Wildlife Reports for March 2005

Andy Goodey reports a Treecreeper in the copse east of the Flitch Way station.  The last Treecreeper I knew to be nesting in Rayne was during my youth, let’s hope this one has a mate and they nest.  I recently had a close encounter with a Treecreeper in Norfolk.  While answering a call of nature behind a tree a Treecreeper flew to the said tree about 4ft up the trunk and proceeded to climb it looking for insects.  It was only a foot from me while I was otherwise engaged.  It either thought I was a strange branch or that I was disturbing suitable prey for it.  Andy also saw a flock of about 60 Yellow Hammers on the set-aside stubble field next to the footpath by Pound Farm house.  Stubble fields are a rarity on arable farms these days except when they are left as set-aside.  This sighting shows they are important for seed feeding birds during the winter.  The Little Egret has continued to show on Pods Brook by the sewage farm though Nigel Wood’s sighting of a small flock last month has not been repeated.  Andy also saw up to 20 Meadow Pipits on the grass field by Station Road and believes they may have been early spring migrants heading northwards.  They obviously knew we were in for a cold spell.

Debora Rawlings, Bay Tree Close had Long Tailed Tits on her bird feeders.  This winter I have had reports of these tits visiting many gardens with feeders throughout the village.  Though they do not usually visit the same feeders every day they appear to have learnt that garden feeders can provide them with supplementary food.  In winter they usually travel about in small feeding flocks that are said to be family related from tree to tree and along hedgerows and through woods, feeding on invertebrates.  They normally do not fly over long distances of open ground but this has not stopped them finding bird feeders within the built environment of the village.  They will soon pair up and build an beautiful oval nest of lichen, moss and hair with a small entrance hole, in the middle of the thickest and most prickly bush they can find.  The nests are usually visible in winter with the leaves off the trees but it is rare to find a nest when in use as the birds are very secretive when approaching the nest and never enter the bush or hedge anywhere near the actual nest site.

At Goulds Farm I reported seeing a stoat from my office window last month, this month with a coating of snow on the ground it was a weasel that ran across the drive.  It stopped for a look round standing on its rear legs before disappearing into a Juniper bush.  This very small mammal usually hunts mice and voles but I did see one successfully dragging a small rabbit across Pods Lane once.  No wonder I never get on top of my paper work in the office!

Paul Fairhurst the builder has been working in the garden of Veronica Pollitt at Duckend Green, when moving some rubble there was a Great Crested Newt hibernating.  The individual was one of the largest females I have seen at over 7ins in length and was very fat probably full of developing eggs.  Veronica only has a small pond but it does show how important garden ponds can be.

Francis Jiggins was walking along Shalford Road past Green Acres at 1.30am when a fox followed by another one close on its tail ran across his path about 1-2metres from him.  They appeared to be oblivious of his presence and one assumes that it was a vixen followed by a dog fox.  One would have expected foxes even with their hormones racing would have given a human a wider berth especially as Francis nearly walked into the second fox.  If your wondering why our youngest son should have been wandering along Shalford Road on a very cold winters night, a certain airline cancelled his flight to Stanstead, then eventually delivered him to Luton where the coach to transport the passengers to Stanstead did not materialise.  I’m not sure if nearly walking into a fox compensated for the frustrations of the day.