Unlike the dormice of yesterday’s post, grey squirrels can’t hibernate; their metabolism won’t let them put on enough weight to sleep through the winter.
Continue reading “A squirrel factoid”A squirrel factoid
Dormouse hibernation
We have seen signs that there are dormice somewhere in the park. At this time of year they will be deep in hibernation.
Continue reading “Dormouse hibernation”
Birds of Conservation Concern Red List
According to the RSPB, there are 67 species of British birds now on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List, more than ever before. The Red List are those birds that need urgent conservation action if their falling populations are to survive our environmental emergency.
Continue readingBullfinch
There is a male bullfinch in the hawthorn hedge between Sleepers and Cornfield. He has been spotted on a couple of occasions this week.
Continue reading “Bullfinch”Blackbird singing in the dead of night
We usually write about the park but today we are branching out a good half-mile, as far away as the junction between Frome Road and Manor Road on the A361.
Continue reading “Blackbird singing in the dead of night”
The park’s grass eaters
Grass is very hard to digest and most of the animals that eat it have evolved complicated digestive systems to deal with it.
Continue readingA fascinating fact about foxes
Foxes have scent glands on their feet to mark well-used trails so they can follow them easily at night.
Picture by Peter Trimming (CC BY 2.0) commons.wikimedia.org
Fox
January is mid-mating season for foxes.
Continue reading “Fox”Rabbits
There are rabbits in the park.
Continue reading “Rabbits”2019 review – part 4
Odonata
We have added three species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) to our species lists this year. They have raised our total to a round dozen.
Continue reading “2019 review – part 4”2019 review – part 1
We are going to use the last few days of 2019 to review the year’s new entrants to our species lists.
Continue reading “2019 review – part 1”The winter thrushes
Fieldfare (Turdus pilarus) and redwing (Turdus musicus), migratory thrushes from mainland Europe, are common winter visitors to the park. They are easily confused; here is a video to help you distinguish the two species.
Header picture: Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) by Teresa Reynolds (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Winter fishing
Keep an eye out for the kingfisher that Jay Pickard saw and photographed two weeks ago.
Continue reading “Winter fishing”Roe Deer
Roe deer photographed by Simon Handley on Saturday, in the field between Church Lane and Lambrok Stream. This is the site (H2.4) which developers, who are are proposing to build 65 houses there, have called: “. . .fields which were considered of low ecological value.”
The planning application reference number is 18/10035/OUT if you want to take a look at the details.
Follow this link for a Post about Planning Application 18/10035/OUT
