Wildlife Watch Autumn 2014

INSIDE: Your LEGO sea creatures, a hedgerow adventure and camera trapping…

Issue 71 Autumn 2014

F RE Brown E H

ar Poster e

Beetle s r e l w a r B This town ain’t big enough for the both of us...

Pee-eww!

The UK’s smelliest animals

Zzzzz...

Build a home for sleeping creatures

In This Issue…

News from The Wildlife Trusts

Wildlife Watch needs you!

Pic: Anna Guthrie

Starfish games

M

issing those summer holiday trips to the beach?

Or not had the chance to go rockpooling this year? Have a go at designing your own starfish or use your nature detective skills to spot hidden starfish behind rocks and under seaweed in

our two new online games. Visit wildlifewatch.org.uk/Games

Pic: Tom Marshall

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04 Pic: Gill Lewis

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And Also…

Pic: Jon Hawkins

D

o you read Wildlife Watch magazine from cover to cover every time it comes through your letterbox?

Are there topics you would like to see more of or things you think can be improved? Perhaps you have a great idea for an article or just like answering questionnaires! If this sounds like you then you could be just the person we need for the Wildlife Watch junior editorial panel.

We’ll ask you what you thought of each issue and you’ll get the chance to tell us what you think the magazine should look like. You’ll even receive a cool Wildlife Watch baseball cap for taking part! If you’d like to join the panel, email us at watch@ wildlifetrusts.org or write to us at Wildlife Watch, The Wildlife Trusts, The Kiln, Mather Road, Newark, Notts NG24 1WT and we’ll send you more information.

nvie / natu repl

Find out how you can help them in your garden with our free downloadable booklet full of planting and activity ideas, plus take part in our bug hotel building competition for your chance to win prizes! Visit wildaboutgardensweek.org.uk

Pic: Niall Be

O

n the week of 15th21st September, we’re going Wild About Gardens.

We’ve teamed up with the Royal Horticultural Society (the UK’s garden plants experts!) to inspire people to ‘think wildlife’ when they do their gardening.

This year is all about pollinators – the bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths that visit our flowers and make sure we have fruit, veg and seeds. Did you know that many of them need a cosy place to spend the winter?

Locock

Build a Bug Hotel

Pic: Georgia

Nature Ranger Awards

ongratulations to Andrew Moore (Ulster Wildlife Trust) and Florence, Hester and Rowena Barker (Hants & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust) who have all completed their Nature Ranger awards. To complete their awards they covered topics such as bees, birds of prey and they way wildlife is adapted to live in local habitats. Fantastic work, all of you!

Feeling inspired and fancy having a go yourself? Or want a few pointers to get you started? You can read about some of the great challenges budding experts like you are setting for themselves to achieve their awards at wildlifewatch.org.uk/watch-award-winners

Pic: Christopher Mattison / naturepl

Wild Things

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02 Wild Things

16 Become a Wildlife Ranger

New mini meadows

04 Habitat Safari

17 Make Your Own

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06 Beastie Besties

18 Bringing Butterflies Back

n the spring we gave away thousands of packets of mini garden meadow seeds to help you create a little patch of colour and wild magic in your garden. Altogether we sent out more than 5,000 packets, which means there could now be 5,000 extra mini meadows across the UK! That’s loads more patches of nectar and pollen for insects, seeds and insects for birds, and colour, scent and enjoyment for gardeners!

Road verges

Perfect animal partners

08 Wildlife, Camera, Action!

Wildlife Watcher Helena (aged 4) is proud of hers!

20 Your Lego Marine Creatures Stage Beetle

10 Competitions

22 Feature Creature

11 Otter poster

23 Animal Identification

12 My Hedgerow Adventure

24 UK’s Top Five

Book special!

Wildlife Watch 71

Hibernaculum

14 Gallery

Stag Beetle

Stinkers

Editor: Amy Lewis Editorial Team: Adam Cormack Mary Porter Lynn Victor Andrew Chick Cover pic: Stag beetle

by Kim Taylor / naturepl

What’s Wildlife Watch?

Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts. Join Wildlife Watch and start your nature adventure - prices range from £10-33 per year for child-only membership and £28-55 for family membership.

You’ll receive a starter pack and four issues of Wildlife Watch magazine a year. This is packed full of amazing pictures, posters and competitions.

We also have a really wild website and e-newsletter full of wild ideas and nature-spotting tips. Plus you get access to local events and groups. Go to wildlifewatch.org.uk to find out more.

The Wildlife Trusts Registered Charity No 207238

Free Hare Brown r Poste K wat eep chin g!

Get in touch Contact us at watch@wildlifetrusts.org or ring 01636 670000.

Or write to us at Wildlife Watch, The Kiln, Mather Road, Newark, Notts, NG24 1WT.

Habitat Safari

Tall and spiky plants that can be seen all year round.

They are green while they’re still growing, then turn brown and stand in place through the winter.

In summer a ring of purple flowers travels across their heads.

Goldfinches love teasels! They use their slender, tweezer-like beaks to dig out their tiny seeds.

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

their prey.

They fly quite close to the ground when they hunt, often concentrating hard, which can put them in danger of being hit by traffic.

Orchids

One of the precious surprises of the road verge! These special plants, which often need particular conditions to grow, can sometimes be found hiding in the grass.

If you’re lucky you might spot the strange-looking bee orchid, early purple orchids or clusters of beautiful pink pyramidal orchids.

Find out about how orchids work together with fungi on

Hovers above grassy banks on the lookout for small mammals. Their special eyesight allows them to see the trails of wee that mice leave behind as they scurry about!

Oxeye daisy

Pic: Gemma de Gouveia

Pic: Margaret Holland

shorter tails.

Males have blue-grey heads and females are much more brown all over.

Look out for them perched on motorway lampposts and telephone poles.

Butterflies

With all these wild flowers to choose from, it’s no wonder that road verges can also be great for insects!

Watch out for the dainty blues, the bold whites and fluttering admirals, tortoiseshells and peacocks.

The grasses are great for butterflies and moths too – many of their caterpillars feed on them.

pages 6-7.

www.wildlifewatch.org.uk

Wonder what it is that barn owls and kestrels are hunting along road verges? You guessed it – voles!

Field voles look very similar to bank voles but have

They love to nibble on seeds, roots and leaves and use tunnels to move about in the grass.

Crows

Rooks (pictured), carrion crows and magpies are often spotted pecking around on the road or in the verges.

They’re on the lookout for a free meal – those poor squashed creatures that have been knocked down by passing cars.

Other animals like stoats, buzzards and red kites will sometimes join the feast too.

Pic: Nick Upton / naturepl

Teasel

Pic: Richard Burkmar

to thrive.

Next time you’re off somewhere in a car or on the bus, look carefully at the grassy banks whizzing by your window. There’s a whole world of wildlife living just beyond the edge of the road!

If a ghostly white shape flits past your car window at night, it’s probably a barn owl out hunting.

Their soft, silent flight lets them sneak up on

Pic: Paul Hobson

Think about it – other than cars and lorries zooming past, very few people visit them or disturb them. They also need to be cut regularly to prevent bushes and trees growing too thick and blocking the view of the road for motorists. When this is done right, it can mimic the traditional harvesting techniques used hundreds of years ago that allowed meadows and grassland plants

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Field vole

here are hundreds of miles of road verge in the UK. This makes up a very large and important wildlife habitat, often home to unusual plants and wildflowers.

Pic: Christopher Mattison / naturepl

T

Kestrel

Pic: Bob Coyle

Road Verges

Pic: Gary Cox

Barn owl

These tall, white flowers are common along road verges between June and September.

They are also sometimes known as ‘moon daisies’ or ‘moonpenny’ because of the glow of their bright petals in the evening.

In Summer, look for them alongside bright red poppies, purple scabious and pink knapweed.

Fantastic facts ly found Salt-loving plants usually on turn up along our coasts sometimes ds at the roadside far inland. See a d fin carried by passing traffic next home-from-home in the soil tters gri to s to the tarmac, all thank salting the roads in winter!

l road specia a life r t x e in wild h Some c i r o are s ecial verges iven sp g e r a ey ife that th e Wildl h T . rge n o i t oad ve r f o protec s t p to ave lo nd hel a Trusts h s e v r rese ore. nature many m r e t f a look

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

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eone you always hang Do you have a best mate? Som lots of fun with this special out with? You probably have n apart. In fact, it’s hard person and you’re seldom see chosen chum and perhaps to imagine life without your you’ll be friends forever.

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ld too. can be found in the natural wor Fantastic friendships like this completely a of tionships with a member animals even form life-long rela biosis. sym ed together in this way is call different species. Living closely teamwork it’s ply, sim perfect partnership. Put Both creatures benefit from the at its best!

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Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

on

Orchids are among our most beautiful wildflowers, and they’ve also developed a special relationship with fungi. Whilst most plant seeds contain enough food to feed the plant as it first grows, the tiny seeds of an orchid are more like dust and have virtually no energy inside them. So, for an orchid to germinate (start growing) it relies on its fungal friend to provide it with the nutrients its needs and, in return, the fungus is protected by the orchid’s roots.

Symbiosis – it’s a win-win situation!

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Living together

Lichens - a match made in heaven

Pic:

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Perhaps the most amazing example of symbiosis is when two species combine to produce a completely new one! Lichens are formed when a fungi and a green alga (which is a very simple plant) grow together. The fungus creates a ‘body’ or home (called a ‘thallus’) for them both to live in while the alga uses sunlight to produce food to feed both partners. This unusual situation is extremely successful, meaning lichens can grow where neither the fungus nor the alga could survive on its own. Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, including the arctic tundra, hot deserts, mountain tops and tropical rainforests. Tough they might be, but lichens are also very sensitive to air pollution and can tell us a lot about the health of our environment: the more there are, the cleaner the air is. They can be found pretty much anywhere – gravestones, walls and tree trunks are a top spot – so get out there and go looking for lichens!

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Pic: Jon Hawkins

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by Pete Dommet

Groom your ticks, Madam?

ins

Besties

Pic :J

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Beastie

Next time you watch one of those wonderful wildlife TV programmes about African animals, take a closer at look at what’s going on. See if you can spot some little birds hopping about on the heads of the hippos, elephants and buffaloes as they wallow away in a waterhole.

These are oxpeckers and they remove annoying insects from the hides of the bigger beasts.

Believe it or not, some UK birds do the same job.

Members of the crow family, such as magpies and jackdaws, will pluck parasites like ticks from the backs of some species of deer and sometimes stash them for a snack later on. The deer gets a good ol’ clean-up and the bird earns a tasty treat, so everyone’s a winner!

No, this crab isn’t wearing an enormous floppy hat! It’s actually carrying a sea-sponge on its back to provide it with camouflage and shelter.

Incredibly, the suitably named sponge crab can trim a living sponge with its pink-tipped pincers to fit the exact shape of its shell. So far so good for the crab, but what does the sponge get out of the deal? Well, as the crab scuttles about the sea bed, the sponge gets a free ride to new, foodfilled areas and the chance to filter goodies from the water. They may sound like best buddies that go everywhere together, but sponge crabs aren’t too fussy when it comes to choosing their piggyback pal. If they can’t find a sponge to team up with, they’ll make do with old rope or even the soles of long lost flip-flops!

Plant pals

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You scratch my back...

Sponging off your mates

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Aphids are the enemies of farmers and gardeners everywhere. These destructive little insects are also known as greenfly (but can be black, brown, pink or even colourless!) and colonies of hundreds cluster together on plants. They suck sap from the plant’s stem and afterwards produce a sticky liquid called honeydew. This sweet substance happens to be a favourite food of black garden ants. So the ants set up an aphid ‘farm’, herding them together like cows and ‘milking’ them (by tickling their bottoms with their antennae!) to produce more of this sugary treat. In return, the ants act as shepherds, protecting the aphids from passing predators like ladybirds. They’ll even carry their precious pals to new plant pastures!

Pic:

Ant farmers

Pyramidal

orchids www.wildlifewatch.org.uk 07

, fe i l d l i W , a mer a C ! n o i Act her Wildlife Watc ck, aged Georgia Loco blogger, fe li d il w a is , 15 r and all photographe -nut. She round nature out her tells us all ab the amazing d n a n io s s a p captured action she’s eras. with her cam

Ever since I can remember I’ve been interested in the natural world. From an early age I would watch the birds visiting my garden, go out walking with my Granddad or help my Nan with the gardening. The wildlife I am most fond of are mammals, birds and fungi.

My passion My hobbies include pretty much anything to do with the outdoors and wildlife and it has taken me to a wide variety of great places.

I’ve watched puffins and gannets on Skomer Island, hand fed red squirrels in the Isle of Wight and watched ospreys in the Lake District. There’s also wonderful wildlife closer to home too - like peregrine falcons at Derby Cathedral which isn’t far from where I live in the Midlands.

Everything I do revolves around the natural world and the wildlife that I see and enjoy watching, even my school work! For one of my year 10 art projects, which had to be an arrangement of objects, I drew and painted my equipment, like my trail camera, telescope and binoculars.

My trail camera I got my trail camera over a year ago now and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought - I love it! It’s such a wonderful bit of kit – all you do is set it up, leave it for the night and come back to it in the morning and it automatically records any passing animals for you. I like to set it up either in my garden or much further afield to capture different kinds of wildlife in a new way.

When I record an animal with my trail camera it isn’t frightened and

Curious fox cub

Chilled out badger

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Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

its behaviour is completely natural. That’s what makes it so brilliant!

When I go to collect it in the morning it’s like Christmas - you don’t really have much of an idea what you’ve recorded and it’s so exciting. Sometimes I don’t record anything but at other times I’ve recorded all sorts of interesting and fascinating stuff! So far I’ve recorded everything from fox cubs at school to badgers, mice and rats.

Hungry mouse

Two friendly hedgehogs

My blog I also enjoy photographing and filming what I see out in the natural world when I go out walking. I first started getting really interested in wildlife photography and filming about five years ago when I got my first camera. Most weekends I’d go out to some of my favorite local patches and photograph all the wildlife I saw. Then almost two years ago I started up a blog where I updated it with things like the walks I’d been on, photographs I’d taken, what’s been in my garden and much more. Now my wildlife blog is updated on a regular basis and I’ll post anything on there from raising awareness to some new wildlife footage!

To see my trail camera footage and photos that I’ve taken, and to follow my adventures, follow this link to my blog georgiaswildlifewatch.wordpress.co m

Book special

We’ve got five copies of each of these wonderful new books to give away

Crafty Leaves

Scarlet Ibis

by Jenny Kenna

Jenny Kenna

A beautifully presented ART craft book for all the +NATURE = Fun family. With pictures to help and step by step instructions, create your own leaf people and Leaves weeds,anim grasses,als while learning catkins .... how to tell your oaks from make great your syca more pictures s!

CHILDREN 6 to 11

by Gill Lewis

From the award-winning author of Sky Hawk, Moon Bear and White Dolphin comes a new story about a sister, separated from her young brother, who dreams of the day they will fly together to a faraway place where thousands of birds fill the sky.

Make amazing pictures with leaves Get to know trees by their leaves

Buy online at gwales.com RRP around £6.00

Jenny Kenna

For your chance to win

Send us some leaf art!

Create your favourite wildlife from leaves, twigs, seeds and other natural bits and bobs.

Whimsy Wood: Posie Pixie and the Fireworks Party

by Sarah Hill

Book four in the enchanting Whimsy Wood series. Follow the adventures of Posie Pixie and her woodland friends through a lyrical world of natural wonders, friendship and magic!

Buy online at wtru.st/buyfireworksparty RRP £5.99

For your chance to win

arletibis Buy online at wtru.st/buysc RRP £8.99

For your chance to Can you tell us what kind a) reptile b) fish c) insect d) bird

win

of animal an ibis is?

The Dark Wild

by Piers Torday

The sequel to The Last Wild. Twelveyear-old Kester thought he had discovered the last wild animals in the land. He thought his adventure was over. He was wrong. Below the sparkling city of Premium, deep underground, a dark wild remains: animals who believe the time is right to rise up against their human enemies…

Buy online at wtru.st/buydarkwild RRP £6.99

For your chance to win

Tell us what you would say if you coul d speak to Draw your own Whimsy Wood character! Will it be animals. What would be the one que stion you would new brand a Or pixie?

A a woodland animal? ask a fox, an eagle or a butterfly? Perh aps you’d ask they would treat party creature? What yummy a bee its favourite colour, or find out why a robin don’t And party? s bring to the firework loves to sing. Or ask a badger to tell Love reading a joke ? name! a r forget to give your characte nature books? Check out Let us know! ed our reading list recommend at rs tche by other Wildlife Wa rbooks wildlifetrusts.org/summe

Competition Rules Send your competition entries to us: By email watchcomps@wildlifetrusts.org By post Wildlife Watch The Kiln, Mather Road Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 1WT Don’t forget to include your name, age and address with your entry! DEADLINE: 14 November.

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Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

European otter

Pic: © Andy Rouse / 2020VISION

Competitions

ed erows are pack g d e h r a e y f o s At all time tumn they are u a in t u b , fe li full of wild busy rries, nuts and e b h it w g e n ti rs bu n food before th o p u g in k c o st ead creatures our coat and h y b ra g o S s. in winter beg l hedgerow. a c lo r u o y re lo out to exp

Take this activity

0km of There is 450,00 UK. e th in hedgerow stretch to gh ou en That’s 11 times! around the earth

My name:

During World War II lots of children earned pocket money by picking rosehips. The rosehips were made into rosehip syrup which was a good source of vitamin C. In fact just one single rosehip contains more vitamin C than a whole orange!

Location of adventure: Who else is going on the adventure:

sheet outdoors Weather conditions today

Make some blackberry dye

Spot it

Elder berrie s

Work it out!

How old is your hedgerow? ‘Hooper’s rule’ claims that you can tell how old a hedgerow is by the variety of trees and shrubs that grow in it (plants such as hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, ash, oak, elder and holly). All you need to do is count how many different types there are growing in a 30m stretch (about 50 paces). Multiply this number by 100 and that is how old your hedge is.

My hedge is

years old.

Listen for it!

Pic: Margaret Holland

cGlone

by Sadie M

Did you know?

Pic: Philip Precey

w o r edge h y M e r entu v ad

Mice and voles live in hedgerows and love to snack on berries and nuts. They are hard to spot but stand quietly and you might be able to hear one rustling about in the hedge bottom.

Pick some blackberries.

Keep you r eyes op en for these hedgero w plants an d animals

Put them in an old pan with twice as much water as berries and simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile put some salty water in another pan with your fabric (white cotton works well) and simmer this for an hour.

Spider in it s web

Remove your fabric from the salt water and rinse it in cool water.

Bats often fly along hedgerows catching insects to eat. Pretend you are a bat by flapping your arms and flitting along the hedgerow. See if you can spot any insects as you fly along and make a little batty ‘squeak’ if you do.

s Sloe

to remember Stick any treasures you find onto this nature table textures? and s colour nt differe find you your adventure. Can

Take the berry mixture off the heat and strain it to get rid of all the bits.

Play it!

A kind of th rush

Record it!

BEWARE: don’t put this fabric in the wash with other items – they may come out purple too!

Pic: Amy Lewis

Wre n

Add your fabric to the dye and leave to soak, then take it out and hang it out to dry.

Hazelnuts Pics: Markus Varesvuo / naturepl, Chris Maguire, Jon Hawkins, Amy Lewis, Colin Varndell / naturepl and Bob Coyle

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Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

www.wildlifewatch.org.uk

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

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St r entry

2

Gallery

8 1

Wins £20 Book Voucher

1. Hedgehog bones by Claire and Rachel Turner (aged 10 & 11) from Sheffield When Claire and Rachel found a dead hedgehog a few years ago, they decided to bury it, let some time pass, then dig it up again to look at its bones. They carefully put its skeleton back together to discover that it was a youngster and had broken bones from where it had been hit by a car. What a fascinating project!

2. Adder by Millie Deighton (aged 4) from Exeter Millie has got the diamond pattern of an adder just right in her lovely picture. We also like the way that the surface she has coloured her snake in on has given it a scaly appearance!

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3. Foxes by Gaia Joy Lipman (aged 8) from East Sussex Aww, what a cute couple! Foxes start to look for mates in the winter and will pair up to defend a territory together. Listen out for their eerie night calls from December.

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4. Lizard by Lily Hunter-Richmond (aged 7) from Huddersfield This lovely lizard has all the right reptile-y features!

He’s got gripping claws for scrambling quickly over rocks and a patchwork of different green scales to keep him hidden from enemies.

5. Badger by Catrin Gibbard (aged 8) from Hampshire This beautiful badger drawing looks just like the cub pictured in last year’s autumn magazine. Great pencil work, Catrin.

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6. Curlew by Robin Scholfield (aged 6) We love Robin’s colourful collage! Curlews use that long, curved beak to poke about in soft ground for juicy worms and other tasty creatures.

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7. Herring gulls by Spencer Wade (aged 12) from Berkshire Spencer took lots of pictures of the local wildlife on his holiday to the Channel Islands. What do you think these two gulls might be thinking about as they gaze out over the sea?

8. Butterfly on Sophie’s nose by Amy Leonard (aged 10) This green-veined white butterfly settled on Amy’s sister’s nose while they were out for a walk.

Amy was quick to get this fantastic photo!

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10. Hedgehog by Milly Rose Baker (aged 5) from West Sussex An excellent hedgehog, Milly! We think it’s probably having a little roll about on the grass and wiggling its feet in the air with delight!

6 Keep sending in your pictures, poems, paintings and letters to be in with a chance of winning a £20 book voucher! Remember to let us know if you would like your artwork to be returned to you.

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11. Sawfly larvae by Talia Calvert (aged 9) from Manchester Have you ever seen such artistic insects? These cool critters where munching Talia’s silver birch tree and flicked their tails up when they saw her shadow coming.

12. Waterfowl by Lyra Cookson (aged 9) from East Sussex Lyra’s picture is an oil painting in canvass and a very beautiful one too. Perhaps these water birds are starting off on their autumn migration and heading for distant lands.

Write to watch@wildlifetrusts.org or Wildlife Watch, The Wildlife Trusts, The Kiln, Mather Road, Newark, Notts NG24 1WT Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

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9. Fox cub by Ruby Mellor (aged 10) from East Sussex What a cutie! Ruby’s fox cub is very well drawn and seems to be enjoying a sunny summer’s day outside of the den.

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rg.uk/activity-sheets like this, visit wildlifewatch.o

Become a Wildlife Ranger!

Says vet turned best-selling children’s author Gill Lewis of a wildlife hen you think imagine brave ranger you may en guarding men and wom rican rhinos on the Af elephants and otection pr s life also need plains, but wild e world. bitats across th in different ha u can make a out to Africa, but yo t ge to en. sy ea t no It’s er in your own gard ing a wildlife rang m co be by e nc re diffe

and It’s time for a garden take-over to watch it grow and change. g azin am overnight, but it will be

Your safari park will need: 1) Wilderness Persuade a parent or carer to give up a piece of garden. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big or small area, just one where you can have your own piece of wilderness. If you like, you can separate your safari park from the rest of the garden and allow ivy and brambles to scramble over a fence or you could ask an adult’s help to plant a small hedge of native trees such as blackthorn, alder, field maple and holly.

2) A base camp Create a safari camp as a base to watch wildlife, whatever the weather. A small tent is perfect for this or you could make a natural willow shelter. Have a watertight box with all your field-tools to hand; magnifying glass, identification pot, notebooks and reference books.

Grab a mug of hot chocolate, fill up

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pictures, leave only footprints”.

You could even recruit more rangers - persuade your friends and neighbours to create their own garden safari parks.

the biscuit tin and camp out for a nighttime safari. Look out for bats and moths and listen out for the eerie cry of the urban fox.

3) A waterhole All great safari parks have a waterhole, where the animals come to drink. Put a small pond in your safari park and in no time you will have frogs, toads and loads of minibeasts living in the water. Or you could put out a shallow dish of water for birds to bathe and drink from.

4) Feeding stations Offer a variety of bird foods, especially during the autumn and winter months. And for natural food, allow long grasses, wildflowers, nettles and brambles to grow.

Nettles are the food plant for many caterpillars,

and buddleia provides nectar for butterflies. Honeysuckle attracts moths, which in turn lures bats into your garden. Many animals also use brambles and ivy for protection from predators and the weather.

5) Wildlife dens Log piles and stone piles can be home to all sorts of minibeasts, from millipedes to stag beetles. You may be lucky enough to have a visiting hedgehog. A compost heap will provide warmth for slowworms.

Bird boxes allow small birds to rear their chicks in safety.

6) Ranger rules Remember, you’re in charge! Make sure visitors to your safari park abide by your rules. “Take only

Pics by Gill Lewis, Tom Marshall and Amy Lewis

fari park Create your own sa make-over! It won’t happen

For loads more activity ideas

W

Just imagine - what if every garden, in every street, in every town and city had a little piece of wilderness and someone to protect it. Just imagine - we would have millions of safari parks and a whole army of wildlife rangers. Together, we could re-wild our urban landscape. Together, we could make it happen.

Ibis, Gill Lewis’ latest book, Scarlet ty is published by Oxford Universi 9 £7.9 ed pric Press in paperback . and is out now See page 10 for your chance to win a copy.

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Pics: Durham Count y Council

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

naturepl

www.wildlifewatch.org.uk

on Colm

Scientific name: Boloria selene Range: Scotland, Wales and western parts of England Habitat: Woodland clearings and open moorland Relatives: Other fritillary species in the UK include the very similar pearl-bordered fritillary, plus marsh, silver-washed, dark green and high brown.

Moving day

Marsh violet

Keen operatives on a mission to plant violets for the butterflies’ return

Pic: David Liddle

er / natu

repl

m Durham Wildlife

By Anne Porter fro

Pic: Sim

This hu ng still has ry baby lots of eating to do!

FRITILLARY FACT FILE

Rare-ness: Declining and in danger

Around the m iddle of May th e caterpillars ar couple of cent ea imetres long an d ready to mov out! They are e taken to a secr et location (this to keep them he lps safe from bein g disturbed w they settle in) w hile here they mun ch some more before turning into pupae do wn amongst th protection of th e e mossy plants . They emerge butterflies 3-4 as weeks later, fly ing on warm su days. It is hope nny d that they will then find mates lay eggs and , spread natura lly so that in year come small pe s to arl-bordered fri tillaries will on again be flying ce without needin g our help.

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The ‘pearls’ that give the butterfly its name

Gently does it

With a spoon and a feather the tiny caterp are gently brus illars hed from the stalks and pu a bowl to stop t in them escaping . They are then given a lush ne w plant where they can cont munching un inue til they’re read y to go to thei new home. r

nature

Wild pregnant butterflies we re carefully taken from an area where the sm all pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly is doing we ll and put into special ‘captive breeding’ cages planted with marsh violets. Here they laid their eggs.

Once the eggs hatch the sm all caterpillars, only a few millimetres in len gth, start munching on the leaves of the violets.

aby The cages are home to these tiny caterpillars for the next 89 months. In th eir first year they grow very slowly hiding in the leaf litte to wait out the r cold winter m onths. Once th temperature be e gins to rise in the spring they become feroci ous eating mac hines devourin leaf after leaf g of the marsh violet plant un skeleton stalks til only are left! Then it’s time to very carefully remov e the tiny, delic ate caterpillars from the pots .

p s on /

Pic: Ross Hoddinott / natu

repl

This rare and special butterfl y - the small pearl-bordered fritillary - is on the Butterfly Conservation Red List becaus e it is in danger of becoming extinct. Durham Wildlife Trust’s Heart of Durham Project is trying to help the butterfly find new places to live by pla nting extra marsh violets – a fritillary caterpillar’s favourit e food – and other flowers the butterflies love , to areas where they could thrive. Caterpillars are also being looked after by trained volunteers until they are ready to move in to their new hom e.

rkings pearl drop ma h it w y fl er tt u sion b important mis A small orange n a of e tr n ce at the north east on its wings is Durham in the ty n ou C in t ou et... being carried can keep a secr ou y if on d ea R of England.

Trust

Bringing up b

pillar

off Sim

To the rescue

Cater

Caterpillar nursery

18

Pic: Niall Benvie /

Chrysalis

Pic: Ge

ing g n i r B

ck a B s ie fl r e t t Bu

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

19

Your Lego Marine Creatures

challenged In the Summer issue we a creature for your you to build us a UK se e pairs of Wildlife chance to win one of fiv rs.

Trust Opticron binocula s! There were dolphins You sent in some beautie sea snails, seabirds, and whales, crabs and ones. Here are the sharks, worms and anem our other favourites winners and just a few of from all the entries set in.

Angler fish by Levi Wa rnes (aged 8) fro

m Dorset

ourites v a f r e h t o ’ s e g d Ju

Kittiwake by James Jobson (aged 10) from Newcastle upon

Leafy sea dragon

Ok, so this isn’t a UK species, but I still loved it! Sea dragons are beautifully camouflaged fish which are related to seahorses, and they look just like this!

Amy Lewis, Judge and Editor of Wildlife Watch magazine

s r e n Win

Crab by Annie Smithard (aged 5) from Derby

These weird -looking fish live at the bo use a light at ttom of the the end of a deep ocean special feeler close to thei out in the A on their head tlantic and r mouth. Levi to tempt un has captured suspecting their eerie lo prey ok perfectly – we love it!

Puffin by Ben Sheppard (aged 10) from Hampshire

Tyne

by Owen Taylor (aged 11) from Yorkshire

Thornback ray by Matthew Cross (aged 10) from Bath

Hobday (aged 10) from Minke whale by Lily

Gloucestershire

The design of this whale has been well thought out, from its colour to its flume and fins for swimming. Its blowhole is also very fun - be careful not to get sprayed!

Emma Websdale, Judge

The sunny beach scenery made Annie’s crab really stand out from the crowd. We liked the clever use of those little clickytogether pieces for the legs and its cool eye stalks.

Chapman Squid by Alex

Dorset (aged 12) from

Ragworms by Amber Hoare (aged 6) from London ffin is instantly out of Lego? Ben’s pu rful seabird to make lou co re g out behind it! mo kin a stic re t Is the ht. Look at its little fee flig in at gre ks rfers. loo recognisable and r a beach of Lego su e of it flying high ove tur pic er oth an in t Ben even sen

Hammerhead shark by Laurie Carthew (aged 5) from Somerset

Amber’s choice of ragworm is inspired!

I particularly like that they’ve been placed in their natural environment.

A hungry bird or fish could move in at any moment to take advantage of these

Oystercatcher by Joseph Hindmarch (aged 9) from Derbyshire

tasty treats!

Anna Guthrie, Judge

Shore crab

ing and the tentacles id are really eye-catch The patterns on this squ each side of its body to on s n has two large eye are very realistic. It eve depths of the sea. help it see in the dark

We absolutely loved Joseph’s oystercatc her as soon as we saw it. It’s got the long beak, the careful balance and the wiggly worm dinner of a real oystercatcher, and if you look closely it even has special feet pieces!

I really loved the design of Laurie’s hammerhead shark (even though it’s not British!) and think he’s absolutely captured the character. I’m waiting for it to start moving its head from side to side and swim away!

Anna Guthrie, Judge

m Cheltenham en (aged 6) fro sd ar M s ui Lo by

This shore crab looks ready for action. With alert eyes and a hard, stealthy shell he is ready to tackle any challenge.

Amazing work!

Emma Websdale, Judge

You can watch a sli deshow of all the amazing mod els sent in at wildlifewatch.or g.uk/ lego-marine-creat ures

Wildlife Watch Magazine // Autumn 2014

21

Essential facts

Animal Identification

Scientific name: Lucanus cervus Other names: Oak-ox, thunder-beetle and horse pincher

Stag Beetle

Size: Females grow up to 5cm long, males up to 7cm Lifespan: Live as larvae for 3-7 years, then turn into cocoons for 3 weeks.

The adult beetles then emerge in May and survive until August.

Amazing fact: In Germany people believed that the stag beetle was associated with Thor, the God of Thunder. Legend was that if you placed a stag beetle on your head, it would protect you from being struck by lightning.

by Emma Websdale

This issue… how to tell the difference between coal tits and great tits.

Pic: Stephen Dalton / natur epl

Great tit

Coal tit

All black head k of White stripe on bac

-grey Blue

Pic: Andy Sands / naturepl

Becom e exper an t with Wildlife Watch’s guides to anim al identifi cation

head

back

Green back

Buff chest and tummy

Bet you didn’t know we could fly…

Illustrations by Chris Shields

Feature Creature

Longer, shiny blue tail

Short grey tail

Bright yellow chest with black stripe

fact file Mini wrestlers

Pic: Stephen Dalton / naturepl

The winning stag beetle will get the chance to display to the female, which is much smaller than he is. Walking around her, he shows off his strength by raising and widening his antlers. If the male wins the heart of the female, the two will mate before the female leaves to lay her eggs under some moist dead wood. When her duty is complete, she will die, with the male following soon after.

Be a beetle buddy

Sadly, over the past 40 years, stag beetles have been declining across the UK due to the loss of their homes (dead wood habitats) and increasing road traffic. But helping this beautiful beetle is really easy – just leave an area of your garden undisturbed with a small pile of logs. If you want to be extra kind, half-bury this wood into some soil – stag beetle larvae find damp and rotting wood extremely delicious!

Claws off my

female!

Behaviour These tiny birds are shy and quick at the bird table! To make sure they can always get food when they need it they like to hide piles of seeds and nuts (called caches) around the garden for later.

Favourite foods Sunflower seeds and suet at the bird table. Small insects, spiders, pine seeds and beech mast in the wild.

Appearance Bigger than the coal tit and slightly chunkier looking. The top males have thick black stripes down their bellies.

This stripe is usually thinner on females.

Found In some gardens and woodland, particularly coniferous woodland (with evergreen trees like pine trees).

Behaviour Often bold and bossy! Blue tits and coal tits have to move out of the way when a great tit wants to use a feeder.

Coal tit

Neep Pics: Elliott

22

Aww - a baby stag beetle

Impressing the ladies

Appearance Smaller than the great tit and more delicate, with a shorter tail. They are also much less brightly coloured.

l lmer / naturep Pic: Simon Co

It has a body as black as liquorice, jaws used in battle like antlers, a size bigger than any other UK beetle and was once believed to summon thunder and lightning. This is the reputation of the stag beetle – one of our most iconic and majestic beetles. Although their favourite habitat is woodland, stag beetles also turn up in urban areas in the south of England, making parks and gardens exciting places to go on a hunt for them.

If you live elsewhere fear not – their relative the lesser stag beetle is found all over the UK. If you want a secret tip on where to look, try peeking under piles of dead and decaying wood.

fact file

Favourite foods Peanuts and suet at the bid table. Caterpillars, insects, seeds and berries in the wild.

Found Common across the UK in gardens and deciduous woodland (with trees that lose their leaves in winter).

Great

tit

Pics: Elliott Neep

Big and beautiful

Adults only have a few weeks to live, so the need to find a mate is urgent. This is where the males’ large mandibles (mouthparts) come into their own. They use them as a warning signal to other males, raising them up to scare off contenders. Just like wrestlers on television, they are extremely skilful.

They even have the strength to stand up on their hind legs and throw one another off logs and away from females. Most wrestling matches come to an end when the winner turns the loser over onto his back, forcing him to retreat.

23

eror m p o Em

UK’s Top five

by Helen Babbs

ass sn r a G

ll Ha

Pole c

at

Sc o

Pic: W ild sto ck

Pic: Ra ch el

s pe

This flat, bright gre en insec It has a s t is also k pecial gla nown as nd that re the stink it’s disturb leases a bug! ed. In au nasty sm tumn it tu ell when brown-b rn s a ronze an shade o f d then h ibernate through s the winte r.

3

Our largest snake has two tactics predators – to protect its rolling over elf from and playing a terrible sm dead, and elling liquid re leasing from its botto its eye-wate m! Despite ring stink, th e grass sna ke isn’t poison ous.

4 5

d bug l ie

Pi c

ie am :J

ke

The wild cousin of the pet ferret, this nocturnal mammal strong, musky smell produces a when it feels threa tened. It also uses scent to mark its ter the ritory. The polecat’ s striped face makes it look like a masked bandit!

© The Wildlife Trusts 2014. Design by North.C // Print by Wyndeham Group on paper that is 50% recycled and 50% from sustainably managed forests.

m Ful ar

hich it m its tummy, w nky fish oils fro sti up also s is ke d ui pu e smelly liq This seabird te predators. Th na e rtu fo Th ! un ck to yu sprays on r chicks – -energy food fo used as a high ll and is related gu a se a bit like fulmar looks a batross. to the mighty al

Green s h

Pic: Ri char d

a attract ones to thery m o r e fea d ph s huge ts calle oth ha e scen m mell s s r a o n r le a e e c oths r le emp t females. It m a le m l a ou five Fem autifu it sniff redible The be an inc at help mate. th m e o a fr antenn tential mate away! a po miles

Pic: Bob Coyle

2

Bo wle r

on your nose Take a deep breath and put a peg als! These – here are some of our smelliest anim er, not creatures stink because they’re clev l personal erfu pow own its s unclean. Each use a mate. perfume to put off predators or find

th

1

Stinkers