Nature Fact

The Nightjar, having wintered in Africa, is a Summer visitor. It has camouflage plumage and large black eyes that are highly suitable for seeing its aerial prey in poor light. Hunting takes place at dusk and dawn. With its mouth open very wide, with a fringe of bristles spreading out each side, it ‘trawls’ for moths in silent flight. The calls of nightjars, both male and female, generally delivered from a perch, are a continuous “churring” noise. The calls have been timed as lasting for more than five minutes. If conditions are right, two broods are reared during a Summer visit.

Nature Fact

Pipistrelle Bats leave their daytime roosts at dusk and are creatures of habit, tending to follow the same routes each night. They have tiny, very sharp teeth, ideally suited to chewing the soft bodies of small insects, such as caddisflies, which form the bulk of its diet.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
Pipistrelle Bat (library picture)

Nature Notes

The weather took a turn for the worse during this month, delivering strong winds and heavy rainfall with cool temperatures. There was twice as much rain as usual.
SIGHTINGS
Birds: Buzzards, Magpies, Jays, Carrion Crows, Heron, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Black-headed Gulls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Mistle/Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, Wrens, Dunnocks, Nuthatches, Goldcrests, Siskins, Bullfinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chiff Chaffs, Willow Warblers, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Wood Mice, Grey Squirrels.
Insects: Bees, Pond Skaters.
Butterflies: Large White, Brimstone.
Plants in flower: Gorse, Bog Myrtle, Primrose.
Willow Warblers have now returned from their over-wintering in warmer climes.
Birds continue to construct nests, sit on eggs, and feed early produced young.

Nature Facts

NATURE FACT


Woodpeckers sustain a g-force of about 1,200 as it drums its bill against tree bark. A g-force measuring between 80 and 100 is strong enough to give humans a concussion. Researchers have discovered four structures of the Woodpeckers head that make it shock-absorbent :-
* A strong yet flexible bill.
* A hyoid - a structure of bone and elastic tissue that wraps around the skull.
* An area of spongy bone in the skull.
* Little space for cerebral-spinal fluid between the skull and the brain.
Each of these elements absorb mechanical shock, allowing the Woodpecker to strike a tree at a rate of up to 22 times per second with no injury to the brain.