Nature Notes: February 2025

FLOODS, FROST AND FEATHERS

January Highlights: A Mistle Thrush singing away the blues on grey, miz days; greater spotted woodpeckers drumming in the woods; the sparkle of Hoar frost feathering stems, branches and puddles; the echoing crunch of solid soil and the creak of frozen spills of water underfoot; the splendour of a luminous full 'wolf' moon high in a blue morning sky, whilst a rising crimson and amber dawn bathed the fields and trees in rose gold. Unexpected close encounters: the whizz of a tiny fire-crest over my feet like a fire-side spark; a huge heron majestically rising up beside me, from beneath a bridge; running headlong into a stampede of deer, around a bend as they fled from a dog; the crystalised beauty of head-height frozen catkins as I opened a gate; six happy long-tailed tits flitting across my face on the way to the feeders; a dog fox, head down, snuffling.

Lowlights: Floods and frost: the extremes of weather and temperatures causing confusion for wildlife; bluebell shoots coming up the same time as snowdrops; fields flooded and footpaths impassable one day, frozen ripples the next; bare hedges providing little shelter from bitter winds; uncovering a dead vole under a jumper; absence of the more usual cold-weather visitors such as nuthatches, willow tits etc at the feeders; finding a large predated Egyptian Goose egg.

What to see/hear in February: on milder nights smooth newts, frogs and toads on the move, returning to their breeding ponds; vixens seeking out/excavating earths; lesser celandines tracking the sun; squirrels furiously chasing each other up, down and around trees as males attempt to catch females; on the eve of 28th Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars should all be lined up in a neat row.

More likely to see/hear: birds 'wooing' and building nests; blankets of white flowering snowdrops and wands of pussy willow attracting the first emerging insects; early tree and buff-tailed bumblebees appearing very early from their cosy dens; primroses, crocuses and the shoots of wild garlic; violets in the churchyard; roe deer feeding in small groups on the edge of woodland at dawn.

Key messages: Be mindful of the fluctuating changes in temperature for all those who should be hibernating (E.g. hedgehogs, dormice, amphibians, bats, butterflies and Bumblebee Queens who nest just below the ground).

What you can do to help:

- Leave piles of leaves/twigs and avoid sweeping corners of outbuildings until temperatures are consistently 10C or over.

- Valentine's Day (14th February) also marks the start of 'National Nest Box Week' when many birds are reputed to begin their courtship. What better present for your loved one to mark the occasion?