Nature Notes March

A cold month with a mixture of heavy rain, wind and wintry flurries of snow. The last week in the month brought dry cold weather, with a few sunny days. Again, a quiet month on site due to the unseasonal weather conditions.

SIGHTINGS
Birds:   Magpies, Carrion Crows, Buzzard, Heron, Stock Doves, Wood Pigeons, Black-headed Gulls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Siskins, Brambling, Stonechat, Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Goldcrests, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Song Thrushes, Blackcaps, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Butterflies:   Brimstone.
Plants in flower:   Gorse.
Mammals:   Grey Squirrels.
Insects:   Buff-tailed Bees.

In the last week of the month, a male and female Blackcap were seen along the Hazelwood boundary having just returned from overwintering in warmer climes.
Several Brimstone butterflies were seen on brighter days, as were Buff-tailed Bees.
On the last day of the month a male Brambling was spotted, surprisingly still in the south of the country not yet having returned to breeding areas in the north or Iceland.
Pairing and mating of birds was very evident throughout the month.

Nature Facts

Most birds have only one mate, the advantage is that both parents help to rear the young.  Some birds, however, practice polygamy ie having more than one mate.  Male Wrens often do this, especially where food is plentiful and the hen can feed the young on her own.  There are two types of polygamy - simultaneous pairing with two or more females and successive polygamy, when the male initiates consecutive broods with different females.  Male Wrens do both.