As I write this it's February 1st, and feeling very springlike. There's even lambs in the fields near me. But March is what I think of as spring proper. Maybe in our changing climate one day February will be thought of as spring proper too, which is a bit scary. (However birds tell a lot about seasons changing from day length rather than just weather and temperature, and that stays reassuringly the same- and it's a lot lighter in the afternoons now.)
In March 2021, the breeding season continued for the resident birds, with pairs of sparrows in the gardens and a beautiful grey wagtail in full breeding plumage seen. Other birds were starting to check out nest sites- a robin was seen diving into a stack of pallets on the industrial estate, while a great tit had a look in a nest box that someone had attached to the wall next to the feeding station.,where it was quickly chased off by a blue tit. The feeding station I think belongs to someone who works in one of the offices on the industrial estate overlooking it, and sometimes is filled up with fat blocks and peanuts, though it is usually empty. The nest box was never actually occupied because not long after the great tit was checking it out, the whole front fell off! This was never fixed which was a shame, but I'm sure both tit species have plenty of natural tree holes to use around here.
In mammal news, more badger footprints were found and this time near a thicket that could well have had a sett entrance in it. I continued to find occasional footprints there throughout the year when the conditions were right (mud not too hard and dry, or too wet), but the sett entrance location is still a mystery to me. It's probably right in a bramble bush! And I will probably never see the badger in person, of course. The equally invisible moles were pushing up hills with diligence, and early in March I heard a loud splash into the river that could (??) have been another visit from my sweet Splash. If it was, then that really was my last 'sighting' to this day- if the otters have been by since, it was likely at night. And good for them, remembering they are supposed to be nocternal! All in all a very invisible month for mammals.
The herons continued to be fascinating, as I watched one sitting in the 'fishing hole' who seemed to be moulting into breeding plumage, meaning it was now through its 2nd winter as they don't breed in their first year. Its beak was turning a much brighter orange and it was seen scratching at the feathers on its chest, where it appeared that the plume feathers worn by adult birds were coming in. It looked itchy! They don't breed on my patch so this bird will have likely left not long after this for the heronry to show off its new breeding atire.
Some trends in your sightings can't be noticed at the time you are making the notes but can be upon revisiting later, which is one reason why I'm doing this recap. For example, I can tell that throughout March the redwings were doing more gathering in trees and calling together than they would in winter proper, and I can pinpoint that the last time I recorded them on my patch before they left for their breeding grounds in Scandinavia was March 22nd. I also noticed I recorded the goosander pair together a few times at the start of the month, but by the end of the month I have a few records of just the female. This didn't seem significant at the time, but looking back it might be- we will get to that in April. But the poor birds were being hassled off their favourite sitting around spot by the extremely loud Canada geese taking it over, whose courtship seems to consist of standing opposite each other and honking! It's usuaully hard to tell if they are flirting or are annoyed at a rival, as it all seems pretty aggressive.
A few exciting things were seen this month- most of all, 2 ravens unexpectedly came flying over one sunny day later in the month. They were quietly calling to each other with that unmistakeable raven croak, and I at first thought they might be a pair, but then they separated and went in opposite directions and I wondered if it was actually one raven seeing off another from its breeding area- if that was the case, who knows how far they had flown. I only have a couple of records of raven overall since I moved to this area several years ago. One of the ravens also decided to bother a soaring sparrowhawk that it was considerably bigger than- it seemed a bit mean considering, but it's normal for birds of prey to be mobbed by everyone around! You can't let them get too comfortable, it's the principle of the thing. And to illustrate why, on a separate visit I saw a buzzard flapping away with a bird in its talons, something with long legs so likely a gamebird or water bird. Birds aren't the most common buzzard prey so it was very interesting to see and I wondered if the bird might be a hatchling, though couldn't confirm if it was downy. The buzzard was driven off with its prey by a pair of crows who were chasing it and calling, but that doesn't mean it had to be a baby crow, they could have just wanted some of the prey themselves.
Finally, the flower drawing continued with March's additions: snowdrop, sweet violet, lesser celandine, dandelion, white dead nettle, ground ivy, primrose, early forget-me-not, and shepherd's purse. Incidentally a lot of shepherd's purse is flowering at the time of writing!
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