‘Drrrrrrrrr’, ‘Drrrrrrrrr’. When the sound of a beak hitting wood at more than twenty beats per second echoes through the trees, it means that it is time for courtship and territory claim for our commonest woodpecker. The Great Spotted Woodpecker doesn’t sing as a courtship; it’s a drummer. This woodpecker’s head is built for drumming: […]
A group of six people are walking through a meadow in June, sharing a delight in the flowers and, together, trying to remember what they are all called. A woman posts a picture on the local Facebook group of a woodpecker on her bird feeder and exclaims that it was a wonderful surprise. A couple […]
British small mammals include mice, shrews and voles. Most are common enough in the wild, but we rarely get to see them; perhaps only a glimpse of a creature scurrying through the vegetation. For good reasons or not, voles are probably the most endearing of these small mammals. Even ‘Ratty’ in The Wind in the […]
A recent climate emergency summit in Woodbridge included a talk by a representative of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The talk, which was largely about nature habitats and wilding, was interesting and galvanising, but I noted that that there was no mention of ‘climate change’ in the whole talk. I suspect that the speaker assumed that […]
Red Kites are increasingly being seen and reported flying over Bredfield. At the start of 2022, there were at least three sightings in the first few weeks. This is cause for celebration. Red Kites have come back from the brink and they are now a favourite bird of many people. They cruise overhead, slowly and […]
In the depth of winter, the sights and sounds of nature seem in short supply. However, there are winter birds to be seen out and about in the gardens, trees and fields of Bredfield. Though a few are loners, most birds become very sociable at this time of year – gathering in flocks, some as little […]
Leaf lines and blotches Come autumn, something starts to happen with our leaves. Not only are they changing colour to rich browns, yellows and reds; they also often show blotches and lines. These blotches and lines are often (though by no means always) signs of life within the leaves. It is difficult for us to […]
This is an article in praise of a plant that is great for wildlife, but sometime gets a bad press in other respects: Ivy. In this article, we’ll be talking about the variety of Ivy named ‘Hedera helix ssp. Helix’; this is the variety that climbs; not the other variety which spreads along the ground. The nectar, […]
Should we feed our garden birds all year round? It’s a question that is often asked. The best answers suggest that, though some times of the year might be more important than others, we shouldn’t be too concerned about when to feed the birds. Rather, we should be paying more attention to what, how and where we […]
Where butterflies are widely loved and welcomed, moths seem to share our affections much less. This makes little sense scientifically, because they both belong to the same order of insects – Lepidoptera. Perhaps they are not loved so much because they are (largely) denizens of the night; or perhaps because we fear they are going to […]
