Last week the first Common Lizard of the year was seen on Skipwith Common NNR - pictured here
taking advantage of the warm sunshine. Lizards are usually found sitting in the
small cracks and crevices along the old bomb bay walls, often venturing out to
soak up the sunshine, then darting back in if they sense someone/something
approaching. Fortunately we were able to get close views of this one, seemingly
oblivious to our presence and more intent on enjoying the much needed warm
weather.
Common Lizard - Skipwith Common
It wasn't just the lizard enjoying the weather yesterday, our team of
volunteers were hard at work once again, finishing the roof to the new wood
shed and building a new enclosure for an atmospheric monitoring station at
North Duffield Carrs – helping to provide valuable data to the Long Term
Monitoring Network. Thanks once again to our team for another productive
and enjoyable day.
Jeff & Hilary constructing the new woodshed
Along with the lizard, we also spotted the first frog of the
year in the pond at the NNR base – one of the signs that spring is underway.
Common Frog - NNR base pond
As
temperatures start to rise and day length increases, frogs and toads are now
starting to move to their breeding grounds after a winter spent in hibernation.
Which means two of our volunteers now have another job on their hands - at this
time of year on a warm, damp evening, Nick & Sandra are likely to be found
patrolling the main road at Hunmanby Gap, helping frogs, toads and newts make
their way across as they try and dodge the traffic. Armed with numerous road
signs, high-vis jackets and buckets, last year 376 Common Toads, 16 Common
Frogs, 15 Great Crested Newts and 28 Smooth Newts were given a helping hand
crossing the road, reducing what could otherwise be a high mortality rate. So a
big thank you and well done to you both for your incredible commitment to
helping our wildlife.
Home made signs
Toad on the move
Sandra checking drains
Aside from our amphibian and reptiles, we recently had a close encounter with one of our mammalian species - whilst re-filling our metal food bins with
grain for our duck ringing and bird feeding stations, we came upon two Wood
Mice that had climbed up the side and dropped in, then realising they couldn’t
get back out, had preceded to make a nest among the wheat and barley. Nestled
together it seemed a shame to disturb them, so we spent a few minutes enjoying
observing them before setting them free.
Wood Mouse - NNR base
Wood Mice are common on the reserve and are quite
distinctive, with their sandy brown fur, large protruding eyes, large ears and
a fairly long tail they are easily separated from our vole species. The large
eyes and ears point to the fact that they are largely nocturnal, and spend a
lot of time underground in burrows. The burrows are fairly complicated and may
include nest chambers and food stores. Food tends to be made up of woodland
seeds and nuts, with a greater percentage of insect prey in the summer months.
Wood Mice are found in a range of habitats, although they do tend to favour
woodland and are least found in open grassland, which fits with them being a key prey item for
Tawny Owls (hunters of woodland, hedgerows and parks/gardens). Hopefully this little guy is somewhere else safe now, but no doubt
it won’t be the last we see of him now that he knows where a good food
supply is!
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