Life and death at Spring Time

Fresh green leaves unfurling and the arrival of migrant birds reminds us that this is the season of growth and renewal.The little lane near where I live is typical of this area; twisting this way and that,uphill and down following the lay of the land and bounded by a hotchpotch of hedge, moss covered stone wall and gnarled trees.It is a wonderful wildflower habitat, providing the sheep can't get at it.

         Dog Violets (blue) and Greater Stitchwort (white) growing beside a lane near Dol y Moch    
          


This morning (24th April), I treated myself to a short walk along the lane in question where I took the above photo and saw the following wildflowers..........Lesser Celandine, Herb Robert, Bluebells, Dog Violet, Red Campion, Wood Anemones, Wood Sorrel, Wood Sage, Foxglove, Dog Rose,Wall Pennywort, Forget-me-not, Germander Speedwell..............and there will be many others that make their appearance later in the year.In addition there are countless species of  non-flowering plants; mosses, liverworts, ferns and lichens.Our country lanes are indeed a work of art, hundreds of years in the making, a unique heritage.Go and enjoy them but remember they need protection; road widening or straightening or mowing verges at the wrong time of year can all damage or destroy this unique habitat.              

Migrant bird species have been arriving in an orderly sequence beginning with the Chiff Chaff on the 20th March and then in April, Blackcaps (2nd), Willow Warblers (13th),  Pied Flycatchers(15th), Swallows (24th) and Wood Warblers on the 1st May.                                                    
When the Pied Flycatchers (PFC) arrived the bird box they normally use was still plugged to prevent early use by BlueTits.We immediately unplugged the box and the next day (16th) the pair were staking their claim. On the 17th they were seen mating and two days later the female was carrying nest material into the box.A few days later they both disappeared leaving behind a well formed nest and that is the situation as I write (6th May).                                                        
Not too far from the PFC nest box I came across the remains of a racing pigeon, mostly feathers strewn about a grassy bank, obviously used as a plucking ground. I suspect the culprit was a Peregrine Falcon that occasionally hunts above this spot.The photo below shows two of the feathers on which are stamped the bird's number (56), and the name and phone numbers of the bird's owner.                    

There is a web site where reports of found living and dead racing pigeons can be posted,but unfortunately in this case part of the  information was missing so I was unable to report the incident.                    
Still on the topic of birds,our resident Nuthatches have been using the same nest box shown below for the last three years.

Every year as part of their breeding behaviour they daub the box with mud as you can see in this photo.This behaviour of sealing up cracks, holes and crevices would be advantageous when using natural nest sites such as holes in decaying tree trunks making them more predator and weather proof.

Below is a photo of Olwen, my farmer-neighbour, with one of her young lambs wearing a woolly black jumper. The jumper is not a fashion statement or a means to keep the lamb warm.It is the coat of a black lamb that was born dead.The white lamb is one of twins born to a ewe that was finding it difficult to feed both lambs.The obvious solution you may think, is to give one of the twins to the black ewe whose own lamb was born dead.

  Not so easy..........because a ewe will recognise her lambs by their smell, rejecting those smelling of other ewes. So the farmer removes the skin and coat of the dead lamb and places it on the lamb to be fostered.The fostering ewe is tricked into thinking that the lamb belongs to her because it smells like her lamb. I'm happy to report that mum and baby are doing fine (see below)

Don't forget to check out my next blog as I have something horrendously smelly to tell you about!