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Nature Notes - July - August 2018

Nature Notes - July - August 2018

The honey-buzzard is a migratory bird which is very similar in appearance to the common buzzard (which are numerous in the parish). Being in the right place at the right time, Rag, whilst driving out towards Market Drayton in early August, caught site of a buzzard –like bird on the ground in a grassed field. Something in the birds appearance made him stop the car, reverse and get a closer look. The identification features that split the two species were clear, especially when

Nature Notes - April-May 2018

Nature Notes - April-May 2018

A rare vagrant turned up in gardens along Woodhouse Lane out along the Bellaport Road at the end of April. Ken and Trish, at Mere Farm, reported a Hoopoe feeding in their garden and in that of a neighbour. This is a special sighting as not many of these birds are seen in the country each year. The Hoopoe (with a similarly interesting scientific name – Upupa epops) migrates north in spring from Africa and heads for Europe but not breed as north as the UK. The bird seen in the

Nature Notes - March-April 2018

Nature Notes - March-April 2018

By the middle of April the better weather finally arrived and with it lots of wildlife activity in and around the village. Spring wildflowers – Wood Anemone, Cowslip and Primrose – have been in full bloom and the Damson trees, of which there are many in the village, are white with blossom. You may have seen butterflies recently also, on a bright day in early April I had a Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterfly pass through the garden. During the Easter holidays on a fine bright

Nature Notes - Nov-Dec 2017

Nature Notes - Nov-Dec 2017

The meteorological conditions, of what became a long weekend for many, have not been seen for perhaps seven years. The thick snow, very cold nights and bright sunshine of the 11th and 12th December were both a delight and an inconvenience. For our local wildlife it was a challenge and this was evident in the abundance of wild birds seeking refuge in our gardens and reports in this edition of the newsletter focus solely on our local bird population. Natural food becomes scarc

Nature Notes - Oct-Nov 2017

Nature Notes - Oct-Nov 2017

Fieldfare and redwing are now to be seen all around the village. Flocks of these winter visitors from northern Europe have migrated to the UK to avoid the harsher winters found on the continent – and what a welcome sight they are in late Autumn. Numbers will slowly increase but I did see a flock of around 20 redwing on the 18th Nov and was pleased to have a solitary fieldfare visit the garden on the same day. In a mixed flock redwings are the smaller bird in comparison to th

Nature Notes - Aug-Sept 2017

20 August to 19 September 2017 Autumn seems to have started a little earlier this year. September can often produce very summery, warm weather. My impression this year is that we’ve had more unsettled, windy and showery weather – albeit not exactly cold. It is a time of plenty for most animals and birds, there are ample supplies of berries and other fruits around and the temperatures are still high enough for there to be insects too. In my garden the local squirrels and Nut

Nature Notes - Jun-Jul 2017

20 June to 19 July 2017 It is certainly proving to be a relatively warm, dry summer so may be the oak/ash rhyme will prove to be accurate after all? Everything is getting a little quieter now, as the bird song diminishes significantly (the breeding season is over for most birds and of course, singing is all about proclaiming a territory and attracting a mate – neither of which is necessary now). Newly fledged birds are abundant but they spend a good deal of time hidden away s

Nature Notes - Jun 2017

20 May to 19 June 2017 Despite a surprisingly windy spell in early June, the weather has mostly been quite pleasant and has been extremely warm and sunny over the last couple of days. The prevailing dry weather is pretty good for nesting birds (particularly those in open nests) but is far less good for our local Hedgehogs. I mentioned last month the courting which seemed to be taking place on our patio, since then we have increasingly been visited only by the female Hedgehog

Nature Notes - Apr-May 2017

Norton Nature Notes 20 April to 19 May 2017 Spring has now well and truly sprung and everything around us in the gardens and in the fields and woods is growing at a prodigious rate. A pretty dry period has ended recently and the rainfall has helped plant growth. From what I’ve seen, it has been “oak before ash” this year (oak trees have come into leaf before ash trees) which, according to country lore (if I’ve got it the right way round), means that it won’t be a wet summer,

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