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Country Matters March 2004
We have been on holiday during late February and early March. This meant the wildlife had a free run in the garden. It is periods such as this that one’s tolerance of some wildlife is stretched to the limit. My cauliflowers, sprouts and purple sprouting look like miniature forms of those radio masks that are disguised to look like leafless trees. A stem with skeleton branches is all that remains. Instead of nice 12 inch cauliflowers all we will have will be 2 - 3 inch ones. Foxes have left droppings marking their territory only metres from our door; I am not sure what we have to do to reclaim our garden as our own. The badgers have visited as usual and dug various holes, mostly small scrapes in the lawn seeking earthworms.Our resident pheasant flock of 10 hens (Harold Giles counted 17 during the cold weather) and at least 3 cocks were obviously bored by our absence and proceeded to peck off many of the flowers on the spring bulbs. The porch area of the house seems to have been the communal toilet area for most of our avian guests. But they did not have everything their own way, as the Sparrow Hawk was a regular visitor with patches of feathers scattered through the garden.
Two pairs of mallard are now resident and one pair has started nesting. The duck has been flying down from the top of the Leylandii hedge, its usual nesting site. The female of the other pair has a pronounced limp and this is the fourth year she has returned to the garden. She is a late nester and usually has a nest on top of a beech hedge.
I have been told that we have had daytime visits of two Heron to our pond during our absence, so the sticklebacks have probably had to provide the main course. Luckily the frogs have not yet appeared to breed otherwise they would also be on the menu.
There is some good news as when we left for holiday we had 10 moorhens but on return the dominant pair have chased all the rest away. The immigrant blackbirds have also departed so instead of 20 plus in the garden we just have the residents holding their territories. They must be relieved as they had a losing battle trying to chase all the visitors away especially from the feeding areas.
One evening I was going to pull some forced rhubarb from under the straw in the garden. Sitting beside the rhubarb was an adult hare so I rushed to get the camera. I focussed from 4m but was not satisfied like most photographers and tried to change position. The hare’s nerve broke and it belted off leaving me without a picture. As I returned to the house with the camera the hare tried to return to the same spot but again rushed away. I returned to pull the rhubarb, which meant I had to put my hand down into the straw to get to the stem base. Having nearly pulled all I wanted my hand suddenly felt a hairy back, there was an explosion of straw and out jumped a second hare. It left a snug hiding place under the straw, but hares rarely go under cover always preferring a sett in the open where they can see all around them.
I suspect the first hare was the male in attendance to the female in the straw. She was probably about to give birth to her young before I upset her maternity arrangements. I have written before about how the female spreads her young out singly over an area to avoid predators taking all the young. The circumference of this area increases, as the young get older. But I have never found one or two day-old leverets so perhaps she has all the young in one place like my rhubarb bed before moving them out after the first few days. I wish her luck as the large fox and badger population in Rayne means the odds are stacked against them reaching adulthood.
Wildlife Reports for March 2004
The Little Egret has been back in Rayne and was sighted by David McGregor on 17th February and Pauline Turner in March, both times on Pods Brook. I am surprised that it finds enough food in the river, as below the sewage works outfall the river contains very little life. During early February we had over 400 Greenfinches roosting each night in a large laurel hedge and a group of conifers in the garden. It was difficult to do an accurate count as they kept re-emerging and flying around before finally settling for the night as it became dark.The Hooded Crow reported by Phil Monk last month, has been seen by Andy Goodey and Mrs. Digby Shalford Road has reported seeing two birds. The sightings have all been on the fields adjacent to Queenborough Lane. They have caused a minor ‘twitch’ as several birders have been seen scouring the area for the crows.
Vicki Forster, Medley Road reported a flock of over 250 Redwings on the Playing Field. This was during the cold spell during early March. She had very close views from the Village Hall as they fed on the grass and when disturbed they flew into the large poplars in the corner of the field. Usually one only sees Redwings inland in mixed flocks with Fieldfares though I have seen predominately Redwing flocks near the coast.
Fox reports come in most months. Paul Fairhurst and his family out for a walk by Pods Brook met a fox carrying a rabbit one morning. It was unconcerned and just walked away when it became aware of their presence. Harold Giles walking the footpath from Duckend Green to Haverings saw two foxes one afternoon. One went to earth in a rabbit warren by the footpath and the other disappeared likewise into the hedge at the top of the school playing field. This happened on the day the Hunt were in the Parish and no doubt the foxes were giving the hounds a wide berth and finding sanctuary near the village. I imagine I will soon be getting reports of a den of cubs quite possibly from someone’s garden as Rayne’s fox population appears to be well habituated to their human neighbours.
Alan Stannard who is about early morning in his taxi saw two badgers crossing the road together just past Mounts Farm, Shalford Road and a Muntjac deer casually walking towards Broadfields Farm evidently coming from Paul Kings nursery where it had probably had a meal of young tree shoots. He has also seen a pair of hares on Broadfields, one of the few left in the parish after the recent bout of illegal hare coursing.
Barbera Woods, Medley Road, phoned excitingly with the news that a Sparrow Hawk was sitting on the lawn just outside their window devouring a Collared Dove. They had been watching for up to 15minutes as it plucked and ate the dove. From my own experience all that is usually left will be the rear leg bones, a few flecks of blood and a heap of feathers. The Hawk will probably not need to feed for several days and I am surprised it can even fly off as the doves body is not much smaller than its own.
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