Cyn's Nature Notes: February 2004

Saturday 28 February 2004

Squirrel Play

Today I saw another first – so many firsts in this garden. How often have we said, “There can be no more firsts left”, and yet we were yet again proved wrong, because the behavior of a grey squirrel is different to any I have previously seen. Often we have seen squirrels running after each other, jumping , chasing, dodging, and I have wondered is this territorial, part of a mating ritual, or are they just playing? When the squirrels are young I can accept that it is learning to survive through what appears to be play, however, when a fully grown adult and very well nourished squirrel (all the squirrels here are fed on demand, and so don’t have the worry of finding food), picks up a piece of wood longer than the length of his head and body together and half as wide, and starts tossing it about, catching it, leaping on to it, rolling around with it and continues on for several minutes, only to drop it between logs in the log pile, and despite several attempts to fetch it, looking down the gap, then I have to concede that squirrels do play.

Sunday 22 February 2004

Woodpecker Digs a Hole

Today I chanced to choose an appropriate time to inhale my nebulized antibiotics. Glancing out of the kitchen window I saw a female green woodpecker in her usual place on the lawn busily working. Moss and grass tufts flew several inches in all directions as she dug, at first a fairly small hole and then deepening it. She gradually enlarged it, always from the edge she had previously dug and deepening each section as she worked before widening the hole again. She stayed for just under an hour and by this time the hole was seven inches wide, five inches long, and four inches deep. A grey squirrel happened by and then became very interested, obviously thinking the green woodpecker was after a cache of peanuts stored for a hungry day. The squirrel tried to muscle in on the act. He approached cautiously with pauses and many tail flicks and lashings. At first the green woodpecker seemed unfazed, but as the squirrel was six feet away he stood upright and threw all his feathers outward until he looked more like an owl than a woodpecker. The, by now, hesitant squirrel moved alternately closer and further away, and then with a quick move he was there beside the hole, and the puffed up woodpecker backed off, but only 8 to 12 inches and still stood upright and puffed up. He waited and watched while the squirrel checked out the hole. Finding it disappointingly empty, he ran off. Immediately, the green woodpecker returned and continued digging. She was joined briefly by a male green woodpecker, but mainly, the other interested spectators were other birds: blackbirds, robins, and house sparrows, who observed as if they were human and watching a football match, heads following every thrown tussock and blade, standing only two or three inches away from her. The robin, at one point, darted forward, picked up something and was gone. After almost an hour she moved to other sites around the lawn, where she poked her beak down and held still for a few seconds before moving to a new site.

The great tits have been excitedly in and out of, and all over, their nesting box, and the long-tailed tits have been feeding ravenously from the lawn as have the blue tits who ignore peanuts and sunflower seeds in favor of sodden bread which they carry off to the nearby bushes in lumps as large or larger than their own bodies.

We are very glad to see song thrushes in the garden. Though, each year, their numbers seem to deplete and yet we are still lucky enough to have them here. The mistle thrush pair are still here, which makes me glad. Chaffinch and greenfinch are not as plentiful as in other years, but at least some of each are still around as are the pretty red-faced goldfinches. House sparrow and starling numbers are again building, which is good, but as always blackbirds, robins and wrens are so dominant it is impossible to look outside without seeing them all.

Collared doves, pigeons, pheasants, great and little spotted woodpeckers, and moorhens are our other guests, they will all be joined by nesting mallards in the spring, and just once earlier this winter, we were delighted to watch a woodcock in the garden.

Red-legged partridges have been absent this winter, although we do still have little and tawny owls and crows. Many cormorants fly overhead and for the first time ever we have had flocks of gulls feeding here.

About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.