WT Wildlife watch dec 2015

Robyn

the super wildlife Watcher!

We were lucky enough to meet Robyn Van Kooten Townsend at our recent hedgehog event at Paxton Pits education centre. From a young age Robyn, age 8 and her sister Nadia, age 10 have loved wildlife, spotting animals in their garden and learning about the wildlife that lives in their local area. Robyn told us all about how she and Nadia work with her local vet to rescue local hedgehogs and nurse them back to health.

What an amazing duo of wildlife superheroes!

What to do in... What to do in... What to do in...

Green

Tom Marsh all

Rebecca

I got snappy this Autumn and took some photos of our wonderful wildlife.

Photo by

Photo by

My wildlife photos

January

C o m m a butt e rf ly

Look out for snowdrops, animal tracks, waders and wildfowl.

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February Find early butterflies, catkins and mistle thrushes, fieldfares and redwings.

✓ March Seek out frogs and toads, lesser celandines and hares.

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H edg e h og

Get in touch @

✉☎

Hello

to all Wildlife Watchers and super sleuths!

During the winter months it is tempting to stay indoors to avoid the cold and blustery weather. Whilst we are doing this however, we may be missing out on some great wildlife watching. It’s survival time for the animals that remain active in the winter and they need to spend lots of time looking for food which can either be scarce or difficult to get to. Even the most secretive of animals are forced out to look for food, which means good opportunities for us to see them, so take a moment to stand quietly and enjoy.

Wildlife Detectives

Send in your letters, drawings, poems and bad jokes to us at Wildlife Watch!

FAO: Amanda Brookes, Peterborough Office Amanda Brookes and Rebecca Green The Wildlife Trust BCN, The Wildlife Watch team Bug House, Ham Lane, Orton Waterville, Peterborough, PE2 5UU Tel: 01733 687515 Email: watch@wildlifebcn.org Bedfordshire Office Priory Country Park Barkers Lane Bedford, MK41 9DJ Tel: 01234 364213

Cambridgeshire Office The Manor House Broad Street Great Cambourne Cambridge, CB23 6DH Tel: 01954 713500

Northampton Office Lings House Billing Lings Northampton, NN3 8BE Tel: 01604 405285

Tell-tail signs Even in winter it can be tricky to see an animal but we may be able to work out what has been in an area by looking out for natural clues. These tell-tale signs include prints and feathers, burrows and nests, feeding remains and droppings. Become a wildlife detective and look for evidence of animal activity in your local area – read on to discover the clues that wildlife leaves for us.

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Please ask your parent or guardian to signand print their name and address on the back.

Designed by Jamie Bello. Edited by Amanda Brookes and Rebecca Green. Cover image by Zsuzanna Bird

Wildlife watch Dec 2015 .indd 1

Winter 2015 edition

Registered charity no: 1000412

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Wildlife Detectives

Things you may need to become a wildlife detective

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Lens Binoculars

ID book Take a grown up sidekick with you!

Paper and pencils to sketch any prints you find

Secret lairs

On the run

Fiendish feeders

Decipher the droppings

Try and track down our largest land predator – the badger, a creature that is elusive and is only usually active at night. A badger’s home is called a sett, which is a network of burrows where a badger family group lives. Evidence that a sett is being used includes a tidy entrance, bedding materials (hay and leaves) and nearby latrines (badger toilets). You may also see badger claw marks on tree stumps, black and white hairs on fencing and paw prints.

Winter is an excellent time to look out for tracks and prints. The best prints can be found in fresh snow, or in the mud after it has been raining.

You may see mammal prints like badgers, squirrels, rabbits and deer for example, or prints made by birds. It is worth finding out what paw prints made by pets look like too! Can you follow the trail of the footprints? Where do they lead?

Can you work out what that animal was doing?

You may find leftovers from a fantastic wildlife feast, and these clues can give you an idea of what types of animal have been active in an area. In the winter, nuts are a great source of energy for hungry rodents and birds. Creatures crack open nuts differently; squirrels tend to break a hazelnut in two, whereas a dormouse will gnaw a smooth hole in the side of the shell.

You may also find the remains of cracked shells in the crevices of trees, where woodpeckers and nuthatches have wedged them in to break open a tasty treat.

You can even use droppings to work out which animals live in a particular area. Broadly speaking, mammal droppings can be split into three groups, according to what the animals usually eat. Mammals that eat plants (herbivores) like rabbits, deer and squirrels tend to produce rounded droppings, often containing grass. Insectivores, like hedgehogs and bats produce droppings which contain insect cases. Meat-eating mammals produce two types of poo. They are either twisty and long, and may contain fur, feathers or bones, or are soft and unformed. Look out for otter poo, or spraint, according to some people it smells like jasmine tea!

Faye Durk Photo by

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Photo by Bruce Shortland

Lewis Photo by Amy

Photo by Faye Durkin

Photo by Sue Crookes

F

ren Lloyd

J: otter spraint (poo)

H: dormouse nut, I: owl pellet dissecting

Hedgehogs, dormice and bats!

cca Green

Photo by Ka

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Photo by Re be

Photo by Amy Lewis

D: badger E: cat F: squirrel G: deer

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Who is hibernating now?

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A: badger sett B: badger claw marks C: water vole burrow

Lewis

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m Marshall Photo by To

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Photo by Amy

Look out for nests too, birds will build them in the breeding season but during the winter they are easier to detect in the leafless trees. If you spot a nest the size and shape of a football this may be a squirrel drey.

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Other feeding signs: broken snail shells left by thrushes, pine cones gnawed by squirrels, fish scales left by otters, birds’ feathers and owl pellets.

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Photo by Rebecca Green

Other types of burrow: Fox burrows are called earths, which have tall and narrow entrance holes, rabbit burrows are called warrens and often have droppings outside. Water voles mow the grass around their burrows and tend to be close to water.

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