16 minute read
Science & Nature
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ROE DEER
Alex Hennessy, Dorset Wildlife Trust
Costas Anton Dumitrescu/Shutterstock
As Dorset’s most widespread deer species, you might be lucky enough to spot a roe deer or two tentatively emerging from woodlands or bounding across frosted fields this winter. But how much do you know about the lives of these mysterious wild mammals?
Roe deer live a mostly solitary life during the summer, but in winter they may come together and form small, loose groups. They are most active at dawn and dusk, and live in areas of mixed countryside where they can be close to woodland, farmland, grassland and heathland. They eat buds and leaves from trees and shrubs, as well as ferns, grasses, brambles and heathers.
Be prepared to look out for the roe deer’s identifying features, as if you do glimpse one, it may be on the move and disappear swiftly. They are a slender, mediumsized deer with short antlers (males) and no tail. Roe deer are mostly brown in colour, turning reddish in the summer and darker slate grey in the winter, with a pale buff patch around the rump. Their eyes are large and black, and they have black noses and mouths, with large ears atop their heads and a white chin.
A male’s antlers typically have three points each and undergo a cycle of growth and re-growth which takes a full year. They begin to grow their antlers in November, shedding the velvet from them in the spring. By summer, they are ready for the rutting season. After mating, they shed their antlers in October and begin to grow a new set.
If you don’t happen to spot a deer itself, you might be able to spy some tracks left behind. Their hoof-prints will be around 4cm long – remarkably small for such a substantial animal (up to 1.3 metres in length and 75cm in height). They tend to follow the same paths regularly.
Roe deer facts:
• A roe deer’s average life span is seven years. • Adult roe deer have no natural predators, however, their young can be taken by foxes. • The animated Disney character Bambi is thought to have been based on a roe deer.
Fawns like the film’s title character are born with white spots on their back and sides, which disappear with age.
Ian Redding/Shutterstock
DRAWN TO THE LIGHT
December Moth (Poecilocampa populi) Gillian Nash
Although moths on the wing are now much reduced, there are still a small number of seasonal species that can be seen in the adult stage during our colder months.
One such species is the beautiful December moth, with its thickset ‘furry’ appearance looking well prepared for winter weather. Chemicals in its body serve as antifreeze which enables the survival of what is possibly the hardiest of our UK moths. It has even been witnessed flying in snowstorms. The male with its extravagantly feathered antennae and a wingspan of around 40mm is somewhat smaller than the seldom seen female. They belong to a small but interesting group of species called Eggar moths that are incapable of feeding in the adult stage – their bodies containing all the nutrients required to sustain their short adult lives.
The December moth appears to have been a rare species for Dorset in the late 1800s although they are now more frequently seen by Lepidoptera recorders through October to January – its southern flight season. Habitat includes woodland, rough ground, hedgerows and gardens. It is sometimes attracted to lit house windows and may be seen flying around street lights or settling on nearby buildings where it may remain during daylight hours.
Eggs hatch in April and June, having spent the winter attached to branches of various broadleaved trees and woody hedgerow plants, including poplars, sallows, oaks and hawthorn. The night-feeding larvae are greyish in colour with variable attractive subtle yellow and black markings in the final stage of growth. Having feasted on the leaves of the foodplants, when fully grown the larvae forms a pupa within a flimsy cocoon, often at ground level among decomposing leaves.
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GIFTS FROM BEES
Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker
Yesterday, I received a large, unexpected mystery parcel. I was particularly excited as the tape had ‘Afghan Rug Company’ written all over it, and a lot of tape was used! I’ve always had a fascination with rugs and dreamt of collecting them from all over the world. This was inspired by Pat who I met in 1991 whose house was filled with wonderful rugs, which she and her husband collected as they travelled Persia and the Far East. I have managed to collect two rugs, one from Wells market and the other directly from the weaver in a remote village in Bhutan.
But yesterday changed things as I unwrapped the parcel; first two footstools, then a rolled up Afghan kilim rug. Absolutely perfect - but who could have sent them to me? My husband was quick to guess it would be from my ‘guardian angel’ in Singapore, ‘Cat’. Last year she sent me four beautiful hand-printed scarves with wings on. Cat and I have never met, and yet we have been connected through an extraordinary string of events, and ultimately bees!
Back in 2018 she had photographed one of my sons, who was in Singapore. He didn’t remember her, however when his photograph popped up on social media, one of his friends knew the photographer and they connected online. Over the course of several chats bees were mentioned – Cat was interested in them, and my son explained that his mum too loved bees. A few conversations later and Cat said she’d received an amazing bee book about a lady who as a disabled artist started keeping bees. Cat said she was certain my son’s mum would love the book. Of course, he then explained that the book sounded like it was written by his mum! How incredible that she was sent a copy of my book from England!
That’s how I was introduced to Cat, and our regular
Image: Katharine Davies
online friendship has developed from there. It turns out we have far more in common than originally thought, as well as shared travels and many dreams unexplained by rational thought. One time I was watching wild bees living in a large lime tree, and sensed that I was being watched. I turned around to spot a barn owl watching me. We stared at each other for a while then it flew off. I later learned that Cat had a dream of being an owl watching me looking at a tree!
This and many other extraordinary connections can often not be explained, however they are so important for giving us joy and purpose in life. I have always loved giving gifts to others, and yet felt guilty receiving. Now, as I grow older I delight in the gift of giving, it fills me with as much happiness as the recipient. Cat’s note with the rug said I owe her nothing, and to ‘pay it forward’. I love this concept of a giant generous circle she gives to me, and I give to you. Then eventually someone completes the circle by giving to her. Then all gifts are perfect; gifts chosen following an instinct that someone we love would be so delighted to receive. Trying to find a gift with a deadline rarely works and is why so many are not looking forward to the festive season; the pressure to find the perfect gift in time for Christmas.
Bees have got it just right. They receive the gifts of nectar and pollen from the flowers. Yes, there is a direct return in the form of pollinating the plants, however, the real treasure is the honey, which may be gifted to the rest of the hive, or to the beekeeper. Bee stings can also be seen as a gift, a powerful healing. Venom has been shown to stimulate the immune system and has been used for thousands of years to heal many ailments. Today, there are apitherapists worldwide using bee venom to treat everything from skin complaints to arthritis. Yet the bee loses its life with each sting. We as humans find it hard to comprehend sacrificing our life for another’s wellbeing but by sharing honey and propolis bees are providing humans with healing. In the Quran it states that the fluid from their bellies is healing for the people, ‘surely in this is a sign for those who reflect’. I believe that by reflecting, we see that all the bees ask of us is to take good care of the land – the sources of their nectar and pollen. That would complete the circle of generosity and giving.
I received two other unexpected gifts from strangers this month; a necklace with a coin showing the bee from Ephesus together with a pearl, the same size as a drop of honey. The motto in the box was to see these bee coins as a new currency, perhaps not literally. Then a hand-woven scarf, made from stinging nettles! Who knew that was even possible? Stinging nettles are also medicine for humans, in this instance harvested and prepared by small communities in Nepal. Both senders felt inspired to treat me as they felt my work for the bees had been a gift for them. Bees have connected me to Singapore, Afghanistan and Nepal. What goes around comes around, and so this festive season, I am truly grateful for the bees and the many gifts they have brought into my life.
DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS
Peter Littlewood, Director, Young People’s Trust for the Environment
Svetikd/iStock
Here are 20 ideas from YPTE for having a greener Christmas in 2021: 1. Try buying locally-made gifts: Reduce the carbon footprint of your gifts and help local shops and craftspeople by buying something made nearby.
2. Buy less: Resist the temptation to buy any of the strangely pointless items that seem to be produced specifically for Christmas and will almost certainly end up in the bin before New Year! Get people gifts that you know they’ll like, or get a voucher instead…
3. Consider buying a charity gift: Many charities offer schemes through which your donation can be used to buy something like a goat, a cow, or even a toilet for people around the world who are in real need.
4. Try buying a gift made from recycled materials: Reusing and recycling help to cut down on the waste that ends up in landfill.
5. Make your own gifts: Why not have a go at making your own, personalised gifts for your family? There are lots of ideas available on the internet.
6. Buy pre-used gifts: A charity shop or auction site can be somewhere that you can pick up something really special, often at a bargain price too! And by buying something that has been pre-used, you’re giving an item a new lease of life while also reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.
7. Give a funky flask and say goodbye to plastic
bottles: There are lots of stainless steel flasks in all kinds of colours and designs that are able to keep their contents hot or cold for hours and they can be re-used literally thousands of times.
8. Donate to a food bank: If you can afford to, buy a few extra items of food to give to your local food bank to help people in your community.
9. Donate any unwanted gifts you receive:
Either to a charity shop or as a present to a friend or relative (if you know it’s something they would like!). Try to do this in a way that doesn’t offend your gift-giver!
10. Get a real Christmas tree: Real trees are the greener choice. That may seem wrong, as many of the eight million real trees sold in the UK are simply thrown out after Christmas, but they will rot down naturally in time, while many local councils offer a tree recycling service, turning unwanted Christmas trees into wood chips for use in parks and gardens.
In theory, an artificial tree, which is usually made from a mixture of metals and plastics should last forever and after about 15 years of re-use, they start to be a greener option than a real tree. But the reality is that most artificial trees are thrown away after a few uses, because they start to look a bit scruffy after a few years stuck in a shed, loft or cupboard!
11. Buy your real tree in a pot: You might be able to use a small real tree in a large pot for 2-3 years before you need to repot it, plant it or discard it. Just make sure it gets taken outside again once the festive season is over. Christmas trees don’t like being in the warmth of our houses for too long!
12. Go for a walk: Christmas is a great time to reconnect with nature. Why not head out for a walk, either before or after Christmas lunch, to work up an appetite or to help walk off all those festive calories!
13. Give the birds a Christmas treat: If you have any trees in your garden or school grounds, why not decorate them with some bird feeders over Christmas? You can make the bird food yourself too - it’s a great activity for children. 14. Make homemade Christmas cards: A cool way to do this is to save last year’s Christmas cards and cut them up to create new designs that you can stick onto some plain card. But that takes a bit of planning - you have to have saved last year’s cards, so maybe it’s one for next year! You could also draw or paint your own cards. Home-made cards are always really appreciated, as the sender has to make much more effort to create them.
15. Make video cards: This is a great idea for primary schools, if you’ve got the technical know-how. Each child can record a quick Christmas message for their friends, which can then be played back on a big screen in the dining hall at lunchtime. In a school of 200 pupils, if pupils normally send 30 cards each to their friends, that’s a potential saving of 6,000 cards! Video Christmas cards might be a great way for friends and family to stay in touch too.
16. Use recycled wrapping paper, or make your own:
Try to use wrapping paper made from recycled paper, re-use old wrapping paper or have fun creating your own wrapping from whatever you have spare. That could include old comics, old maps, posters or fabric offcuts. Avoid metallic or glossy wrapping papers, as they are really hard to re-use or recycle.
17. Use energy-efficient LED lighting for your
Christmas tree: They use around 95% less energy than old-fashioned tree lights with traditional bulbs. Remember to turn them off when you go to bed!
18. Try to decorate your tree using natural materials:
Avoid plastic decorations and glitter.
19. Buy local, organic and free-range foods for your
Christmas lunch: If you’ve planned ahead, you could even harvest the winter vegetables from your garden to accompany your meal.
20. Get creative with your leftovers! Most of us waste a third of the food we buy for the Christmas period. You can make amazing dishes like bubble and squeak or frittata with your leftover veggies, and a brilliant curry with leftover turkey before making a soup or stock with the turkey bones.
A STAR IS BORN
Rob Bygrave, Sherborne Science Café
In May 2016, Dr Jennifer Hatchell, Lecturer in Astrophysics at Exeter University, entertained us with a beautifully illustrated talk on current research into star and planet formation in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Dr Hatchell talked about how the Milky Way consists of various types of mature stars along with the raw materials needed for star formation: dust and gas (essentially hydrogen). Surprisingly, it is estimated that as few as two stars per year are formed in our galaxy. One problem for astronomers is that the regions where stars are formed are hidden by dust when observations are made at optical wavelengths. We were shown images of the Orion nebula, one of the nearest star-forming regions, at both optical and (longer) infra-red (IR) wavelengths.
Young stars, obscured by dust at optical wavelengths, are revealed in the near-IR. An understanding of the physics of star formation requires balancing the force of gravity (causing material to coalesce) and gas pressure (which resists the collapse). Proto-stars take about one million years to form, a process that has been modelled by Prof Matthew Bate in Exeter, using supercomputers. Some of the models take several months to run to complete the calculations, but we were shown simulations of the process condensed into a few seconds. The evolution to nuclear fusion (hydrogen ‘burning’), the process that fuels our sun, takes much longer – 100 million years.
Artist’s impression of an infant star, showing protoplanetary disks. Image: L. Calçada/ESO
Checking the computer models against observations takes astronomy into new areas, in particular sub-mm wavelengths. Dr Hatchell outlined those parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum that are available to earthbased telescopes, and described how the atmosphere, particularly atmospheric water, absorbs strongly at some wavelengths. One approach is to place telescopes in outer space, like the Hubble and Herschel Space Telescopes, or as far as possible above the atmosphere on Earth: major observatories are sited in Mauna Kea in Hawaii and in the Atacama Desert in Chile. A range of instruments now enable astronomers to look at a much wider range of wavelengths than previously, and to investigate the temperature of star-forming regions, and the relative amount of radiation at different wavelengths - important for comparing theory with observation. One particularly exciting recent development has been the introduction of ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, a large-scale interferometer operating in the sub millimetre region. Angular momentum within dust clouds leads to the formation of disks around proto-stars, the regions where planets are known to form.
Perhaps the most amazing of Dr Hatchell’s many remarkable images was of the proto-star HL Tauri, imaged by ALMA, showing disks separated by dark bands, thought to be evidence of planets in formation ‘clearing’ the dust. The comparison with our own solar system is striking. A very successful talk was followed by a lively session of questions.
Sherborne Science Café does not have a meeting in December. The next one will be on 26th January, with Professor Roland Jones from Bath University.
___________________________________________ Wednesday 12th January 7.30pm Return of The Great Egg Race This lively competition returns with practical tasks, quiz, refreshments and prizes. All you have to do is form a team (4 members max), register online and join us for a postChristmas science party! sherbornesciencecafe.com
___________________________________________ Wednesday 26th January 7.30pm Understanding Epilepsy – Speaker: Professor Roland Jones from Bath University Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne From sacrifices and exorcism to cannabis and the human brain in a dish. sherborne.scafe@gmail.com
