Was concerned and interested about muntjac ,coming from where they do , coping with the first half of February’s weather here. The night of 10/11 th I recorded -14 C in my garden. The daytime was without much movement on 11th ’til early pm then saw animals digging thro the 8cm of snow to find the straw of old game food areas. At dusk groups of up to 8 Muntjac including a suckling fawn were to be seen eating oilseed rape leaves poking thro’ the snow . Don’t think any casualties but may have been different if snow deeper and cold prolonged ?Much easier for Muntjac to survive and if necessary have numbers controlled where game feeding continues into early spring .Chaffinches now in full song , a little later than recent years
Category Archives: British bird song
English birdsong heard in January 2012
In this third week of January 2012 here’s my observations and nature notes. Seeing lots of muntjac around weather v mild and not too windy . The feed hoppers on the local shoots are attracting lots of attention as they provide an easy meal.
Heard a Chaffinch trying to break into song last week, not quite there yet. Blackbirds and Song Thrushes seem very sensitive to the slight increase in day length and were heard singing on the odd pleasant evening at the turn of the year.
Many plants are breaking dormancy, a cold and wet month now could help arable farmers and nature alike, mercifully we cannot intervene!
