The ranidae family.

Part two the marsh frog.

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

Things to look out for in December.

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

Winter Solstice

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

Counter current flow heat exchange.

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

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

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.

The ranidae family.(frogs)

Part one the common frog.

A common frog.

Open woods,ponds,shady habitats and lush pastures are typical places where you might find common frogs. They don`t like to be to far from water. But they are now becoming more common in our gardens that have ponds. They are found throughout most of Britain. Frogs eat small insects and slugs and snails, they have got long sticky tongues that shoot out to enable them to catch their prey. Because of this they are a welcome visitor to anyone`s garden. They like to hunt at night when it is cooler, during the day they may be seen hiding in tall grass. The common frog lives in damp places on land for most of the year. They are well camouflaged so they normally blend in well. They have a dark patch behind their eye which is distinctive, But their body colour varies from dark-greenish to grey or even sometimes chestnut-yellow with  Their skin being moist. On rare occasions you may evan see an albino common frog. They have a rounded snout with large black pupils that are flecked with gold and brown, their nostrils and eyes are positioned on the top of their head . Their eyes have  transparent inner eye-lids to protect them when they are under water. The female is about three inches in length with the male being slightly smaller. Adult common frogs have long hind legs with shorter fore legs. Their hind legs have webbed toes whereas their fore legs don`t. They use their hind legs to enable them to leap or hop, they do not crawl like toads.  They hibernate from November through to early March depending on the climate, they hibernate in a hiberaculum in a sheltered place on land or at the bottom of ponds. Frogs have lungs so when on land they use these but when under water they breathe through their skin. After hibernation they emerge to migrate to their breeding ponds. Common frogs will head to the same breeding ponds every year, it`s usually the pond that they were born in. The males arrive first, then the females look for a mate to breed with. The males will hold their own territory and carry on croaking to try and attract a female. When they mate they the position they take is called the ampelexus position. This can last for several days, The male sits on the top of the females back and grasps around her middle section, This normally happens in the water but can occasionally be on land. The female then releases her eggs, upto two thousand eggs which are called spawn. The male fertilizes her eggs with a milky liquid substance. The eggs then form together with a gel coating that thickens in the water. This coating helps to protect the newly fertilized eggs, and warms them slightly to speed development. After spawning the adult frogs will stay in the water until the outside temperature warms up, this is normally in April. If there are to many tadpoles in the water they release a chemical called theroxin. This prevents some of the tadpoles from going through the metamorphosis process. The reason they do this is if there are to many tadpoles in the water there will not be enough food for all of them as tadpoles or froglets. Some of them will stay as tadpoles until there is enough food for them and then they will metamorphosis. This enables the tadpoles to develop at different rates and may leave the water as late as September. The first tadpoles hatch after about fourteen days, by about three months old they have developed four legs, ready for life on land. They emerge from the ponds in June or July and are called froglets, they still have a tadpole tail, but this soon disappears. The frogs reach maturity after about two years. The froglets are pre-dated by blackbirds, but as they become frogs they are pre-dated by a host of animals which include crows, herons, grass snakes, hedgehogs, rats, foxes, and cats. They can live for upto eight years in the wild.

                                                                     A common frog.

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.