Spiders.

In Autumn a male house spider faces the most important and dangerous journey of his life. His mission is to seek out a female spider. But to reach her he may have to risk his own life. For the past year he has lived on his web, its an architectural wonder. On tip toes, feathery hairs on his feet stop him from sinking through the web. But a flat footed fly will some become entangled once he has flown into the web. Once the fly in on the web the spider will pick up the vibrations with the sensitive hairs on his body, he then strikes. Venom injected by needle like fangs quickly subdues his prey. Powerful jaws and digestive enzymes soon break down the fly. This will be the spiders last supper, autumn has arrived and the urge to mate has become overwhelming. When the time is right he leaves the safety of his web. Now he must venture into an unknown land where a female house spider awaits. Out in the open the spider is exposed to predators like great tits. When he gets to the house, he`s confronted with a weird landscape.  A world away from his wooden shed and his web. He has to climb a huge wooden mountain,  a staircase. Its a long way up, but he can grip onto all of the cracks and crevices on the staircase. Just like us spiders need to drink so he is drawn towards the water in the bathroom. Into danger, if he falls into the water he could drown if he can`t get out. The water surface tension will keep him afloat for a while. Our baths and sinks are death traps to spiders, but a flannel makes it easier for spiders to get out safely. His hairs on his body and his exoskeleton do repel water, so after a good groom he will soon dry off. In a spare room a female spider has spun a web, as soon as the spider touches the web, receptors on his body sense the females pheromones, he must be careful though as she may mistake him for food. He begins a courtship dance, drumming his pelps and bobbing his ofisfoma. The female listens to the vibrations and is satisfied with the suitor. She allows him to approach, he uses his pelps to transfer his sperm. After mating he takes up residents in her web. But the danger isn`t over. A rival male may approach the web, you see the female stores sperm over the winter, she then fertilises the eggs next spring. So the first male will have to fight any intruders to make sure he is the father  of the off-spring. Each male could deliver a toxic bite, so it could be a fight to the death. But the rival spider is normally pushed away from the web. He will then return to the female spider, his mission is now complete and he won`t survive the winter. He has made sure that a new generation of his will appear next year.

niche seperation.

The way different animals make use of it. An oak tree is beautiful, and an oak woodland is an incredibly rich habitat in the United Kingdom. It supports a vast amount of life and the reason for that is the oaks have been growing for longer than any other species. So lots of invertebrate herbivores like caterpillars, bugs and beetles have learned to feed on them. This the food for birds, so that's why its such a rich habitat. But how do they all live in a oak woodland, feeding on the same trees at the same time. This is  something niche separation.They portion themselves so they reduce the amount of competition. They find different ways of feeding in the same place at the same time. How does it work? Lets start at the bottom of the oak tree. The ground beneath the oak tree has plenty of insects and other invertebrate's living on it. This is the food for robins, blackbird, thrushes and even redstarts. Then we have the trunk, this home to some charismatic members of the oak community, the treecreeper and nuthatch. Treecreepers climb up the tree closely examining all of the crevices, into which they put their very fine bill to remove their prey. Nuthatches will go up and down the tree looking for similar things. The nuthatches bill is slightly larger than the treecreeper and they will also eat a little bit of fruit. Then you have the greater spotted woodpecker, if there is any dead wood the greater spotted woodpecker will peck it open on the trunk. The greater spotted woodpecker will even excavate a nesting hole. As we go higher the trunk will separate onto its boughs and branches. You then have a different set of birds living up there. Most notably, members of the tit family. The smaller the bird the further it will go out, away from the main trunk. Turning the leaves over looking for caterpillars, hanging onto little branches. Because of all of this it means that all this can survive on an oak tree at exactly the same time. This is why a walk in an oak woodland during spring is so rewarding.

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.

Things to look out for in November.

The weather is now becoming much more Autumnal, The winds are becoming stronger, with all of the leaves that all have fallen to the ground blowing around. Most of the leaves from the deciduous trees have now fallen. Red wings and fieldfares have now made the long journey from Scandinavia to winter in Britain. They will be seen amongst hawthorn and apple trees, Finding the remaining hawthorn berries and apples. Their have been quite a few mentions of waxwings around Worcestershire. This bird is also a migrant that Winters in Britain. The fallow,sika and red deer will be finishing their rut by now. After the ruts the males, who don`t eat during the rut will feed well getting ready for the onset of winter. The females will also stay together during winter. The females will give birth during may or June of the following year. Chaffiinches and pied wagtails,linnets,bramblings and greenfinches may be seen in mixed flock species( i will be talking about this in a later blog). They are searching for food, which could be any leftover seeds that are still  in the hedgerow or even any late surviving nuts that may still be on the ground. Blue,coal and great tits will be seen on the feeders as they themselves are eating well,getting ready for the cold months ahead as well.  Seven spotted ladybirds will be attempting to enter our houses as they seek somewhere to hibernate over winter. Late migrant red admirals  and comma`s may still be seen amongst the ivy along with queen bumble bees, as long as we havn`t really had a cold snap yet. Wood mice,yellow-necked mice, bank and field voles will still be searching for hazel nuts to eat amongst the leaf litter. Protein rich hazel nuts are important food for a variety of creatures. You can tell what animals have been around by examining the empty shells. A woodmouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, with marks of their upper teeth evident. A bank vole will leave a round hole on the top of the hazelnut, with a clearly delineated gnawed edge. A hazel dormouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, unlike the woodmouse the edges will be smooth. Hedgehogs will be getting ready to hibernate during November. They use a process called gluco neogenisis to enable them to hibernate, I will be talking about this as well during a later blog. The hedgehogs along with the common dormice and our seventeen species of bats are the only British mammals that hibernate. With the onset of winter food can run short for certain species, so they face the simple choice to move with the food or hibernate and these three species choose to hibernate. Starlings may be seen in large roosts during November, We are not quite sure why they roost in such large numbers, possibilities include safety in numbers, increasing their foraging efficiency or simply for warmth. Its a wonderful sight as they fly around, moving all the time like a shoal of fish in the air then suddenly all descending onto the ground.

Things to look out for in june.

Bombus pratorum on some bramble.

June is a wonderful month to go for a nice walk with a pair of binoculars to see how many fledgling birds you can spot. Blue tits,great tits,robins,green finches,gold finches and black birds should be able to be seen. I counted four blue tits and five great tit fledglings while i was out walking last week. Make sure that the feeders in your gardens are topped up as the parent and fledgling birds will come to rely on them. The word tit comes from an Icelandic word tittr, Meaning a small bird or just anything small. Make sure that you don`t throw any peanuts on to the floor as the fledglings may choke on them. Nearly all of us will have urban or country red foxes living by us, Whether you live in the town or the country. To find out where the red foxes are, Is to find out where their breeding earth, Then you can enjoy some fantastic viewing. It`s not as hard as you think to find their earth, Small copses or a stand of trees in a park or an tucked away areas of wasteland are good areas to start looking. When you thing their could be red fox earth look for a single hole that is a bit bigger than a rabbits hole and a little bit smaller than a badgers entrance. Because the young cubs are now getting very playful look out for their toys around the earth,These could be bones,feathers,rabbits feet or even whole wings. All of the vegetation will be flattened around the earth as well. One thing that will make you know that its a red fox earth is the strong smell coming from it. This is a good month to look out for meadow brown,speckled wood and common blue butterflies.Birdfoot trefoil,knapweed and ox eye daisies are just a few flowers you might see them on. A walk through any woodland will bring up a male speckled wood, Fluttering in front of you then back down to their sunspot, This will most probably be the second generation this year of the speckled wood butterfly. The meadow brown is Britain's most common butterfly, Whats unusual about the meadow brown is that the female is brighter than the male.(male butterflies are normally brighter than the females).The female lays single eggs on grasses such as cocks foot, The caterpillars can live for up to nine months before they start hatching in the middle of June if the weather is warm enough.

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Banded demoiselle damsefly.

Banded damoseilles can now be seen up and down rivers and brooks, This will also mean that their are caddis and alder fly on the wing as well, As this is one of their main foods. A week fluttering flight,a more delicate build and the fact that a damselfly can hold their wings either vertically over their body like a butterfly or horizontally (a dragon fly only hold their wings horizontally) are the main differences from a damselfly to a dragon fly. Dog roses,campions,honeysuckle,elder flower and ragged robins are just a few plants you may see in flower during June. Particularly elder flower will encourage a whole host of insects to its beautiful flowers, Hover flies, wasps and bees will be drawn to the beautiful white flowers. Also look out for black,orange and brown soldier beetles, They are attracted to the flowers in the search of other insects for them to hunt. Also look out for either the black and yellow Caterpillar of the cinnabar moth or the moth itself depending once again on how warm it has been. The cinnabar moth is easily disturbed so look out for its lovely scarlet wings in flight. Finally a tale of two wonderful insects, Firstly the lesser stag beetle which is smaller than the stag beetle, This is still a wonderful beetle to see though, But neither the male or the female develop the large mandibles that the stag beetle develops(i will be talking about stag beetles next month). Secondly the scorpion fly, This actually related to the mecoptera order, This the same order as lace wings and alder flys. So its not the same as a house fly or a hover fly because they have a different metamorphose stage. I will be talking about metamorphism in a later post. Their name comes from the shape of the males sexual organs, Which are bulbous and resemble the tail part of a scorpion. They are at the tip of his body and are normally curled up over his wings. Scorpion flys are harmless and are mainly found along hedgerows and in gardens. They have long beak-like mouth parts which they use to eat either decaying plant material, or feeding on dead or wounded insects. The males are true gentlemen,offering gifts of saliva or guarding a food item from other males while emitting a pheromone to attract a female and once she is satisfied ,mating commences. Look out for little tadpoles of smooth newts around some ponds where you have seen them spawning in spring, Disturb the weeds around the warm edges of your newt pond and you should uncover Little newts,(their tadpoles are just smaller versions of the adult newts). The fluffy little things sticking out of the side of its head are their gills.

things to look out for in march.

A common frog.

Its been a little bit colder this winter so everything is a couple of weeks later than normal.The equinox is here on the 21`st of march and that marks the first day of spring.As a pagan i celebrate the equinox as a really important festival because of all of the life that's now starting to manifest in so many different shapes and colours.Bluebells,ramsons,wood anemones and flowering hawthorn blossom are four things to look out for as we move into spring.There is something special about walking through a woodland when the bluebells are in flower.In my experiences trench wood by sale green is my favourite woodland for bluebells.Greater spotted woodpeckers are normally hidden from view,But you might be lucky like me and have one visit your feeders in your garden.If you don`t see one in your garden than head out to the woods with a dead stick,Find a hollow-sounding tree trunk and hammer the trunk in small bursts as fast as you can.With luck your hammering will encourage a territorial woodpecker to come and investigate your hammering,Giving you a lovely view of the bird.common Frog spawn should start to appear from now onwards as common frogs are the earliest amphibians to emerge from hibernation and will head straight towards their breeding grounds ,common Frog spawn is always in a ball whereas toad spawn is always in a line.Towards the end of spring tiny little tadpoles will start to emerge in lakes and ponds throughout Worcestershire.March is the best month to look out for brown hares as well,Brown hares may be seen courting in any month but because there is no lush vegetation for them to hide in march is a good month to spot them.Lowland pasture or ploughed fields are good places to look for them.Robins,Blackbirds,Blue and Great tits and song thrushes should be able to be heard now staking out their territories.Look out for where these birds are singing as it will normally be overlooking their territories.Also look out for our commonest newt,the smooth newt which resembles a smaller and slicker version of the greater crested newt.Toads and the other two species of newts,greater crested and the palm newt will all breed as well through march.Adders will start to emerge from hibernation as well as it starts to get warmer.
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Small tortoiseshell on a spear thistle.

Brimstone,comma,peacock and small tortoiseshells should be out being seduced by the beautiful spring sunshine.Primroses should be out in force by the end of march,They get their name from the words prima rose meaning the first rose but they are not actually a rose.Bumble bees such as bombus pratorum and bombus hortorum will be seen visiting long tubular flowers,the first can be identified by an orange band on its abdomen and the latter by a white band on its abdomen.Buzzards can be seen as they hunt over meadowland,They are getting ready to have their young later on in spring.Normally they would be looking for carrion but at the start of the year they can be seen hunting.