March will see the start of spring, with various animals becoming more visible as they approach their breeding seasons. Amongst those travelling a long way to find a mate are the chiff-chaff and willow warbler (shown here), small warblers that have migrated here from west Africa. These two small species both found in woodland are difficult to distinguish from each other visually, but as soon as they start to sing they are easy to tell apart. The chiff-chaff has a distinctive two-note song, whereas the willow warbler has a melodic descending trill.
Brown hares are around and active all through the year, but with their exceptional hearing, secretive nature and impressive turn of speed, they are not seen very often. In March, however, they often seem to throw caution to the wind and engage in energetic boxing matches. It used to be thought that these “mad March hares” were competing males, but it has now been found that they are usually females beating off the advances of over-amorous males. There are three species of hare found in Great Britain, but the brown hare is the only one found in our area. They are easily distinguished from the much commoner rabbit by their large ears and long back legs – they are also much larger animals generally.
Another year-round resident that looks particularly good at this time of year is the pheasant, with the male in particular appearing splendid with his red and green head and rich chestnut breast. The female is much less distinctive with mottled brown and black plumage, but it is still impressive with a long elegant tail. Pheasants are not really native to this country, having probably been introduced first by the Romans and then regularly by the hunting and shooting fraternity. It is mostly a bird of the open countryside, although over the years it has been a regular occurrence to see a pheasant wandering down our garden path.
One thing to watch out for this month is an early batch of frogspawn, which is very likely to be produced given the warm weather we have had this winter. The adult frogs hibernate, either in the mud at the bottom of ponds or in muddy ditches, but they are easily tempted out by a spell of prolonged mild conditions. Although the spawn is usually found in ponds and other permanent water bodies, they are occasionally laid in puddles and ditches following extensive rainfall. If you do find spawn or newly-hatched tadpoles in drying puddles, it would be doing them a great service to move them to a more suitable local habitat before they dry out completely. However, they should not be taken home to your garden pond, nor taken far from where they were laid. The reason for this is that there is a virus, known as ranavirus or red leg, which can devastate a population of frogs so it is vital to ensure that this disease is not introduced into new habitats.
March will see the start of spring, with various animals becoming more visible as they approach their breeding seasons. Amongst those travelling a long way to find a mate are the chiff-chaff and willow warbler (shown here), small warblers that have migrated here from west Africa. These two small species both found in woodland are difficult to distinguish from each other visually, but as soon as they start to sing they are easy to tell apart. The chiff-chaff has a distinctive two-note song, whereas the willow warbler has a melodic descending trill.
Brown hares are around and active all through the year, but with their exceptional hearing, secretive nature and impressive turn of speed, they are not seen very often. In March, however, they often seem to throw caution to the wind and engage in energetic boxing matches. It used to be thought that these “mad March hares” were competing males, but it has now been found that they are usually females beating off the advances of over-amorous males. There are three species of hare found in Great Britain, but the brown hare is the only one found in our area. They are easily distinguished from the much commoner rabbit by their large ears and long back legs – they are also much larger animals generally.
Another year-round resident that looks particularly good at this time of year is the pheasant, with the male in particular appearing splendid with his red and green head and rich chestnut breast. The female is much less distinctive with mottled brown and black plumage, but it is still impressive with a long elegant tail. Pheasants are not really native to this country, having probably been introduced first by the Romans and then regularly by the hunting and shooting fraternity. It is mostly a bird of the open countryside, although over the years it has been a regular occurrence to see a pheasant wandering down our garden path.
One thing to watch out for this month is an early batch of frogspawn, which is very likely to be produced given the warm weather we have had this winter. The adult frogs hibernate, either in the mud at the bottom of ponds or in muddy ditches, but they are easily tempted out by a spell of prolonged mild conditions. Although the spawn is usually found in ponds and other permanent water bodies, they are occasionally laid in puddles and ditches following extensive rainfall. If you do find spawn or newly-hatched tadpoles in drying puddles, it would be doing them a great service to move them to a more suitable local habitat before they dry out completely. However, they should not be taken home to your garden pond, nor taken far from where they were laid. The reason for this is that there is a virus, known as ranavirus or red leg, which can devastate a population of frogs so it is vital to ensure that this disease is not introduced into new habitats.