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.

Locating different animals.

Most of us only get to visit our local park or woodland during the day. The problem is a lot of British wildlife is nocturnal. So how can we tell what is going on in our woods when we are tucked up in bed? There are clues everywhere, first of all you can look for one of the most obvious ones, an animal trail. This could be a deer print in the mud which are called slots or a badger footprint. When you are looking you will probably come across domesticated animal prints as well(sheep,cows etc). What you really want is a number of different clues, then put them all together and you should know what you are trailing. Keep a look out for animal poo, some times (scat) animal excrement is hard to identify. Badgers are quite easy to recognise as they dig a little pit called a latrine and poo in the middle of it. Some poo has a characteristic smell.The smell is normally diagnostic of the animal, otter spraint smells like violets, pine martins smeel quite sweet and badgers poo normally smells woody. If you identify a badger set, look out for badger runs and you may be lucky enough to find a footprint. Once you have found all of the clues you should then be able to follow a trail, you can then see what the animal has been doing at night. I followed a badger trail the other night, first of all it trotted along sniffing from side to side, it stopped at a mole hill to have a root around or to eat an earth worm. It then carried on along the path until it went under a barbed wire fence, catching some hairs on it as it passed underneath. If you do find lots of signs from a certain animal, it may be a good idea to stake the area out at night time. You can then see if there is any activity while yoy are there, wait for a dark night when there isn`t a full moon.

Deer in the forest.

Roe deer are particularly numerous in the coniferous forests of northern Britain, but are shy creatures that will disappear into the trees if disturbed. They are most likely to be seen as they cross a forest ride. At about two years old a roe buck acquires a territory that he normally occupies for life. The size varies, and may cover between 12-75 acres. During spring and summer, the buck patrols of his territory, marking it by rubbing scent from his head glands against trees and fighting with intruding bucks. Roe does also have territories, but do not defend them. They often overlap with those of other does and several bucks. Deer of any species may cause considerable damage to trees by fraying bark when they clean their antlers, by breaking branches when they thrash with their antlers at rutting time and also by stripping bark to eat.  A tree`s growth may be distorted, and if bark is rubbed or stripped off all  round, the tree will die. Deer also browse on accessible shoots, large deer reaching as high as 6-7ft when standing on their hind legs. In commercial forests the damage can be serious and new plantations in traditional red deers areas are normally fenced off. All deer like to browse on the brambles that grow in clearings, with roe deer being especially fond of them.

Santuary and sustenance in the wetlands.

Marshland and waterside areas are attractive to many mammals because they offer good shelter and varied food. Waterside plants are often luxuriant and include dense masses of tall rushes, reeds and sedges where animals can hide. Clumps of alder growing growing at the water`s edge provide roosting spots for bats in crannies behind fissured bark, alder leaves are also favourable with beavers as they don`t contain many tannins. On wetlands, animals are safe from disturbance because few people, and fewer vehicles, venture for over squelchy ground. Some mammals- bats and water deer for example- live near the water and take advantage of what it offers without getting too wet. But beavers, coypus(these are smaller than a beaver, their is debate whether there are any still living in Britain), water voles, water shrews and otters spend a lot of time in the water. Water voles and coypus feed on waterside plants. So in a few places , do chinese water deer.Leaf eating larvae, including many moth caterpillars, also live on plants and both the larvae and the adults are good food for bats. The water itself also provides a food supply for bats, because the larvae of gnats, mosquitoes, mayflies and many other insects live in the water, emerging in their thousands as they become adults. Damp waterside soils are full of earthworms, which shrews and moles feed on. Fish, frogs and other creatures in the water provide food for the carnivorous otter and mink.

The muridae family.

Part four the house mouse.

Unlike other mice, the house mouse has a strong smell and greasy fur. It taints the places it lives in, which include houses, warehouses, hospitals and other public buildings. Mice also leave their black droppings and their urine wherever they have been, which carry diseases and parasites, they also cause damage by their gnawing. Although house mice only live for about eighteen months, and many die in their first winter, it is hard for humans to get rid of them. They breed so fast that in one summer the mice from one nest will have multiplied many times over. Females bear from five to ten litters in one year with each litter containing up to six young. The young will leave the nest after about three weeks, the females are then ready to breed after about another three weeks. House mice normally live within a couple of metres of their food supply, moving on when food is short. Mice have chisel like front teeth that grow all of the time,  they use to gnaw their way through wires. Many different kinds of stored foods will attract house mice, which is mostly active at night. Alert and nimble, it has prominent ears, big eyes and a pointed face. Its grey-brown coat is greasy and glistening and its tail long and scaly. The male is about seven inches in length including tail, with the female being slightly smaller.  They are widespread, mostly found around buildings but may also be found in hedgerows and on farmland. Males will fight to establish social dominance and a territory. Highly adaptable, house mice can live in all sorts of places. Some even thrive in frozen meat stores, developing longer fur to keep them warm. Where food is plentiful house mice may live in fields and hedgerows during the summer. But few will survive cold weather outdoors, most spend the winter in buildings.

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.

Are cats a problem to wildlife?

With about nine million cats in the U.K and with some garden birds in decline, should we worry about the impact cats have on our birds. Now millions of years of evolution have led cats to be fairly tuned ambush predators, excellent at catching tiny animals. Years of domestication have done nothing to undo it. But how much effect these hunting skills have might not be as clear as we think. A recent mammal society survey estimated that cats bring in around 55 million dead birds every year. But how significant is that? It sounds like a huge amount, which certainly upsets a lot of people. But to find out if this is an issue this is what the r.s.p.b said. Research into the reason why some urban birds are declining has so far not revealed a link between cat predation and what the populations are doing. British birds have evolved over thousands of years to deal with a wide range of predators ,mammalian predators which include, stoats weasels, foxes, badgers and otters. Birds will also lay lots of eggs to combat these predators, but sadly most will not survive. Evidence is also there to say that cats will take weaker or sick birds that are unlikely to survive their first year. So they don`t think cats have a major impact on bird population. Some scientists though doubt the accuracy of the research being used. The stats say that cats bring in 30% of what they kill, so with 55 million birds being brought home there is roughly 128 million dead birds that we don`t see. Could we be underestimating the number of birds that cats kill. We have rely upon figures derived from other studies, unfortunately those other studies come from non urban habitats and even from other countries, so the reason for using 30% is its the only accurate figure we have to go on. What we need is a new technique that enables us to see what the cats are doing in our gardens. Cat com is being fitted to some cats so we can actually see what our cats get up to. This should give us some more accurate data to go on, showing us the impact cats have in urban areas.