Here is the second part of our comment on planning application 20/00379/OUT.
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Buff tailed bumblebees
The aerodynamically unlikely buff tailed bumble bee queens are out of hibernation and, buzzing around between the park’s spring flowers. Here is a video about their surprising flying skills:
Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede
The blunt-tailed snake millipede (Cylindroiulus punctatus) is tiny: it grows up to 25 mm. It is pale brown and its segments are coloured in a way that makes it look striped; it often has darker spots along each side. Its native habitat is the rotting wood and leaf litter of deciduous woodlands but it is just as happy to live in the untidier places in your garden. All millipedes feed on dead plant material, they are essential nutrient recyclers.
Both photographs are by Christophe Quintin.
Long tailed tits are early nesters.
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An irresistibly astonishing fact!
At more than 70 years of age, Wisdom the Laysan albatross has hatched another chick. While we admit that the chances of seeing an albatross in our park run from highly unlikely to nil, some facts are just too astonishing and irresistible to be ignored.
Continue readingWater Voles
There are three species of vole in Britain: the short-tailed or field vole, the bank vole and the water vole, which is the largest of the three and by far the rarest. Water voles (Arvicola amphibius) have experienced one of the most rapid and serious declines of any British wild mammal ever…
Continue reading “Water Voles”Returning chiffchaffs
Has anybody heard our chiffchaffs yet? This is the time of year when they come back from the Mediterranean and Africa to nest in the park and their unmistakeable call is a welcome sign that spring is here. Message or email us if you have heard them .
All these pictures were taken in the park by DKG.
Research has concluded that 42% of people are scared of spiders.
Read on for a little reassurance
The Eurasian collared dove, Streptopelia decaocto, seems ubiquitous: one of the park’s noisiest and most common species. But it wasn’t always so.
How come?Endangered flight corridor
Of the 18 species of bats native to Britain, 13 have been identified in Southwick Country Park, in Southwick Court, and in the green fields between Trowbridge and Southwick. The thirteen includes the rare and endangered lesser horseshoe bat, a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and the internationally protected Bechstein’s bat, one of the rarest mammals in the UK.
Read on to see how proposed development will harm the bats’ habitat
Nesting
At this time of year, the reserve’s blue tits are looking for nest holes in our old trees. The ash tree at Fiveways harbours a nest every year and the newly fenced oak near at the bottom of the Arboretum seems to have attracted more than one pair already.
Here is a video of a female blue tit building a nest while, outside, the male guards the site from marauders and thieves.
Video from The Nest Box
Header picture by Simon Knight
Snow moon
A full moon in February is known as a Snow Moon; this year’s Snow Moon will occur at the weekend, on February 27th.
Continue reading “Snow moon”Sunday walk
FoSCP members, Ian and Pat, walk in the park with Pat’s dogs early on Sunday mornings. Pat, our champion litter picker, picks up the rubbish other park-goers have left behind, while Ian surveys the fields and woods for first flowerings, new species and the occasional damage, and reports back to HQ. Here is last Sunday’s bag:
“…Bullfinch in the hedge near Stoat Oak, native Daffodils in flower and Stinking Iris leaves at bottom of Kestrel Field near to the pond…”
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[1[ Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula); [2] Native daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus); the flowers [3], seeds [4] and strap-like leaves of Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima)
10 facts about otters
- We know of 13 different species of otter in the world but only the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is native to Britain.
Birdlife in an Old Oak
By Ian Bushell
I nipped up to the park this morning to see how the contractor was getting on with the chestnut fencing around the Oak we have been clearing in the Arboretum, near the entrance. Spring is just around the corner and some of the lives that the old Oak supports were evident.
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Weird facts about robins
Continue readingMallard
There has been a pair of mallards seen on the big pond during the week.
Continue reading “Mallard”Rooks in February
Before the end of February, the nature reserve’s rooks will have started collecting building materials for their nests. Here is a video that shows us what kind of behaviour to look out for:
Video by Film Studio Aves;
Header picture (CC0) pixabay.com
It might be cold but the robin at Fiveways is still singing.
Both pictures of the Fiveways robin were taken by DKG in 2019.
Recording by Beatrix Saadi-Varchmin CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) xeno-canto.org
Winter nights
These long periods of sub-zero temperatures are really hard for the reserve’s small birds.
Continue readingWood mouse
Wood mice are very common in our nature reserve but rarely seen. Here are some of their personal details.
Continue reading “Wood mouse”Rabbits
The nature reserve’s rabbits are beginning their long and busy breeding season.
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Badger cubs
As February begins, at least one of our badger sett’s sows will be either heavily pregnant or nursing up to five newborn cubs.
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Our barn owls are back
Sharon Vincent posted on our Facebook page:
Sharon Vincent: Thought you might like to know we saw a barn owl flying across the Village Green field at about 11am this morning. No photo as I was so excited I forgot to grab my phone, & it was gone quite quickly!
Continue readingErratum
Last week, we posted a piece about camouflage, in which we cited our newly discovered wasp spider as an example of a harmless species dressing up in the black and yellow stripes that so many creatures use to signal that they are dangerous. Then we watched BBC’s Winterwatch and there is a picture at 2:20 that suggests we may have been mistaken. We apologise for the error…..
Continue reading “Erratum”
