green-winged orchid
Features from Wildlife magazine

Round the reserves

Month by month, wildlife to look out for...

We’re planning the best way to deliver this request to you in future articles, and it will be a key feature of the Trust website when we relaunch it in in the spring. Don’t forget that you can download a PDF of the Trust’s Top Twenty Nature Reserves from here.

January
If the above average temperature continues through the winter the beginning of the year will again very unseasonable. With catkins already appearing on hazel coppice these gentle flowers can be seen in areas of Weston Big Wood and Taggart’s Wood, at Weston Moor. Growing on warm south-facing slopes, these plants will have an advantage over the hazel coppice found deep in the shaded valley at Goblin Combe where cool air settles, reducing growth periods but increasing dormancy times for the resident dormouse population.

Along the coast a visit to Blake’s Pools or Walborough may result in a chance view of a couple of our rarer winter visitors. Short-eared owls have been known to hunt silently along the salt marsh at dusk, searching for small birds and mammals. Little egrets will bring a brightness to an otherwise dull winter’s day and their snowy plumage, with dangling black legs and yellow feet are almost out of place in such a landscape.

February
A freeze in the north and east of the country will result in large movements of waterfowl throughout the county. As such, many duck can be seen at Chew Valley Lake as they swell the population of resident wintering birds. Goosander, a diving duck that specialises in eating fish can be seen at the lake in most winters, and during cold snaps is joined by smew, its smaller cousin. The sight of a male smew is a delight to any day’s bird watching, as it is a striking bird with white plumage, black mask and black back.

At Priors Wood carpets of dog’s mercury begin to turn the woodland floor green, and in sunny glades, yellow splashes of lesser celandine can be seen as they burst into flower. In places across the levels brown hares can also be seen on clear mornings. Boxing is typical courtship behaviour but also involves a lot of running, chasing and leaping over imaginary objects. Visits to Puxton or Weston Moors may result in views of these magnificent mammals.

March
The mistle thrushes on Brandon Hill may well have already had their first broods, and ravens, now a widespread bird will have fully grown young in the nest. Other traditional signs of spring can be seen at Folly Farm or high on the ramparts of Dolebury Warren where blackthorn scrub begin to show the first signs of its white blossom. Elsewhere blackcaps and chiffchaffs will be begin to sing and at Brown’s Folly these birds will sing from the sides of the ride as early butterflies such as brimstone butterflies drift along in the warming sun. The ponds and rhynes at Avonmouth Sewage Works and Stockwood Open Space may be full of frogs and possibly even toads as the frost free nights encourage them to breed. Common lizards will also begin to come out of hibernation and take advantage of the warmth of the early springtime sun.

April
At Lawrence Weston Moor water voles will be active, seeking out mates and searching for safe areas to have their litters. The warming temperature and longer daylight will also draw dormice out of their dormancy and at Tickenham Ridge these small mammals will begin the year in search of food. At Walborough and Ashton Court the first of the green-winged orchids will be appearing and in Priors Wood and at Folly Farm early purple orchids and primroses will be adding to the colour across the woodland carpet.

 

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