Nature Notes: December 2023

WINGING IT THROUGH THE WINTER!

December, officially the start of winter. A time for bracing walks and embracing nature, family and friends, especially over Christmas.

Highlights of November: Hedgerows lit with glowing amber leaves against blue sunny skies, as mustard flames finally swept through the trees; the pure white of an 'angels wing' caught in the contrasting green ivy on one of their trunks - in fact a rare, legally protected and unique looking mushroom known as 'Lion's Mane'; a male, orange-red darter dragonfly warming itself on a path; a 'tail-less' juvenile slow-worm up Clapgate Lane at the tale-end of the month; owls echoing calls and replies, lightening the weighty blanket of a dark, still night; ladybirds in the sunshine, running up and down our church pews on All Saints Sunday.

Lowlights: According to analysis, 2023 may be the hottest year since the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago; my garden robin sustaining a beak injury and in need of much supplementary feeding; the driving rain of Storms Cieran, Debi and Frederico transforming our footpaths and fields into impassable swirling rivers, isolating wildlife and cattle and sweeping more topsoil downstream.

Key messages: Leave the leaves! Not only is it a thankless task repetitively sweeping them up whilst they're still falling, but leaf litter provides compost and a safe and sheltered winter home to springtails, beetles, centipedes and the caterpillars and pupae of many of our butterflies and moths. Prefer a tidy look? Make a pile inside a large pot or wooden/wire crate.

What to see in December: Abundant seed heads of old man's beard (wild clematis) rambling along vines through newly naked hedges and bushes; dozing butterflies over-wintering in log piles/sheds; ladybirds huddling down en masse along cracks in bark or around window frames; fluffed up birds including charms of goldfinches flitting through the trees; frozen ponds and puddles; mammal and bird tracks in the snow; elusive/rarer species venturing closer to our outbuildings as temperatures drop.

More likely to see/hear: More curious looking fungi amongst the reds, yellows and bronzes of our woodland floors; mistletoe balls, high up in trees as they lose their leafy crowns; lacewings that come inside for warmth and transform their green/blue veined wings to brown; tracks in the mud; the caw and cackle of excited jackdaws, crows and rooks.

Ways to get involved:

1) Visit the Green Christian website for daily Prayers and Reflections, during COP28 (30th November-12th December 2023).

2) Make a Christmas Wreath for birds by adding birdseed to mushed up lard, pushing it into open pinecones and then fixing them to a ring of twisted twigs, with wire.

3) Re-connect others with nature through stargazing and make a wish upon a Christmas star.

Wishing you all a very nature merry Christmas!