February
February
February derives it‘s name from the word ‘februare‘, ‘to purify’ and from ‘Februa’, the Roman festival of expiation, which was celebrated in the latter part of this month.
It was one of the coldest January’s for 30 years for England and Wales with temperatures around 1.5°C below average across most of southern England.
After a week of settled weather things are now almost spring-like. Snowdrops and primroses are flowering and as daylight hours increase dramatically birds are responding to the changes.
Most vocal of all is the song thrush (see picture top right) - at this time of the year there are no leaves on the trees and the sound travels much farther than later on in the season. The elusive lesser spotted woodpecker can also be heard calling and it’s probably the best time to pick this bird out. Dunnocks are also suddenly evident as they sing from scrub and hedgerows (see picture, bottom left).
Dartmoor Ponies
Dartmoor ponies are all owned by local farmers and grazed on the open moorland according to their registered ‘common rights’. Not all of them were ‘proper Dartmoors’ but they all do a good job for nature conservation (see picture, bottom right). When I watched this group they were busy poking their noses into bracken and eating mouthfuls of bramble (garnished with dead bracken stems). They are vital for keeping patches of violets, which grow amongst the bracken stems, open for the fritillary butterflies. The costs of keeping them far outweigh the economic returns but they play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity.
Future Events - Winter Birds Walk
On Sunday February 28th I will be leading a Winter Birdwatching Walk for Dartmoor National Park. This walk starts at 09.30 hours from the Lower Car Park (Bovey Tracey end) on Trendlebere Down. Charge is £5.00 per adult and £1.50 for children).This is a short stroll of just over 1 mile and lasts for 3 hours. The objective is to find as many different birds as possible!
If you can’t make this one then why not get together with a few of your friends and fix up another time with me? Cost for a group of 6 people for 3 hours would be just £5.00 per adult!
February derives it‘s name from the word ‘februare‘, ‘to purify’ and from ‘Februa’, the Roman festival of expiation, which was celebrated in the latter part of this month.
It was one of the coldest January’s for 30 years for England and Wales with temperatures around 1.5°C below average across most of southern England.
After a week of settled weather things are now almost spring-like. Snowdrops and primroses are flowering and as daylight hours increase dramatically birds are responding to the changes.
Most vocal of all is the song thrush (see picture top right) - at this time of the year there are no leaves on the trees and the sound travels much farther than later on in the season. The elusive lesser spotted woodpecker can also be heard calling and it’s probably the best time to pick this bird out. Dunnocks are also suddenly evident as they sing from scrub and hedgerows (see picture, bottom left).
Dartmoor Ponies
Dartmoor ponies are all owned by local farmers and grazed on the open moorland according to their registered ‘common rights’. Not all of them were ‘proper Dartmoors’ but they all do a good job for nature conservation (see picture, bottom right). When I watched this group they were busy poking their noses into bracken and eating mouthfuls of bramble (garnished with dead bracken stems). They are vital for keeping patches of violets, which grow amongst the bracken stems, open for the fritillary butterflies. The costs of keeping them far outweigh the economic returns but they play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity.
Future Events - Winter Birds Walk
On Sunday February 28th I will be leading a Winter Birdwatching Walk for Dartmoor National Park. This walk starts at 09.30 hours from the Lower Car Park (Bovey Tracey end) on Trendlebere Down. Charge is £5.00 per adult and £1.50 for children).This is a short stroll of just over 1 mile and lasts for 3 hours. The objective is to find as many different birds as possible!
If you can’t make this one then why not get together with a few of your friends and fix up another time with me? Cost for a group of 6 people for 3 hours would be just £5.00 per adult!
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