Looking
forward to
February
| February 11 |
Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits
Workday |
February
14 |
‘The Landscape of Fountains
Abbey and the Studley Royal Estate’
- Michael Ridsdale |
February
28 |
‘The Flowers of Crete’
and
‘The Landscape of North-west Scotland’
- David Alred |
Full Winter-Spring programme
here
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| Energiekontor UK
confident new Brightenber Hill scheme is acceptable |
| Long Preston Wet
Grassland Project gets conservation cash |
| Cash boost fits
bill for work to conserve wildlife at wetland |
| River Ure salmon
project secures Defra support |
| Five-month upgrade
project at Ilkley waste water treatment works |
| Yorkshire airport
fined £45,000 for water quality offences |
| Cash for new woodlands
in the Yorkshire Dales National Park |
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| What’s
in a name?
We were intrigued with Gillian Hovell's recent
presentation, which opened a magical path into the world of
classification. With her brilliant choice of slides, we explored
the great divisions of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family,
genus and species: the Latin names were explained and illustrated
so that everything fell into place.
Gillian made a point of focusing on species found in Wharfedale
to illustrate her explanations, making her presentation all
the more relevant. The research finding that learning Latin
is good for the brain only added to our delight, and all of
us who had studied it but now struggled to use it felt a renewed
fascination with this most useful of scientific tools. Best
of all, though, Gillian made it fun and we left with our minds
teeming with delicious nuggets of Latin, and a renewed sense
of wonder at the power of words to pin down our world.
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| National
Nestbox Week
February 14th - 27th
Putting up a bird nestbox is one of the easiest and most positive
ways you can help wildlife. It's fun to watch your local birds
investigate the new premises - will they want to move in?
You can build or buy - a bird box which costs around £10 or
less will provide a home to a family of birds for many years.
The box need to be well up, out of cat range, and out of hot
sun and cold winds.
Nestboxes suit birds which naturally seek holes to nest in
- blue tits are the 'standard' occupants. Sparrows are said
to enjoy 'tenements' - multi-holed boxes. Robins and wrens
like open-fronted boxes. In the past many birds would have
shared our own homes but nowadays it is hard to find cracks
and holes. Over 60 species of birds have been recorded as
using boxes - let us know if you have an unusual tenant.
More details, and how to make a nestbox, here.
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| Toad
time
There's a delay between the mating times
of frogs and toads - toads, which live mainly on land, mate
a few weeks later than frogs. They mate at night and so the
temperature is more critical.
In late March/early April, when night temperatures are around
7 to 10°C, toads emerge from their hibernation holes and move
to breeding ponds (males walk, females walk and hop as well!).
It may be a long journey - some travel miles, over a number
of nights. It is at this time that they are vulnerable when
crossing roads, and Toad Patrols are needed.
At Gallows Hill in Otley we have one of the most important
breeding sites for toads in the Leeds area. Here hundreds
of breeding toads have been counted in one evening.
Gallows Hill web site here.
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Wildlife
in
February
Cold snaps still, but the world is beginning to re-awaken.
- 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
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| 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.
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| Plants now
Snowdrops - are they native? Almost certainly not,
and certainly not around here. They were first recorded in
cultivation back in 1597 but it took until 1778 for them to
be known in the wild. When you find them, it's almost always
near a house, or somewhere the bulbs have been thrown away.
And they have no traditional uses. But it's always a boost
to find them pushing up through the late winter soil, a promise
of Spring to come.
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
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Nature
Notes
by Society members
featured in Wharfedale Newspapers
Mouse house
It was a bit of a shock - even for a naturalist! The bird
feeders needed filling up so I went to the shed where the
seed is stored. It’s kept in a plastic container with
a tight fitting lid. I opened it and there - perched fatly
on the heaps of plenty - was a mouse. The slippery sides of
the bin were unscalable, the lid securely shut, so how did
it get in and, more urgently, how should I get it out? I tried
to catch it in a scoop, but it easily evaded me, scooting
in circles over the shifting grain. Finally I captured it
in an old ice-cream box, but, as I lifted the box with a view
to releasing the intruder into the garden, it gave a mighty
leap, landed on the floor and shot off into the tangle of
tools at the back of the shed. I decided to leave it in peace:
it had got in, doubtless it had its own way out.
My guest was a house mouse - smaller ears, heavier build
and longer tail than the wood mouse, the rodent one might
expect to move into sheds in the winter. A wood mouse would
have also been a much more athletic challenge. They have long,
strong back legs and big feet, and move in great leaps. I
remember watching one gleaning beneath a friend’s bird
table. It made sorties from the cover of a nearby bush, seizing
a seed and retiring again like a miniature kangaroo.
Our British fauna contains a number of different small rodents
- often quite difficult for the amateur to tell apart. One
of the best ways for me has been attending Open Days at Otley
Wetlands Reserve where the mice and vole population is monitored
by humane trapping, a procedure governed by strict regulations
to ensure least possible distress to the captive. As the traps
are emptied you get a really good look at the catch. Most
often this is a bank vole -small ears, a rounded chubby face
and short tail. Sometimes it’s a common shrew - not
a rodent at all but an insectivore, like moles and hedgehogs.
Shrews are tiny, have long pointed snouts and live life in
the fast lane. They dash around their territory, snapping
up prey and attacking any rash intruder. Not surprisingly,
they need a constant food supply to keep going.
More Nature Notes articles here
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