A host of golden daffodils….
After their short, golden flowering period, the above-ground parts of our daffodils will die back and they will spend the rest of the year hidden underground as bulbs. The bulbs are adapted stems and leaves in which the plants store their food to fuel next year’s spring growth.
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The British Trust for Ornithology has been collecting information about the UK’s birds since 1932.
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Coot (Fulica atra), small black waterbirds, close relatives of moorhens, visit the reserve in the spring. They have never nested here but we live in hope.
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ONE: the BBC’s Gardeners’ World Magazine, which surveys its many readers annually, has just announced that urban hedgehog numbers appear to be rising. Excellent!
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Already, our songbirds are tuning up for the spring. Here are ten things you may not have known about birdsong.
The reserve’s song bird are tuning up for spring
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A goat willow’s flowers, or catkins, are known as pussy willow because they look like furry grey kittens’ paws. They appear in February, some weeks before the willow’s leaves, one of the earliest signs of spring in the reserve.
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This is one of our field maples, Acer campestre, growing next to the circular path at the top of Simpson’s Field. The photograph was taken on April 1st 2021.
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On one of our forays into of our invertebrate species list, we just noticed this: a common malachite beetle, Malachius bipustulatus.
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Common name: Roe deer; the male is called a roebuck, the female a doe and their young are kids or fawns.
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Researchers from London’s Imperial College believe they have discovered why moths and other flying insects seem to be so fatally attracted to light.
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On Tuesday, a member of FoSCP saw a waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) in the copse at the bottom of Kestrel Field. He didn’t get a picture and there was nobody to confirm the sighting so it hasn’t been added to our species lists yet. If you have seen it, or photographed it, please contact us.
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Changing temperatures are initiating plant growth earlier and earlier every year. In the reserve, there are already primroses in flower. While we might find the early flowering of daffodils and snowdrops encouraging, there are other species in the park for which it might be a disaster.
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Did you know that some robins migrate?
Continue reading “Winter robins”
Ian reported a flock of fifty or more redwings visiting the reserve last week.
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Here are some numbers to go with this week’s cold snap.
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At the last count we had two feral honey bee colonies in the reserve, both high up in veteran trees. How will the bees cope with this cold snap?
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A tiny candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon, growing in the rotting wood and moss of one of the old willow trees by the footpath alongside the Lambrok Tributary.
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Mycologists have discovered fungi that can break down polyethylene, the sort of plastic typically used in shopping bags, food wraps and bottles.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 