decline in the songbird population. From this evidence magpies have little or no effect on overall populations of songbirds. Songbird survival trust isn`t convinced that predation can be dismissed entirely. They don`t pretend its the major factor necessarily . Habitats,nest sites and food supply are as likely as predation. Predation is a major factor that hasn`t been looked at properly. More likely though the decline is down to farming and land use practices than predation. Even though song bird survival aren`t satisfied, everything else that i have read say the decline is down to habitat issues rather that predation. It seems predation can be a problem at a local level. The r.s.p.b control magpies and crows on some of there reserves. In some cases the numbers of songbirds have fallen to such a low because of changes in habitat that a predator such as a magpie or a sparrowhawk can be the final straw because the population of songbirds will be low anyway.There is a lot of evidence to say that magpies and crows have no overall effect on our songbird population. Magpies will always raid nests to survive . I think though that nature will find its own balance and that the magpie is a scapegoat because as humans our emotions take over,

Keeping clean

When it comes to keeping clean we have got it down to a T. But what about if you are a bird? When we typically think of feathers we think of the contour feathers that give the bird its form and we also think of the flight feathers, which allow the bird to fly. But there are another group of important feathers called the down feathers. As you can see from any small cluster of down feathers, some of them have a central vatchiss, but radiating off that is a lot of soft insulating material. These feathers are about keeping the bird warm. You will know that from your duvet or pillow case. But what about if you are a pisciverous bird? and you fancy yourself a fish supper . During the process of eating a greasy oily fish,the chances are you will get some over your feathers. What are you going to do about it? Well if you are a heron or a bitten you have come up with a solution, specialized down. Which is called powder down . They grow it on their chest and on their bodies and when they preen it the barbs turn into a scaly dust. Its then there to be preened all over their body where the oil is so it soaks it up like a coagulated mass. But then you have a coagulated mass all over your body, What are you going to do about it? The heron has come with a solution which comes in the form of their center toe, which is pectanated which means it has a comb on it. So the heron can comb the mass of fish oil and coagulated mass out of its plumage.

Habitats

Part eleven how rabbits transform the landscape.

Without rabbits, much more of our downland and cliff tops would be a mass of bramble and hawthorn scrub- not the short, flowered-studded turf that is so characteristic. Rabbits suppress the growth of shrubs by nibbling the growing shoots, but they tend not to eat older shrubs, so established thickets remain. These provide the rabbits with shelter from hungry buzzards, but they give cover to hunting foxes. Nibbling rabbits are very damaging to crops, so farmers try to fence off their fields. Cliff tops are not suitable for crops because of exposure to wind and salt spray, so rabbits are usually tolerated along coastal strips. By their close and constant grazing, rabbits crop the grass as short as if it had been mown. Short turf favours the growth of low growing or creeping plants such as vetches and trefoils, which would otherwise be swamped by long grass and shrubs. These plants attract many butterflies, such as the common blue. The butterflies feed on nectar and lay their eggs on the plants, which serve as food for their caterpillars. The short turf is also highly suitable for other insects, especially ants. The insects in turn attract many species of birds- skylarks for example, common in open country.Rabbits will feed mainly at night, but in undisturbed places will graze by day. Turf near a burrow may be cropped very short, but thistles are avoided.

Habitats.

Part ten the world of minibeasts.

The thousands of species of tiny creatures that live in the leaf litter and soil of the woodland floor can be conveniently grouped under the term minibeasts. They include small insects and spiders, as well as larger creatures such as woodlice, centipedes and earwigs. In addition, there are thousands of species too small to be seen with the naked eye. All the inhabitants of this dark, bustling world spend much of their lives hunting for food, in many cases preying on each other. One way to see minibeasts at close quarters is to take a couple of handfuls of leaf litter ,put it in a large paper funnel and shine light on it from above. Trying to escape the light , and warmth the tiny creatures burrow downwards and fall on to a tray placed underneath. With the exception of fleas and biting lice-which are only likely to be found on mammals and birds-minibeasts are quite harmless to humans. Some of the minibeasts  you might see are bark louse, silverfish, bristletails, springtails, thunderbugs and false scorpions.

The cervidae family.

Part five the muntjac deer.

Muntjac were introduced to the duke of bedford`s woburn estate in about 1900. Since then their descendants have escaped and spread throughout Britain. The muntjac is the smallest British deer which has a glossy red, brown summer coat, which is duller in the winter. The buck has a V shaped ridge on the forehead which extends down from his antlers and marked by dark stripes.The muntjac is distinguished by its rather rounded back. It has some white around the edge of its tail and a white rump under its tail. The males are called bucks and the females are called does. The muntjac has no rut, meaning they have no fixed breeding season and may give birth every seven months. They are spreading throughout Britain, mainly because the does can conceive a few days after fawning. The fawns are born singly at anytime of the year. They are born with spots on them to conceal them in the undergrowth which  fade after about eight weeks. They feed on grass,brambles,ivy and yew and are more active from dusk, although they can equally be seen during the day. Their call is a short dog like barking noise. The buck stands about forty eight centimetres high, the female is slightly smaller. They like dense cover in woodlands so they can have good cover. Their antlers are cast in may, then grow back again during the summer. The buck has permanent fang like teeth which he will use against other bucks, he will also mark his territory with the forehead glands, leaving their scent by rubbing against trees or the ground. When alarmed the muntjac will lift its tail to show his white underside, to worn off other deers.

Spiders and their silk.

Their are two British spiders that have fangs that can break our skin, they are the dolimerer spider or the raft spider and the house spider. Spiders venom has evolved to prey on insects, they are no harm to other spiders. Spiders evolved three hundred and fifty million years ago, one third of all creatures we know on the planet are spiders. There are six hundred and forty five in the British isles. The name spider comes from the latinised Greek for spinner, and of course spiders are famous for silk.

So why is silk so good?

Silk starts life a watery fluid deep in the body of the spider, its then passed through some microscopic tubes that then remove the water and turn this complex of protein and amino acids into silk. It contains lots of hydrogen bonds, this is what makes it so strong. It then passes through the body until it gets to some muscular valves called spigots. It is then extruded from these and twisted into a cable by what are called the spinnerets, which is a tiny little organ on the backside of the spider.

There are seven different types of silk,

1,Egg sack silk- This is the silk the spider uses to wraps its eggs in.
2,Swathing silk- This is the silk the spider uses to wrap its prey in.
3,Dragline silk- This is the strongest of all the silks, the spider uses it to hang on.
4,Attaching silk- They hang this to any sub-straight.
5,Non sticky silk.
6,Sticky silk.
7,Sticky stuff- This is what makes the sticky stuff stick.

The silk is a incredibly thin fibre that's thinner than human hair. But it`s five times stronger than steel, and is almost as strong as the strongest man made substance-Kevlar-This is used for bullet proof vests. So have a think about how strong silk is the next time you walk into some in your garden.

Habitats.

Part nine life in a natural pine forest.

Fragments on Britain`s primeval wilderness live on in Scotland, where they harbour a wealth of rare wildlife. Britain`s only large native conifer, the Scots pine, was once more exploited for its valuable timber, but now most forest tracts containing this survivor from prehistoric times are protected in nature reserves. They can be seen in such places as Glen Affric, which is west of Inverness, on Deeside and Speyside, they can also be found in the black wood of Rannoch. The pine forest protects, in turn, the elusive pine martin and the Scottish wildcat(i will be doing a separate blog about the Scottish wild cat in a later blog). The Scots pine also shelter the capercaillie. This amazing bird, with its fantastic mating call and ritual was once extinct in the British Isles. The crested tit also has a population, using hollows in some of the old trees to build their nest. There are also rare and unusual wild plants that flourish in the pine forests. These include chickweed wintergreen, common wintergreen, there are orchids such as the creeping lady`s tresses. Heather and bilberry`s are common throughout the pine forest. Bell heather grows in the driest areas, white cross-leaved  heath, bog asphodel, grass of parnassus and the amazing bog myrtle and its beautiful fragrant are found in the damper areas. Its also an amazing place to come and watch Britain's largest land mammal, the red deer. Birds of prey such as the hen harrier also flourish in the pine forset. The osprey is also now well established on the forest lochs, where it can be seen hunting for fish. The Golden eagle is also well established amongst the pine forest. The remnants of  the once-extensive Caledonian pine forests today form attractive, open woodlands which regenerate themselves  freely and contain trees of various ages. The older trees have flattish tops and bare stems, whereas younger trees are narrow-crowned, with branches to the ground. Young pines spring up in the open woodland unless the heather and moss become very dense, then the pine seeds cannot reach the soil. There is another native conifer that has established itself in the pine forset, the much smaller juniper. The remoter areas of the pine forest provide cover and feeding ground for the three native (shy) animals, the red deer,the Scottish wildcat and the pine martin, although the latter can be lured out by jam sandwiches.

Keeping warm.

The great British weather is a thermo regulatory nightmare. Of coarse when it comes to to staying warm, we humans are lucky as we can put on our hats and gloves etc. But what about our wildlife, its out in all conditions three hundred and sixty five days a year. Some of those days the wildlife will have to cope with all four seasons in just twenty four hours. How does it cope? The first thing that wildlife can do is get big, fat and blubber. This is brilliant insulation and seals are a great example of this. The next thing it can do is to get pelo-erect, which is to get goose bumps. Erecting the hairs or fur to trap a layer of insulating air. Some other mammals have got another really neat trick. They have what we call a counter current heat exchange system (i have a previous blog about this). The blood vessels carrying the blood which has been to the bodies extremities- therefore is a little bit cool- run very close to the blood vessels that are coming out of the heart and therefore are carrying very warm blood. The warm blood  warms up the cool blood so that it doesn`t shock the animals metabolism, when it gets back to the core. That's all well when it comes to staying warm when its cool, but what about when it gets warm, staying cool when it gets hot. The first thing you can do is to get lazy, think of all those deers sat round on a warm summers afternoon, they are not moving so they don`t generate any heat, which they will then have yo loose. If they do get hot you may see them panting. We don`t need to pant because we can sweat to cool us down, both achieve the same thing. It`s about evaporating water from the skins surface to keep the body cool. There is one other trick that mammals do have. Basically they pump blood very close to their skin, so any air currents tat pass by cool it, the blood is than passed back into the body to cool those areas as well. This is called blushing.

Can anyone help.

Hi, my woodland school area recently got vandalised. I had a circle of logs to sit on, balancing logs, stepping logs and a hazel structure. This was all burnt a couple of weeks ago. The woodland school is for the barnowls pre-school, who i volunteer for. I am now worried that because of the actions of a few all of the children at the pre-school are going to miss out on a vital part of their education. The area was set up for free play and group activities. Could anyone help me by donating something for my woodland school as there are no  funds available to purchase anything. I would be willing to tell the droitwich advertiser about anyone who comes forward with donations, so it would be good for any possible businesses that come forward. Anyone who might be able to help can contact me at andrewparkes1974@hotmail.co.uk or by my phone 07583194637.

Thank you Andrew.

The cervidae family.

Part four the sika deer.

Sika deer were introduced to Britain from Asia about one hundred and thirty years ago. Feral herds escaped from country parks. The sika deer is closely related ti the red deer. They are mostly active at dawn and dusk where their is a lot of human activity. Rutting takes place for the sika deer between late September and November. Males are called stags, they will thrash around in bushes and fray bark with their antlers. They do this to show their dominance and hold a territory. Female sika deer are called hinds, their young which are born singly in June are called calves. The stags cast their old antlers between April and May with the new antlers being formed in August. In summer the sika deers coat is spotted, with a light chestnut brown coat. They have rounded ears with lighter hair on their forehead. This darkens on their brow to give a frowning look. They have a white tail and a white rump. They mainly graze on grass and sometimes shrubbery, they live in mixed woodland, they may also be found occasionally in coniferous woodland. The stag stands about eighty four centimeters at its shoulder, the hind is slighty smaller. Their noise is a quiet squeaking noise, but this increases at the rut so they can gather their females at their harum enableing them to mate. Fights between males can be feirce and sometimes can be fatal.

Precession.

The earths axis of rotation is itself rotating, just as a leaning spinning top slowly rotates while the main barrel is whizzing around. The earths axis goes through a cycle of precession once every twenty three thousand years.

Obliquity of the ecliptic.

The earths tilt is 23.5 degrees, which is an oblique angle, the earth is also spinning 23.5 degrees away from the perpendicular. The obliquity of the ecliptic is the angle between the axis of rotation of the earth and the ecliptic plane in which the earth rotates the sun. The angle varies between 22.5 to 24.5 degrees. It takes an average of forty one thousand to complete the obliquity cycle. The earths tilt is what causes us to have our seasons.

Habitats.

Part eight the nettle feeders.

Nettle patches-found in fields, farmyards, orchards and gardes throughout the British isles are breeding grounds for aristocrat butterflies. Small tortoiseshells, red admirals, peacocks and commas breed regularly on nettles, and painted ladies breed on them occasionally. Butterflies bask on the plants and lay their eggs on the nettles tender young leaves. The stinging hairs have no effect on their hard, light bodies. However they do not feed from the drab flowers, which are a pour source of nectar. When the young caterpillars of small tortoiseshells and peacocks hatch, they live together in a mass of spun silk, eating the nettle tops. Res admiral caterpillars are solitary and live in a secluded leaf tent. The advantage of feeding on nettles is that most grazing animals leave the nettles alone because they are tough and will sting them. In fact, more than forty species of insects, including aphids, bugs and beetles, are completely or partially dependant on nettles for food or shelter. This is why in any area nettles are so important for so many different insects, but some birds will predate the caterpillars. Stinging nettles do what we call pheno plasticity, i have mentioned this in a previous blog but basically its way the nettle control the light for themselves. A female red admiral lays a single egg on a nettle leaf. She will move onto other leaves to lay more eggs.  As peacock caterpillars develop they look distinctly black with orange feet, they are also covered in spines. Small tortoiseshell caterpillars make jerking movements with their heads whenever the nettles are disturbed by a predatory bird. The sudden movement often startles the bird and drives it away. Most nettle-feeding caterpillars leave the mettle patch to form their chrysalis. They often wander many yards to find a suitable place, such as a fence rail or post, tree bark or garden sheds.

The cervidae family.

Part three the fallow deer.

Fallow deer were introduced to Britain by the Normans in the 11`th century. They were one of the first conservationists, due to the fact that although the Normans hunted them they still allowed enough numbers to breed and develop into a healthy population. Fallow deer can be found in woodlands and parks. They feed mainly on grass and shrubbery in mixed woodland. They will often be seen sheltering together in the undergrowth. The males are called bucks, the females are called does. The fawns are born singly in June, often being hidden in the grass. The bucks can stand up to one meter in height at the shoulder and can weigh up to eighty five kilometer`s. The bucks have broad bladed antlers that are quite distinctive amongst British deers. Rutting for fallow deer is between October and November. At the rut the male uses his antlers to rub his head against saplings to mark his territory, he also frays the bark. He will also thrash his antlers against various branches and bushes, the fallow will bellow out loudly aswell (their call is a big like barking noise) , he will also scrape the ground with his hooves and mark it with his urine. Rival bucks will fight fiercely  for the right to mate with the does, who will come into season for a short period. Away form the rutting stands the bucks will together happily in herds. Their summer coat is typically chestnut brown with white spots with a white rump, their winter coat is a darker colour, they also have a long black and white tail. Menil deers can be pale brown with white spots, but fallows may also be black or white in clour aswell.

Habitats.

Part seven life among redwoods.

In Britain the coast redwood is an impressive tree that has already reached a height of 140 ft(43 meter`s). In its home on northern california`s pacific coast, it has become the tallest living thing on earth, reaching more than 360 ft (110 meter`s). It is remarkably long-lived as it will always throw out new shoots after a tree has fallen, and specimens in America have lived for more than 2,500 years. The oldest and largest stand of redwoods in Britain is the charles ackers redwood grove near welshpool, in powys. Unswept branches and a conical shape distinguish the dawn redwood from the taller coast redwood. Woodland and shave loving plants such as red campion, ivy and herb robert, and plants of grassy places such as common vetch and birds foot trefoil thrive among redwoods. When the branches of a coast redwood in the redwood grove near welshpool were driven into the ground as the tree fell, the branches on the upper side of the fallen trunk developed into young trees. After a tree has been felled, coppice shoots spring vigorously from the cut stump, and some will grow into new trees. Treecreepers hollow out roosting places in the redwoods soft bark. Tawny owls may also be seen amongst the redwood forest, they roost amongst the redwood branches.

The cervidae family.

Part two the roe deer.

The roe deer is Britain's smallest indigenous deer. They are mainly found in woodlands,grassland and on moors. They feed mainly on tree shoots and shrubs, and can sometimes be seen feeding with muntjac deer. The male roe deer is called a buck, the female is called a doe and the young are killed kids. The roe deer rut isn`t the spectacular affair of the fallow,sika or red deer ruts.During early summer the males will clash over their territory, this is much earlier than any other deer. The males will rarely fight. When the males and the females finally come together  they end up in whats called a roe ring, its then up to the female as to when they finally mate. This is when they go round in circles and flatten all of the vegetation in a figure of eight. The roe deer has virtually no tail and are a lovely fox red colour with a buff patch on its rump,this changes to white in winter. The doe has a long tuft of hair  hanging on her rump. The roe deers coat changes to a greyish colour during winter.They are the only British deer to have antlers clean of velvet when they grow again around January. Their antlers are cast in October or November, they have on them whats called a purlong, this is used to scrape against a bark stripped tree to mark a territory, as in between his antlers he has a scent gland.  The purlong is along the inside and the outside of his antlers, the male normally has three points on  his antlers. The roe deer kids are born singly in June with white spots on them, the hind will have up to three and its not un-common for the hind to give birth to twins. The roe deer is the only British hoofed mammal in which implantation of the egg is delayed. The implantation of the fertilized egg occurs in December. At first the hind will leave her kids in long grass for long periods during the day. This is mainly for protection as they are quite small and frail on their feet. The buck is about seventy five centimeters tall at the shoulder with the doe being about seventy centimeters tall. The buck weighs about twenty five kilograms. They make a short barking noise when they are calling out.

Habitats.

Part six life in a beech woodland.

In spring, bluebells and anemones splash beech woods with colour, but in summer the woods are dark and relatively colourless places. Bluebells and wood anemones come up before the beech leaves have fully opened, while enough light is still available for growth. They will continue to grow in heavy shade, while bird`s-nest orchid, which feeds on dead organic matter such as beech leaves, needs no light at all. Beech leaves let little light through the canopy to encourage anything to grow. The leaves are so arranged that all will get some light, but very little filters between them. In the same way, the leaves intercept most of the rain that falls. This lies on the leaves, to be evaporated again after a shower, and does not reach the soil beneath. But the woodland floor, though dry, does provide food for fungi along with small birds and mammals. Wood mice and grey squirrels prize open the beech nuts from the woodland floor. The roots of the beech tree thrive in shallow but fertile soil, spreading laterally just below the surface. Jays are among some of the birds that frequent beech woods to seek fallen beech nuts. Bramblings ,chaffinches and nuthatches are three other birds that take advantage of a beech woodland along with badgers that are looking for a tasty treat, the beech nut.

Summer Solstice.

Happy solstice to everyone, i have just got back from avebury after celebrating the summer solstice. The sun is at its highest northenly point now in the northern hemerphere. There are twenty four hours of sunshine at the artic circle.This is a turning point from now on as the cosmic wheel starts to slow down.In all of nature the rampant growth period of the year has reached its peak. The natural world is in total manifestation. The trees are in full leaf and blossom,herbs and flowers are flourishing. There begins to be an abundance of vegetables and the fruit and grain are ripening. All over there is a sense of completeness and abundance. The summer solstice is our peak of our expansive and expressive selves. Celebrate what you have achieved and manifested. It is the festival of attaintment and the fulfilment of the individual. It is time to enjoy what you have and who you are. Add the strength and power of the sun to enhance and activate. Abandon yourself to expressive dance, song, joy and a sense of your own uniqueness. Celebrate the death and re-birth of the great cycle of the year. As the power of the outer realms wane, the power of the inner realms expand, and we are made whole.

Favourite garden birds.

I would like to compile a survey of our favourite garden birds. I also want to know how many different species of birds we get in our gardens. When did you first see fledgelings? Are adult birds feeding on your feeders all year round? or do they move away from the feeders when the hedgerows come alive with berries and nuts. Please let me know.

The cervidae family.

Part one the red deer.

Red deer`s are Britain's largest land mammal, with the male measuring up to one point two meters at their shoulders. Females measure up to one meter. Red deer`s have hollow hairs, which is important for insulation when they move into the season of winter. They mainly live in grassland, woodland or moors. They will be seen and heard coming down from hillsides during the rutting season.The males make a long barking noise, especially during the rut when they are calling out. They are warning off other males and they are also declaring that this is their territory. Males are called stags and females are called hinds, their young are called fawns. The males rut during October and November, the dominant male will try and hold on to a harem. As the females come into season for a very short period the dominant male will try to mate with as many as he can. But their will be competition from other males. Other red deer males will try and take the high ground so they can become the dominant males and mate with all of the hinds. The hinds will normally stay in a group eating lots of grass. The males will fight together in tremendous battles that will sometimes end in death for one of the males involved. Their will also be lots of parallel walking and thrashing about in all of the grass. The red deer will mark his territory by urinating at certain points of his harem. Only the males have antlers, which are cast every year. This normally happens in winter or early spring, the new antlers start growing again in late spring or early summer. Antlers are made of bone and have a soft covering called velvet which helps to protect the antlers in spring. The points on the antlers are known as tines, these stay the same after the first year. Red deers are ruminants, which means they have a even number of toes. The red deer has a four chambered stomach. Males red deers will weigh up to two hundred and twenty five kilograms. After the rut, the deer will eat as much grass as possible to prepare them for the long winter ahead. The stags don`t eat during the rut, so it is vital for them to gain as many pounds as possible afterwards. The fawns are born singly in late May or early June. The native red deer takes its name from its lovely shining red summer coat,which will go duller and thicker during the winter. The red deer has a short tale, which is normally held close to its buff coloured rump. They feed on heather,grass and lichens and may live for up to fifteen years in the wild.

Habitats.

Part five life in a birch woodland.

Birch, together with willow,hazel and rowan, are (pioneer) species that quickly colonise bare ground. Birch takes root readily in poor soils, and its almost weightless seeds are blown far. Its thin leaves soon rot, this then add nutrients to the soil for the trees roots to eventually re-absorb. The broken down leaves will also enrich the soil for more demanding trees like oak and beech. These two trees will grow into tall trees and eventually deprive the silver birch of light. Birch provides food and shelter for a variety of animals, birds and insects. Redpolls, blue and great tits and a host of other birds feed on birch seeds. The caterpillar of the mottled umber moth will eat the leaves of the birch. The patchwork leaf cutting bee will also use birch leaves, as she lays her eggs individually she will leave some pollen for the eggs for when they hatch. She will then seel the chamber with the leaf, she will continue this process until the chamber is full. Heather and bilberry are among the plants that thrive on the acid soils colonised by birch. The light shade that birch cast encourages the growth of many other plants, too. Young birch trees and the grass beneath them provide food for hares and roe deer. Razor strop and bracket fungus live on dead birch stems, and fly agaric will some times live on the living roots. Birch bark has been used for centuries to start fires, this is because of the natural oils it possesses, i will talking about this more on one of my bushcraft pages. The silver birch is a tree of life giving properties, vitality and nourishment. It signifies new opportunities, new beginnings,birth, re-birth and inception.

The salamandridae family.

Part three the palmate newt.

This is the smallest of the British newts. The male has a olive brown colour back with a dark streak above its eye. The female is slightly lighter in colour than the male. They are about three inches in length including their tail. Breeding males have webbed hind feet, a low, smooth crest with a short filament on their tail, the crest is less obvious after the breeding season(which is between February and May). Both males and females have dark spots on their backs. But unlike the common newt the palmate does not have spots on its throat. Both the male and the female have a light yellow under-belly with few spots.The palmate newt is active by day and night during the breeding season, after this they normally appear while it is raining or on humid days. The male also has swollen glands (cloaca) during the breeding season. They live in ponds, ditches, marshes and woodland. The female spends the breeding season laying between one hundred and three hundred eggs which turn into larvae after about three weeks, these then metamorphosise after about nine weeks into adult like newts. The young newts which are known as efts become sexually active after two years, but sometimes this can be slowed or delayed by the process of neoteny. Adults hibernate under logs and stones, but more often in water during November and February. They feed on invertebrates,crustaceans, frog tadpoles and planctonic animals. They may live up to ten years in the wild.

Habitats

Part four motorways as havens for wildlife.

The amount of grassland and scrub along the broad verges of Britain's major roads exceeds the total area of all the country`s nature reserves put together. People rarely walk on roadside verges because its unsafe and its forbidden to do along motorways. Because of this they offer a comparatively safe home for all kinds of animals that can tolerate traffic noise. Moles, particularly, benefit because no one needs to plough up their burrows, and because traffic vibration brings worms, their major food, to the surface. Small mammals such as bank voles and shrews abound, and foxes and rabbits are quite common as well. The varied plant life offers food as well as cover to some of the small mammals, but it is often contaminated with salt and oil from the road surface and with lead from the exhausts of cars. Road verges serve as corridors along which animals can spread into our cities and also across wide areas of our country. The actual crossing of roads is a problem , however. Many animals do manage it-even slow- moving moles- but rabbits, hedgehogs, deer and other animals active at night are often dazzled by vehicle headlights and ran over. Many thousands are killed on our roads every year. But their corpses serve as a food supply for scavengers such as foxes, crows, magpies and even buzzards. Rabbits dig their warrens in well drained, undisturbed embankments, but will normally feed in near by fields and not by the road side. Hovering kestrels will be looking for voles, mice and beetles for them to eat.  A newly built road may cut across an established badger trail, and badgers using it may get run over because of this. Early in the morning crows may be seen feeding on the casualties from the night before, such as hares, rabbits and even hedgehogs. Next time you are driving along some of our busy roads have a lookout for some of this wildlife.

Timing of spring.

As you might expect the biggest influence on when spring arrives in your part of the country is latitude. Spring starts in the far south, it then works its way north. There may be more than a months difference from when it arrives in the scilly isles to it spreading north to the shetland isles, which is about one thousand miles further north. Its not just latitude, but longitude aswell. Because of the warming influence of the atlantic ocean, it means spring will start earlier in the west than in the east. Also altidude plays its part, for every one hundred and fifty meters you climb the temperature will drop by one degree. So the caingorms are eight degrees colder than sea level. Spring arrives earlier in our cities than our highlands. Urban areas can be up to two degrees warmer then the surrounding countryside. This is due to the urban heat island effect. Finally there are the local climates which are called micro climates. South facing slopes will warm up quicker than north facing slopes. There are a few early signs of spring that we can look out for aswell,  ladybirds,frogspawn and bumble bees are a few. The later signs of spring are peacock butterflies,hawthorn blossom and swifts returning are another few signs to look out for. The bumble bee bombus territres is active all year round because of milder temperatures, we know this because of studies that have been carried out on it.

Habitats.

Part three the butterflies of summer grassland.

Caterpillars that eat grass give rise to some of the most common butterflies. As their food is widespread and green throughout the year, the caterpillars- and hence the butterflies- have a relatively secure future. All Britain's grass-feeding caterpillars belong to the browns or skipper families. The butterflies are on the the wing between June and September and can be seen in the corners of the field, beside country roads and anywhere else which has long grass like waste ground and old railway tracks. Three of the skippers that can be common among long grass, forever chasing each other, are the small, the large and essex skippers. They are found in open areas, like some of the brown butterflies- the small heath, the marbled white and the meadow brown. Other browns live in places sheltered from the wind. Gatekeepers and speckled woods, for example, keep to hedgerows, tracks or grassy woodland glades where they can be seen basking in the summer sun. Woodland edges and corners of fields warm up into sun traps during the summer months. Brown bubutterflies stake out their territories there, basking in the heat. Ringlets are recluses among butterflies, and prefer wet grassy hollows in or beside shady woodland. Rough open grasslands can become very hot and exposed to winds. Skippers fly fast over the grasses, and are still active on windy days . Marbled whites which belong to the brown family, are sometimes plentiful on chalk grasslands.

The salamandridae family.

Part two the great crested newt.

The great crested newt is the largest of all of the three British newts. They are found throughout the whole of Great Britain. They have dark brown backs and flanks, with large black warty spots on them. Their undersides are either yellow or orange in colour, with  large black blotches that are unique to each individual newt. You can tell the sexes apart from the size of their spots with males having the larger spots.The males can also be told apart from the females by their jagged crest that runs along their back during the breeding season, the crest is smaller along the tail which also has a silver line running along it. The females have no crest but do have a orange stripe running along tip of their tail. Like all newts they normally live on land but will return to their breeding pools to breed. Their breeding is similar to all other newts. After they have performed a courtship display, the male deposits spermataphore (a small packet of sperm) from his cloaca (reproductive and excretory opening) into her path. He will then move sideways in front of her to encourage her into position where the spermataphore will be picked up by her cloaca. No actual mating take place. The females then lays between two to three eggs a day on submerged aquatic plants between March and July. All of the eggs are wrapped carefully in individual leaves. The efts (larvae) hatch after about three weeks and live in the pond as aquatic predators feeding on tadpoles and worm and insect larvae. They are preyed on by fish, so they are rarely in rivers. lakes or garden ponds. After metamorphosis into air breathing juveniles after about four months, they live a mainly terristrial life. They may move up to eight hundred meters from the pond. After about two to three years they reach maturity and return to the same pond to breed. The young and the juveniles spend most of their time in dense cover outside of the breeding season which will include scrub,rough grassland and woodland, rocks and logs are perfect shelter for them. The adult is completely poisonous so is preyed on by very few things, but the efts are not so they will be eaten by fish, rats and grass snakes. They may live for about ten years in the wild. The juveniles and the adults feed on other newts, tadpoles, froglets, worms, insects larvae and water snails. Thet hibernate during winter under logs and rocks or in the mud at the bottom of their breeding pools. They are protected by law.

Habitats.

Part two the garden pond.

Garden ponds have become life savers for Britain's frogs,newts and toads in the past thirty years. This is because so many of farm and village ponds have been filled in or polluted. Garden ponds will also benefit gardeners because the amphibians they attract will eat slugs, snails and insects. Ponds will attract bathing birds like blackbirds, which in turn may feed on tadpoles. Grass snakes may also be seen in the pond. Foxes may also be seen drinking from our garden ponds. If a pond has smooth sides then hedgehogs may fall into them but can`t climb out, this may cause them to drown. But by putting a little bit of wire mesh, hanging in the water on one corner will enable them to escape. Whether the pond is made from an old bucket or sink it will soon colonised by insects such as pond skater or lesser water boatman. May, damsel and dragon flies will also be seen flying over the pond hoping to catch flies. A few jars of natural pond water tipped into the pond will add plankton, water snails and even water beetles. Frogs and toad will eventually come across the pond, toads generally prefer deeper water to toads, so depending on the size of the pond it will determine whether you will attract toads or frogs. The frogs or toads will leave the pond,  after about two or three years they will will return to the same pond to breed. Newts to will find their own way to the pond. Long grass by the ponds edge will provide cover for the froglets when they leave the pond in June or July. Tadpoles normally prefer to be in a shallow area of the pond where it will be warmer. The resident fish will eat the tadpoles, sometimes quite a few will be taken by fish.  A rockery is a good idea for frogs and toads to hide in during the day. If there is plenty of undergrowth bank voles or wood mice may move in.

The salamandridae family.

Part one the common newt.

Although common newts live in their breeding pools for most of the spring, they will spend most of the summer and autumn on land. The smooth newt is another name for the common newt as well. Most common newts will hibernate on land during late autumn and winter. They won`t go far from their breeding pools so lush pasture, open woodland or scrub land are good places to find newts. It is hard to tell the males and females apart outside of the breeding season, but the males have a bright orange underside with dark spots on their throats and bellies during the breeding season. Whereas the females will have quite a pale underside. The male also has a wavy crest along its back and tail. The common newt is Britain's most widespread of all of our newts. Like all newts it has smooth, soft skin with a tail flattened at the sides. Their colour on land is yellow olive with the female being duller. They are about four inches long, from head to tail. The male will do a courtship ritual to attract the female, it will vibrate its tail in front of the female in distinctive fashion. The male will then deposit a sperm containing capsule called a spermatophore, this will be left in front of his mate who then manoeuvres herself so she can pick the capsule up with her cloaca. Fertilization then occurs inside the females body. The female will then after a few days start to lay her eggs individually. She will lay up to twelve per day in aquatic leaves, although she may lay a total of four hundred eggs. After about two to three weeks, depending on the water temperature the eggs hatch to become tadpoles, this is their larval stage. For the first few days the tadpoles live off any food left in their yolk sacks. After this the tadpoles start to eat freshwater plankton. Unlike frog tadpoles, newt tadpoles are carnivorous so they will live off mollusc's, insect larvae and similar foods. At first the tadpoles look like small fry, but later look more like the adults. But they have feathery external gills emerging from the head on either side. As the tadpoles grow, firstly they develop front legs then their back legs grow, then with growth in their lungs their gills eventually shrink. The tadpoles shifts from being  fully aquatic to possessing a body for a mostly terrestrial existence. A baby newt is called a eft. They leave the water after about ten weeks. Some tadpoles may over winter in the larval state and emerge the following spring. The newts then take about three years to become sexually mature. They will then return to the same breeding pools to start the process all over again. During the day common newts will hide under stones or logs, emerging on damp night to hunt slugs, insects and worms. Common newts are greedy hunters, using their sticky tongues to catch their prey. They swallow their prey whole, they track their prey with both  their sight and scent. Unlike lizards (which they look like) newts have no scales, they also move very slowly. Also newts will never bask in the sun unlike newts. Hedgehogs, rats and grass snakes are their biggest predators. All newts are protected bylaw in Europe, but in Britain it is only illegal to sell common newts under section five of the wildlife and countryside acts of 1981 with respect of sale only. Therefore their destruction or capture is still permitted, in my opinion though this should be changed as the greater crested and palmate newts are struggerling.

Spring equinox

Happy equinox to everyone. This is a time when day and night are of equal length across the whole world, in the northern hemisphere we celebrate spring.From now on the days are getting longer, and nights are getting shorter. This is the festival of balance, the balance of light and dark, the balance of the suns active energy and the moons receptive energy, the balance of the outer and inner worlds, and the balance of the conscious fire energy with the forces of the watery unconscious. At the spring equinox we can look forward towards the balance within ourselves. Everything in nature is coming alive and awakening. The sun is gaining strength, the days are getting longer and warmer. Blossom and catkins are erupting on the trees, buds are bursting, seeds are germinating, spring flowers appear everywhere and eggs are hatching and all of the animals are preparing to have their young. Everywhere their is evidence of life's ability to regenerate. The energy is turning from within the dark depths of winter and the inner world, to an outward manifestation of the conscious world. It is to throw off the restraints of winter and the cold months, and now reach out for what it is we want for the world and ourselves. It is a time of rain and sunshine, the elements all mingle together, fire and water, spring gales, high tides, feelings of wildness and chaos as the high winds blow into our faces. Run wild with emotions in that wind and celebrate life's fertility. We are breaking out and moving forwards, as we feel empowered to take risks, strike out on our own and make things happen. The balancing of the earths energy is now balanced, light and dark, conscious and un-conscious, fire and water. Here there is the union of power which  balance fertility and manifestation. This is the spark of the life force.

Habitats

Part one the woodland floor at night.

Many kinds of mammals, large and small, make their homes in deciduous woodland. Not only do the trees and shrubs provide more shelter from winds, rain and the cold open country, but for mammals that can climb they give extra living and foraging space among their branches. Above all, the different kinds of trees,shrubs and flowers offer a wide assortment of food for the mammals and also a huge number of insects, which are in turn another source of food for the mammals.  A wood covering about half a square mile, can support more than five thousand mice and voles aswell as many shrews, moles, squirrels,  badger and deer. Predators such as tawny owls and weasels and stoats are attracted to these woodlands by the abudance of small mammals. The night flying tawny owl, espeically, depends for food on the mice and voles that forage on the woodland floor. In summer when the undergrowth is dense and small mammals are well hidden it will often hunt over open fields and hedgerows. But when the vegetation dies back again in late autumn and winter, woodland mammals are easier prey. The owl claims a woodland territory  ready for breeding in march. The size of their territory depends on the amount of mice and voles that are available to them. The tawny owl will sometimes eat worms if numbers ger really low. Wood mice feed on more open parts of the woodland floor than bank voles. Several mice will share a space, showing little aggression over nuts, fruits,seedlings and insects it offers, except during the breeding season when they will defend their territory. Woodmice, voles and squirrels will nibble on tops of fungi aswell, boletus is one of their favourites to share. The tawny owl will prey on all of the small mammals that occupy the woodland floor. Below the tawny owls roost you will find its regurgitated pellets, this is all of the indigestable material such as bones and fur. The hazel dormice only ventures out at night to forage mainly among the tree branches. They feed mainly on hazel nuts. They will eat lots of food in late autumn as they are getting ready for hibernation. Bank voles will forage amongst thick cover by day or night. The woodland floor will also be alive with slugs, millipedes,centipedes and woodlice foraging through all of the decaying leaf litter.

House sparrows.

There used to be thousands of house sparrows in our inner cities, including London which was once a house sparrow stronghold. But today there are very few in and around the capital and their numbers are down. House sparrows have lived alongside man for thousands of years. In the early twentieth century they were so common that people trapped, shot and even ate house sparrows. Then in the 1990`s there was a serious crash in sparrow numbers. In only a few years over half of London's population of sparrows had disappeared. They declined faster in London that anywhere else. They were put on the red list of species, which is the endangered list. So why was this happening? It is thought that insects may have something to do with it, and cars and cats were not to blame for the massive population decrease. Because of industry, green spaces have declined and air pollution has increased, causing insect numbers to decline. This has had a knock on effect on house sparrows feeding themselves and especially their chicks, which when first born feed mainly on insects.These insects are vital for the chicks when they are first born. They have also lost numerous nesting sites because they rely on our houses to nest in. We have had a major impact on them as well, by removing shrubs from our gardens and then paving over them we have reduced the amount of insects in our gardens. It has become popular to keep our gardens really tidy as well, whereas years ago we would of had compost heaps and leaf piles for hundreds of insects to hide in. We have also filled in all of the little nooks and crannies with p.v.c cladding around the outside of our houses. This has had a huge impact on the nesting sites of the house sparrow. A row of houses with a few cracks and crevices are ideal for the house sparrow so they can get into our lofts to enable them to nest. We also need to think about having thick shrubs and hedges back in our gardens.Reservoirs are important for sparrows to get aphids and insects, essential protein for them and their chicks. House sparrows are colonial nesters so they like to nest together. They can also find nesting material and socialise around the reservoirs . They are an iconic bird for us to live along side . Healthy wildlife in our cities is a great indication for us. It can show us how healthy or polluted our wildlife is in our cities. healthy sparrows are a great indicater that we are going to be healthy aswell.

imbolc.

The pagan festival of imbolc celebrates the reawakening of the earth and the potential of manifestation inherent at this time. This is a cross quarter festival, its an opportunity for us all to use the developing energy of a new season. In pagan tradition, the triple goddess becomes her virgin self again. The maiden can be known as bride,brigit or brigid.  The days are now beginning to lengthen. It is still cold but the signs of spring are beginning to show. Buds are forming on the trees, sap is starting to rise and the bulbs are pushing through the earth. There are signs of the earth stirring everywhere. Dryads and nature spirits are waking up now as the energies move from the underworld to our conscious world. All of nature is ready to re-born as our acceptance of winter gives way to the urge for us to move forward into springtime energy. Now is the time to prepare inwardly for the changes that will come. Plant your ideas and leave them to germinate. At lammas, opposite  imbolc on the wheel of the year, consciousness began its decent into inner realms and the dark, to find inner wisdom and regeneration. Here at imbolc the unconscious is emerging from inner realms, revitalised,potent and fertile. The unconscious and the conscious join and unite to bring about growth, fertility and manifestation.   Imbolc is a time for initiation and healing,for reclaiming what has been forgotten. The returning active phase of the solar year brings with it an opportunity to use the fire from within, to combine the dynamic inner power with the dynamic with the expansive energy of the year`s cycle.

The discoglossidae family.

The midwife toad.

For a few weeks in late spring or early summer, a male midwife toad carries eggs from the female twined round its back and hind legs.  The female expels her eggs for the male to fertilize externally. It then takes them to the water when they are ready to hatch, the male wades into shallow water allowing the tadpoles to enter the pool. One small colony was known to be in Britain. The midwife toad was accidentally introduced in the 1800`s with some water plants. The midwife toad is a very shy nocturnal animal. During the day they will hide under logs, stone walls and will occasionally dig into soft sandy soil , only emerging at night time to forage for food but they always return to the same hiding place during daylight. The midwife toad is smaller than the common toad with a rounded snout, and are normally light brown-greenish in colour with wort's on its back that release  poison if the toad is handled, because of this the midwife has very few predators. Their tadpoles don`t posses the poison so are preyed upon by fish and sometimes insects. They hibernate during winter in a burrow or a hole and emerge in late spring. The midwife toad is more like a frog than a toad in its looks, but it crawls like all toads when out searching for food, they use their long sticky tongue to catch their prey, which include beetle, caterpillars,crickets,flies,centipedes and millipedes. The tadpoles feed on water plants, chewing them with their tiny, horny teeth. When they get a little bit bigger they eat similar food to the adults.

The bufonidae family

Part two the natterjack toad.

The  name of the natterjack toad is probably derived from the anglo-saxon word naeddre, which meant a serpent or crawling creature. This is probably because toads crawl whereas frogs hop. The term jack probably refers to the toads small size. The natterjack is found only in sandy places like heaths, mainly in coastal dunes in East Anglia and north west England, I actually came across some around the prestatyn area of North Wales while i was on a family holiday. The natterjacks numbers are declining and are now protected by law. Natterjack toads dig burrows in soft sand, and often shelter there together. They emerge at night, to hunt for insects such as sand fleas. They burrow deep into the sand using their forelimbs during winter and then emerge during spring. They spawn in april, but you can hear the males calling in the edge of the shallows to attract the females from March onwards. The ponds they spawn in have to have alight slope to enable them to get in and out of the pond. You can also hear the males calling out at night, this can be heard up to half a mile away because of a single vocal sack that amplifies the sound.Just like the common toad, their spawn is laid in a long stringy line, up to two meters in length. Their spawn will be in and around water plants. Their spawn has a single line of black eggs unlike common toads who lay their spawn in a line of double black eggs. Most of the natterjacks toad tadpoles die because their nursery ponds dry up before they become toadlets. Although natterjack toads have poisonous skins, crows and gulls have learned to eat them without eating their skin. They may live up to ten years in the wild. A yellow line down the middle of its back distinguishes the natterjack toad from the common toad. It is also slightly smaller and has a shinier, smoother skin than the common toad. Adults vary in colour from olive-green to yellowish- green. Their head and body measure up to two and a half inches. When threatened the natterjack toad adopts a defensive posture. It does this by arching its back towards an attacker so that the poison- secreting glands on its back are uppermost. They spend a lot of their time in and amongst reeds on the edge of the ponds, the natterjacks reaches maturity when they are about five years old.

Conservation.

Bring back the birds.

A garden bustling with bird life will be brought alive by song and flapping wings, and also give us a chance to see wild creatures at close hand. But many of our most familiar visitors are suffering serious decline.

What to look out for.

As well as house sparrows, whose numbers have dropped dramatically, other birds in decline include starlings, dunnocks,song thrushes, mistle thrushes, swifts, house martins, spotted flycatchers, willow warblers, bullfinches, tree sparrows and linnets.

Reasons for their decline.

Cats and non native grey squirrels are to take some  blame for falling populations of these birds, but the main reasons are man made. Patios, decking, drives and the general tidiness of our modern gardens eliminate the seed and insect food of many species. Birds like house sparrows, swifts, house martins and swallows are finding it harder to find nest sites because we are much better at maintaining our houses nowadays, whereas in the past they`d have nested under the eaves. We have also taken out a lot of hedgerows in our inner cities and filled in all of the nooks and crannies on the outside of our houses with p.v.c. Also some modern farming practices, pesticides, the lack of weed seeds and a change to planting times all play their part.

Tips to help.

Leave parts of your garden to go wild.

You don`t have let your garden get hopelessly overgrown, but areas of long grass are a great habitat for insects and nearly all small birds need insects during the breeding season to provide protein for their young.

Plant plenty of native species.

As they will provide seed foods for birds and attract insects. Annual plants that produce seeds in late summer are a good source of food in the autumn and delaying cutting back your perennials until the spring means the seed heads provide winter food. Berry-bearing trees are always good for attracting birds. Varieties of cotoneasters, pyracantha and rowans are popular for redwings, fieldfares and waxwings.

Give the birds a banquet.

With lots of feeders and a variety of food including seeds and energy rich foods like fat balls. Various birds will always come back to your garden so if you put feeders out you must always make sure you keep them topped up. Great tits, blue tits,long tailed tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, robins, blackbirds and starlings. Theses species doing well largely because of their success adopting  to garden feeders.

Provide a home to nest.

Many garden birds share a willingness to use nest boxes. But you can buy boxes that fit under your eaves to attract house- nesting species. Boxes with metal reinforcement around the opening can stop woodpeckers and squirrels from getting in to them as well.

The bufonidae family (toads)

The common toad.

The common toad has a dry,warty skin and is generally brown, yellowish,greyish or olive green with dark brown spots on their skin. The common toad is an amphibian so it will always come back to the water to breed, but will quite happily live on land when not breeding.Toad migration starts in March or early April which can be a spectacular affair. What the toads are doing is leaving they hibernation places and head straight for their breeding pools. They will be in their hundreds, crossing roads on mass. Because of this many are killed in the process. Common toads like to spawn in fairly deep water and are more particular where they spawn compared to common frogs. Male toads will start to croak to attract females, he will then clasp her tightly from behind and fertilise her spawn as she lays it. The females lays her eggs in long stringy lines, usually about seven to ten feet long that will be wrapped around various water plants. The eggs then develop into tadpoles and then young toads after about fourteen weeks. Their development depends on the weather in spring. Young toads then leave the pool in June or July, with about one in twenty surviving. Unlike common frogs, toads walk whereas frogs leap to get about. Male toads are ready to breed after three years with female being ready after four years. Male toads heavily out number females at breeding time. Toads like to eat live prey, such as worms,insects and even small mammals which they will swallow whole. They will normally sit and wait for their prey to come into their range. They seize them by sticking out out their long sticky tongue which is rooted at the front of their mouth and can extend to about one inch.. The female will be up to four inches in total with the male being slightly smaller than the female. They are preyed on by grass snakes and hedgehogs which are immune to bufagin, this is the foul tasting substance which is ommitted in their skin so deterring most other predators. Toads mainly hunt at night and mainly in the wet. A toads pupils are circuler at night, they contract back to being a small slit in the day time. Their pupil is black and bordered by a yellow iris. Common toads hibernate from October to the middle of March, but this does variey depending on the part of Britain where they live. They may hibernate under logs or in dry stone walls near to their breeding pools. Gardens and parks are quite common places to fing toads. They leave the pools after spawning and spend most of the day under logs, emerging at night. Common toads may live up to about ten years in the wild.

Nature walks.

Part one.

Many animals and quite a few birds make their home`s underground. So while you are out and about walking in various habitats, i am going to tell you what to look out for.

Badger sets - Look out for large holes (normally eight inches or more). Their will be quite a few holes spread out on a hill side, where established runs converge. Chewed up blue- bell bulbs in spring, excavated earth or nettles and elder trees are a few other signs of a badger earth as well.

Rabbit warrens- Their will be numerous burrows  (about four inches wide each) that will be made in disturbed barren ground. Look out for their droppings on high points, as this is the way they mark their territory.

A kingfisher hole- Kingfishers make a solitary hole in a river bank. They will mark the entrance  by bird droppings. Look out for the male during spring bringing fish to the female at the nest. He will normally bring fish to a over hanging branch by the nest and wait for the female to come and collect it. This will either be for his courtship display,or for the female to feed her chicks. Also look out for lots of droppings around the hole. You can tell by the way he has the fish in his beak whether he will be eating the fish or whether he will passing the fish to the female or to the chicks. The fish `s head will be facing outwards if he is going to give the fish to someone else or the fish`s tail will be facing outwards if he is going to eat the fish hgimself.

Water vole burrows- Although these little mammals are now extremely rare, there are programmes to re-introduce them back into the wild in Britain. They have declined dramatically over the last twenty years or so mainly down to the mink, who itself has established lots of territories around brooks,rivers and canals.
They make their small holes (about three inches wide ) in the river bank and they are linked by surface runs. Look out for grass that has been chewed down the stem or listen out for a plop as they enter the water.

The hylidae family.

Part one the European tree frog.

The tree frog is very small compared to the common frog, with the males being up to one and a half inches and the females may be up to two inches in size. The tree frogs are slender with long legs. They are found over most of main land Europe, but were introduced to Britain from Europe at the start of the last century. Their are colonies in the new forest and south east London.  Their dorsal (back) skin is smooth whereas their ventral (abdomen) skin is granular. Their skin colour can range from a light green to grey depending on their temperature, climate or even their mood. Their ventral skin colour is normally white. The tree frog has dark brown lateral stripe on their back that runs from their eyes to their groin. Females have a white throat and males have a golden brown throat with a large folded vocal sacs. They have a rounded face with a very recognisable ear drum, the tree frogs pupils are a shape of a horizontal ellipse. Like most frogs the hind legs are stronger and more powerful the their fore legs, enabling them to jump rapidly. The tree fogs also has suction pads on its toes enabling them to climb among trees and shrubs, it does this normally at night where it will catch insects. Marshland,reed beds, meadows, gardens and parks are their favoured habitats. If the weather is about to change and start to rain tree frogs will start to croak as the pressure changes( they are like barometers). They main food source is beetles,spiders,flies and small caterpillars. They hibernate from late October until March and will use a hiberaculum which will be under walls,rocks or even in cellars. Tree frogs re-produce in stagnant bodies of water, such as lakes,ponds or swamps. They will gather at these place after they come out of hibernation in March right up to June. The males will croak during the breeding season, they will normally start as they are approaching their pools. Unlike other frogs the tree frog may change his breeding ponds, sometimes they will have two breeding areas during the same breeding season. After a spring rainfall the males will call the females away from the vegetation they were in to the pond where the males are. After spawning the females will lay up to a thousand eggs in walnut sized clump. The tadpoles hatch after about ten to fourteen days. After about three months, the tadpoles will metamorphosise into frogs, this occurs between July and August. The tree frog may live up to fifteen years in the wild.

The ranidae family.

Part three the edible frog.

The edible frog is closely related to the marsh frog, and was introduced to Britain in the nineteenth century from the continent. The edible frog is slightly bigger than the common frog, and its bright green colouration which makes it very distinctive. The more common name for the this frog is the European frog or the common water frog. The edible frog gets its name from its legs being used as a food delicacy in France. There are a few scattered colonies in the south east of England and East Anglia. Female edible frogs are between five to nine centimeters with the male being between six and eleven centimeters in length. The complex of waterways and ponds around the Surrey area has made this species very successful with a growing population. The edible frog will spawn a  lot later than the common frog, normally you can hear the loud call of the male edible frog in May. Their tadpoles grow considerably larger than the common frogs tadpoles before the metamorphose stage. Because of this they may on occasion over-winter as tadpoles and metamorphosis the following spring. They differ from the marsh frog by having a smaller hind leg in proportion to its body, and a different sized meta-tarsal tubercle(this is the bulge found at the base of their smallest rear toe).

Bird terms part one.

Atrical.

This is the term for birds that are designed to stay in the nest . This is the reason why the chicks are hatched naked, so there is no need for thick downy cover.

Clutch

This is the term for when the female bird lays her eggs.

Branching

This is the term for when  fledgling birds leave their nest for the first time.

Feathers in pin.

This is the term when birds flight feathers start to come through.

Burrow diversity.

This is when animals and birds will share burrows.