March
March - (updated on Wednesday 18 March)
March was called ‘Martius’ by The Romans after the god of war, and ‘Hyld Monath’ (‘loud’ or ‘stormy month’) by the Saxons.
There is an old saying that if March ‘comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb’ but we don’t really know what lies ahead. After two months of snow and cold the weather seems to be changing. February ‘went out like a lion’ ending with a severe storm that caused extensive destruction and loss of life in Portugal and western France. Devon missed the worst of this one but it certainly brought a dramatic end to the month. March has been much more settled with very little rain and Dartmoor now looks extremely dry. (see picture below, top left)
In Devon we can usually find primroses from January onwards but this year everything seems later. March is normally the primrose month when these delightful flowers (see picture below, top right) are abundant in hedgerows, woods and gardens particularly when there is plenty of moisture (see picture below, top right) but there are very few flowering at present.
Swaling
Throughout history humans have used fire as a means of managing vegetation especially on heathland, moorland and similar ‘open’ landscapes. ‘Swaling’ is the local word used on Dartmoor to describe this type of management. The object of swaling is to maintain the open landscape and provide fresh grass for grazing animals. The dry spell and settled conditions since the beginning of March have provided ideal conditions for swaling.
Swaling on Dartmoor is normally carried out anytime between January and March whenever there are suitable conditions. In order for there to be a successful burn the vegetation must be dry and preferably dead or dormant. A light breeze is desirable in order to give the fire some draught but the wind should not be strong enough to allow the fire to get out of control.
The aftermath of swaling can make the landscape very unattractive (see picture below, bottom left) but without it arsonists would have a field day and instead of smaller controlled fires of tens of hectares we end up with fires extending over hundreds and thousands of hectares. After swaling the ground vegetation soon recovers and the short vegetation created provides ideal nesting conditions for meadow pipits and skylarks.
Dippers and Spring
Whilst leading a walk at Gidleigh the other week I chanced to hear the most beautiful song coming from the vegetation at the side of one of the many steams that flow into the Teign. At first one could have thought it was a nightingale but certainly not at this time and in this location!
The songster in question was a male dipper (see picture below, bottom right (Chris Harper)) proclaiming his ownership of the stretch of water in question. Dippers are one of the earliest nesting ‘song’ birds and the first eggs can be laid from anytime from late March to early-April. The nest is usually located next to running water under a rock ledge, cracks or crevices, overhanging banks, tree roots or under bridges. During incubation dippers are often quite secretive and all you may get is a glimpse of the bird flying away across the water. Once the young hatch out there is a flurry of activity with both adults flying to and from the nest site with food for the youngsters.
Although it is the emblem of the Devon Wildlife Trust, dippers seem much scarcer on Dartmoor these days or maybe it is because we are not aware of them.
Winter Birds Walk (held on Sunday 28 February)
It’s always a gamble trying to look for birds in winter especially when there is a cold north -westerly blowing. The exposed heathland of Trendlebere Down was devoid of birds so it was a walk down into the sheltered valley’s where most of the avian activity was located.
Despite the stormy conditions ravens were busy displaying and nuthatches were also very vocal and could be heard ‘whistling’. There were excellent close-up views of them from the Yarner Wood bird hide plus coal and marsh tits feeding.
After leaving the woodland we found a flock of about fifty starlings in one of the fields along with a larger flock of redwings. The starlings were in full voice and could just be heard above the noise of the wind. They took no notice at all of a passing buzzard which was struggling to keep its flight path as it turned into the north westerly wind. In the sheltered ground below the hill we had good views of treecreeper making its way up the side of a birch tree, long tailed tits and more surprisingly a pair of greenfinches in the hedgerow.
As March progresses and (hopefully) the weather warms up a bit, birds will start returning to Dartmoor. Species such as meadow pipit, skylark, stonechat and yellowhammer will return to the moorland and rough grazing land and the first chiffchaffs will start singing from the woodland edge. It has been a very long winter!
Future Events - Easter Birds Walks
I will be leading bird walks on Easter Sunday April 4th and Easter Monday April 5th. Both walks start at 09.30 hours from the Lower Car Park (Bovey Tracey end) on Trendlebere Down. Charge is £5.00 per adult – children, free). These are short strolls 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!
March was called ‘Martius’ by The Romans after the god of war, and ‘Hyld Monath’ (‘loud’ or ‘stormy month’) by the Saxons.
There is an old saying that if March ‘comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb’ but we don’t really know what lies ahead. After two months of snow and cold the weather seems to be changing. February ‘went out like a lion’ ending with a severe storm that caused extensive destruction and loss of life in Portugal and western France. Devon missed the worst of this one but it certainly brought a dramatic end to the month. March has been much more settled with very little rain and Dartmoor now looks extremely dry. (see picture below, top left)
In Devon we can usually find primroses from January onwards but this year everything seems later. March is normally the primrose month when these delightful flowers (see picture below, top right) are abundant in hedgerows, woods and gardens particularly when there is plenty of moisture (see picture below, top right) but there are very few flowering at present.
Swaling
Throughout history humans have used fire as a means of managing vegetation especially on heathland, moorland and similar ‘open’ landscapes. ‘Swaling’ is the local word used on Dartmoor to describe this type of management. The object of swaling is to maintain the open landscape and provide fresh grass for grazing animals. The dry spell and settled conditions since the beginning of March have provided ideal conditions for swaling.
Swaling on Dartmoor is normally carried out anytime between January and March whenever there are suitable conditions. In order for there to be a successful burn the vegetation must be dry and preferably dead or dormant. A light breeze is desirable in order to give the fire some draught but the wind should not be strong enough to allow the fire to get out of control.
The aftermath of swaling can make the landscape very unattractive (see picture below, bottom left) but without it arsonists would have a field day and instead of smaller controlled fires of tens of hectares we end up with fires extending over hundreds and thousands of hectares. After swaling the ground vegetation soon recovers and the short vegetation created provides ideal nesting conditions for meadow pipits and skylarks.
Dippers and Spring
Whilst leading a walk at Gidleigh the other week I chanced to hear the most beautiful song coming from the vegetation at the side of one of the many steams that flow into the Teign. At first one could have thought it was a nightingale but certainly not at this time and in this location!
The songster in question was a male dipper (see picture below, bottom right (Chris Harper)) proclaiming his ownership of the stretch of water in question. Dippers are one of the earliest nesting ‘song’ birds and the first eggs can be laid from anytime from late March to early-April. The nest is usually located next to running water under a rock ledge, cracks or crevices, overhanging banks, tree roots or under bridges. During incubation dippers are often quite secretive and all you may get is a glimpse of the bird flying away across the water. Once the young hatch out there is a flurry of activity with both adults flying to and from the nest site with food for the youngsters.
Although it is the emblem of the Devon Wildlife Trust, dippers seem much scarcer on Dartmoor these days or maybe it is because we are not aware of them.
Winter Birds Walk (held on Sunday 28 February)
It’s always a gamble trying to look for birds in winter especially when there is a cold north -westerly blowing. The exposed heathland of Trendlebere Down was devoid of birds so it was a walk down into the sheltered valley’s where most of the avian activity was located.
Despite the stormy conditions ravens were busy displaying and nuthatches were also very vocal and could be heard ‘whistling’. There were excellent close-up views of them from the Yarner Wood bird hide plus coal and marsh tits feeding.
After leaving the woodland we found a flock of about fifty starlings in one of the fields along with a larger flock of redwings. The starlings were in full voice and could just be heard above the noise of the wind. They took no notice at all of a passing buzzard which was struggling to keep its flight path as it turned into the north westerly wind. In the sheltered ground below the hill we had good views of treecreeper making its way up the side of a birch tree, long tailed tits and more surprisingly a pair of greenfinches in the hedgerow.
As March progresses and (hopefully) the weather warms up a bit, birds will start returning to Dartmoor. Species such as meadow pipit, skylark, stonechat and yellowhammer will return to the moorland and rough grazing land and the first chiffchaffs will start singing from the woodland edge. It has been a very long winter!
Future Events - Easter Birds Walks
I will be leading bird walks on Easter Sunday April 4th and Easter Monday April 5th. Both walks start at 09.30 hours from the Lower Car Park (Bovey Tracey end) on Trendlebere Down. Charge is £5.00 per adult – children, free). These are short strolls 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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