Looking forward to
February

Penguins and seals



Braving snow and ice, Wharfedale Naturalists turned out to hear Hannah Lawson, a naturalist guide and photographer, speak on the birds and other wildlife of the Antarctic. Of course, cold weather was no barrier for Hannah, who came to us by train from Hebden Bridge but spends several months each year on the Antarctic Peninsula.

She introduced us to the three penguins of the area - Gentus, Adelies and Chinstraps, and to the visitors, the Emperor and King penguins. The nests of all these species are simple rockpiles and Hannah's excellent, and often amusing, photographs concentrated on individuals to illustrate their way of life. Krill provides their food, and they are themselves eaten by seals. The smallest is the most numerous, the Crabeater seal - 14 million live in Antarctica. The Elephant seal can dive to 1000 metres; leopard seals are largest and prey on young penguins.

The 'tube-nosed' birds which live here include several species of albatross - wandering, black-browed sooty and others - and petrels, and all spend most of their lives at sea. Hannah's pictures reminded us of how beautiful winter weather can sometimes be!

Wildlife in
February

Cold snaps still, but the world is beginning to awake.

• Geese flying in flocks - pink-feet, greylag
  
• Lapwing, at Denton Hall, for instance
• Golden plover on the moor
• Snowdrops! Flowering first in sheltered spots. Winter aconite too.
  

More here

Feather forecast



That big bird flapping slowly along with rounded wings is probably a Heron. By now they are already back at their Heronries building new nests or renovating old ones. Usually the oldest nest are in the best sites, say a tree fork, where they will be secure and get plenty of sunshine towards the top of the tree. These will be occupied by the more mature birds whilst newcomers will build new see-through affairs. They have increased in recent years - another consequence of the mild winters since really cold weather is often fatal to Herons if icy waters mean they are deprived of their food source.

Another bird getting ready for the breeding season is the Tawny Owl. By February territorial boundaries will usually be settled with the nest being in a hollow tree or deserted building. The number of eggs varies depending on the Owl’s experience of the amount of food available at the start of the breeding season. Incubation begins from the first egg laid so that chicks in the nest will vary markedly in size. The younger, smaller chicks will not survive if there is not enough food available, increasing the chance that at least one or two young will fledge in the season.

Plants now

Take a look at the riverside near Denton Bridge at Ilkley and see if you can count the Butterburs! The plant dominates the late winter banks here - it spreads by fragments drifting down the river. The pink flowers have no leaves; they come later and are huge, used in the past of course for wrapping butter. Interestingly, most flowers are male - females are found only in the North and Central England. The male colonies have probably been planted as an early source of pollen and nectar for bees.

Nature Notes
by Jenny Dixon
featured in Wharfedale Newspapers

Visitors

On the morning of The Great Thaw I stepped out into the garden to the sound of bird song. The resident robin, for weeks far too preoccupied with survival to sing, was whistling away lustily and a great tit’s seesaw call rang out from near the gate. Many birds will have perished in the recent icy conditions, but these were survivors and they are resilient!

While mourning for the sufferings of our small birds, we birdwatchers did have the arctic weather to thank for the chance to see some unusual species as desperate visitors arrived at our feeding stations. I was delighted to see crowds of tiny yellow, olive green and black siskins around the nyger seed, the first of the winter, and, through the coldest week, they were joined by redpolls. These are small finches, streaky brown with a bright carmine spot on the brow, the males also have a warm pink flush to the breast feathers. Both sexes have a creamy white line above the eye that gives them a rather stern expression.

My visitors pale into insignificance beside some of the snow surprises I’ve been hearing about. In a garden just a few hundred yards from mine, a woodcock was seen in broad daylight probing around the patches of thawing snow. Easily identifiable by its long bill and those amazing eyes placed almost on top of the head, it’s essentially a bird of the woodland, feeding by night and lying camouflaged among the leaf litter by day. Most people only see one in flight - either jinking off between the trees when disturbed or, at dusk in summer, flying above the treetops patrolling its territory and giving that distinctive grunt and whistle call. Meanwhile, for those who managed to get out as far as the Otley Wetlands Reserve there was a real treat - a visiting bittern. Usually a lurker in reedbeds, it was driven into the open by the ice, and so clearly visible. Now it knows where we are, perhaps it will return in more clement weather.

Not all surprises are unalloyed pleasure. A friend who lives in the wilds beyond Oakworth was snowed up for weeks. Every morning she donned wellingtons and went out to fill up the bird feeders and examine the tracks left by birds and animals. A badger came nightly and foraged under the bird feeders - walking past her front doorstep as he left - exciting news.. Then the thaw came. She decided to dig up one of the twenty fine swedes in her vegetable garden, for so long buried under a foot of snow. Twelve of them had been eaten away leaving empty shells. I have one on my desk now: inside the husk, only a thin layer of flesh remains and this is pocked and dimpled - the work, we guess, of little rodent teeth. In their burrows under the snow, voles and woodmice had a grand time, snug and safe from predators - and dining off the fat of the garden. Now a tawny owl is much in evidence. No surprise there!

More of Jenny's articles here .