March 2013
I’ve just experienced a real spring-like day on 18th February! Honeybees are flying around looking for pollen and nectar, and also for people to sting if they get too close to the colony. The target flowers will be mainly Crocuses and Snowdrops, but there are a few Celandines, Primroses and Violets around as well.
A pair of Buzzards was courting over the South Downs this afternoon, and being shouted at by two Carrion Crows. These and other raptors are now on the increase as thankfully, they are not persecuted as much as they used to be. I heard a report of a Goshawk near the Holy Cross Church Centre a few days ago; it was plucking a Pigeon, and eventually flew away with it. Watch out also for Kestrels hovering as they search for prey, especially by roadsides, and Sparrowhawks either soaring overhead or shooting like an arrow through the trees and along hedgerows ready to pounce on an unwary Sparrow, Bluetit or other small bird.
There is a country rule that all hedgerows should be trimmed by 6th March, in order to avoid disturbing nesting birds and dormice etc. I have been trimming a hedge at the University Ecology Field Trials Plot today, and was delighted to see that Elder is well into breaking bud, and Hawthorn is just starting. Soon these hedgerows will be transformed from brown to green, and will provide cover for nesting Chaffinches, Long-Tailed Tits, Blackbirds, Songthrushes, Dunnocks (Hedge-Sparrows), Robins, Wrens and many other birds. Dormice also will use the hedges as motorways to get between woodlots. Many birds that nest on the ground such as Yellowhammers, Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Blackcaps will use the hedges as singing posts. If you are awake at about 06:00 hrs. you will be treated to the dawn chorus from Blackbirds, Songthrushes, Dunnocks, Robins and Chaffinches right now. These will soon be joined by many other birds as we progress through March, but as the days progress, so sunrise will get earlier, until it will be 05:30 by early April that the best chorus will be heard.
There will be other seasonal movements to be seen and heard as the amphibians wake up from their winter sleep, and there will be croaking from the ponds and Frog spawn will soon follow.