Blue tit colours
The blue tit (Parus caeruleus) has been classified as sexually monochromatic, which means that male and female are the same colour. This classification is based, though, on human colour perception, not on blue tit colour perception.
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Ian spotted a nuthatch at the weekend; the first he had seen in the reserve for about seven years. Let’s hope it’s one of a pair that are building their nest in a hole up in an old tree.
The aerodynamically unlikely buff tailed bumblebee queens are already out of hibernation and buzzing around between the park’s spring flowers. Here is a video about their surprising flying skills:
Every year, otters are seen in the Lambrok right the way up into Southwick village. They hunt swan mussels in the stream in the reserve and fish in the moat at Southwick Court. Here are some things you may not have known about otters.
Read on for ten Fascinatng Facts
ONE: Though their typical nest site is a hole in a tree, blue tits have been recorded nesting in all sorts of places: letterboxes and street lamps, inside a crack in a wall or a drainpipe, under a cast iron drain cover and, of course, in garden nest boxes.
Continue reading “Five facts about blue tits”
This is the time when great crested newts emerge from their winter hibernation.
Here is a video following a female newt’s search for a mate and the ideal conditions in which to lay her eggs. We are hoping that our newly established pond (see here, here and here) will attract this rare and endangered species to breed in the reserve.
Long tailed tits are early nesters.
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Nesting time for our squirrels
Despite these ferocious storms, grey squirrels are building their nests at this time of year.
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Robins, male and female, sing all year round but the male’s spring song is louder and more confident as he prepares to do battle for territory and a mate.
Header image by Simon Knight
Audio: European Robin from xeno-canto by david m.
Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively. Even this late in the winter, they come to the park to find seeds in the dried heads of composite flowers like teasel and burdock.
From the picnic area, you can hear an early song thrush singing from the trees at the bottom of Sleepers.
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We discovered recently, to our delight, that the collective noun for goldfinches is a charm. How charming is that?
Continue reading “A charm of goldfinches”
Here is a post from April 2020 that might be of interest to our growing little egret fan club.
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Here are Sarah Gould’s videos of little egrets in Lambrok Meadow, a pair that has been visiting the park regularly.
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Clive Knight has sent us pictures of the little egret (Egretta garzetta) that has been visiting the reserve for the past couple of weeks.
As February begins, at least one of our badger clan’s sows will be either heavily pregnant or nursing up to five newborn cubs.
Continue readingby David Feather
If you read my earlier piece about John Stimpson, who made nesting boxes for swifts, you might be interested in helping these little birds. Advice is available through https://www.swift-conservation.org/ and there is a Bristol and Avon representative.
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Our chiffchaffs will already have started the long journey back to their breeding sites in the reserve. They have overwintered in the warmth of southern Europe or northern Africa and are making their way home in a leisurely way with lots of stops for fuel. The males are the frontrunners and they need to arrive fit enough to find and fight for a territory.
They will begin arriving in March; their song (chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff) is one of the first signs of spring.
Pictures take in the reserve by DKG
by David Feather
Some people have rare qualities that make them stand out from the crowd. John Stimpson is one of those people. After retiring he got very interested in helping swifts to recover their numbers. Thirteen years ago he started making nest boxes for swifts in his garage at home. Initially he was making three a day. Now aged 80, he is making about 30 each day.
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A fabulous picture of a kingfisher taken last week in the reserve by wildlife photographer Simon Knight. If wildlife photography is your thing, Simon’s latest blog is full of tips and tricks.
Most birds can’t create pigments, other than melanin, on their own. This bluetit, high in the park’s canopy, can’t produce the pigment, carotene, that makes his tummy yellow; it comes from pigments in the green caterpillars he eats. The more caterpillars he eats and the brighter his tummy, the more likely he is to attract a mate.
Header picture by DKG; others CC0 from pixabay
by Ian Bushell
The original intention was to do the work on the Iris Pond on Friday 21st January, but the Water Team’s Connor Goddard contacted me on the Tuesday afternoon to say that they were ahead of schedule and could begin on Wednesday 19th. I let the digger in through the Allotment gate right away so that it would be there and ready to start work by 8.30am the next morning. The work would be carried out by Max and James of Ecolibrium Environmental Contracting based at Melksham.
Continue reading “Great Crested Newt Pond”
The Iris Pond is being restored with funding from Natural England’s new District Level Licensing Scheme for Great Crested Newts, which Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is helping to deliver for Wiltshire. Southwick Country Park Local Nature Reserve is more than happy to be involved.
Continue reading “Great Crested Newts: part 2”
We seem to be in for a cold snap. Time to winterproof your bird table with fatballs, high protein treats and a regular supply of ice-free water. Let’s look after our wildlife!
There are all sorts of things that shriek in our dark winter woods: the Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is just one of them.
Jay (Garrulus glandarius) audio by Bodo Sonnenburg ( CC -BY-SA) xeno-canto.org
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 