Nature Notes March 2023
Nature Notes March 2023
Despite the weather forecast threatening snow, it is beginning to feel that spring is on its way. In the warm sunshine before the latest wintery weather, a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee droned, drunkenly past and crash landed amongst the fresh leaves of White Deadnettle at the bottom of the garden. She had obviously only just emerged from hibernation, probably in a mouse hole along the roadside bank, and was not fully awake. The Cherry Plum trees are in full flower in the hedgerows and the first small clump of frogspawn was laid in our pond overnight.
On a walk round Booton Common, the glistening red saucers of Scarlet Elf Cup lit up the damp, mossy, woodland floor, while pale Primroses blossomed along a dry, sunny bank. In the wet woodland it was possible to follow the trails of Roe Deer, wending their way between boggy patches, to reach an area dotted with Spurge Laurel bushes. This small shrub has the misfortune of looking rather like a small rhododendron bush and so is enthusiastically cut down by conservation volunteers when scrub bashing. It flourishes best in damp alkaline woodland, as at Booton, as opposed to drier, acid ground preferred by rhododendron. It only grows to about 60cm tall, is unpalatable to deer, and has clusters of yellow green flowers in early spring which are sweetly scented to attract pollinating insects. It is clearly thriving in the wet Alder Carr.
Booton Common is also a refuge for one of our most secretive wading birds. Woodcock have a wonderful cryptically
patterned plumage in many shades of brown. They are so camouflaged that it is possible to be looking straight at one sitting quietly on the woodland floor and not be able to see it. They do feed in the open, but only at night, sleeping amongst leaf litter, or under clumps of bramble by day. In the summer months, the males fly around the edges of their territories at dawn and dusk, warning off rivals with a strange gruff, frog-like sound followed by a high, far carrying ‘twisick’ call, in a ritual known as ‘roding’. Even more strangely, a female bird has very occasionally been seen to carry one of her young when startled: tucked between her legs and body with extra support from her tail or in her claws or beak. How extraordinary is that!
Do let me know if you see any interesting wildlife (rachel.42rr@btinternet.com)