Nature Notes January

The weather continued to be wet and windy, with the occasional dry period. Nationally, rainfall was twice the normal January average resulting in extensive waterlogging on the Reserve.

SIGHTINGS 
Birds:   Jackdaws, Jays, Carrion Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Black-headed Gulls, Buzzards, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Siskins, Redwings, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits, Wrens, Goldcrests, Dunnocks, Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches.
Mammals:   Wood Mice, Grey Squirrels, Fox.
Plants in flower:   Gorse.
Insects:   Bees.

A flock of Redwings were seen in the woodland at Kingfisher Creek.

Nature Fact

Deciduous woodlands consist of four main layers of vegetation, each providing living space for different mammal species.  Some, such as Pymy Shrews, spend their entire lives at one level; others, such as Squirrels and Woodmice, move between layers.  Competition for space is not as great as it is in the less complex habitats of fields or moorland and many more species are accommodated into the woodland environment eg Fox, Badger, Wood Mice, Dormouse, Squirrel, Mole, Shrew and Deer.