NATURE NOTES: MARCH 2025

MALLARDS AND MOON-MEADOWS

Highlights of February: Lighter mornings; rainbows; skylarks on a sunny day; seeing 5 of the 7 planets in a rare alignment; a pair of visiting storks sifting through a flooded field; a singing tree of 'seeping' redwings; a blaze of ginger fox-fur as a curious face, peering around brambles, was spot-lit by the dawn; the return of the 'black-box' drilling woodpecker outside St Peter's church; marsh tits 'pitchuu-ing', like miniature sneezes; the exhilaration of being caught up in an extended swirl and feather-flutter of a large flock of crows just over my head; a stallion-white male mallard duck 'head-bobbing' with a female; purple crocuses; news that bee and butterfly-killing neonicotinoid pesticides have been banned.

Lowlights: a pretzel frozen worm; a pair of squished toads en route to their breeding pond; a dead moth in a water trough; researchers discovering that light pollution is contributing to a fall in our precious pollinator moths - with caterpillar numbers 52% lower in hedgerows and 43% lower on grass verges under streetlights, than those unlit.

Key Messages: Every bat, newt and insect counts! And all wildlife needs a home. In the UK we have on average about half of our biodiversity left, making us one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. Sadly no corner of the country is immune, with a noticeable decline in a number of species in our village, particularly over the past couple of years.

What to look for in March: the sleeping beauties of the insect world awakening: overwintering butterflies (brimstones, commas, painted ladies, peacocks, red admirals), native ladybirds, shield-bugs still in their winter camouflage, buff-tailed bumble bees and hairy-footed flower bees patrolling for early nectar; tawny mining bees excavating potential nesting sites in lawns.

More likely to see/hear: the slow unfurling of leaves from buds - especially willows and birches; nest-builders in and around hedges and trees and females on eggs inside; the 'see-saw' of the chiff-chaff and the mellifluous return of the black-cap/'March Nightingale'; shoots bursting into flower - more primroses, celandines, periwinkles, wild daffodils, wild garlic flowers emerging from the blades by our streams and constellations of wood anemones in clearings; molehills.

What you can do to help:

1) Consider planting a 'Moon Meadow' and you'll be boosting our dwindling moth population and all the plants, amphibians, birds and mammals that rely on them. Download a FREE guide from Butterfly Conservation HERE.

2) Bring out your 'inner child' by squelching through the centre of our often muddy woodland paths in waterproof boots or wellies to avoid widening them, impacting tree roots and damaging new shoots and wildflowers.

3) Always keep dogs on leads around farm animals and wildlife and be mindful many will be pregnant or giving birth soon.

Reminder: It's illegal to cut hedges during bird nesting season, which runs from March until the end of August but with our shifting seasons, also keep your eyes and ears open for birds before and after these dates.