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Country Matters 2nd March 2002
Writing at the beginning of March with the sun shining there is a hint of spring. The male Greenfinches, Robins and a Song Thrush are sitting in the tops of the trees singing away. The male Dunnock under our kitchen window has already corralled his three wives. What he does not seem to realise is that female Dunnocks are the most promiscuous of birds and will almost certainly mate with the males in nearby territories as well.The Goldcrest, which with the Firecrest is Europe’s smallest bird, has returned to our garden hopefully to rear another successful brood.
The Jackdaws are back in The Street, unfortunately they have found some chimneys that they occupied last year have been netted to keep them out. I will not reveal which chimneys they are now prospecting but if a chimney sweep looking for work likes to contact me I will pass on some addresses that will be needing his help next autumn. If any house owner has damp chimney breasts or sticks in the grate, I would suggest looking up the chimney. It will probably be full of several sackfulls of sticks, which the jackdaws use to fill the chimney up to a suitable nesting height. I find them amusing birds but I would say that, as we have no suitable nesting chimneys in our house.
The dominant cock pheasant in our garden has now driven out the other three cocks that he tolerated all winter and now has the pick of the nine females. This is the beginning of a battle that will last all spring and early summer as he tries to keep his territory and more importantly some of the females.
The immigrant Blackbirds from northern Europe have left after wintering in this country and the residents are now sorting out their territories. As they are early nesters they will soon be starting their first brood of the year.
The mallard duck is already laying eggs somewhere in the garden. The female disappears every morning for about thirty minutes to lay another egg. In the past they have had nests in an oak tree , on the top of a leylandii hedge, under the pampas grass and in an old pipe. They lay from 12 to 16 eggs which usually all hatch. But the duck is a very poor parent, while the drake suns himself on the bank the duck swims around leaving the young to find food. As they are early nesters the insect life is poor and most young die and it is only if they have a second, later brood that they are more successful.
The moorhen pair have already chased off another visiting male that had eyes on the pond as well as the female. They are much better at parenting as both parents feed and brood the young.
This month both fox and badger young will be taking their first steps from their den or sett but it will be some time before the parent allows them to move any distance from their hole. The rural fox if disturbed will immediately move its young to a new den while an urban fox habituated to humans will quite happily raise its young under the garden shed. I just hope that the wildlife and I have not anticipated spring too early this year.
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