Nature Trail
Did you know….?Badgers
- Badgers clean out their sleeping areas, dragging out old hay, bracken, grass and anything they’ve used as bedding by carrying it under their chin. This prevents a build-up of fleas and lice.
- They live in a network of underground burrows and tunnels known as a sett. Each badger territory will include a main sett and several smaller setts. The main sett is the group’s headquarters, where they spend most of their time and rear their young. Outlying sets are smaller and provide a safe place to retreat to if needed when badgers are out foraging. Setts tend to be located in the shelter of woodland, with the badgers emerging at night to forage in fields and meadows.
- They have strong front legs for digging – look at the photo of badger’s claws
- Young badgers when they are born are known as cubs
- Most are active at night and are hard to see during the daytime.
- They eat worms, insects and grubs. Also eggs of ground nesting birds and even hedgehogs
Squirrels
- There are two species (sorts) in this country: grey and red squirrels. The grey squirrels can be found in many parts of the country whilst the red squirrel numbers have reduced and they can be found in only a small number of areas.
- They eat nuts, seeds and berries. These will be collected in autumn and buried underground, ready to be eaten in winter when food is scarce. Other food taken includes flowers, buds, shoots, pine cones and occasionally young birds and eggs.
- To prevent their food stashes from being stolen, grey squirrels have been observed pretending to bury nuts in a bid to fool other squirrels that may be watching.
- The young are normally born in a nest made from twigs and branches that is known as a dray. There are usually three or four babies at a time.
- Grey squirrels do not hibernate, but can be less active in winter when food is scarce. In cold weather they will curl up and use their bushy tail as a blanket to keep warm.
Foxes
- They eat rabbits, rodents, birds, invertebrates, fruit and berries. In towns they might look through your dustbins to see if there is anything that they would like
- Most foxes have a short life, with few living longer than three years.
- Come spring, the female will give birth to a litter of cubs in an underground den. Normally, four or five cubs will be born and they will be cared for by both the male and female.
- Foxes are present in most of our woods, but your best chance of seeing one may well be in a town or city
Woodpeckers
- Most common in the country is the greater spotted woodpecker
- Its strong beak and shock-absorbing skull are perfect for finding food and making its home among the trees.
- Insects are the great spotted woodpecker’s main prey.
- Woodpeckers will sometimes drum on man-made structures such as pipes and telegraph poles.
- A great spotted woodpecker’s tongue is so long that it has to wrap around the bird’s skull when not in use.
Bats
- Its wingspan is normally around 20cm and it weighs no more than a pound coin.
- Flies are the main prey of common pipistrelles, with lacewings, mayflies, midges and mosquitoes all on the menu. The bat catches these insects in flight,
- Common pipistrelles can fly at a speed of seven metres per second- a lot faster than you can run.
- They have one young, known as a pup, which is able to fly at around three weeks old and become fully independent two to three weeks later.
- The bats normally hibernate in buildings, taking advantage of the warmth and shelter provided.
- Trees and woodland are important habitat features for common pipistrelles
Hedgehogs
- Invertebrates are a hedgehog’s favoured food, with beetles, slugs, earthworms and caterpillars high on the menu. Occasionally, they also eat carrion and the eggs of ground-nesting birds. They’re very partial to food left out by humans too, with cat food and leftovers being an urban hedgehog staple
- Hedgehogs spend much of their life asleep, hibernating through the winter months in a nest made from fallen leaves in a sheltered spot.
- Hedgehog numbers are falling. Loss and damage of suitable habitat, such as hedgerows and woodland, maybe a major factor in hedgehog decline, depriving the species of both food and shelter from badger predation.
- If you have a hedgehog which visits your garden then you can help by feeding it. It likes:
- Meat-based cat or dog food
- Specially-made hedgehog food
- Cat biscuits
- But don’t leave out any milk
Frogs
- Frogs eat flies, slugs, worms and snails.
- They can adapt their colour to suit their surroundings.
- Frogspawn is mostly water with the tiny egg that grows into a tadpole inside.
- The female can lay up to 2000 eggs at a time. She is bigger than the male but still only up to 13 cms long
- The eggs inside the clear frogspawn jelly take 16 weeks to grow into froglets, losing their tails and growing legs.
- Frogs can breathe through their skin as well as through their lungs.
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Owls
- 5 Different species of owl in this country
- Tawny owls: typical wingspan is up to one metre.
- Females typically weigh around 500g, which is roughly the same as a wood pigeon. Males are around 25% smaller.
- Mice and voles are the tawny owl’s main food source. These nocturnal hunters silently swoop down on their unsuspecting prey, plucking them from the forest floor
- Sensitive sight and hearing allow owls to locate rodents, while their wing feathers have a soft furry edge that allows for soundless flight
Butterflies
The UK has 59 species of butterflies – 57 resident species of butterflies and two regular migrants – the Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow. Five species of butterfly have become extinct in the last 150 years. These are the Mazarine Blue, Large Tortoiseshell, Black-veined White, Large Copper and Large Blue.
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Insects
There are a staggering 27,000 types of insect in the UK. Some can be tricky to tell apart, even for the experts
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