Nature notes March 2011

With March comes the promise of spring and the leaving behind of dark winter days. The hedge bottoms are full of snowdrops intermixed in places with carpets of yellow celandines. Leaf buds are fattening rapidly with their promise of glossy green leaves and the first shoots of woodland plants are showing through.
Birds are making their first attempts at song for the year with chaffinch, green finch, coal tit, great tit and song thrush all adding to the year round song of robins and the raucous calls of rooks and jackdaws. A couple of milder days have already brought out the first optimistic bats at dusk and frogs and toads are beginning their annual migration to spawn. There is much evidence of badger activity along the footpaths where these night foragers are tearing up the ground to search for worms and grubs now that the ground is softening after the frosts.
Now is a great time to go out and find the tracks and signs that nature’s creatures leave behind and gather information from these clues about the species that are seldom seen but are there none the less. Arm yourself with a good field guide and out you go.
The herbage is at its lowest giving access to the ground in and around hedgerows and walls. The local snail species can be identified by the discarded shells and the empty shells of nuts and seeds give clues to the animal that made a meal of the soft inner kernel by the type of hole made and teeth marks left. If you look around the bottom of hedgerow trees you will find mounds of these discarded casings along with the stored caches for future use. Even the lichens and mosses clinging to walls can be studied much closer along with all manner of things that lodge in the nooks and crannies between the stones.
Badger and deer paths will be easily seen and you may find hairs from these animals where they have squeezed under wire fencing.
Look at the soft mud around puddles for tracks left by creatures passing by. Much can be learned about local species this way.
Becoming a wildlife detective will add much greater interest to your time outdoors. Just being able to make use of all the information that is around you helps to make your walks much more rewarding and these field skills are always worth improving.
Happy hunting