March - screeching with delight

1st March

The trail camera captured footage of a hare sniffing. Sniffing, or olfactory sampling, is integral to olfactory perception, and necessary and sufficient for generating neural activity in the olfactory area of the brain. At this time of year the hare may be sniffing for evidence of a mate or a rival.

Dave came to help John with logs. The log shed now has two full rows drying. Clare planted more Snowdrops in the Pit Wood and went in search of a Daffodil to mark St David’s Day.

3rd March

Mel came to help plant Willow whips and move brash from the Top Strip into the Quarry.

7th March

The trail camera captured hares again - the three clips are only minutes apart. More sniffing - this time a fox who may well be hoping for more to eat.

After a long absence, a Goldfinch appeared near the feeders again. Clare and John think the nyjer seed had become wet and started to ferment and the birds avoided it. Clare found nesting material in some of the bird boxes.

9th March

Nesting material in more boxes.

10th March

Mel returned for more work on Willows and with brash. As he was planting in the Stank (the boggy area of the Wetland below the Crag, newly named after John had come across a reference to The Great Stank in a book about deer), Mel noticed goose droppings. This may indicate a goose was looking for a nesting site.

11th March

Clare spotted the first of this year’s frogspawn in the Roadside Pond.

15th March

Not only is today the Ides of March, but, according to Word Perfect, it is the festival of Anna Parenna, a Roman goddess of renewal, life and the returning year (hence the word ‘perennial’). Clare and John refixed a nest box that had been used by bumblebees last year, sowed seeds and transplanted Snowdrops round the Shepherd’s Hut, spotted a Ladybird and found a very large amount of frogspawn in the Big Pond and more in the Roadside Pond. And all without Anna Parenna’s annual sacrificial expulsion of an old man or criminal in a ritual designed to purify. There were no criminals to hand and Clare really needs John’s help.

16th March

The buck has appeared again on the trail camera. John says that you can see that the buck has started fraying the velvet of its antlers - they look less smooth and dark. The footage of the hare listening is rather charming.

17th - 20th March

St Patrick’s Day and John wore green. He usually does. He and Mel planted three Yews in the Pit Wood. The Yews are part of a number of trees that John was able to buy as a result of selling some of his books in a ‘Books for Trees’ project.

In Word Perfect Susie Dent points out that March is the month for World Book Day and writes about how the history of the book is intertwined with trees in ways that extend beyond the production of paper. ‘The original word, in Old English, was spelt boc, ‘beech’, for it was on the bark on that tree, or upon beechwood itself, that runes were cast and inscriptions engraved; to this day the German for a letter of the alphabet is Buchstabe, ‘beechstaff’. ‘Folio’, which today refers to a book of a very large size, is from the Latin for ‘leaf’…It seems entirely appropriate that the tree - whose name shares an ancient root with ‘true’, because truth is loyalty, steadfastness, and solidity - was the birthplace for books.’

It is not evident that the hares are experiencing vernalagnia (see below) however John and Clare hope they may be.

John added barley straw to the Big Pond in the hope that it will help counteract algae growth.

21st March

Susie Dent again - on this day in Word Perfect she offers ‘vernalagnia’: a recently coined word that combines the Latin vernalis, ‘relating to spring’, and lagnia, ‘lust’; she refers to the beginning of spring as a time when ‘buds are erumpent’ with vigorous growth. Yesterday was the Spring Equinox and today Clare heard the first Chiffchaffs of the year calling in both the Scrub and the Pit Wood. (Last year she heard them first on 17th March.) Clare took the mouseguards off the beehives as there are so many bees flying now they will be able to defend themselves from hungry vermin looking for a quick sugar fix. Clare found the first Primroses in flower in the Pit Wood.

22nd March

Mel and John took to planting again - three Wild Service trees - part of the ‘Books for Trees’ sale. The Wild Service tree, Sorbus torminalis, is now quite rare and can be an indicator of ancient woodland, growing with Oak and Ash. It is hermaphrodite and the fruits are sometimes called ‘chequers’; the tree is a favourite with wildlife like the Wood pigeon whose gut softens the seeds for propagation. A good service to provide.

26th March

John saw a mallard duck and drake take off from the Big Pond. The badger pauses on his usual route through the Pit Wood, having no idea he was being watched.

27th March

John points out that the buck’s antlers are now clean of velvet. Clare and John hope not many saplings were harmed in the process.

28-29th March

Even though it is only a brief glimpse, John and Clare are delighted to see that there is still a Tawny Owl frequenting Liddells. They also hope that the weasel escapes the owl’s clutches. Clare is always delighted to see footage of hares so has included a clip of the last of the March hares. Of course she hopes there will be April hares too. John has included the footage of the roe doe scenting the air and he says you can see how she licks her lips to intensify her sensing.

30th March

Clare and John decided to have an afternoon walk round Liddells to see what might be in flower. They found Celandine, Daisy and Coltsfoot. As they walked close to the Oak tree at the west end of the Crag, a Barn owl flew out of the Barn Owl box. It is one of the most exciting moments they have had on Liddells. While John watched to see where it flew, Clare took the opportunity to check a small nest box close by. John helpfully pointed out that it was unlikely that the Barn owl could have got through the hole. John and Clare decided to return in the early evening to see if the owl would be out hunting. They arrived at about 7.30 to see the owl flying and then perching on fence posts on the southern edge of the Pit Wood. Two roe does emerged from the Scrub, a hare ran off from near the bug hotel and two hares were sitting on the path near the roadside pond. It was a good visit.

31st March

It was too cold for Barn owl watching this evening, however John saw a Heron fly off the Big Pond. There may be less frogspawn than before.