The Times A Year in Nature Notes. Derwent May

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СКАЧАТЬ href="#fb3_img_img_c78af31a-16f5-5be1-9ba9-5f2ee14a0530.jpg"/> 13th February

      GREY, OR COMMON, herons are busy rebuilding their nests in treetop heronries. These are generally beside lakes or on islands, and in clumps of trees which have dense vegetation such as rhododendrons beneath them. The birds come back to the same nests year after year, and the nests get bigger and bigger as more sticks are added.

      The herons greet their mates at the nest with curious ceremonies. A bird standing on the nest will point its long neck and beak up vertically as its mate lands in front of it, then they will bow their heads low and snap their beaks with a loud clattering sound. It seems to be a bonding display.

      Sweet violets are opening on hedge banks and at woodland edges. The flowers rise on fragile-looking single stems from a rosette of heart-shaped leaves, and they nod in the wind. The side petals droop, while the lower petal is like a lip. The sweet scent is remarkably strong for such a small flower, and the flowers were once strewn on the floors of houses. Sometimes pink or white flowers can be found. Dog violets, which are very similar but scentless, will not be out for a while yet.

      

14th February

      ON ELDER TREES, the first new leaves are opening. Their fresh green colour stands out against the dry-looking grey stems, which are full of fissures and which crack easily. Inside the stems there is a soft white pith that has a surprising human use: it holds botanical specimens firm while they are being sliced into thin sections. Later in the year the white flowers will be used to make a scented cordial and the black berries will help to make a wine. On sycamore trees the pointed, egg-shaped buds are growing plumper: they are noticeably green already.

      Here and there tufts of green leaves, like small whisks, are breaking out of the hawthorn twigs. It is usually the same tree or same patch of hedge that comes out so early each year. Occasionally, there is some forsythia entangled in a hawthorn hedge, and the yellow flowers are opening now.

      

15th February

      NOW THAT THE ground is frozen again, blackbirds, song thrushes and robins are finding it hard to get the earthworms that they feed on. This is an important time to put food out for them. A robin will come to a bird table, but the other two species prefer to feed on the ground, and the song thrush will not venture far from the shelter of a hedge or bush. Bread, cheese or any scraps will help them but it is also possible to buy mealworms from bird-food firms and in some garden centres, and these will be particularly appreciated by these birds.

      In February and March it is also important to keep on providing nuts and seeds for the mainly seed-eating birds, such as greenfinches. Although spring is slowly coming on, last autumn’s wild seeds are running out by now, and there is greater food shortage among birds than there was in midwinter. The new season’s insects will help to remedy matters as it becomes warmer.

      In the woods dog’s mercury is coming up everywhere through the leaf litter in spite of the return of cold weather, and the dry woodland floor is starting to look greener. Some dog’s mercury plants already have little green flowers.

      

16th February

      BY NOW, ALDER trees at the edge of rivers have catkins that are changing from hard little sausages to soft, loose-hanging lengths like coloured curtain cord. As they grow longer, and the pollen swells in them, the catkins become a mottled crimson and yellow. Also in the alder branches there are many small black cones. The seed has mostly fallen out of them by now, but siskins, goldfinches and lesser redpolls are teasing out any remaining seeds with their well-adapted narrow beaks.

      Ivy is still providing food for birds. The large black berries go on ripening until it is almost spring, and blackbirds sit in the middle of the thick creeper gobbling them up.

      Out in the fields, a loud, whistling ‘whee-oo’ rings across the springing corn from fieldside trees. This is the sound of a courting little owl. Little owls, which are natives of the Continent, were introduced here in the 19th century and are now found all over Britain except in the north of Scotland. They are about in the daytime far more than tawny owls. They bob up and down on a low branch or field gate as they scrutinise the ground for prey.

      

17th February

      BLACKBIRDS ARE NOW singing at dawn and dusk as they start to settle down in their spring territories. Even if the weather remains cold, the lengthening hours of daylight continue to bring birds closer to breeding condition. The blackbirds may abandon their territories temporarily to find food when it is hard to come by, but they will return and will sing for longer periods each day as the spring progresses. Their fluting notes sometimes drift across from a low branch of a tree, sometimes float down from a roof or chimney pot.

      Some butterflies have survived the winter in hibernation. Small tortoiseshells and peacock butterflies have been sleeping in the shadows in dark sheds and other cavities, with their bright wings closed and only the dusky undersides showing.

      Brimstone butterflies sleep on ivy, where their veined, closed wings can be taken for greenish-yellow leaves: they will soon be on the wing.

      

18th February

      BARREN STRAWBERRY FLOWERS are opening at the edge of footpaths. They are similar to the flowers of the true wild strawberry, but they have distinct gaps between the white petals, while the ring of wild strawberry petals all touch each other. Both plants grow very low on the ground, often in the same places, but the wild strawberries will not flower until March or April. The fruit of the barren strawberry is small and dry and greenish in colour, and cannot be confused with the sweet, red berries of the wild strawberry. Cinquefoil, which belongs to the same family, also sometimes grows nearby, and the creeping leaves are already out.

      Song thrushes are singing regularly now in the treetops, especially in the early morning and at dusk. Their songs grow richer and more varied as they use their voices more. When no one is about, they will come out onto lawns and listen with head cocked for worms under the grass.

      

19th February

      THISTLES ARE BENT and broken, and their fluffy seeds are lying waterlogged on the ground around them. Goldfinches, which sat on the thistleheads to pluck out the seeds when they were still standing, are now coming down СКАЧАТЬ