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.

Gluco neo-genisis.

With the one set of winter, food can run short for certain species of mammals. They face a simple choice, They either move with the food or they hibernate. Only three British mammals hibernate: Bats, hedgehogs and hazel dormice ( edible dormice hibernate as well). They are all mainly insectivores, As there are not so many insects about in winter they all hibernate. That is how and this is why: They all have to master gluco neo-genesis. They learn to chill their bodies right down and slow their heartbeats down as well. They also reduce their metabolism down by ninety nine per-cent. Before they hibernate they take on two types of fat. The first type of fat they take on is white atopos fat which through the process of gluco neo-genesis they get their energy. The second type of fat they take on is brown atopos fat. This is equally essential because while they still metabolise at one per-cent they still produce waste. They have to wake up from hibernation as well to burn brown atopos fat to produce heat as well. While they wake up they have a quick wee and poo and also have a quick sleep, because they don`t truly sleep while hibernating.

Samhain

This is a pagan cross quarter festival of autumn`s end and the beginning of winter. It is the right time to connect energy and for internalising the creative life force. Increasing darkness and cold means we must all accept that winter is fast approaching and we must adjust to the changing seasons. Leaves have fallen from the deciduous tress, birds have migrated, certain animals have gone into hibernation(hazel dormice,hedgehogs and our seventeen species of bats), The first frosts have come. It is time of death and decay all around us, Death of the old, and within us , knowledge of re-birth at the spring equinox.It is a time of forced adjustments which, once accepted, reveal a new set of possibilities, a new phase and a new power of life. Like its counterpart beltain, Samhain brings a mystical energy at a magical time which we can use to explore and understand ourselves better. This is the dark phase of the year`s cycle when the mystery of transformation occurs. The process involves a descent and a death of something old in preparation for something new to be re-born. The descent into the underworld or otherworld can be understood as a journey into the unconscious and the spirit realms within each of us. Here we can find renewal through meditation, trance,rest,sleep,and by sacrificing our outer selves for a while. The seeds of our ideas and future direction in life are incubated in our unconscious during the winter months, along with all the roots of the trees and seeds of all of our plants are getting ready for re-birth at the spring equinox. We can honour the cycle by being aware that each end and death of the old will bring opportunity for a new start,as each beginning holds within it an end. The endless cycle of change is necessary, bringing renewal of cells, of ourselves,our understanding and our ideas. It means there are always new opportunities to start again and to stay healthy. Many illnesses are rooted in stuck energy patterns, emotional congestion and hanging onto the past. We have been taught to fear our inner world and to mistrust the information we may receive through insights,intuition, and our connection to our own inherent inner wisdom. Many of our actions come from our subconscious and we may not always be aware of these subtle patterns and conditioned responses that are such a part of us and which may silently rule our lives. We need to understand our unconscious selves, and to learn to listen to our inner voice. We can use the energy of the dark time of the year to explore these inner parts of ourselves. We need to face our fear of the dark mysteries, magic and our deep unwanted feelings which we may have pushed inside and not recognised as our own. We need to turn and face what these mean to us, free the energies, the potential inherent in the experience. From this courageous journey for all of within nature will come transformation, a balanced perspective and re-birth in the age-old tradition of samhain. Look for ways to find the divine within all of us at this period of rest and regeneration before re-birth.