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WILDLIFE
Waking up to the first proper dawn chorus
AS I write this in the second week of February, I must admit it feels like March now. Just yesterday morning I woke to the first dawn chorus to involve more than two species of bird. The robins and wood pigeons were joined by great tit, dunnock and the most magnificent of them all, the By CHRIS blackbird! The other incredibly early sign of SPERRING MBE change in the season is nest building. Of course, there are some species, such as magpie, that practice their nest building throughout the winter. Any time from November onwards you can observe magpies flying into a densely packed branched tree and begin testing branches by pulling on them just to see how easily they snap. If broken off successfully the magpie flies off with its stick before landing to hold it tight in its foot and begin to shape it. However, things are different now; the practicing has come to an end and the real thing is now being built. Instead of just playing with small rotten branches, the magpie now aggressively tugs with all its strength to get the better sticks it wants. It’s also now joined by its mate who contributes to nest building. First they build the classic cup shape nest, then lastly add the roof. Yes, magpies build a roof! Many people think this is to keep the weather out, but it has a much more practical use. Magpies are members of the crow family, the corvid family, not to be confused with Covid! Corvids are notorious nest raiders, A magpie in flight meaning they will raid the nests of other birds, so the roof on a magpie’s nest is their way of stopping larger corvids such as crows and ravens from looking into the nest from vantage positions or as they fly over. Yes, that means that different members of the corvid family raid each other’s nests. Don’t get upset, corvids aren’t the only ones that do this. Woodpeckers will raid other nests as well, and the worst species in my garden for this practice is, wait for it, the blackbird. Nature has a great way of providing stability; we can see
A raven – top of the corvid apex
this throughout various family groups. The aforementioned corvids live in an apex, from the much more numerous jackdaw at the bottom of the pyramid to the largest, the not-so numerous raven at the top. Birds of prey also live within an apex; for example, sparrowhawk and kestrel are at the bottom and their numbers can be regulated by the bigger members of the pyramid such as goshawk and peregrine falcon. Of course, the top of the apex for birds of prey in our area would be the white-tailed eagle. The latest news is that they are being seen near here more, so that’s one for a future article. By early March, if the weather is mild, many birds will have started nesting, so please be careful when tidying up vegetation; some bird species get only one go at nesting and failure can have a catastrophic effect on numbers whilst others can have many broods and will make up for early failures. I’m starting a series of monthly wildlife walks on The Hawk and Owl Trust’s Shapwick Moor Nature reserve. If you would like to go on one or more of these walks, please book via: Shapwick Events (hawkandowltrust.org) Also The Hawk and Owl Trust Somerset Barn Owl webcam is back up and live again; the pair of barn owls are currently very active so please take a look via Barn Owl Cam Live – Somerset (hawkandowltrust.org) A typical dome-shaped magpie nest
Chris Sperring is Conservation Officer for the Hawk and Owl Trust Contact him on 07799 413918 or via Chris.Sperring@hawkandowltrsut.org.uk MENDIP TIMES • MARCH 2022 • PAGE 49
