3 minute read
Wildlife Chris Sperring MBE
Food gathering has hidden dangers
By CHRIS SPERRING MBE
IT is interesting that seeds and fruit have been in abundance in recent weeks, despite the pressure the trees and shrubs have been under following the extreme heat and dry conditions of the
summer.
However, that pressure is likely to be the reason for the bumper harvest; it’s forcing the plants into survival mode.
Walk along any beech tree avenue during November, especially this year, and you will hear the beechmast nuts crunching under your feet; this sound will alert many species that an easy source of food is being opened for them.
Local chaffinches, for example, will be joined now by bigger flocks of finches that are overwintering with us; these may have come from Scandinavia to escape the harshness of the cold winter there that will follow. These mixed-finch flocks will be watching as we crunch our way over the beech nuts making their job easy for them as they descend en-mass to the ground to feast on the inside of the nuts.
Not just beech but also acorns. Trees along roadsides will also create these gatherings of seed feeding birds as, of course, the cars will crunch open or smash flat the nuts. At night, small mammals will take over from birds as they use the cover of darkness to dart out from scrub or log cover to pick up nuts and dash back to cover to create the winter store.
Wood mice and bank voles will do this along with brown rats and, of course, grey squirrels. One of the highlights for me is finding a wood mouse food store; if you look below a tree in the root system and then scrape away a layer of leaf litter, you can often find these stores. If the store contains cherry pips, you can sometimes find literally hundreds of these small nuts stored by an individual mouse.
But wherever you get an animal desperately feeding or storing food for the winter, then predators will never be far away. When small birds gather around feeding areas in sometimes large numbers, their constant calls will attract a sparrowhawk to dash in at lightening speed, the opportunist that it is, hoping a slow and not-so-fit bird can be caught for its own meal.
Likewise, at night our small mammals run the gauntlet of predators such as foxes who will watch and listen from the sidelines for the mouse or rat that ventures too far into the open to gather its nuts.
Also, if you’re visiting one these areas during the later stages of dusk, and providing the leaf canopy is off the tree leaving the tree itself bare, then study the branches above where most of the nuts are; watching from its vantage position in the tree for a mouse that dashes out will be a very still and silent tawny owl with its eyes and ears locked onto the ground waiting for any familiar noise or sight that tells it to plunge to the ground and feast on the mouse, rat or vole.
Autumn is a very exciting time for observing nature; many summer birds have left but are replaced by the arrival of winter birds, there’s still some insect activity particularly under the leaf litter and, of course, around the late flowering ivy.
Finally, thanks to everyone for their comments on last month’s article about rewilding; so many people still seem to possess common sense, it’s heartening to read such positives.
l The next Hawk and Owl Trust Wildlife walk at Shapwick Moor Nature Reserve will be advertised via www.facebook.com/HawkandOwlTrust These walks are free, but you must book your place through the trust.
Tawny owl
Sparrowhawk
Male chaffinch
