Spring is here

Today was a gorgeous sunny day that typified a March spring day. I have been seeing signs of spring for weeks but today after the appalling rain in the week and all the flooding it really felt well and truly.

The number one sign for me was the arrival of the lambs in the fields up the lane. This brought memories of my childhood 30+ years ago when mum would take us up the lane to see them. The lambs were full of energy and charging about with the energy and joy that comes with new life and the excitement of finding every experience new.

In a moment of realism however it is important to remember that these lambs are part of a working landscape and despite their delight at life and our delight in seeing them, in 20 weeks they will be making their way to our plates.

Along the lane the spring flowers were emerging, Celandine, Dog Violet, Stitchwort and Lords and Ladies.

Among these plants were the first ladybirds of the season emerging from hibernation.

Lastly at the top of the lane the Blackthorn is still in full blossom, but behind them the whole walk was juxtaposed by the flytipping of some building material. The walk ended on a sour note because of this.

An unexpected encounter

After some nice sunny days during the week when I was unable to go out wildlife watching today's overcast weather seemed somewhat of a let down. As usual I went down to my patch and despite the cool wind made my way along the rivers edge, it was fairly quite to begin with. I noted that the Long-Tailed Tit families which are usually seen in numbers of 8-10 where now reduced to just pairs. One such pair was investigating an old willow with a view to nesting.

Not far from here I came across a large number of scrapes in the soil and several dug up bulbs as well as a small hole. One of the pits had some excreta which suggested Badger activity. I have seen Badger signs nearby before but was unsure if 'my' badgers from a sett in a hedgerow some 800 m away came this far or whether other individuals from a different sett were responsible. The problem was where this sett was. There are no obvious locations except on the other side of the river and although Badgers can swim I find it unlikely that this would be the case.

As I stalked up to the rivers edge to see if I could see some Teal that I knew often lurked there I picked up a rustle in the undergrowth. Beneath another willow tree through dense vegetation, the remains of old nettle  and cow parsley stems, I could make out a grey shape. The undergrowth broke up its form remarkably well and I could not make out any distinguishing features. The flash of grey suggested to me a Grey Squirrel although the tone was off and the behaviour most definitely wrong. By being so close a squirrel would surely have bolted for the tree and not remained on the ground. I raised by binoculars and focused them as closely as I could on the shape.

At first little more than a flash of fur could be seen, but it came apparent that the animal was larger than a squirrel, my mind started to run down the checklist of British mammals, resting briefly on rabbit, but again the colouration and movement was off. Finally the creature moved and I realised I had been looking at its back. As it revealed its side I could see a short white tail grey body with black paws and a distinctive black and white face.

Many of you who know me or read my blog will know that Badgers are my favourite species and to see one at 10.30 in the morning filled me both with elation and concern. To see a normally nocturnal animal during the day is usually a sign of illness or injury. From what little I could make out there seemed to be no obvious injuries. I would have loved to have gotten a photograph but it was so deep in the undergrowth that a shot would show little and the action of my getting my camera out would surely have startled it.

Then came the moment that many wildlife watchers have. What I call the moment of engagement. It is good practice not to make direct eye contact with any species as this often unsettles them and cause them to bolt, instead you remain still and look at them askance. In this case as the badger went about its business I saw him turn and look directly. We held each others gaze for a moment and in that fraction of a second we had a connection, I could feel his apprehension  at my presence and could almost see him weighing me up. He did not appear alarmed merely evaluative. I passed whatever test he had given me and returned to his activity. For the next minute or so he remained with his back to me intent on his activity before suddenly he disappeared and everything went still and silent.

Carefully moving position I got a better look at where he was and discovered a small spoil pile beneath the tree. I surmise that he has made a burrow there. I doubt it is a sett more a day lay up as the location is appalling, little space to expand a full sett and too close to the river which floods regularly.

The individual seemed small for a badger and it is my guess that the arrival of cubs in the main sett has caused several of the older youngsters to either leave the sett willingly or been chased out.This particular one hadn't traveled far and was using small holes in which to lay up during the day.

I have seen badgers before, we used to visit a sett at my uncles but this was a more intimate encounter rather than the previous glimpses caught there. And what of the Teal? well they were there as well but as usual they saw me long before I saw them and flew off down river before I barely had time to react.

Small Mammal View

I have long wanted to better understand the small mammals on my patch. I have recently purchased a number of Longworth traps but do not want to use them whilst the weather is still so cold.

In the past I have managed to get some footage of mice on my standard Bushnell trail camera but these are very small in size and hard to identify. I have seen on Springwatch and on other blogs some really nice clips of small mammals and I also knew that one of the Bushnell models came with a close focus lens. Unfortunately this model is very expensive but a quick web search revealed a company http://www.wildlifeservices.co.uk/ that sold Acorn and Bushnells with an added lens for close up work. Further investigation showed that they also sold a mammal box. (https://shop.naturespy.org/product/small-mammal-box/

The camera and box were dispatched at a reasonable price and with minimal delay. All in all customer service was excellent. I was then able to set to work making a few modifications.

I did not want larger mammals like squirrels or birds to get in and I wanted some way to measure the mammals that entered. To do this I added a hinged flap with a grid of 1cm squares to the inside.

Mammal Cam Trap in situ

With modifications made I then tested it in the garden which revealed I needed to turn down the
Infra Red lights, I did this by covering up the top most rows with tape.

Sure that I was ready I placed the camera out on my patch for a night. The video below shows what I caught.

The video seems to show a Bank Vole. The tail is about as long as half the head and body and the body as well as tail was dark above and pale below. Over the night the vole returned to remove nearly all the bait, seed and peanuts. At one point you can see an encounter between two individuals where they exhibit some highly vocal squeaks during a short tussle.

I hope to carry out this experiment several times more with variable baits. I know shrews are on the site and so some live insect baits will help coax them into view.

As a first attempt I am very pleased with the results, I need to practice aligning the camera better and  like the fact that the grid lines worked making it easier to measure the individuals. This should be a valuable addition to my long term camera trap survey.

Narcissus the Sparrow

2 weeks ago at work my attention was drawn to a bird outside one of the schools meeting rooms. As I have mentioned in the past I am always called upon to look at injured animals on the school site and a member of staff, in this case, was worried that a sparrow was in trouble. They suggested that the sparrow was acting aggressively to its reflection in the mirrored window.

I made my way out thinking it odd for a sparrow to behaving this way and fully expected to see a Dunnock or some other more territorial species. Perched on the window ledge however was a male House Sparrow. As I watched he displayed what seemed to be aggressive behaviour, flying up and pecking at the reflection in the mirrored window.

House Sparrows are a colonial species that live in small flocks, in fact there numbers are quite robust on the estate around the school, with several flocks ducking in and out of the vegetation along the brook. Winter is a time when territoriality is often relaxed, it is not efficient to expend energy fighting instead of finding food.Occasionally birds will become aggressive at a food source establishing a pecking order for feeding. In this case this was not so. The male was alone and there was no food source.

It is possible the sparrow saw the reflected male as a threat but again this didn't ring true. When startled he would fly away some distance but soon returned again. This fluttering assault continued for a day or so and then he seemed to settle down and more often than not he was found just sat on the ledge. It was at this point where I felt the anthropomorphic need to name him, un-originally I opted for Simon but later that day I found that another member of staff had started to call him by the much more apt name of Narcisuss, the Greek hero who fell in love with his own reflection.

I then began to suspect that having being attracted to the window by its reflection and finding out it could not intimidate the individual had found that it was a warm spot in the cooling weather. The room inside was warm and toasty and I m sure some of that would radiate out.

Again this theory did not seem to fit the facts as on the following day Narcissus was once again fluttering at the reflection,this time however he carried a small leaf in his mouth. Could Narcissus really be in love with himself? Entering into courtship with his reflection by offering a gift.
A quick literature review revealed that male sparrows can become territorial around their nest sites. It is possible that during the mild weather Narcissus selected a nest site near the window, perhaps in the eves of the building in the process of collecting material he saw a potential rival and has been keeping an eye on him whilst he builds his nest. The abnormally warm weather and then the sudden cold snap has perhaps caught this poor sparrow on the hop and he is caught between behaviours.
Any other ideas are welcome.

Citizen Science

It has been awhile since I have written a review blog post and I thought I would do one on some of the Citizen Science projects available through Zooniverse.

I stumbled across Zooniverse via Stargazing Live. They  advertised the site and asked viewers to take part in analysing pictures of galaxies. From this I discovered Snapshot Serengeti.

Snapshot Serengeti was a breath of fresh air. I am not one for travel and so have never visited Africa and experienced the thrills of a safari. This project enabled me to enjoy this experience at a distance.

Snapshot was like many projects. They collected over several years large amounts of camera trap data. So many photographs that to process all the information it would take years and years. The project allowed you view the photographs and identify the species present. I saw Elephants and Lion, all manner of Antelope and Deer as well as the smaller cats and baboons. The interface was easy to use and it felt good to be contributing to some worthwhile science. It became my regular teatime break past time. Sadly the last batch of trap data was conclude this past year.

The good news is that new projects are always coming available and I have found an excellent one to replace it - Chimp and See.

Chimp and See is very similar to Snapshot Serengeti but is based in West Africa. The project is a bit broader allowing more behaviors to be recorded.

There is also a slight change of species whereas in the Serengeti the Wildebeest was the most commonly seen species now it is the Baboon.

I have only been working on the project for about a week. and already I have recorded Mongoose, Snake and Aardwolf.

These projects are an easy way to become involved in world class scientific research. You do not need to be experienced, they all have training tutorials and the design of the project relies on crowd sourcing. With enough people looking at the pictures the correct id generally comes out on top, statistically this projects are quite viable.

So my suggestion is get involved its simple, free and easy and you get to contribute.

Bats and Fishers

With the threat of heavy snow coming overnight and bright sunshine I decided to go down the mill and do my usual Sunday survey a day early.

There was a light frost and it felt cold but once I got going it was fine. My first task was to check the trail camera which later revealed mostly Wood Mouse sightings in the last week and the return of the Rabbit. I also measured the field of view and measured some height marks to help with later analysis.

On my usual survey circuit I made sure to look out for a tree that I had identified last week. I had noted the dark stains coming from an old woodpecker hole and was intrigued enough to look it up online.

A quick search soon revealed that this is evidence of a bat roost possibly Noctule Bat or Daubentons. This is very exciting as in the summer I went on a bat walk organised by the local mammal group down the Saxon Mill and we picked up a Noctule then. The dark stain is from the urine and faeces spilling out from the roost.

As I moved up the river a passing dog flushed a pair of Teal. These are dainty ducks but are very nervous and flighty. In fact due to the wild nature of the site even the Mallard which would be fairly tame on the canal or in the park are very cautious, and rightly so there are foxes and mink that would love a duck lunch.

I paused to take rest on some cut logs and spotted a pair of Kingfishers. They flew off quickly but one returned shortly after and I was able to get this shot. The black beak indicates that this individual is male. If the lower beak had an orangey tinge then it would be female. I remember this by thinking that women wear lipstick.

New Year, Same Patch, more badgers

Due to some illness and bad weather today was the first day I was able to get down to my patch and do the first proper survey of the new year. Thankfully it was sunny and although there has been a lot of rain in the week the fields weren't too flooded.

The fieldfare and redwings have arrived in greater number perhaps heralding colder weather approaching. Overall I recorded 22 species of bird and a grey squirrel. This is more than the same time last year when I only recorded 16 species.

There were small flocks of both Chaffinch and Pied Wagtail which are usually on seen in small numbers intermittently. Two kestrels were about and one remained to hunt across the meadow as I made my circuit.

Last blog post I showed some graphs from the Bird Journal and here are some more, ones that I have produced in excel. These two graphs explore the relationship of mean monthly temperature with the number of species and individuals.

This first graph reinforces something that is apparent in the raw species data. The number of species is temperature independent. This makes sense as although several species migrate as a result of temperature (season) this exchange of species seems to be equal between summer and winter visitors so much so that the number of species on the site hardly fluctuates.

The second graph like the first reinforces observations. The graph shows that there are fewer total numbers of bird when it is warm and more when it is cooler. This can be explained by the dynamics of bird behaviour, When it is warm, this is usually in the summer or late spring when birds are breeding, many species are territorial and so species number becomes a function of space and territory size. In the winter when colder temperatures are recorded several of the resident species and most of the winter visitors all form flocks of large numbers (Gulls, Thrushes and Finches.)

Lastly I had two weeks of camera data to plough through. One particular clip stood out. This was on the 7th January. The clip showed 3 badgers in the one 30 seconds. This is very rare, all previous sightings except for ones with cubs are solitary individuals. In this case there is some interesting interactions between the individuals.

Last year I hypothesized that a spike in badger activity and behaviour was linked to the excitement of cubs being born in the sett. Could this be similar evidence? There is nothing to support this or refute it. Early January is early for cub birth but as we all know it has been exceptionally mild. What is more likely however is the high water and flooded field. The flood waters aren't very high this month despite the rain, the level this morning was just 5 cm above ground level however this maybe enough to alter foraging patterns. 

I believe that the track on which the camera is situated is used by dominant boars and adults to reach the edge of the territory to mark. The rest of the meadow and woodland are riddled with badger paths but with this area under water, individuals that would usually forage along these tracks have been forced on to the track being monitored. Either way its nice to see the interaction of the three badgers.