The shapes of trees.

Every tree is an individual, whose adult shape reflects the conditions under which it lives. Trees growing close together in a forest are narrower in outline than trees of the same species standing alone in the middle of a park. Winds blowing off the sea make coastal trees grow lop-sided, harsh, mountainous conditions make trees stunted. Young trees put most of their energy into growing upwards, reaching for the light. Later they will broaden to assume the typical adult shape of the species. Pruning also drastically changes the natural shapes of a tree. Coppicing and pollarding are well tried methods for encouraging the growth of new shoots, for firewood, tools or fencing. In coppicing , the tree is cut off at ground level. In pollarding it is cut off higher up the trunk, out of reach of grazing animals. New shoots and branches grow quickly, because there is an excising root system. Trees all grow into different shapes, or managed by humans into different shapes. Here are a few of them, flat topped mainly pines, drooping mainly willows, rounded mainly oaks and ash and beech, up swept mainly cedars, columnar mainly lombardy poplars, triangular mainly western red cedars and lovenge shaped mainly pines and common alders.

Bio mass-living weights of birds.

How productive is your garden? A pigeon can weigh upto 400grams which is equivalent to 40 blue tits or 80 goldcrest. Normally the number of birds are counted and number of species. The higher the bio mass of birds, the better your garden is. I would like you to take one hour to count the maximum number of any species you see in your garden. So if you see one pigeon that is the equivalent of seeing forty blue tits for the bio-mass.

The Muridae family.

Part three the harvest mouse.

One of the worlds smallest rodents, the harvest mouse weighs less than a 2p coin. Because it is so tiny it can climb fast and confidently among thin stalks. As their name implies, harvest mice have always been associated with corfields, but now that these are reaped by machines and then ploughed up, it is difficult for them to live their permanently. They more often live in the long grass at the base of a hedge, invading the growing corn crop in early summer so that they can nest and feed. Tall vegetation such as brambles and rushes is, however, their main summer home, and they are common in reed beds despite the water below. Their peak breeding season is between August and September. When young harvest mice become independent at about 16 days old they are grey-brown, they later moult to their adult colouring. Although harvest mice are threatened by urban development and modern day farming methods such as stubble burning and scrub and hedge removal,( to be fair to farmers they are putting some hedge rows back in to their estates) they may be able to benefit from the huge, motorway embankments. Because they are active by day and night, the mice are likely to be caught by both daytime and nighttime predators, because of this threat most harvest mice only live for a couple of months. The harvest mice has a blunt nose, small ears and yellow-brown fur, they are very agile, this is important because they use their tail as a fifth limb to grasp stalks as they are moving around. They are about two and a half inches in length with their tail being about the same size in length. They are quite widely spread in coarse vegetation and hedgerows, but are not found on higher ground. Their nest is a tennis ball shape fixed about eighteen inches off the ground, they are normally built in grass or reeds. They are about two and a half inches across , the framework is woven from neatly shredded living leaf blades, so the nest hangs between stems. Seeds, grains, grass shoots and soft fruit, as well as insects such as weevils, are all part of the the harvest mouses diet. Because the harvest mouse is very active, it has a large appeteite for its size. There are usually from three to eight young in a litter, born onto a layer of chewed grass leaves. Females are pregnant for 17-19 days and may have three litters in a year, each one in a new nest. When tall plant stems die back in Autumn, the harvest mice are left exposed and seek cover in low vegetation or sometimes in barns . Many mice die during winter, but for the surviving mice their coat is darker so they can blend in better to their surroundings. They build a winter nest which is low, usually in a clump of grass or under a hedge.

Why snakes and lizards bask in the sun.

Although reptiles such as snakes and lizards are usually described as cold-blooded,they spend much of their lives with their bodies nearly as warm as in a warm-blooded animal. What they lack is a means of producing and maintaining their own body heat. To reach a body temperature at which muscles, senses and digestion are fully active (about 77-90f and 25-32c), they have to rely on outside heat-either conducted from their surroundings or, more often, direct from the sun`s rays. In Britain, reptiles are dormant in winter because they cannot reach their working temperatures. In spring they emerge on sunny days, but the sunshine is so weak they need to bask almost all of the time.  As the sun gets stronger, basking time is shorter-mainly early and late in the day- and there is time for hunting and breeding. By midsummer basking is hardly necessary, but as autumn comes the need increases, and finally the animals are forced into hibernation. Reptile species that bear live young can usually survive in cooler climates than those that lay eggs, by basking during pregnancy, they can get enough heat to ensure faster development of the young but warmth cannot ensured for the eggs. This is one reason why the adder and the common lizard, which bear live young, can live further north than the grass snake and sand lizard, which lay eggs.

Summer in a fallow deer park.

Fallow deer are a pleasure to watch at any season, and one of the best places to see them is in a deer park, particularly in late June when most of the fawns are old enough to gambol together in the cool of the evening. Fawns spend much of the day trotting after their mothers and grazing, but are suckled several times a day. Many does suckle their fawns into the new year. The bucks cast their antlers at any time from late March to early June. They spend summer in a bachelor group while new antlers are developing. When the antlers are fully grown, towards the end of August  for older bucks- the soft covering, or velvet, is cleaned off by rubbing them against trees until they are clean and hard, ready for rutting in autumn. In winter, many park deer are provided with extra food, usually hay, which is placed in racks, or root crops such as swede, which are spread on the ground. From two years old a doe normally bears a fawn every years for perhaps ten years or so, herd sizes increase rapidly. To prevent overcrowding and disease and the destruction of their habitat, the deer are regularly culled, bucks from August to April, does from November to February.Animals of different colour varieties interbreed. A fawn is not necessary the same colour as its parent.

The muridae family.

Part two the yellow-necked mouse.

Not only does the yellow- necked mouse resemble a large,sandy coloured wood mouse, but it is very much like the wood mouse in its behaviour. Both mice are strictly nocturnal,with the big ears and eyes of creatures that need to pick up in the dark the faint sound or slight movement that warns them of approaching danger, and both climb well and often search for food among high branches. Both are found in woods, hedgerows and gardens. This seems to contradict a basic biological principle that no two animals can live in the same place and share the same food supply without one ultimately displacing the other. The yellow-necked mouse might be expected to become dominant as it is large, but it is the wood mouse that occurs over most of Britain. Yellow-necked mouse occur in the south, the welsh borders and in some parts of the midlands. Where they do occur, yellow necked mouse may increase to considerable numbers and then inexplicably disappear a year or two later. In parts of the south east, where yellow-necked mice can be quite common, they often go into peoples gardens and even their houses in autumn, perhaps seeking a dry,sheltered place for the winter. Yellow-necked mouse looks very much like a wood mouse, but it is distinguished by its distinct yellow collar, it is also bigger and heavier than the wood mouse,and its sandy brown coat has more orange on the flanks. In total the yellow-necked mouse is about four inched in length, with its tail being as long or longer again. Better climbers than the wood mouse, the yellow-necked mouse are more likely to be found in an attic, they may also be found at the top of a tree searching for new buds. The record they have been found at is ten meters. Like wood mice, yellow necked mice eat mainly seeds and fruit, such as acorns,hazel nuts and blackberries. In summer they also feed on insects and small animals such as snails and spiders. Their nest of grass and leaves is made underground within the burrow. There are five or more babies in a litter, they emerge from the nest when they are about eighteen days old. They rarely live for more that two years in the wild.

Scottish wildcat.

Final part.

A relatively new charity, the Scottish wildcat association has a range of projects, including the establishment of a wildcat haven and captive breeding to boost numbers and the long term survival of this magical animal. Wildcats also have the same range of vocalisations as domestic cats, including purring,meowing,hissing and growling. Except during the mating season, they tend to be quiet animals, vocalising only when they are close to each other. The wildcat is extremely wary of humans, and tends to avoid approaching human settlements. Legends of cats hanging from tree branches by a hook at the end of their tail, dropping onto passing crofters and tearing out their throats are the stuff of fantasy, left over from the middle ages suspicion of cats as agents of witches and maintained through the Victorian era to fuel and justify the persecution of the cats.