January 2024
In the bleak midwinter we are all, with nature, missing the warm sunshine. Some of us, with nature (e.g. some species of butterflies and many birds) fly south to find it. Others, with nature (reptiles, amphibians, hedgehogs, bats, dormice and most invertebrates such as insects, spiders, woodlice etc.) hunker down and hibernate, to varying degrees. Others, like owls and me sometimes, simply embrace it and make the most of it. Bird-watching on a bright winter’s day can be very rewarding. I went walking on the South Downs recently and saw red kite, buzzard, flocks of fieldfares and redwings from Scandinavia, yellowhammer, partridges, skylarks, meadow pipits, sparrowhawk, kestrel, possible woodcock, bullfinch and loads of starlings, crows, pigeons and gulls.
Female badgers give birth underground in winter (mostly February) and nurse their young there until spring, just occasionally emerging to feed and drink. Polar bear females similarly bury themselves (in snow deposits) to give birth. They stay buried until spring with huge bodily fat reserves and frozen water all around them to eat/drink. All nature is preparing itself for the coming spring – a time of increasing plenty.
We in England probably regard trees deciding to drop their leaves, i.e. being deciduous, as being normal. However, globally, it is the exception. Only 4 native British tree species, yew, scots pine, juniper and holly, or 5 if you include box Buxus sempervirens – a potentially large shrub really, are both native and evergreen. The remaining 29 tree species are all deciduous. We all realise this when we try to tidy lawns in autumn. These deciduous trees form a band around the temperate northern hemisphere. There are a few deciduous trees around a similar band in the southern hemisphere, but much less land there to support them.
In the northern hemisphere we have enormous tracts of land (Eurasia and North America) that are ecologically divided into arctic, temperate and tropical. Most trees in the non-temperate zones are evergreen. In the tropics, daylight and temperature vary little, and in arctic zones thin leathery leaves have evolved to secure any energy available to them which they prefer to hang on to during the bleak midwinter months.