What to look out for in our area in the months ahead:

by Bob Stockhausen

  General.  Migration – that northwards surge of vast numbers of birds from their wintering quarters around the Mediterranean and Africa reaches its peak in Britain during May.  This month is the best time to get to grips with the warblers as they are in their brightest plumage, plus they occur on fixed territories in the preferred habitats and the males sing loudly.

• Visit an area of reed beds where within the reed will be REED WARBLERS and where reeds give way to canary-grass, sedges and rushes you will find SEDGE WARBLERS
• Dense woodland area will hold both CHIFFCHAFF and WOOD WARBLER, though the latter has not been recorded in our area over the last few yers..  Where woodland becomes more open with low shrubs and bramble plus the other ground vegetation look out the BLACKCAP and GARDEN WARBLER.  Their plumage is quite different, but their songs are very similar.  Early morning is best, when the males sing from fairly open positions, or listen to a good quality bird-song tape recording.
• WILLOW WARBLERS are mostly found close to streams or rivers in willows, alders or scrub.  Open woodland can also hold them. This year they have arrived in numbers again and hopefully their song will once a again dominate our summer.

Local Patch  

• Keep a watch for the first arrival of late comers such as SWIFT and SPOTTED FLYCATCHER.
• If you patch contains areas of rank grass weeds or tangled low scrub of forestry plantations, heathland or brambly edges of marsh, then listen for the reeling song of the GRASSHOPPER WARBLER.  On still days either first light or just as dusk is closing in is the best time to locate this elusive bird.
• As dusk arrives watch out over rough areas of pasture for the ghostly BARN OWL.  These beautiful birds are getting harder to find with each passing year.
• Heath-like areas could hold TREE PIPITS.  Listen and look out for its parachuting song flight.

Gardens

• Early May can be unsettled with cold winds.  Continue to put out food for adult birds.

• Early mornings and evening, especially if you live in a rural area, are a delight of bird song.  Try to identify songsters such as BLACKBIRD, SONG THRUSH, ROBIN, WREN and CHAFFINCH

• If you happen to find a baby bird out of its nest.  What should you do?  The best thing is to do nothing at all.  In most instances the young bird has left the nest of its own accord and the parent are quite capable of looking after it.  To fuss around the fledgling will prevent the adults from attending to its needs.  If an unfledged chick falls out of its nest, if possible return it to the nest immediately.  Do not take it into care, in nearly all cases the bird will die.

Remember to record your sightings in your Wildlife Diary, recording What , Where, When and by Whom

by Brian Stringer

In my garden, I saw very few species in April, with only Holly Blue and Speckled Wood in any significant numbers. One Orange tip and a few other Whites made up the numbers. Peacock, Painted Lady and Red Admiral should be with us in larger numbers this Month, given warmer and less windy weather, with some new species to look out for. These include: Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Wall and Green Veined White. There has been a sighting of Pearl Bordered Fritillary in St Clether this year, early in May

Orange Tip lays orange, barrel-shaped eggs beneath the flower buds of crucifers such as Garlic Mustard and Lady's Smock so look out for these this month.

Please record all sightings and why not start a Garden Butterfly survey 
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by Brian Stringer

April came in with yellow or white flowers dominating the hedgerows, with Scurvy Grass and Greater Stitchwort being the most common on major roads around Launceston. Hedge Parsley is making large stands on the roadsides and quite large patches of Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock) are still to be seen in the uncut grassy verges or in damp wasteland (the Orange Tip and Green Veined White Butterflies will benefit from this as it is one of the plants where they lays their eggs). Jack-by-the-hedge (Garlic Mustard) and Cow Parsley are coming into full growth, too. This month,  Bluebells and Red Campion will take over. A few other plants coming into flower this month  to look out for are:

One plant that I was really pleased to find in some numbers on the A395 roadside near Laneast, in early May, was Lousewort - a good indicator of heathland. This is a low growing plant with many lovely pink flowers that are two-toothed. Please record places where these flowers are seen.

It is worth taking a close look at our common trees this month as many of them are in full flower. These include the Horse Chestnut, Oak, Beech, Holly Hornbeam Sycamore, Silver Birch, Rowan, Crab Apple and Ash. Alder Buckthorn is good plant to look for in flower - female Brimstone butterflies use this plant to lay its eggs on. ( I was working near a bush in Lezant and was pleased to see several Brimstones). The flowering Hawthorne too is referred to as the 'May'

Moles and Badgers

by Alex Howie

Moles Talpa europaea are now fully active. Although these creatures spend the majority of their time underground, at this time of year you can't fail to miss the great mass of molehills that appear. 

• Moles are generally found in deciduous woodland, arable fields and permanent pasture where tunnels can be easily excavated and earthworms are more abundant.

• In the winter the diet is made up of more than 90% earthworms, and in the summer 50% earthworms, plus molluscs, beetle and fly larvae, millipedes and centipedes. A mole consumes 40-50 grams of food a day. 

• Although virtually blind with tiny eyes of 1mm diameter, moles use extremely sensitive hairs on their feet, snout and tail to feel their way around.

• Active both day and night, occasionally seen leaving their burrows to look for surface food or collect nesting material used to line nests and sleeping chambers. Once in their sleeping chambers the mole seals itself in and sleeps in an upright position. 

• Three types of Mole tunnel/hill: breeding and surface runs are close to surface, permanent tunnels are deeper where nests are found and are linked to molehills.  Depending on the quality of the habitat the home range may extend up to 2000m² and may be of depths greater than 100m.

• Young can be seen dispersing at this time of year, trying to find unoccupied living spaces. However this is the cause of a high mortality rate due to predation from foxes and birds of prey etc.  

Badgers  Meles meles are nocturnal but can be seen leaving the sett at dusk to go foraging for food. While looking for food badgers can be heard making loud snuffling and snorting noises. Their diet is quite varied, ranging from earthworms and insects, fruit, bird's eggs, cereals to small mammals e.g. mice and voles, and even hedgehogs! Their droppings often reflect the diet.

Badgers favour habitats such as mixed deciduous woodland with clearings, pasture, railway embankments and large gardens. 

   Tracks and signs

• Badger setts: probably the easiest way to establish the presence of badgers due to the size of the spoil heaps at the entrances to the setts. There may be between 3-10 entrances to the sett leading to sleeping chambers at the end of tunnels that can stretch for up to 20m! These setts are inherited by the young and can be passed down the generations for 100's of years!

• Road kills are unfortunately quite a common occurrence for badgers especially when they disperse from the sett once reaching sexual maturity. Road kills also occur where new roads are built over existing badger paths.  

• Other signs, which are not always so obvious, include hairs left behind on barbed wire or fences as the badger climbs underneath, especially at this time of year when the badger is moulting. 

• Worn paths leading from the sett to latrines and between latrines, feeding areas or other setts become more visible at this time of the year, especially in hedges where they cross  roads, as the badgers become more active. Latrines often mark the perimeter of the territory, along with scent marks produced by glands around the anus and the subcaudal glands. 

• Footprints left behind in mud are easily identified: they consist of five toes with long claws on each foot along with a large pad mark. The fore prints being larger than the back. Distinguished from that of a dog, which only has four toes. 

• Badgers love honey so you may be lucky enough to discover a disturbed beehive. Snout marks, or small clearings amongst leaves can be found where a badger has been hunting for earthworms.

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Female bats are beginning to form maternity colonies and are looking for suitable nursery sites, such as buildings, trees or bat boxes. Male bats of most species will roost on their own or in smaller groups. We would like to get records of where maternity colonies are roosting. You can detect these by the large numbers flying at dawn and dusk.
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by the editor

field mushrooms in May!

I have been really surprised to find field mushroom this month. A good friend of mine brought in enough for two good helpings in the middle of the month and now I have got a substantial number of them in a ring on my lawn - lovely horse mushrooms, so keep an eye open. I have also found a large puff-ball in a field in Lezant.

If you want to eat them, make sure you have got a positive identification - if you are not sure, then don't. Beware of "yellow stainers" that look like ordinary field mushrooms, but have a yellow streak on the stem and when cooked show yellow too - if cooked in milk then it turns to custard! These can give strong allergic reactions to some people.We would like to know if you find any, so please record them .