Stoatally dead

Unfortunately this stoat had not only been killed but the tail had been bitten off.  The black tip of the tail is a key identifier.  It's a rather gruesome picture but (a) it proves they are around and (b) it's the best photo of a stoat I shall probably ever get.  They are very secretive and hard to see and don't like crossing open ground.  

This photo below is what a living stoat looks like.  They are fierce little killers closely related to weasels (which are also pretty vicious if you're a rabbit or a mouse or a vole), and pine martens (which like peanuts but also squirrels, nestlings and  birds' eggs.)

Stoato photo: Vic Sharratt of the Wildlife Trusts

There's a really good Natural World broadcast available on BBC i-player called 'Weasels - feisty and fearless' with footage of weasels, stoats, wolverines and honey badgers, all members of the weasel family Mustelidae.

Aldernative catkins

You may be familiar with the golden catkins of hazel

But these below are the catkins of common alder.  

We have common alders near post 20 by the stream.

There are three species of alder frequently found in Britain:  the native Common Alder, the Grey Alder with silvery bark, and the Italian Alder with shiny heart-shaped leaves and bigger conelets than the other two.

See my 'alder year round' post of 18th December

Who was here?

Patterns of human footwear in the mud .. .. ..

.. .. .. and canine companions

Infinitely variable.

But who was this?  Two toes side by side.

Photo: Simon Harding

The cloven hoofed imprint of a deer.  Could be Roe or Fallow or Muntjac.

How much happens when no-one is there to see?

Bullfinch

Bullfinches are shy but they are around in Filnore Woods and Vilner Lane Wood. The cock birds are very recognisable with an orangey red front and black face mask but the hen birds, with a more greyed out colouration, are harder to see.

They tiptoe round bushes using their strong finch beak to eat seeds, especially of ash, elm birch and even dock and nettle.  They used to be shot by orchard owners as they love to devour the flowering buds of fruit trees in spring when seeds are scarce.

As they are so secretive, listen out for the rather quiet and sad whistling call and then try to spot them.  Practice by clicking this link to the British Birdsong website.

bullfinch song

Here is a quote from the discoverwildlife website which shows how important it is to retain even the smallest patches of woodland, scrub and thick hedges: 

'Your odds (of seeing them on your bird feeder) are increased if you have a rural or suburban garden, especially one connected to a small area of scrub or woodland by thick hedgerows as they have a preference for thick cover.'

my underlining, to emphasise the importance of connectivity

Filnore Stream

Our stream runs dry in summer but recent heavy rains have got it flowing to such an extent that sometimes it overflows the bridge.

You can see where it has been flowing over last year's bank repairs and has started eroding the next section of the bank -  on the left of the picture below.

There has been so much water that it has flooded Vilner Lane downstream  ..  ..  ..

..  ..  ..   and flowed into Vilner Lane Wood, which acts a sort of soakaway

Today (Friday 17th Jan) is the last day to sign the e-petition to save Vilner Lane Wood from redevelopment (bit.ly/XSGtp), but you can sign the paper version tomorrow in Thornbury High Street or at the Community Compost Site, which is also threatened by the proposed development, 

Long-tailed tits

This is the time of year when long-tailed tits are more visible in the leafless trees and bushes.

I usually hear them before I see them though.  They tweet to each other as they move through gardens and woods in family groups, picking off tiny invertebrates.

Coltsfoot

These leaves are all that remains of our patch of coltsfoot, under a young oak tree near post 7 at the viewpoint.  

They will disappear before the flowers appear briefly in March like pale dandelions.  So briefly that I usually miss them - this photo was taken in Woodchester Park.  

To be followed by fluffy seed heads in May - here again rather elusive  

but I caught these in Perthshire.

Check now for those tattered leaves under the oak tree, so you know where to look for the flowers in March.

Sheiling School Work

This is part of Filnore Woods called the Paddock.  Many years ago it was a grassy paddock and Fred Day, who was Mrs Violet Mundy's groom, used to give children riding lessons here.  

Nowadays it is full of hazel and blackthorn, but students and staff from the Sheiling School have been working on it for a year or so, coppicing the hazel, building fences along the top of the hedgebank and creating a very robust set of steps.   

The woven hazel fencing is not to keep people out but to stop them eroding the historic hedgebank by climbing over it.

The Sheiling School team have now started reinforcing the muddy path from post 13 near the Paddock to the row of beeches at post 14.

Many thanks to all students and staff.

Berries

Berries are an important  food source for many of our garden birds during the winter, especially when the ground is too frozen to hunt for worms, and insects are scarce.  

Mistle thrushes, blackbirds, robins, redwings, hawfinches and fieldfares find most of their winter food from berries.  Redwings feed in flocks, while others may try to keep the berry-laden prize for themselves.

Redwing - note the two conspicuous eye-stripes, one above and one below the eye

Fieldfares are especially fierce - towards other birds, that is.  They are rather shy of humans.

 Fieldfare - rather larger and greyer than the redwing and no chestnut red patch under the wing

Thrushes and waxwings prefer berries with smaller seeds such as rowan, whereas finches opt for larger berries like hawthorn, blackthorn, cherry and wild plum.

Silver Maple

If you walk up the path through the old Northavon Council tree nursery (we call it the Old Plantation on the map in the leaflet) you can't fail to notice this tree, leaning at 45 degrees.
It is a silver maple, so called because the little white hairs on the underside of the leaves twinkle in the sunlight in summer.

The white arrows on the silver maple and on the other tree tell you to turn here.

The plane tree behind it is numbered 16 on our self-guided trail.  

You can tell it's a plane tree by the flaking bark.

There are several silver maples in this section of Filnore Woods as you can see from the very divided leaves lying on the floor.  At this time of year they are brown on the top side and silvery underneath.

Just noticed today some velvet shank fungal toadstools in a fissure at the base of the trunk.

Hilltop Pond

Between posts 3 and 4 on our top meadow, there is a path through the brambles.  

Make for the oak tree and you will come across our winter pond.

It's quite sizeable but dries up in summer.  

After clearing a lot of the vegetation round it last year, we are hoping it will eventually lure back the frogs and newts that used to breed here.

A battle lost and a battle won

A headless carcass and  feathers scattered over a wide area suggest that this pigeon did not give up easily.

I think it must have been a fox that fought for her meal here.

A grisly sight but no worse than a butcher's shop

Just a song at twilight

Song Thrushes at Filnore Woods are proclaiming their territories already.  

You can recognise the song because each phrase is repeated two, three or even four times before they move on to the next phrase.

The new year is under way.  Days are getting longer 

and the first primrose is showing near post 10.

Brave rather than beautiful - somebody has been pecking at the petals.