8 minute read
Where the wild things go in
Hazel dormouse | © Terry Whittaker / 2020VISION
Where the wild things go in winter
Tom Hibbert of The Wildlife Trusts looks at how animals and birds survive during the winter months, from hibernation and migration to stashing food for a rainy day.
Winter can be a tough time for wildlife, with cold weather and less food to eat. While they can often benefit from a helping hand, our animals have developed lots of different ways of surviving our harshest season. Some battle it out the best they can, others spend most of it sleeping, and some leave the country completely! Let’s find out what happens to our UK wildlife in winter.
THE LEAVERS
If your favourite food is a beakful of tasty insects, winter here can be tricky, as there are far fewer around. Luckily for many of our birds, they have the ultimate strategy for dealing with this – they fly somewhere else that has more food. Every spring, millions of birds come to the UK to nest and take advantage of all the food on offer in summer. In autumn, when it starts to get harder to find food, they leave again. This is known as migration.
A lot of these birds are insecteaters that spend the winter in southern Europe or Africa, where it’s warmer and there’s more to eat. The swallows that you see chattering over farms and fields each summer fly as far as South Africa, about 6,000 miles away. Many of our seabirds are summer visitors too, like the graceful Arctic tern and the bright-billed puffin. These tough birds spend the winter out at sea where they can find more fish to feast on. Puffins can end up out in the Atlantic Ocean, whereas many Arctic terns go all the way to Antarctica, travelling over 55,000 miles a year – the longest migration of any animal.
Did you know? Some insects also migrate south in autumn, such as painted lady butterflies, which can get as far as the Sahel region of Africa.
THE SLEEPERS
Not all animals have the option of leaving when things get tough, so they choose a different strategy – they go to sleep. They find a nice spot hidden away somewhere safe and dry, go into hibernation and wait for the warmer weather in spring. Hibernation is a bit like a very deep sleep. When animals are hibernating, their body temperature drops, and heart rate and metabolism all slow down, so they need less energy to survive. ©Tom Marshall
Dormice are famous for their ability to sleep for most of the year. The name dormouse even comes from the French word for sleep, dormir. They can spend months curled up in a woven nest on the forest floor, from the first frosts of October right through to April or May. They even go into a mini hibernation in summer if there isn’t enough food around.
Hedgehogs and bats are our other hibernating mammals. Hedgehogs nestle beneath hedges and in leaf piles (making it important to check bonfires before lighting!), while bats tuck themselves away in caves, tree holes and gaps in old buildings.
It’s not just mammals that can power down for winter. Reptiles, amphibians and many insects all go into a type of hibernation, too. Insect hibernation is known as diapause, which is a bit like pushing pause on their lifecycle. Amazingly, they can do this at different stages in their development. Butterflies are a great example: some overwinter as adults, some as eggs, some in their chrysalis, and others as caterpillars.
Let’s find out where some of our super sleepers spend the winter...
Dormice
Hazel dormice live in woods and big bushy hedges. Every autumn they feast on berries, seeds and nuts until they’re really fat. Then they climb down to the forest floor or the bottom of a hedgerow and make a little nest under the fallen leaves. This is where they curl up and hibernate through the winter.
Small tortoiseshell butterflies
Small tortoiseshells are one of only five species of UK butterfly that spend the winter in their adult form. They find a sheltered spot, such as a log pile, a hollow tree or even a shed, and rest there with their wings closed to conceal their colourful patterns. Sometimes they try to hide away in houses, but then get too hot when the heating comes on and start flying around. If you find one in your house in winter, gently catch it in a box and move it to a cooler spot in a shed or garage.
Ladybirds
Different species of ladybird choose different places to spend ©Philip Precey the winter. Some tuck themselves away in cracks in trees, some underneath loose bark, and others inside curled up leaves or plant stems. Many gather together and hibernate in large groups. If they can find an open door or window, harlequin ladybirds – a species that was introduced to the UK from Asia – sometimes try to hibernate in groups inside houses.
Frogs and toads
We always think of frogs and toads as pond creatures, but most of them don’t spend the whole year in water. They leave their ponds in summer and spend the autumn gobbling slugs and insects in damp, shady places. Then they find somewhere sheltered to hibernate for the winter. They really like rockeries, log piles and nice warm compost heaps, though frogs will sometimes spend the winter ©Tom Marshall buried in the mud at the bottom of a pond.
THE SURVIVORS
So what about the animals that don’t leave or sleep through the winter? They have to battle freezing temperatures, storms and a shortage of available food. It’s a tough life for many creatures, but our wild neighbours have got lots of skills to help them survive the winter.
Some animals spend the whole autumn fattening up or stashing food to eat later, like jays, squirrels and coal tits. If you’re lucky enough to have coal tits visiting your bird feeder, watch closely and you’ll see they often fly in, grab a seed and then quickly fly off with it. They hide these seeds in cracks in trees, so they have an emergency food supply in case they’re ever struggling to find enough to eat.
Other animals might grow a thicker coat of fur or spend more time hidden away in their burrows to avoid the cold. Badgers spend most of the winter tucked away in their underground setts, where they’re protected from the worst weather. In late winter, females give birth to a litter of cubs that will stay underground until they’re about eight weeks old. The badgers fill their nesting chambers with bedding made from grass, leaves and other plant materials to make them nice and cosy.
Meet some of the other animals you could spot this winter...
Grey seals
Grey seals don’t just survive in winter, they thrive! This is when they come to shore to give birth to their young, called pups. After spending the summer out at sea feasting on fish, females haul up onto a beach in autumn or early winter and usually have a single pup (though twins are possible). The pups have fluffy white fur to keep them warm and seal milk is really fatty, so they grow quickly.
Jay
This colourful
©Mark Hamblin
member of the crow 2020VISION family is one smart bird. In autumn, they collect lots of acorns and hide them all over the place. Then, when they get hungry in winter, they go and find the acorns they buried and snaffle them up. Look for them in forests and parks with lots of trees. They have a loud, ©Peter Cairns 2020VISION screeching call that often gives them away.
Foxes
Foxes have a varied diet so can stay active over winter, sometimes visiting gardens to look for food. In January, male foxes start searching for a female to pair up with. At this time of year, they make a lot of noise and you might hear their eerie screams and barks.
©Luke Massey 2020VISION
Mountain hares
These tough little mammals put up with snow and freezing temperatures as they stay on their mountainsides all winter.
To help them cope with the cold, they grow a thicker winter coat. The winter coat is white so they blend in with the snow and are tougher for predators to spot. Their big furry feet even act like snowshoes.
Wherever you look this winter, there will be wildlife – some active, some hidden and some sleeping away the colder months. The Wildlife Trusts has a great guide of things to spot (www.
wildlifetrusts.org/winter-
wildlife), so get outside and see what you can discover!
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT WILDLIFE
Get to know more amazing wildlife with a family membership of The Wildlife Trusts. You’ll receive a wild welcome pack and our Wildlife Watch magazine, filled with competitions, posters and fantastic facts – as well as information about lots of fun events where you live.
For further information on The Wildlife Trusts or to sign up for a family membership, visit: www.wildlifetrusts. org/family-wildlife-trustmembership
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