This is a transcription of a Doncaster Naturalists’ Society booklet published in 2003.
It does contain a few very minor amendments from the original, and does not include any of the sketches that can be found in the original booklet.
Forward
Sykehouse is a small village to the north-east of Doncaster, partly tucked into a corner formed by the River Went to the north and the New Junction Canal to the east. Most of the fields remain as small pastures with boundary hedges and ditches contributing to the historic landscape of the area, little of which has survived elsewhere into the 21st century. Some of the best local examples are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). While others are now owned and managed by small trusts, so their futures are secure.
Gwyneth had owned and farmed Manor Farm for 30 years; Deena joined her there in 1990 and in 2002 they retired to Lincolnshire. They joined the Doncaster Naturalists’ Society a number of years ago and have hosted field meetings, welcoming Society members to share the delights of Manor Farm and its wildlife on many occasions. They always had interesting anecdotes to report of animal behaviour they had observed at first hand, which have been recorded in the Society’s minute book.
Just before they left Sykehouse, Deena presented us with a diary she had kept of her observations over their last two years at Manor Farm. These notes are interspersed with comments and pieces of folklore; some were the basis for the Countryside Notes which Deena wrote for the Parish Magazine.
They were not intended for publication, but the DNS committee felt that they deserved a wider audience and Deena agreed. The editing has been minimal, allowing Deena’s chatty style to shine through.
It was intended to produce this publication during the Queen’s Jubilee Year 2002; as with many good intentions we didn’t quite make it, but the launch is planned within days of the 50th anniversary of the Coronation on June 3rd. Deena has also provided an account of the way of life at Manor Farm in 1952, the year of the Queen’s accession, as well as writing an introduction.
We are very grateful to Deena for Sharing her observations with us and how that those who read her account of the farm and wildlife in Sykehouse will enjoy the experience. You may also find it surprising that there is so much to see and enjoy on a working farm in the 21st century.
Pip Seccombe
(DNS President)
March 2003
Introduction
In the Summer months, during harvest and haymaking, there was never enough time to write about everything I saw. In winter, when the days were shorter, there was more opportunity to record things I had seen during the day. The recording of wildlife sightings and the owls’ nocturnal habits were often seen because I was either working or just out in the middle of the night checking the cows.
All these notes have been checked in the various wildlife books we have. I am indebted to the Collins Field Guides and also to books on badgers and foxes and spiders too numerous to mention in passing. I have taken note of Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica and also quoted from it in parts. It is obvious from the text where the musings, observations and opinions are strictly my own. During the recording of these events Gwyneth’s contribution and vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of Manor Farm has been invaluable.
The farm has always been worked with wildlife conservation in mind. Insecticides have never been used (there is no need on grassland) and destroying weeds, an ongoing task, has been more by pulling them up, rather than by spraying them.
The roe deer, which inhabited the many coverts and coppices on the farm have been carefully guarded as they are quite harmless on the land, (except to newly planted trees, when the have been nibbled by the deer we plant more trees). Some people hunt them, like they hunt hares, with bright lights and guns; wherever possible these people have been discouraged, often with help of the local police. Even more frightening is the thought of traps; these are not only dangerous to wild animals but also to the dogs and humans. We have tried to keep these people out.
We have tried over the years to keep [people off the land unless they ask if they might walk around to see the wildlife, The hunt is never allowed on under any circumstances, not because we have a problem with culling foxes – they can become a problem if they become too numerous, not only to domestic fowl, but also to themselves as natural selection takes a long time to work. Huntsmen on the whole aren’t a bad crowd, it’s the followers, who are invariably rude in large vehicles, who trespass if they can and then become hostile when you point out that they are on the wrong land and in the wrong place. The hounds too are not welcome as they will kill anything that moves, including domestic pets and sheep – in fact, come to thin k about it, the hunt is of little use except to look pretty on Christmas cards.
The farm has new owners now hope that they will be as happy there as we have been. One of the criteria we used to vet the people who came to look at the farm was whether or not they seemed interested in the wildlife. The man who though the hedges were too high never stood a chance. The new people seem to have all the right ideas, and we hope against hope that the farm remains in good hands.
Manor Farm – June 2002
Prologue
Manor Farm 1952
In the year of the Queen’s accession, Manor Farm continued to play, as it had done for the past 150 years, a very active role in the farming community of Sykehouse. Although agriculture had moved on from using men and horses to complete the yearly cycle of work and despite more modern farming methods, many of the old ways continued. Cattle make their slow, stately journey through the village twice daily from field to milking parlour and back again and those fields not used for grazing were laid to crops suitable for fodder. Wheat and barley and some oats were grown but not on a large commercial basis; root crops were mostly grown to feed the cows during the winter months. Manufactured cattle cake was considered a luxury and usually used when home grown crops failed for some reason.
In 1952 at Manor Farm the dairy herd was milked by hand, pigs were kept for home consumption, hens and eggs provided pin money for the farmer’s wife and, as gardens were considered a waste of good grazing land, a tidy front garden at the Manor was another chore the farmer’s wife took on. Sometimes she would persuade one of the hands to dig over the patch for her, but he was quickly called away if caught, “that’s an halfpenny an hour job, that”. Her greatest pride and joy was the huge magnolia tree which grew in the orchard at the back of the house.
These men worked full time on the farm as well as the farmer himself. In the house there was daily help and more help taken on at harvest when there were men to feed and also on Sykehouse Show day when there was a big party. Harvest time followed the show and men worked late in the fields so ‘baggins’ or packed lunches were made early every morning. The corn was cut by machine, but the straw was gathered into sheaves by hand and stacked in various ingenious ways so that only the outer sheaves got wet in the winter.
The pasture was good at the farm. Manure from the cow sheds was spread on the land, all by hand, forking from the back of a trailer ensured good even coverage; it kept the grass sweet, being broken down by the frosts through the winter and also ensured that there was no over tilling with nitrogen.
The hedgerows were kept high to shelter the stock; if they got too high the men would lay the hedges, cutting the sturdy blackthorn, hawthorn, field maple and oak saplings half through until they would bend and then weaving them at right angles into the next plant.
The, as now, hedgerows grew all kinds of strange shrubs, shrubs that had not been deliberately planted but had probably been brought in by the birds. There are just two holly trees on the farm and, as well as the more common oak there are some splendid turkey oaks and a sessile oak on the old disused railway. Hidden in the old hedgerows there are four spurge laurel bushes. Near the house there is an ancient leaved lime whose scented flowers perfume the garden during warm still evenings in the summer.
The dykes and ditches were hand cleared yearly, by sludging out, which was a particularly back breaking and dirty job. Special narrow shovels were used and the silt from the bottom of the dykes laid back on the banks. At the same time the willows were pollard and the pond holes kept clear of weeds and fallen leaves.
This method of farming ensured that wild flowers and wild life thrived. Primroses were particularly plentiful, cowslips spreads through the meadows in the springtime and theses, along with coltsfoot, were used to make wine. Later in the year dandelions and elderflowers were gathered for wine and cordial and then the elderberries, hips and sloes for cough mixtures and potions. Harvesting also included blackberries from the hedgerows and apples, pears, plums and walnuts from the orchard as well as the crops in the field.
The rookery next to the stack yard was full of elm, oak and willow and beneath the high leaf canopy snowdrops grew. The waste water from the dairy filtered into a great pond, which housed moorhens and wild ducks. In the trees vast squirrel drays grew larger every year and the owls sat brooding in the oak and ash trees.
A round owl window had been built into the wall of one of the buildings; the barn owl took full advantage of the easy access to mice in the straw and hay. I the trees down the green lane at the side of the farm, several tawney owls nested. Little owls were also seen standing in the hedge bottoms or on the gateposts. The soft call of the owls was heard throughout the year along with the chirr of the nightjar and sometimes, the song of the nightingale would be heard.
The sounds of the countryside were louder and more prominent in 1952 because the motorways had not yet been built and the road through Sykehouse seldom used.
Great flocks of lapwings and plovers covered the fields; the English grey-legged partridge nested in the covers. Snipe could be seen and the corncrake heard in the tall grass by the side of the dykes.
There were few pheasants or red-legged partridge; they were a later addition. In 1952 farmers had little time for shooting for sport. However, I am told that the hunt was welcome on the farm. Foxes were a problem, stealing hens, geese and farmyard ducks. There seemed to be none of the heart-searching questions about the morality of fox hunting; when the hunt came it was a spectacle and enjoyed by everyone.
The farmer and his work force had little time for watching wild life as a hobby, but they noted the first hatching of the butterflies, they knew the call of all the birds and watched the green woodpecker in the Willow Garth. Kingfishers fished in the ponds and every man and boy knew where the bird’s nests were. Harvest mice were common as were voles and rats. Rats were a fact of life. When harvest began the rats came out of the fields and into the sheds.
Moles were a nuisance and caught with traps; they left holes in the fields that were deep enough to break a beast’s leg if not filled in. Hares were numerous and in the front of the farm there was a rabbit warren. Rabbits were trapped or shot and were a welcome change from the almost constant diet of pork; beef was a luxury.
Little has changed in the layout of the farm over the last 50 years. Some land has been sold off, but the pastureland remains as it was. The hedges are cut infrequently and usually only on the road side; the internal hedges are left to grow tall and just ‘sided’, cut back so that they do not impinge too far into the pasture. Sadly the orchard has gone; this was cut down by the previous owner of the farm when a government grant was given to encourage farmers to plough unused farmland.
For the past thirty years Manor Farm has consciously cared for its wildlife; the hunt is banned, the dykes and either side of them kept as wildlife preservation areas. The hedges too are tendered and replaced when they get too old to save and fences have been erected to stop the cattle and sheep from eating the young shoots. New trees have been planted but the roe deer, which wander freely over the farm, have checked their growth. The badger setts are protected and a new sett has been built to take the overspill from the natural setts. This sett is thriving and there is much activity. Although many of the birds seen in 1952 are no longer there or are infrequent visitors, many species still return year after year.
This diary is as much a celebration of the symbiotic relationship between farmer and land as it is a record of the wildlife observed on Manor Farm through the year.
Deena Robinson
2002
A YEAR AT MANOR FARM
Changing Seasons
Even without the wind at this time, the leaves, still golden and red, drift gently down from the trees as the frost loosens their grip. Soon we shall have bare branches and piles of rotting leaf mould. Then the worms will begin their work, dragging down the decaying matter and revitalising the soil for next year’s growing season. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes indeed.
But I refuse to be depressed by the ending of the year. There is still a lot to see. Only last week we saw three deer crossing the lane and moving swiftly down the hedge-side before disappearing into the wood, their white rumps showing up beautifully against the dark brown freshly ploughed earth. We haven’t seen much of them for a while and it is good to know they are still about.
Woodcock
Twice last week we saw a woodcock. They inhabit clearings in wooded areas and have stout bills for probing the ground for earthworms and insects. They have russet plumage with a barred head and underparts. The eyes of this bird are set high on the head so that it has all-round vision enabling it to see predators when digging for food. The flight pattern is splendid; when flushed from cover or startled it rises quickly and then darts from side to side, making for woodland cover. During the summer months it flies at a much more leisurely pace, round and round the boundaries of its territory. This flight pattern is called rodding. Its cry is a deep throated sound, almost a growl and it also has a high pitched call.
Winter Visitors
At this time of year, the fieldfares and redwings arrive, mostly winter visitors from northern Europe. In recent years small numbers have been seen to breed here too. These two birds are members of the thrush family and in the gardens they can be seen vying with thrushes and blackbirds for the windfall apples and the few wizened fruits left on the trees. Of course, there are many more birds whose colours brighten up the most gloomiest winter days. and now is the time to feed them all; peanuts, bread, bits of fat, anything to keep up their strength during the long cold months.
When the frost hardens the ground even further, we increase the amount of food put out and are rewarded by the colourful displays of our winter birds. Food is at a premium for all wildlife. Many will not survive the winter if there is not enough food.
Putting out food for wild animals, well away from human habitation, in hedgerows and woods, is a conservation practice well worth adopting. I say well away from human habitation because if you put food out too near your house you may get unwelcome visitors (rats – ugh). We take left-over dog food up the fields as far away as possible and leave it for the wild animals. I can’t see that this practice will do any harm at all.
Brambles
Then said all the trees unto the bramble “Come thou, reign over us.” And the bramble said unto the trees, “if in truth ye anoint me King over you, then come, put your trust in my shadow, and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the Cedar of Lebanon.”
Judges Ch. 9. Verses 14-15
Why, you might ask, is she going on bout brambles? Wee it’s because I have been fighting a war against them. I reckon they are about to take over the world, closely followed by their best mates the nettles, and they are starting with the orchard. Despite the fact that I enjoy the blackberries at the end of the year and I do understand that they provide food for various butterflies and the blossom is a pretty colour, I do think they might be a little less inclined to grab me by the ankle every time I walk past with bush-saw in hand. They also grab the dog’s lead, so as well as fighting with an excited dog, I have to untangle his lead from the hedges every two minutes.
Apart from the interesting scratches they inflict, brambles are quite interesting in their own right. There are over 400 micro species in Britain (and you thought a blackberry was a blackberry!) but you will have noticed that some are more plump and juicy than others and some seem to have more little ‘cells’. It’s not the year or the weather that does that to them, they are different species. The berry on the very tip of the bramble is the first to ripen and is the sweetest, the rest follow over the season, lessening in sugar the later it gets, so by the end of October they are not too sweet at all. There is an old wives’ tale that says that the devil spits on the blackberries on Michaelmas night, which is why they become sour and inedible, unless you get one he’s missed of course.
Brambles were once planted on graves, probably to discourage tree growth (see Judges above) but another saying was that “the bramble keeps the dead in and the devil out”. Although this fearsome creeper is discouraged by woodland managers who fear it will kill young trees, in the past it has been used to do just the opposite; brambles around young saplings stop sheep and deer from eating them. So the Old Testament seems right on all fronts.
Proof of its use as food over many thousands of years is the fact that blackberry seeds were found in the stomach of a neolithic man dug up at Walton on the Naze in Essex.
Ivy
The old brick shed in the garden only manages to remain upright with the help of a vast ivy plant which has woven its way through the bricks and pantiles on the roof. During the year it provides food for bees and butterflies and a nesting place for all manner of birds; later the blackbirds and thrushes gorge themselves on the berries and the berries make wonderful Christmas decorations.
I discovered in an old book the other day that ivy branches, when turned on a lathe, make excellent rolling pins “the pastry does not stick as much as to other woods”. Furthermore, if you boil the leaves and then sponge dark coloured clothes with the liquid, it removes grease marks, (I haven’t tried this, so if you do – be careful). The folklore surrounding the ivy plant is enormous and as I have said, it holds buildings up!
Musings
“Winter eateth what summer getteth”
Old saying, first recorded 1460
I suppose the above saying is still true but now that much of what we eat on this island is imported, the summer growing has become less of a worry. It isn’t so very long ago that what we ate in the winter had to be produced in the summer – this was before supermarkets, before imported strawberries at Christmas and before much of our countryside was thought of as a large leisure facility.
I read in the Sunday newspapers, one of those columns by those dreadfully smart people who dine out most evenings and think nothing of paying upward of £100 for a meal for two – they were bemoaning the fact that the countryside was full of ‘yokels’, creepy crawlies, large animals messing up perfectly decent grass, funny smells and slow moving traffic. I think they were being facetious, but I’m not altogether sure…..
Feeding the Birds
From November onwards you can expect more and more birds to visit the food you leave out in the garden. The lack of seeds, berries and insects in their natural habitat often means that birds cannot get enough to eat in the short daylight hours and extremely harsh, cold weather requires more energy output by birds to maintain their body temperature.
This is when the bird table can become a life-saver. Fieldfares and redwings, the first of the winter visitors, will happily spend their time in the hedgerows until the berries have all gone as will mistle thrushes, greenfinches and blackcaps, as well as the many members of the tit family; but once stocks are depleted you will often find them feeding in the garden. Even the fiercely territorial robins can be seen feeding side by side.
It’s a good idea to leave windfall apples for the blackbirds and thrushes; smaller birds will eat them too. As well as nuts in holders, crumbs and nuts on the table can help the soggy bits left in cereal packets and they especially love suet.
Hornets
A gentleman brought me a present – a hornet in a jar. (Chocolate would have been nice – but a hornet!) Anyway, this beast has caused a great deal of interest. It really was very large – about 2 inches long from head to tail tip. So large in fact that identifying it was easily done from the distinctive markings on its gold and black abdomen.
It is the largest member of the wasp family and the queen builds a paper nest which she constructs from chewed wood and in there lays her first egg. She continues to do this until the first hornets are mature and then they take over the building whilst the queen continues with egg laying. A moderate size nest can contain as many as 5,000 cells. Hornets are predators and will eat other wasps and bees. Only the young fertilised females survive the winter, then in the spring they start the process all over again. The male of the species has no sting, even though it is the fiercest looking. Most insects will not use their sting unless they feel threatened.
In this part of the country hornets have been a rare occurrence, normally they inhabit the warmer south of England. They are distributed all over Europe, North Africa and North America. This specimen is going to the Museum in Doncaster. Geoff, who found it in his sitting room, says he has two more in the woods. I imagine that this is another indication of changing weather conditions.
Wagtails
We were watching a grey wagtail on the shed roof the other day. Because of the distinctive yellow feathers this is often confused with the yellow wagtail. The difference is most noticeable in the head – the grey wagtail has white around the black eye stripe. The yellow wagtail has no white on the head and the chin and face are yellow too. The grey is most often found by streams flying up to catch insects over the water. The yellow one can be seen in pasture land amongst grazing cattle and often perches in trees, unlike the grey. I have seen grey wagtails perched on car wing mirrors; obviously confused, they were attacking their own reflection in the glass.
Kestrels
As food is generally in short supply over the winter it is possible to see many birds competing for even the smallest morsel. I saw several crows dive-bombing and intruding kestrel; they soon had him on the run and the noise was terrific.
Kestrels are the commonest British falcon and can be seen regularly perched on telegraph poles and wires. They feed mainly on voles and mice but will catch small birds and large insects.
Geoff (he of hornet fame) saw a kestrel raiding a bumblebee nest in the summer. It had scooped out the cells and eaten the grubs within, and [possibly the bumblebees too. When I mentioned this phenomenon to the Environmental Records Officer at Doncaster Museum he was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Apparently, bumblebee fragments have been found in kestrel pellets, but there is no record of anyone actually seeing a kestrel raid a bumblebees nest.
I was watching some ponies the other day and my attention was drawn to a kestrel sitting on a fence post very close to where the ponies were being led into a field . The bird stayed where he was, unperturbed by the commotion and I was able to get very near before he moved off into a nearby tree. Either he had just eaten a meal and was having a quiet snooze after lunch or he was waiting for the ponies to disturb a small creature in the matted grass.
The kestrel does not make a neat nest but uses a scraped area on a cliff side, or more frequently, in this area where cliffs seem to be a bit thin on the ground, a disused crow platform or flat ledges on buildings. In the filed in front of the farm an electricity pylon has held a kestrel ‘nest’ for a number of years. We have watched the young birds making a determined effort to leave the nest; their cries as they feel the wind under their wings and the encouraging noise from the parent birds is loud enough to startle the cattle grazing beneath them.
Winter
O Winter, ruler of the inverted year,
I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturbed retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
Cowper, “The Task”
Floods
As I write this we are just recovering from some of the worst floods we have seen in many years. The fields are still covered by standing water and many crops are ruined. Even if the water goes quickly there will be no time to re-plant. It looks as though the potato crop has gone too, which means potatoes are going to be expensive this winter.
I don’t know whether it’s global warming or just the normal sort of weather fluctuation. If it is global warming, then something could be done- which begs the question, shouldn’t we be doing something about it now? Mr Prescott says the flooding is because we have had a lot of rain! Well done that man!
Kingfisher
Whilst the floodwaters were rising on the Went, at Topham the bright turquoise flash of a kingfisher was seen. They are quite unusual in the north now and difficult to see when they are perched on branches overhanging the water because their dark wings cover the bright blue of their backs and rumps.
Carp
Several people lost their ornamental carp in the floods and I was wondering what happened to them when they escaped, The Environmental Records Officer at the museum tells me that they can live quite happily in our receding floodwater and as long as they find their way to the main rivers they will survive. They are destructive though and will muscle out their nearest relative, the tench. They will also destroy aquatic plants and could, were they in large enough numbers, alter the biodiversity of the river. It will be interesting to see if they survive long enough to breed; apparently to do so they need fairly still water.
Seasons
The earth makes an annual trip around the sun spinning at the same time on a tilted axis, It is this tilt which results in the changing seasons. At different time of the year, different parts of the earth are tilted towards the sun. The winter in our bit of the planet occurs when we are on the curve tilted away from the sun whose rays are weakened by being spread over a greater surface, even though the brightness of the sun’s rays seem to be directly overhead.
We have to wait until January 19th before we start moving back towards the sun again and until the middle of March before the severe icy winds begin to soften into milder spring days, In recent years bad weather has lasted until April; even though the earth tilt happens at the same time of the year, this is more to do with prevailing winds and ocean currents. The climate does seem to be changing, and the old weather patterns can no longer be relied upon.
Man has always judged the seasons by an awareness of the length and warmth of the days and also by observing the growth of plants. Now all is confusion; plants show an increasing tendency to grow at unseasonal times, like the fruit blossom which bursts in February and is then killed by the March frosts. Like the hogweed in my vegetable patch which is in full flower as is the dandelion in the hedge-bottom.
Fortunately, nature has a way of adjusting and she will make things right again later in the year. It is only the flooding of the land which takes longer to heal; young seedlings die and the seeds rot in the ground,
Warmer Days
I have seen bees around on the warmer days, they should, by rights, be in their nests consuming their honey stores. Similarly, the snails; they should have sealed their shells with mucus and be waiting under stones for the warmer weather. But early December was unseasonably warm and they were out in the rain as usual. On several nights, when the air was particularly warm for this time of the year we observed moths on the windows and bats in the stack yard.
I suppose that there is an up-side to the change, animal fatality will be less during the winter as a result of the availability of food, which means that, during this nest year, birds and mammals which have been decreasing in numbers may recover. A couple of years ago we had a summer drought, the trees fruited heavily, acorns formed in thousands, indeed some cattle were ill from eating too many.
I read that this was the way trees, damaged by the lack of water, made sure of their species survival by forming seeds which in turn would grow and replace those lost to the drought. Some of the trees seem to have an abundance of seeds, not so much the oak this time but the horse chestnut. We have still got hundreds of conkers lying on the ground, seemingly too many for the squirrels to bury. On the ash trees, the seeds still hang in heavy clumps, only just recently have the jays been interested in them.
During the autumn, when seeds and berries are in abundance, you can see some of the birds and animals practising a little forward planning by burying a stock of food in the ground, ready to be retrieved during the barren winter days. Those which hibernate of course eat as much as they can to put down layers of fat in order that their bodies can survive the long winter months without food.
Bats
Bats are hibernating at the moment but come late March / early April they will start to fly again and then they will be feeding their young. The female usually has one infant which suckles its mother for 4 to 6 weeks, bats are mammals. The youngsters then fed insects caught by the adult, which will fly as far as 10km catching food on the wing, especially if tracking a waterway such as the canal. Thirty minutes after sunset the bats fly out, returning often during the night whilst they are feeding young, finally coming back to roost just as dawn is beginning to break.
Robins
Robins are territorial between August and mid-winter and their winter song can be heard clearly now, it is much sweeter than the song in summer. It seems that bird song generally becomes louder in the winter. I’m not sure whether this is true or whether it is because the sound, unhindered by leaves and bushes, carries further, certainly the owls sound louder on a still winter night.
Mice
At this time of year when it is very cold, we have to work extremely hard to keep out unwanted guests. Once dispatched and suitably discouraged from re-visiting, I can study their habits with equanimity – at a distance.
The house mouse with its strong smell and greasy fur can hardly be described as a cute little thing, like say, the harvest mouse, Their droppings carry parasites and diseases and they cause damage by gnawing, A mouse (or six) under the stairs has nearly chewed away the foam interior of my trainers and made a nest of the bits in an old plastic carton. Fortunately they only live for about 18 months and usually die by the first winter – BUT they breed so fast that it is hard to get rid of them, One female can have between five and ten litters a year with five and six young in each litter and the females are ready to breed at six weeks old. So if one litter has three females and each of those females breeds ten time a year and each has another three females and …. That is an awful lot of mice! Mice living near a good source of food, a grain silo for instance, reproduce at an alarming rate and rapidly eat and spoil huge amounts of grain.
Essentially they live with humans and near a source of food, so if the food source disappears so will the mice. They originated from Asia and colonised the earth along with man at about the same time as humans stood up straight and started exploring. Apparently when Scottish islands of Kilda were deserted in 1930 the house mouse became extinct within a few years.
Owls
At this time of the year the owl is hunting quite early as the light decreases around four in the afternoon. They are very efficient hunters and do not seem to be frightened by any other bird; even very young owls will spread their wings and fluff out their feathers, staring at their attackers with their great round eyes so that even the hungriest falcon will turn away.
Hunting owls ‘listen’ for the sound of their prey as well as seeing it, although they have no external ear flaps as we do. Their ears are at either side of their wide heads and they pinpoint the position of their prey by assessing the time lag of sound between one ear and the other.
Long and short eared owls have tufts of feathers on their heads which are wrongly called ears; these tufts are display feathers.
Christmas
A lot of the feasting traditions we have at Christmas come from the need to eat harvested food which is likely to go off; like other animals it was necessary to eat well during the winter to be able to fight off the effects of cold and dark days.
Long ago, without freezers to keep food sweet, man had to salt meat and lay down root vegetables and corn to keep him through the cold months when nothing grew.
Originally mince pies were made from scraps of meat and fat, but once man began to import dried fruit from the eastern Mediterranean and sugar from the West Indies then the tradition for sweet mince began. Like all animals, man has a sweet tooth! However we are no longer restricted to eating what we can grow now we can get strawberries at Christmas and any vegetable we like, including new potatoes – but at what a price and not much taste either.
Animals and birds still save what they can though and this morning I watched a squirrel digging through my compost heap in search of the many conkers he had ‘squirrelled ‘ away. Earlier in the year I saw a jay digging a hole in the fyke side and putting acorns in it. He’s going to have trouble getting them out though as the dykes are full of water.
There is evidence that the birds are getting hungry now, This afternoon a kestrel flew into the top of the lime tree. Further down a huge crow bobbed and ducked on one of the branches, whilst underneath three squirrels tried vainly to get peanuts out of the bird feeder. Little birds, tits and robins, chattered in fury at the squirrels, which attracted two magpies and then there was mayhem whilst they sorted themselves out. Eventually all became quiet as the kestrel flew off, the crow got into an argument with the magpies and the squirrel gave up on the nuts.
With all the food we eat at Christmas there is usually plenty left for the bird table, although I do sometimes wonder at the morality of feeding the pheasants left over stuffing! And then there are the usual family comments when I empty the crumbs of the Christmas cake and the mince pies, usually along the lines of “that blackbird has been eating your cake and now he can’t get off the ground”.
Pigeon
What we really need are some peregrine falcons to clear some of the hundreds of pigeons which are in the process of eating the new green shoots of winter crops. Driving down Small hedges Lane the other day I pipped the car horn and pigeons covering a ten-acre field lifted off and flew away like a great army blanket floating on the wind.
I have just been reading a book on different kinds of bird tables and nest boxes for garden birds and there are several you can make for stock doves, collard doves, ring dove (wood pigeon) and rock dove (feral pigeon) but I think we shall pass on that; I know several farmers who might not see the advantage of encouraging them!
Pigeons are the only birds which keep heads down whilst drinking. Most birds sip water into their mouths and then lift their heads to swallow but pigeons keep their heads down and suck water into their mouths in draughts.
New Year
“A song for the old., while its knell is tolled,
And its parting moments fly!
But a song and a cheer for the glad New Year,
While we watch the Old Year die!
Oh, its grief and pain ne’er can come again,
And its care lies buried deep;
But with joy untold doth the new Year hold,
And what hopes within it sleep”
George Cooper – “The New Year”
It is still January, but after the early frost this morning, the sun is shining. The fields may be wet and muddy but underneath, things are stirring. As well as the bulbs, which are poking through the dead leaves in the garden, some of the bushes in the lane are showing fat buds again, foxes and pheasants are pairing up and last week I watched two hares chasing round and round in circles stopping every now and then to rear up on their hind legs and seemingly, dance with each other.
Signs of Spring
I know I shall regret saying this when the rain comes and the trees stand sodden and black and the cold north wind whistle through the stack yard, but this morning, at last, the first hint of spring is in the air.
Walking by Clay Dyke the other day I noticed the primrose shoots coming through in some place and the bluebells are beginning to push their noses out of the frozen soil.
Foxes
The foxes are aware that the seasons are changing. The familiar bark of the dog fox and the eerie scream of the vixen can be heard at this time of year when these animals are mating. The gestation period is usually 52 days, although if the weather is very bad the vixen will delay implantation, so if the foxes are mating now the cubs should be born at the beginning of March. I like to see the trail of the foxes through the fields, narrow well-worn paths, weaving hither and thither until they disappear into the hedge or dyke. Best of all are the tracks through the snow, a single necklace of footprints. Sometimes it seems as though the fox has disappeared in the middle of the field; his footprints just end. Closer inspection though will show that he has, in fact, doubled back again. You can see where he has used the same foot prints to return to his starting point; it uses a lot less energy than struggling through fresh snow; clever these foxes!
Bird Tables
Now that the berries, nuts and fruit have gone from the bushes and trees in the garden we are getting more and more visitors to the bird table. One of the brightest coloured birds is the greater spotted woodpecker. We call him Rambo because he sports a bright red bandana at the back of his neck and also a bright rump. Not only does he swing on the bird nuts but he likes to examine the pole of the bird table for possible insects.
We have several kinds of tits, blue and great of course in large numbers, but also the coal tit and the marsh tit and possible the willow tit, although I find it difficult to tell the difference between these two. On odd occasions we have had a long tailed tit too; and of course the squirrel! I was amused to see that other people have problems with this resourceful thief.
Delivering the newspaper the other morning I was greeted by Mr Shipley who was brandishing a stick in the general direction of the bird table. The squirrel took his time, ambled down the bird table and through the hedge to next door’s front step where he proceeded to finish eating whatever it was he had stolen.
We have also put up a rather ugly, but nevertheless more than adequate, bird table, just a pole in the ground with the bottom of a large container nailed to it, This makes a large flat dish on which to put scraps and rolled barley for the birds. The shallow edges stop food from being scattered on the floor and the holes made for the nails allow water to escape.
One of the most frequent visitors to this table is a large male pheasant. He has a beautiful set of neck feathers and his tail is magnificent. We call him the Vicar because of the pure white feathers that form a collar round his neck. He is at present gathering his harem and we can see the females dutifully follow him across the orchard. When other male birds are around his voice rises in fury. This also sets the dogs off. Who said living in the country was peaceful?
I have seen some splendid bird tables; some of them have two or three tiers and of course more food means more birds and the whole edifice looks like a highly decorated garden ornament when all the birds land on it.
An elderly friend of ours, who is in pain a great deal of the time, has a tree outside her bedroom window where she hangs nuts and other foods for the birds. She says watching them is the best pain killer she knows.
Cold Snap
This year the cold weather has hit earlier, we have had rain but not in the bucket loads we experienced last year. I always think that frost is to be welcomed though, it kills countless bacteria, although not, apparently, the foot and mouth bug; thank goodness that nightmare seems to be receding. Please don’t let me have spoken too soon! It also, as my grandfather used to say, “sweetened up the sprouts and parsnips”. I’m not sure how that happens but it has something to do with freezing breaking down starches into sugar.
Night-time Noises
We have been entertained, if that’s the right word, nearly every night this month by the cries of the fox quite close to the farm. Once darkness falls, two owls have conversations with each other from the various trees surrounding the house, the noise is sometimes quite spectacular. It is very eerie listening to unseen beasts; the female fox has a disconcerting scream, which is answered by yowls and barks from the dog fox. Our dogs don’t help either as they feel the need to join in.
One night a fox passed the French windows, pausing to look through before continuing on his way. Ever vigilant our dogs never saw a thing; fat lot of use they are. We have also found that even though they start barking as soon as a mouse moves outside, if we let them out they rush into the darkness for a few yards and then rush back again to hide behind us; I am convinced they are frightened of the dark!
Farm animals, cows and sheep especially, seem unconcerned with wild animals on their territory, although they sense immediately they are there. The domestic beast will raise its head and scent but then go back to grazing. Wild animals will walk among cows and sheep without disturbing them. The only exception to this is usually in lambing time when the sheep become very protective, and a fox will take a new-born lamb if it is sickly.
We have been calving in the middle of the night and have been aware that we are watched by mice; a fox can wander through the yard and deer pick at the silage along with the cows. Owls sit in the rafters of the barn and the only time we are aware of them is when they glide silently just above our head and out through the open door.
The dogs accept this co-operative living arrangement too – except, that is, for squirrels. Squirrels descends on nuts, dogs chase them off, squirrel runs up large horse chestnut tree, dogs wait underneath – the pattern never varies and the whole thing is repeated numerous times during the day.
Hell hath no fury like a squirrel kept from its nuts, it screeches and chatters at the dogs at the base of the tree and pelts them with leaves and twigs. When the dogs get bored and move off, the squirrel is back, raiding the bird nuts again, and the whole performance starts over. Now I don’t know what state these squirrels’ teeth are in but having spent a fortune on supposedly squirrel-proof nut hangers with extra strong steel mesh, we still find that some of the wires have been bent backwards. You have to admire their tenacity.
Aconites
Winter aconites are some of the earliest spring flowers. We saw a spread of these bright yellow flowers in the hedgerows outside an old church on the Wolds at the end of January. These flowers are called ‘choirboys’ in some areas, as the ruff of green leaves around the cup-shaped heads are similar to the ruffs worn by choirboys.
Over the last few years there have been some really warm days in February. These bring out the yellow brimstone butterflies feeding on the first wild flowers like the coltsfoot. Queen wasps are sometimes tempted out of hibernation too and usually end up as a tasty treat for some lucky bird.
Nest Building
There is a large amount of sheep wool caught in hedges and fences around and about, when it begins to disappear you know that the birds are starting to build their nests. Birds’ nests are fascinating and they can easily be seen at this time of year before the leaves start to appear in the hedges and trees. Each bird species seems to use a different material for its nests; some are made entirely of fine twigs. I saw one nest the other day, balancing precariously it seemed, in the tangled thorns of the hawthorn. When I tried to move ait a little though, I found it was stuck fast but for the life of me I couldn’t work out how the bird had done it. I have seen baling band used, bright blue or orange fibres mixed with the twigs, and I saw a robin carefully collecting bits of tissue from the lawn; I had inadvertently left a tissue in the washing and then had to shake it off the clothes.
It’s magic really, and when you see the tiny hollow carefully lined with moss or sheep wool, or in the case of one of the robins we have around the stack yard, Charolais bull hair. Our bull, Isaac, rubs his head on the side of his pen and the robin picks up the discarded curls.
When man first started to weave blankets and cloth for clothing, he was copying the birds, not the other way round. All our instincts for home building or nest building, comes with our inherited association with animals.
Snowdrops
The snowdrops are glorious this year, Kirk Bramwith churchyard is one mass of white blooms, which the poet Thomas Tickell called ‘vegetable snow’. This is the least colourful; of names for this little flower, which has variously been called Candlemas Bells, Mary’s Taper, February Fairmaids, and Dingle dangle. The history of the snowdrop is as much myth and magic as it is horticultural and although not recorded as a wild plant until 1770 it seems to be deeply ingrained in our sense of traditional English flowers. In its cultivated form however, it was drawn and recorded in gardens as early as 1597. The pointed leaf tips of the snowdrop are hardened for breaking through the hardest frost and snow and it spreads through the division of its bulbs, as there are few insects around to pollinate the flower in February.
The Roman Church has long accepted this flower as the symbol of Candlemas which is on 2nd February, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. For centuries Benedictine nuns decorated their chapels with snowdrops on this day. Since the Reformation and the destruction of the monasteries it is likely that, as the grounds owned by the church were allowed to return to a wild state, the snowdrop has become more widespread as a wild flower.
Their spread into the darkest corners of hedgerows and fields probably has another explanation in our areas. In the past, large areas have flooded and the resulting movement of the soil, carrying bulbs, has deposited them in unlikely place.
In the old orchard near the house, I had planted some new trees, mostly common silver birch, maple and some mountain ash. We have been surprised to find that round the base of these trees there have been increasing numbers of snowdrops. We had blamed the squirrels but they are more likely to eat the bulbs than plant them. The probable explanation is that, as there are parts of the orchard which is clay on top of sand, there wasn’t enough good soil to firm around the roots of the new trees. So we dug up more friable soil from around the garden and the hedge bottoms. The bulbs must have been amongst this transferred soil.
Despite its sanctification for Candlemas, in some areas the snowdrop is regarded as unlucky, much as May blossom is, but in early Victorian times the language of flowers esteemed the flower as a symbol of purity.
More Signs of Spring
Roger from the farm next door was surprised the other morning by an old hen of his, who marched into the yard followed by ten fluffy chicks, This was the beginning of March and he stood and scratched his head wondering where she had been sitting and how she had managed to bring off so many in the cold weather. Later in the day he put up a pair of snipe in his rape field and heard, for the first time this year, the call of the curlew. Since then we have heard the curlews high overhead, its call caught on the wind and echoing over the pastures. It is a weird and forlorn sound I always think, but a welcome messenger of spring for all that.
Everywhere you look there are signs of spring, buds are fattening on the hedgerows and in the garden the more sheltered shrubs are showing some colour at last.
More Musings
Children born in the country seem to learn the names of birds early but some do not and as they grow into adults they are surprisingly ignorant about the different species. I was surprised when one friend did not know that female blackbirds are brown, nor is she able to differentiate between the various tits. A green finch was just a ‘sparrow’ to her and a bird with a red breast was a robin, even when it was a magnificent bullfinch. This is very sad. I know it is difficult to identify some birds, especially warblers, and learning to pin-point birds by their song is very hard (especially when you have starlings which imitate the sound of some telephones, as well as different bird songs).
I can’t always do it but I know people who can and their lives are all the richer for it. It’s like not being able to recognise different accents; most people can tell a Liverpool accent when they hear one, so why not bird-song?
I know a teacher who lives in our village who desperately tries to teach her town-bred pupils some appreciation of the countryside and its animals – seven year old children who though that milk came from Asda! She believes that in a packed curriculum, where children have to learn a vast amount about the world in which they live, ‘the core skills’. The ability to appreciate the diversity of wildlife surrounding them is often forgotten.
Even More Signs of Spring
Everybody and their mother must be feeling that spring is on the way. I have noted a distinct hint of a smile on some faces. It is still very cold, but already the hawthorn is bursting into that lovely new green leaf and the blackthorn has such fat white buds that I know, pretty soon, we shall see the stark black twigs covered in that unbelievable froth of white petals.
Of course, the real herald of spring is the blackthorn blossom. In some of the more sheltered spots the buds have burst open but the true glory of this bush is yet to come. Primroses and celandines are coming out slowly too. I came across a large clump of primroses by the side of Clay Dyke the other day and next to it were many more ready to burst into flower, Today, in the lane, the sun has brough out the celandines; they are so shiny and new and look as though they have been polished.
I have seen at least seven male blackbirds in the garden all at the same time, so they seem to have come through the winter quite well and the thrush is evident in some numbers too; robins are fine as are the various tits. It is a bit early to start worrying about the bullfinches, they are usually more evident when the new buds come on the apple trees. The greater spotted woodpeckers are here as they have been all winter. We have seen a pair visiting the nuts regularly.
In one of the fields close by we have had the early blossom of the wild bullace tree for a few days now. The bullace is a type of damson plum and is a very ancient tree, probably brough here by the romans and given the Latin name foe sloe, ballac. This form of wild plum is more common in the South of England. It resembles the blackthorn in growth and habit but has much larger white flowers and golden-green plums which are just sweet enough to be eaten raw. Unfortunately, the fruits are so high in the tree that the birds always get them before they are ripe and so we have not tasted them.
In the hedgerows there are a few plum trees. Maybe they have grown from the kernels dropped by birds, I don’t really know; they have certainly never been planted deliberately. We have a better crop from these than we have ever had from the plum trees we have tried to grow in the orchard.
More Musings
In many areas of our countryside where the foot and mouth epidemic has removed one element of the food chain for wildlife, the sheep and cows, it is going to be a long time before the balance is restored.
Consider our domestic animals’ droppings (not too closely I hasten to add). These provided food for worms, beetles and other insects which in turn provide food for the birds and smaller animals, which in turn etc. etc. This system, along with the way domestic animals graze the land, makes our countryside look the way it does; from the ant to the cow, there may be a great difference in size but not in importance.
Thousands of years and generations of animals of all kinds have provided man with a beautiful landscape to look at; our governing bodies would do well to remember that when they are making plans for our rural areas; even the most beautiful of our man-made buildings would look less beautiful if set amongst desert and scrubland.
Tourists are not interested in a dead landscape. They, whoever ‘they’ are, may be determined to change the countryside into a leisure park, but woe betide the planners if they fail to take into account the role the farmers and their animals play in the general scheme of things. In the Basque Country of Spain they have a saying, “God created the earth, then he created the animals, then he created farmers to look after them both.”
Crops, such as potatoes, which are still uplifted, may cause diseases for future crops, and slugs, still reproducing in the warm air, will cause havoc later in the year.
Still, the birds are thriving. There are lots of worms, slugs and insects for them to eat, as well as heavy crops of berries still on the trees and bushes. We seem to have an increase in the number of owls too, at least, judging by the noise they make, there seems to be more of them.
Herons and Cormorants
Earlier this week we were driving across the bridge at Mawson Green and saw a heron perched on the side of the canal. Further down another heron stood on the fence and overhead a cormorant flew down the stretch of water; one of those times when you wished you had your camera. Herons make good subjects, they seem to stand still for hours. They are lovely birds although people with ornamental fishponds would disagree. They are endlessly patient, standing, usually on one leg, with head hunched between their shoulders and seen totally disinterested in what is going on around them. But just one small movement – an eel in the shallows, or a mouse moving through the grass – and they strike with lightning speed.
Long ago, fishermen used to rub a heron on their bait believing that oil from a heron’s feet and legs attracted the fish. In fact they don’t have any such oil or special lures. As I said, they are just very, very patient and their dagger-like bills are ideal for spearing fish in the shallows.
The cormorants, although predominantly a sea bird which mainly breeds on the coast, can be seen along many inland waterways. It is a voracious feeder and is the heron’s main rival. I always think that the cormorant, with its reptilian appearance, is similar to the large prehistoric birds of prey. They are very much like the shag, but the shag rarely goes inland and does not have the white face patches of the cormorant.
Although the heron and the cormorant eat the same kind of food, mainly fish, the heron spears its catch and the cormorant catches fish in its bill and swallows it into its crop. Other similar birds have different methods of getting their food and some birds, the thrush and the blackbird for example, have quite different diets, The thrush is mainly a flesh-eater living on earthworms, snails, slugs and insects with only a small proportion of its food being fruit from the hedgerows. The blackbird however is the opposite, its diet being mostly garden and wild fruit topped up with the occasional tasty worm.
I was interested to read that the feeding activities of different birds is stimulated not just by appetite or hunger but by the urge to forage. A thrush will spend some time securing a worm out of the ground but if it is not hungry it will leave the worm to burrow back underground again. A peregrine falcon may knock down a moorhen but if it is not hungry it will fly away without eating it. The blue tits which peck at the top of milk bottles may leave the milk alone when their need to forage has been assuaged.
Co-operation between birds when hunting is rare but cormorants will sometimes fish together in a line, diving for their prey simultaneously. Herons generally hunt alone but long ago, before frogs grew scarce on the Norfolk marshes, they would work together in a line snapping up the emerging young frogs. It has been suggested that flocks of tits, warblers and tree creepers, which seemingly hunt for food together, are acting as beaters for each other, flushing out the insects before them, but other authorities say that they hunt in groups so that each one can act as a look-out for predators.
Many birds take advantage of the feeding habits of other species, Chaffinches eat the pips from apples hacked open by fieldfares and greenfinches nibble the fruit left by the fieldfares. Robins follow the tracks of a mole, hunting for smaller insects in the same way that they follow the tracks of human gardeners, picking up the insects revealed by the spade. Blackheaded gulls steal from lapwings and blackbirds steel worms from thrushes. When it comes to the search for food it would seem that our wildlife is as inventive as we humans.
Bird Displays
Blackbirds are fighting for territory now, some of these scraps seem to be quite fierce. Quite often I have seen a blackbird pinned down by its rival; when the victor releases the intruder he will often open his mouth wide and stretch his wings, crouching close to the ground, making himself appear as big and as threatening as possible until the vanquished male flies off. Robins too display beautifully, puffing out their ruby red breasts and prancing around with their tails erect showing the females what fine specimens they are.
Flocks of long-tailed tots congregate in the hedgerows and it seems that from every vantage point the great tit is calling his “dum diddy dum diddy dum diddy dum”. This, though I cannot say I have ever linked the two, I am told by a friend, is the same beat and rhythm as the Hymn of Creation from Beethoven’s ninth symphony. Maybe, but the bird sang it first!
Pheasants are collecting females in large numbers and in the dykes mallards and moorhens startle passer-by when they fly away. Hares too seem to be on the increase, they can be seen either sitting up with their ears pricked for danger or prone in the grass waiting for danger to pass. Early one morning I watched for perhaps five minutes whilst five hares chased each other around in circles or reared up, boxing and dancing.
Across the fields partridges run in spurts, five and six together and everywhere deer and badger tracks can be seen.
I watched lapwings displaying their courtship flight high over the fields the other day. I heard their echoing “pee-whit-whit-whit pee-whit”, repeated again and again as the males performed their aerobatic display. They flew, rising almost vertically, then with a twisting free-fall, wings close to their sides, they plummeted towards the earth. When only feet to spare, they swooped upwards again. The females flew languidly overhead, circling around as the males did his death-defying stunts. These courtship displays have a serious purpose; the female will pick the male with the best display because this ensures their young will have the strongest genes for survival.
Getting the best mate is a serious business, witness the pigeons puffing out their chest feathers to make themselves look bigger and stronger and as little ‘pigeon-chested’ as possible. Other birds in courtship show their colours; the brighter the colour the more attractive they are to the hen bird ensuring that they will be picked as a mate therefore their particular genes perpetuated. An animal’s main aim is to survive. Displays, in whatever form, ensure the survival of the fittest of the species; hence the fighting and carrying-on amongst the males whenever a female is about – I shall refrain from drawing parallels! The bigger the male the more females he can manage and the more he protects his right to sire all the offspring.
Some females are by no means faithful to their chosen partner. In a fascinating film showing weaver-birds building nests in the forest of Ecuador, the cock bird spent hours gathering twigs and weaving them into a nest; the hen bird helped for a little while, then, when her mate was well out of the way, indulged in a little extra-marital behaviour with another cock bird who happened to spy his chance. It seems that all she is interested in is a warm nest in which to lay her eggs and someone to help her incubate them; the actual father of the chicks is down to chance. Cuckhold I think the word is!
Hares
Quite often in the early morning a lone hare wanders around the garden. Last year we had several leverets placed under bushes and we constantly had to rescue them from the dogs. There is also a stoat in the garden dashing from the old shed across the lawn to the safety of the boarders.
The dogs were brought up short the other day. Two hares were chasing each other round in circles and they seemed oblivious to the danger of the dogs. (Our two dogs have very short legs and are usually unable to come within sniffing distance of the hares, although they try their best). This time they were closer than they had ever been before but they decided that a mad hare was more than they wanted to take on.
The female hare can be up to 2ft long slightly larger than the male and from now, up to the end of March, is their mating season. The does can have up to four litters a year with two to four leverets each time. The young are born above ground and have a full coat of fur to keep them warm. The female will sometimes split them up into separate areas of a field and go around each one feeding them in turn. The males have well defined territories so if you are lucky enough to see hares boxing, it is usually two males defending their patch.
Foxes and Rabbits
A few days ago we watched a pair of foxes sunning themselves on top of two old straw bales. The male was leaping and pouncing as though he was catching mice but the vixen only watched; she must be very near having her cubs if she hasn’t done so already.
Rabbits are increasing too; we have seen a baby rabbit darting about the hedge bottom and an adult has decided that it can burrow under the wall into the vegetable garden; unfortunately if has chosen the spot where a carefully tended clematis has its roots. You would think wouldn’t you, with all the fields and banks we have around here, they would have chosen somewhere to burrow that wouldn’t destroy my plants. Rabbits, or something of the sort, are also eating off the tops of the new shoots of the iris plants. It could be slugs of course.
Lichens
I have been out walking the dogs and it was bitterly cold. The sun shone from a vivid blue sky alternating with enormous sheets of black cloud called nimbostratus, driven along by the biting wind, These nimbostratus clouds brought driving rain and sleet with the occasional hailstones thrown in for good measure.
Not the best time for looking around the graveyard but I couldn’t resist examining the older graves that are home to various forms of lichen. You really need a hand lens to see their beauty. There are three types of lichen. The encrusting form grows on gravestones, roofs, walls and tree trunks like the bright orange or sulphur yellow Xanthoria species.
They do not have roots but absorb water and gasses through their upper surface and therefore suffer from atmospheric pollution. So if you see lichen growing you know the it is fairy clean. It is a combination of fungi and algae; the fungi is the bit you see and this covers the algae cells and protects them. The algae produces sugars and other substances which feed the fungi; a good partnership. Kirk Bramwith Churchyard is obviously surrounded by clean, if cold, fresh air.
Spring is on the Way
The merry lark he soars on high
No worldly thought o’ertakes him
He sings aloud to the clear blue sky
And the daylight that awakes him.
Hartley Coleridge ’Song’
Several times I have hear the lark practicing for the warm weather
And reports of birds are coming in daily.
The curlew is wheeling around the sky this morning, making his haunting call and the smaller birds are tuning up for the full orchestral suite which starts when they are hunting for nesting sites and mates, With any luck the weather will remain warmer, which will tempt the bees out and then maybe this year our peach tree will be pollinated. Last year the blossoms came out just before a really cold spell when either the bees were absent or the frost killed the blossoms, whatever the reason, we had very few peaches.
Parrots!!
Graham Bullas has been telling me about the parrot he saw on the bridge at Sykehouse! A parrot, which on closer examination turned out to be a green woodpecker. It was the bright green body and red head against the dark bushes of the blackthorn that fooled Graham for a while.
These are lovely birds. You don’t often see them close up but their flight, a few flaps upwards then a glide downwards with its wings tight to its body, can be seen against the dark hedgerows at this time of year.
They will sometimes come into the garden to feed on the ground, looking for ants’ nests or, in times of hard frosts, they will attack bee-hives by drilling a hole in the side and reaching in with their 6 inch long tongues for the insects within. This tongue has a sticky mucus tip and is used to great effect reaching into holes in tree trunks for the larvae and grubs which have burrowed their way in.
We are familiar with the drumming sound of the woodpecker. If you consider the size of the bird and its small head, the noise and the short work it makes of drilling holes, then if scaled upwards to say JCB size, what a formidable machine that would be!
Spiders
Joanna, my daughter, Had been on holiday and returned to find what looked like several thousand dead spiders in the bath (she is prone to exaggeration in times of stress!). She said these dead spiders were ‘enormous’ (stress again!). What she was really worried about was the size of the even larger spider which had massacred all these ‘dead’ ones, (apart, that is, from the bother of having to clean the bath out). Worry not little one, Spiders moult.
What she had carefully washed down the plughole (carefully putting the plug in afterwards in case they can breath under water) was the ecdysis of spiders which had grown too big for their skins. The abdomen becomes distended and the spider stops eating. Then the spider finds a nice quiet place because it is rather vulnerable at this time, The skin splits down the sides and then the legs are drawn up inside the split skin which is pushed away by some pretty nifty maneuverings. Its new body is pale and soft and takes some time to harden and darken again. During this time the spider repeatedly bends and stretches its legs to keep them supple. After a while it is ready to go off and do what spiders do best, fall into the bath and frighten the living daylights out of susceptible daughters!
Spring
The cuckoo is here; he arrived on April 15th. I counted fifteen ‘cuckoos’ in a row from a bird high in an ash tree, then he cleared his throat and started again; repetitive but friendly nevertheless, So far I haven’t heard his throaty chuckles, this sound always makes me smile, it’s the bird equivalent of a ‘dirty laugh’ I think.
Butterflies
I have seen various butterflies on warmer days. A brimstone, with its beautiful lime / yellow colour flitting around the Euphorbia in the garden; the colours of the flower almost match the butterfly. This would have been a newly woken hibernating butterfly as would the peacock I saw on the stitchwort. This year’s hatchings will not be seen until the end of June, But the several orange tip butterflies I have noticed do hatch out this early.
Cast not a clout!
Since 1981 Gweneth has kept a record of the return of the swallows to the farm and the first sound of the cuckoo. It would seem that the earlier the swallows the dryer the year. Could there be a ‘weather lore’ about this I wonder, along with the ‘change not a clout till May be out’ and does the ‘May’ refer to the month or the blossom?
There is, visiting these parts frequently, a farmer who wears layers of clothing to keep warm. Discarding these as the seasons progress, he doesn’t seem to cast many clouts until the temperature forces him into wearing a white cap instead of his usual tweed one. Then he will dispense with one of the waistcoats, perhaps a jacket or two and change the overcoat for a smock.
One of the real characters locally, no longer with us unfortunately, made his own fashion statement in windy weather. Clad in pristine white collarless shirt, braces to hold his trousers up and showing a couple of inches of leg before his boots started, he braved the squalls with his trilby hat held firmly to his head by bright orange baling band tied in a bow under his chin!
Deer
From the study we saw a pair of deer running across the barley field. The buck was a fine fellow with a good crop of antlers. The doe, not much smaller was following him as he searched for a place to get through the hedge. Unfortunately, the doe was lame and hobbled on a front foot, We can only hope that it was an infection which will heal up when the weather gets dryer., if it ever does. She may have caught it in a hole or snagged it on a fence, or even gone through some ice, but there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. However, it didn’t stop her clearing a gate; one bound and she was over, following the buck.
Their coats were a very dark brown but the white rump could be seen quite clearly; they become a richer russet in the summer months. The buck establishes his territory around May time. At this time of the year the does are usually heavily pregnant, their offspring being born in May. We haven’t seen many deer this winter, but we have seen lots of footprints, so they are about but keeping well out of sight.
Sparrows
I have been reading about the decline in the numbers of sparrows. The RSPB is blaming the farmer (they always do), some experts blame the increase in raptors, sparrow hawks and peregrine falcons and some blame salmonella. One ‘expert’ says it is the lack of weed seeds (he should see my garden). This is the farmer’s fault as well apparently; they are not letting weeds grow like they should.
Sometimes I could quite cheerfully batter these so called experts over the head with tons of paper we get from MAFF – the phrase ‘can’t do right for doing wrong’ springs to mind.
The house sparrow is the small fat greedy mobster scattering food off the bird table. He’s got a dark head with a greyish patch at the back, a definite dark brown bib on his chest and brown and dark brown / black stripy wings. They may be declining in urban areas because of the sparrowhawk / domestic cat / lack of weeds / or a hundred other things, but I bet he’ll be back quite soon.
Natural Remedies
The largest plants of course are the trees. One of the first ones to burst into leaf is the willow and in our parishes, we have some of the finest willows in the country.
I have been looking at some of the plants used by ancient herbalists for curing all sorts of ills. One of these is the willow and it is also one of the few ‘sympathetic magic’ remedies which have proved to have some foundation in truth. Remedies were concocted out of plants which seemed to echo symptoms of the disease; stonecrop for the treatment of kidney stones, liverwort for ‘liverishness or bad humours of the blood’ and meadowsweet, because it tended to grow in wet places, should be good for diseases which were made worse by the damp. Similarly, the willow, because it also grows in damp places and has, in the main, a smooth bark, swelling joints from rheumatism etc. should be cured. This remedy proved to have some foundation in fact when the active ingredient, salicylic acid, was isolated, both from willow bark and from meadowsweet. This of course led to acetylsalicylic acid – or aspirin.
Other remedies should not be tried – please put your caldrons away – Digitalis, or foxglove is used in the treatment of heart disease because it slows down the heart rate, but how many people were killed by over-enthusiastic use of the drug before they got the dosage right? Not all of them were accidents either. There are more poisonous plants than there are benign ones.
On a more pleasant note though, spiders’ webs (clean ones) gathered in large amounts from dew-laden fields in the Somme during the first World War, were used to stem bleeding from the wounds of the soldiers. They were more antiseptic and effective than the man-made field dressings. Farmers still use spiders’ webs to slap on the odd cut when they are outside working.
Bird Table Visitors
We have had both male and female greater spotted woodpeckers and long tailed tits, feeding on nuts throughout the winter, We have also had siskins in the garden. Siskins are a bit like greenfinches but more brightly coloured. Their tails are striped a bright yellow and black, their bodies a bright, almost lime-green and to distinguish them from the greenfinch, they have a black cap and black chin. It is said that they are attracted to red nut bags, but we have metal nut holders so it can’t be that, although we did have a bright green fat-ball bag. Maybe these siskins were colour blind!
The Sykehouse Russet
There is a survey being carried out at the moment on old orchards by an organisation called Common Ground in conjunction with the Fruit Growers’ Association. Unfortunately our orchard was chopped down years and years ago but apparently it had lots of fruit as well as walnut trees, There are some flat stumps in the hedge-side, which could have been walnut, measuring about three feet across. It seems a shame that they were destroyed.
The Fruit Growers’ Association is also interested in and indeed has done a great deal of research into, the Sykehouse Russet apple. As far as I can gather they know about the ones in Fishlake and Throne and one in an orchard in the south of England. At present scion (that’s a shoot cutting for grafting) grafts are being grown on rootstock at Wisley and other plant-growing establishments so that the apple trees can be propagated in large numbers. Of course these plants are very young and until they have become established and fruited, they cannot be sure that the apple will be a true type. You cannot be sure to grow a true type from a pip, although the original Sykehouse Russet must have been a pip at some time. It’s all a bit complicated and I’m hazy about the scientific procedures but it would be nice if we could have Sykehouse Russets growing in numbers in Sykehouse again.
Otters
Rivers are becoming cleaner and in other parts of the country, otters are returning. They are large carnivores of the weasel family and were once hunted by bailiffs protecting their salmon and trout rivers. Then their numbers deteriorated because of river pollution and now are rarely seen as they have retreated to hills and moorlands and to coastal areas.
The otter is a secretive creature, lying up during the day in its resting place, called a hover. At night it has a regular beat along the same stretches of river bank, sometimes making long journeys across land to other water courses. They have often done serious damage to hatcheries in trout and salmon rivers and were hunted mercilessly. Tracks and droppings are the best indication that the otter is around; their large footprints are unmistakably different from mink or water vole and their droppings have a ‘hay-like’ scent, unlike those of the mink which frankly stink. Anyway, otters would be a good indication that a river is clean again and I doubt they will ever return in such numbers as to worry the fishermen.
May and other Blossoms
For this is May! Who with a daisy chain
Leads on the laughing hours…
And the glad earth, caressed by murmuring showers,
Wakes like a bride, to deck herself with flowers.
Henry Sylvester Cornwell
As well as the May blossom and its head scent in the hedgerows just now, the stitchwort is a shining star amongst the new green shoots. On the banks of Clay dyke amongst the dark roots and undergrowth, there is a patch of stitchwort which shines as though a spotlight has been turned on that particular part of the bank. Over the top of the bank there is a creeper growing which looks very much like wild clematis, or travellers joy, or old man’s beard, or woodbine, whatever you call it. When if flowers (if) I shall be able to tell better. I have just looked it up in the Flora Britannica and apparently it used to be ‘smoked’ like tobacco, hence it’s old name ‘boys bacca’, Perhaps that is the origin of Woodbine cigarettes?
May blossom has lots of superstitions surrounding it. When I was a child we never took the blossom home because its other name was ‘mother die’. This name probably stems from its almost suffocation scent in a small room and, as ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries hardly left the house in the early part of the year, this blossom in their closed rooms may have made them feel ill.
However in France, May blossom is used to decorate the churches especially the alter for the Virgin. This association with the Virgin could also explain its unpopularity which seems to originate in the 16th century at the time of the suppression of Roman Catholicism. May blossom in the house was seen as a sympathy with the Catholic cause and this sympathy was frowned upon. The Celtic Beltane feast was celebrated in May; it is said that human sacrifices wore head-dresses of Mat blossom.
Now, middle of May, the weather seems to have cooled off again, the stiff breeze is blowing the cherry blossom from the trees and the garden looks like there has been a snow fall. Now that the geraniums are ready to go out, pushing their way out of the greenhouse, the all important question: “have we had the last of the frost?”
Camouflage
Not all colour in animals is to attract the female. Much of the time the animal is camouflaged by its colour for protection. The drab colours of many female birds is so that they attract as little attention as possible while they are incubating their eggs, Similarly, to be almost indistinguishable from its surroundings is a simple way that an animal can protect itself from becoming another’s lunch. For example the grass-hopper’s mate can hear it but its enemies can’t see it. The bittern disappears among the reeds and moths can go unnoticed on the bark of trees. Not only that, some moths are leaf coloured and they will flutter their wings on breezy days and keep them still on calm days.
Insects are also clever at frightening off predators. The eyed hawk moth lifts its blotched brown forewings and reveals two large eye-spots on the under wings. This startles the predator and gives the moth time to escape. Using their colour to frighten predators rather than for camouflage is a neat trick employed by many insects. Yellow and black stripes are a warning that the insect may sting – as wasps do. However these colours are ‘borrowed’ by the harmless hover fly and the hornet moth, which don’t sting, but do manage to keep safe with the help of these warning colours.
Caterpillars too often have bright colours, many of them yellow and black, to warn off predators, The cinnabar moth is bright red and black and tastes foul to other animals; this red colour in insects is repeated as a warning that they too might taste awful.
The cuckoo uses an unusual form of colour imitation. When it lays its eggs in another bird’s nest, it matches the colour of the eggs it lays to the host bird’s normal egg colour.
One other interesting point about colour and animals came to light this morning. Isaa our bull is, for most of the time at least, a quiet and peaceful sort of chap. We had a workman in the yard and he was wearing the brightest yellow fleece I have ever seen (another picture of sartorial elegance!). The bull was clearly disturbed, arching his neck and standing sideways, his beady little eyes wide open. He was huffing and puffing like a steam engine. As soon as the yellow fleece (and it’s wearer, beating a hasty retreat) disappeared, the bull calmed dawn and started chewing his cud again. I may be imagining this but I think Isaac was ‘threatened’ by the colour.
Water Voles
We have been watching for a water vole at the end of our lane. He is in the dyke and uses the underground pipe where the water drains from one side of the road to the other. Standing very still you can sometimes see him swimming through and then scurrying up the bank into his hole.
Water voles are sometimes called water rats. In fact, Ratty, the loveable character in Wind in the Willows, is a water vole which, to me at least, has increased his attraction. They are a dark brown colour with a long hairy tail. They are a similar size to a rat but their heads are much wider and they have a snub nose, which is infinitely more appealing than the rat. They will only swim in clean water of course and they feed from the vegetation in and around the banks. The first indication that they are about is when you hear the plop as they dive into the water. If you look closely, you can see little piles of droppings on the bank, often on muddy bits, which get washed away as the water rises.
Dogs
This morning, I was being entertained by Monty who plays maypole dancing at the end of a 26ft long lead, by racing round in circles trying to tie me up. Polly stays quiet by my side watching him as we turn round in circles but this morning, he was also being watched by a hare which was flat in the grass about ten feet away from me and Polly. You could see that the hare dares not move for fear of being decapitated by the lead.
Polly was ‘pointing’ because that’s what she does. She knew there was something afoot but failing eyesight wasn’t helping her and Monty was far too engrossed trying to knock me off my feet. Finally, Monty gave up and we lurched off across the field. I turned to watch the hare loping off in the opposite direction. Fortunately, neither dog saw him otherwise we could be in Fishlake now!
Slugs and Snails
…. And it has rained; there was a point when another day dawned and the clouds hung heavily just above the trees tops, when I thought it would never stop raining.
Many gardening friends told me how tired they were of the slugs and snails munching their way through seemingly endless newly planted glowers and vegetables. There are 23 species of slug living in the British Isles and 80 species of snails most of which, I have to tell you, have taken up residence in my garden.
I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the mating habits of these animals but it’s pretty complicated. Their eggs are laid under damp stones or damp vegetation; snails sometimes lay their eggs just under the top layer of soil. Slugs are both susceptible to dry weather because water is quickly lost from their bodies. Their organs of smell, by which they can detect food several feet away, are in the tentacles which stand out from their heads. Slugs will eat all forms of vegetation and carrion, and snails will also eat slugs.
It says in the reference book that they hide during the day under logs and stones or among leaf litter. But their favourite place I find, is under the rims and bases of plant pots which hold precious plants.
Slug pellets often seem the only answer to these garden pests, but these can be hazardous to birds, especially if they are scattered too thickly. There is a brand of slug repellent which you can water into the soil and this is less harmful. Thrushes love snails and quite often you can hear them breaking the shells open by bashing them on stones and rocks. I’m doing my best to find something nice to say about slugs and failing miserably; snails have pretty shells I suppose but that is all I can manage.
(I am told by an expert that most slugs and snails do a splendid job eating, and thereby removing, rotting vegetation. Very few species of these animals are garden pests. However, those that are garden pests seem to have taken up residence in my garden).
Summer
I was delighted when once again the bullfinches were feeding on the violet seeds. (I shall be less delighted when the start on the new shoots of the apple blossom, but they are such beautiful birds it seems churlish to complain.) There are two pairs in the garden this year. The greater spotted woodpeckers are still visiting the nuts; they have been fed throughout the winter and this constant source of food was obviously greatly appreciated because now the parent birds are bringing their young to feed from the same source. The young greater spotted has a red head, the male adult has a red spot at the back of its neck and the female just has the familiar red rump.
More Hares
The garden seems to have been taken over by baby hares again. These small leverets, the size of a full grown rabbit but with much longer ears, have been playing in the garden at dawn and dusk for several weeks now and driving the dogs nuts. We found a very young one underneath a bush and watched as the doe came back at odd intervals to feed it. Now the young are growing fast and obviously find the shrubs and trees good cover to play in.
Elderflower
These new summer months are producing more an more flowers in the hedgerows. Particularly lovely are the elderflower and the dog rose.
The elder was planted from early times to make an ornamental hedge, Its berries and especially its flowers make exquisite wine but, if you are making elderflower wine, make sure you use the sweet smelling flower and not the less pleasantly scented variety. Some people consider this bush to be a weed and indeed, as it seems to root in the most awkward and unwanted places, it is a nuisance. However research into the myths and legends surrounding the elder show that it has always been an important part of country lore.
The flower makes an excellent soothing skin wash and the leaves keep flies away from horses. It was common practice in Essex to tie a bunch of elder leaves to the horse harness when working in the fields.
In the middle ages it was the elder which was reputed to have been the tree on which Judas hanged himself. The root and heartwood are so hard that in the 18th century they were used widely by wood turners to make bowls and platters. The berries make a good strong wine, almost like port in colour but sometimes it is too strong and you can get an unpleasant ‘metallic’ taste behind your teeth.
A bit of Folklore
Finally a bit of folklore which I came across; the elder when burnt, burns with a slow, sappy, weak flame and is therefore unsuitable as a fuel but, if you do burn it, it is said that you can see the devil in the flames; but grown by the house door, it will keep the devil at bay. Hearse drivers in olden days made their whip handles from elder to keep the devil away and drovers used them to keep flies off the cattle.
Dog-rose
Often intertwined around the elder are the beautiful dog-roses, the flowers, ranging from white to deep pink, are so pretty I have no difficulty in believing the old tale that they are the fairies’ ballgowns.
It is from the humble dog-rose that some of the great hybrid tea roses have been cultivated. The rose-hips have long been used as a rich source of vitamin C and rose-hip wine is a delightful light summer drink. Furthermore, generations of children have used the seeds inside the hips for ‘itching powder’.
Autumn
It is now mid-way through September, the rain is falling like mist and the fading garden flowers droop their heads. Only the blowsy geraniums with already yellowing leaves, seem determined to greet the autumn with some defiance.
For two weeks now we have watched the swallows gathering on the telephone wires, they fly off only to be replaced by those coming down from the north. Today I haven’t seen one swallow but as there are no flying insects for them to catch, they may have set off in search of dryer weather. Sometimes if the weather is mild and dry, swallows will hang around until November, but they have usually gone by the middle of October.
We have a third brood of swallow chicks in one of the sheds. I have seen no sign of the parents for two days now; if they have to reach the shores of Africa before the shies over the sea become stormy, then they must set off soon – sadly, it is doubtful that this latest brood will fledge and become strong enough in time to make this tremendous journey.
My grandfather always used to watch for the swallows leaving. He said “the earlier they left, the harder the winter”. He kept pigs on an allotment and so there was always plenty of birds to eat and I expect. Plenty of flies for the swallows; so there was no incentive for them to leave except the onset of bad weather.
It has been said that air pressure has a lot to do with the way swallows know when to leave, flying just ahead of the oncoming low pressure or perhaps following the high pressure south. We g=had a call from a lady in Kirk Bramwith the other day and she said all the swallows seem to have gone and this is just early September. She will probably have seen some more but they are the ones who are already making their way south.
More Birds
We shall continue to feed the birds as we do all year round even though there are still lots of berries on the trees and there is a good supply of insects. However, if you keep up a constant supply of food, the birds will learn where to come and you will see more of them.
We also leave water even though a healthy bird will get most of its water from food; birds will sip water from the foliage and some, like swallows, martins and swifts, drink in flight from the showers of rain.
Birds need water for bathing which in turn keeps their plumage in good condition. Healthy plumage helps their flight and also helps thermal insulation on cold days. If they are caught in a heavy downpour birds will stretch upwards so that most of the rain tuns off. After they have washed, they preen their feathers, oiling them by taking a fatty substance from a gland on the rump and carefully smearing it through all their feathers; the difficult job of oiling the head feathers is done by using the feet. The birds then nibble and stroke their feathers, one by one, into shape. During the summer months they will use dust baths but in the winter, there is little dust and they must use water.
Feathers
Feathers are a marvel of engineering. The shafts or quills are really extensions of the skin similar in origin to our fingernails. They are light but very strong and are powered by the birds’ muscles to give them flight capability. The actual coloured ‘feathery’ bits are called barbs. These stretch out from the quill and in turn have extensions called barbules (these are coloured) and from them are even smaller extensions called barbicles. These complex devices, designed and coloured differently for each bird, not only give them the ability to fly but are also used for display.
Even the penguin, whose wings are really just flippers, may not allow them to fly through the air but they have been superbly adapted so that they can ‘fly’ through water.
More Rabbits
The dogs have been kept ‘interested’ this year by a vast population of rabbits. In the early 18th century rabbit warrens were created and rabbits ‘farmer’.
We have a farm called Warren Hall in Sykehouse and it is possible that this ancient farm had a commercial rabbit warren, as farming rabbits was equally as viable as farming any other livestock. I came across a description of this practice in a book by A.S. Byatt…
“up to the eighteenth century the major industry in this part of the world (Lincolnshire) was rabbit warrening. The land wasn’t fit for much else, sandy, full of gorse…. Lovely silver skins they had (the rabbits) they were sent up to London for hats, and north too. The rabbits were fed in winter and allowed to forage in summer. Farmers alternated them with sheep,,,,”
Feeding the Animals
Windfall apples, or any fruit which you cannot eat, old bread and cakes too, can be left, away from the house, for other wild animals. Badgers particularly need feeding and they love peanuts.
A good way to see badgers is by making peanut butter sandwiches and burying them near the sett; the animals will spend hours snuffling around the same spot for their favourite food. They generally forage for themselves during the autumn when food is plentiful when they will lay down large stores of fat under the skin increasing their weight by up to 60%. When there is a long spell of hard frost, snow or really wet weather, they will stay underground, usually between mid-December and mid-February, but if their fat deposits have been depleted, or the weather gets better, they will venture out again. They will be hungry and will no doubt appreciate the odd peanut butter sandwich.
It is worth mentioning here, that even in the middle of summer, especially if the weather has been hot and dry, badgers find it difficult to get enough food; in this case any fruit you have available is greatly appreciated.
Just as we get hungrier when the weather is cold, so do animals and birds and it is well worth sharing what we have grown in the summer with our neighbours, animals and human. Look out for tracks in the soft mud; badgers, roe deer, foxes, as well as smaller animals, can be identified. November may even seem a dead month, but there is still a lot to see.
And now it is nearly Christmas again, back to where these notes first began….
Acknowledgements :
We are very grateful to Deena for allowing us to publish her notes. Or thanks also to Louise Hill who drew the pictorial map of Sykehouse and its environs as well as some of the illustrations and to David Gagg who provided most of the drawings. Keith Hill proof-read the edited script and Marc Seccombe produced the camera-ready text.
Printed by Hesatherbank Design, Milethorn Lane, Doncaster.