Nature Notes
Contributed by Beryl Day
The summer quarter gave birds and small mammals better cover but the sounds and smells were an excellent accompaniment to walks and there were plenty of wild flowers to see - if only I were better acquainted with the different plants!
Plum Tree Piece and beyond:
May: Early mornings are heralded by birdsong, which persists almost all day. Pigeons flap from their perches while it is still dark; the dead nettles and elder are in flower. A white-bibbed, sharp-eared red fox stalks the furrows in the evening sun. Swifts overhead. Cock Chaffinch calls from perch in top of tree.
June: Sand martins. A solitary roe deer up to her neck in green wheat. Scarlet Pimpernels are flowering on the fringes of the wheat fields; they open for only a short time each day (from around 8 in the morning to mid-afternoon) and always shut during dull or wet weather, hence their nicknames ‘poor man’s weatherglass’ and ‘shepherd’s sundial’. Elderflower blossoms - cream, lacy and heavy with pollen - Nature’s bounty for the winemaker.
July: Swallows swooping over the ripening wheat and composing tunes on overhead lines. Dense pink flowers bloom on Rosebay Willowherb, also known as ‘Fireweed’ due to its propensity to colonise ground cleared by fire.
August: Sound of wheat popping. Nervous and aggressive buzzards - three of them - circling the copse, screeching at walkers to stay away. Green woodpeckers calling from tree behind Spotted Cow. Sudden movements in the uncut wheat - rabbits? Mice? Snakes? Speckled Wood Butterfly spotted on a walk to Castle Eaton.
September: The tawny owl has been hooting regularly at midnight and at dawn and the buzzards are still shrieking if walkers venture too close to their roost. The wheat ears are bending over now, gold giving way to grey. We have a few curious sightings of roe deer grazing the husks; they are visible only from the neck up and sometimes only their ears can be seen, like inverted wishbones. Seeking a closer look, we disturb them and watch them leap away like springboks across the over-ripe wheat. In the third week in September the wheat is finally gathered in and a displaced roe deer is glimpsed in the pheasantry. Walking the newly ploughed fields we see a young fox disappearing into his hole and a grass snake wriggling across the end of the squeeze-stone path on BR3.
As September gives way to October, misty mornings block the views of the Berkshire Downs and Uffington White Horse and concentrate the eye on dewed cobwebs and squirrels seeking hiding places for their winter stores. The swallows are lining up on power lines for an imminent departure and rooks and gulls are congregating on the newly turned earth on Plum Tree Piece. Autumn’s larder denies us many blackberries and sloes this year but there is a lot of bird activity as they gorge on berries, hips and haws - eating for a hard winter? We will see……
Village Gardens:
May: Lilac, wisteria, rowan and laburnum are all in flower. The green woodpecker yaffles in the morning and the tawny owl hoots at night.
June: Large groups of long-tailed tits playing tag in lime trees.
July: Green woodpeckers are very active and numerous, in and out of lime and apple trees - signs of fledglings being taught to fly. Discarded goldfinch nest found under apple tree.
August: An influx of butterflies - gatekeeper, ringlet and brimstone - attracted by the marjoram flowers in the herb bed, a red admiral on a greenhouse ledge and a Chalkhill Blue in conifers.
September: Tortoiseshell butterfly suns itself on a conservatory sill. Willow warbler amongst the tall grasses.
Village Ponds:
May: Bull rushes in bud. A tiny frog shows expertise in breast stroke while a toad croaks from the depths of a conifer at the water‘s edge. Blue and red damsel flies skitter over the surface.
July: Dragonflies are now outranking the damsels - several find their way indoors and have to be rescued.
Back Lane:
July: Hay is baled in the paddock. The cow parsley is all but over now - but the hollow stems still make good pea-shooters!
Castle Eaton:
June: Between the turn and the bridge, grey heron, yellow hammer, oyster catcher, chaffinch, wood pigeon, pied wagtail, magpie all noted. Rabbits, squirrels and a dragonfly dart amongst the hedgerow flowers.
Round House Farm:
June: Two grey herons and a pair of whitethroats.
C116:
May: One for the twitchers: Terry Skellern reports a Red Kite flying low, forked tail clearly visible.
If you spot anything unusual, or simply enjoyable, please email: berylday@tiscali.co.uk and I will include it in next quarter’s Nature Notes.