All is exuberant untidiness May. In the wood, in the wildflower areas and around the pond. Planned chaos.
Out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a mouse on a tree. Furtive, restless, winding the girth of a Silver Birch with an imaginary ball of yarn and spinning long looping patterns from trunk to trunk throughout the wood. Enchanting little flying tree mice Treecreepers or Certhia familiaris by their latin name. Flitting, hiding, fawn and cream cryptic balls of woodland life. A concentric pattern of feeding becomes apparent and small crispy prey items gleaned from the cracks in bark are carried to a central Maypole. The bird each time winding and weaving around an unknown place of origin and then darting inwards only to disappear.
The dead pole of a slowly rotting birch is located as the central point after a half an hours careful birding. The dead tree is shedding a huge scale of bark creating a hiding place for new life from the old. The bottom of the loose flap of bark has been shored up with dead grass and small twigs. The bird disappears behind its camouflage curtain.
I settle down to time the visits. I cannot remember ever having discovered a Treecreeper nest before. Now I know the location the feeding pattern from tree to tree is no longer random. And then on one trip back a greedy mouth appears. The slender decurved bill of the adult so useful for picking out insects and spiders from bark is not apparent on the chick. The mandibles are skirted at this stage by a bright orange gape. I time the visits on a number of subsequent walks in the wood with and without my camera. On average one or other adult is visiting the nest every 3-4 minutes or so. There are possibly 3-400 feeding visits each day split between the adults. I have no idea at this stage how many chicks are in the nest but the period to fledging is around 2 weeks. I will keep a daily watch from a tactful distance,
I am feeling rather proprieatorial of this brood. It seems to be a bumper year, Elsewhere at Oaklands swallows are nesting in the garage, several blue tit families in our nest boxes and there is evidence of fledging Goldfinches and Chaffinches all around the property. At night the squeaky ghosts are back. White fluff balls complaining bitterly all night long, Young owls are once again crashing about making a joyous racket. The last Tawny Owls to have been raised in and around our wood were in 2021. I heard the latest youngsters out on the oak last night. Owlets have previously taken to sitting on the car, in the oak tree, dancing around in the walnut trees and redecorating the plant and vegetable supports in the pottager. The fussing and squeaking goes on all night. It's charming. Every so often Mum will turn up to feed them as they "branch".
We must be doing something right to be serenaded night and day by the new generation at Oaklands. We must have a good population of small mammals in the long grass and wildflowers we have left for "No Mow May".
I think for the remaining months of the Summer I will undertake a "Bio-Blitz". Literally recording as many species of living things within out 5 acres as I can. I will start with the birds which should be fairly straight forward and go on from there. A moth-trap is on order. I have a shelf full of books on Bee and Insects. Luckily plants and trees don't run or fly away ! We have lots of plans for increasing the breadth and number of species on site. We are starting from a good base line but we can always improve. Bottom up is the way to go. A good variety of habit and flora will support a wide range of insects and bugs which in turn should feed the chain all the way up to our foxes, badgers and owls. A good baseline audit seems appropriate before we undertake some planned changes which should be beneficial. Another pond, an area of meadow and further clearing of invasive laurel are all planned.
In the meantime the class of 23' ate taking advantage of the mess we have created so far by refusing to spray chemicals and being a touch untidy around the place !
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