The famous image taken by Nasa’s Terra satellite on January 7th 2010 captured the impressive extent of Britain’s big freeze. Charlie Brooker’s description is also memorable, beginning like this:
Oh, how it snowed. It snowed like a bitch. It snowed so hard you could be forgiven for thinking God had decided planet Earth was naught but an embarrassing celestial typo and was desperately trying to Tipp-Ex it out of existence.
For the first time in many years, the freezing conditions have been perfect for ice skating, allowing the inhabitants of the Cambridgeshire Fens to revel in a centuries-old tradition. The Guardian
The Fens of East Anglia, with their meres and washes, networks of drainage ditches, slow-flowing rivers and easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates were introduced into Britain from Holland or France in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch the top skaters. Wikipedia
One of the Guardian’s editorials today is entitled In praise of… feeding birds in winter:
Feeding birds this month offers a rare chance to see redpolls, yellowhammers and tree sparrows among the robins, finches and tits that more often make up backyard populations. It will also keep them alive. Read
From a distance, they look like hay bales covered in snow. But close-up it becomes clear they are hollow. A mystified Ron Trevett photographed them in a field near Yeovil, Somerset. It occurred to him they might be some large-scale prank in the crop circle tradition but for the complete absence of footprints. In fact, snow rolls are a natural phenomenon, but more associated with the prairies of North America than Britain. Certain conditions are necessary for their formation: the right texture of snow, temperature and winds. Strong winds peel off the top layer of snow when it becomes sticky and bowl the roll along until it’s too heavy. The snow doughnuts, as they’re also known, look deceptively solid, as they can distintegrate in an instance.
The RSPB says countryside birds are increasingly moving into towns because the big freeze has meant food is harder to find. They include on their list bitterns! More as well as herons and woodcocks. More
According to latest figures from the BTO, forty species have been turning to gardens for food with greater frequency during the current snowy weather, with particularly large increases in thrushes and buntings. Reed Buntings have increased by 134 per cent and Yellowhammers by 80 per cent. More
Guardian slideshow Birds spotted in the big freeze
See also Unusual birds in the garden
Freezing temperatures aren’t all bad for British wildlife, perfectly adapted to long, cold winters, which until recently were the norm. Cold weather helps to “restore the balance of nature”:
In contrast mild winters such as those we’ve seen between 1986 and 2008 bring about:
Snow Watch are also collecting wildlife stories from people from around the UK. Read them here.
I thought this post by John White was interesting:
We do have a visiting barn owl but have not seen or heard him for some weeks. We have had visiting redpolls and fieldfares taking all the holly berries. Interestingly there have been very few starlings and sparrows around, and a very plump pheasant is missing. I must admit that we do not encourage the larger birds i.e. rooks, crows, jackdaws and magpies, but they still come. It seems that the three squirrels that live in the holly tree have decided to keep warm in their dray, and have not put in an appearance for days. Badgers have taken to the compost for food. They were very active in the autumn feeding off of our fallen fruits and digging up the gardens for slugs etc. Swans and geese that frequent the reservoirs and canals seem to be staying put.
David Munt from Potter’s Bar, Hertfordshire braved the Arctic weather and sub-zero temperatures to spend a night in an igloo in his garden. He decided to sleep in his creation after spending the previous day making the igloo from snow and ice, with help from the children on his street. More here
We’ve put together this archive of news about the 2010 cold snap related to wildlife and climate. Hungry bitterns, cold badgers, river ice, English igloos, strange birds in the garden, George Orwell on the cold of 1940, the coldest place in Britain…that sort of thing. Read
The freezing temperatures may have caused the death of thousands of velvet swimming crabs which have been left littering the shoreline in the Thanet area of Kent. So many velvet swimming crabs - or devil crabs, as they are commonly known - have been washed up in Westbrook Bay over the last week that people have struggled in some places to see the sand. More here
The Orwell Diaries is a remarkable blog which publishes George Orwell’s diary entries on the same date 6o years later. The entries are full of fascinating insights into the daily life of the author between 1937 and 1947 and include a surprising amount of observations on natural history. The comments by the readers are also, unusually, interesting. Here is his entry of 11th January from the cold winter of 1940:
No thaw. It would be possible to skate on the church pond, but unfortunately I have no skates here. The other ponds not bearing. Water beetles (the kind whose legs look like oars) can be seen moving about under the ice. When a brick lies in the bottom in shallow water, there appears in the ice above it a curious formation the size & shape of the brick itself, presumably something to do with the temperature of the brick when thrown in being higher than that of the water. Turned up a woodcock in the common lane. No rabbits in the field today. Birds very bold & hungry. Rooks in the vegetable garden, where they do not usually come. One or two primroses & polyanthi budding, in spite of the frost upon them. One of the elm trees apparently bleeds a brown-coloured stuff, sap or something, & large icicles of this hanging down, looking like toffee. Milk when frozen goes into a curious flaky stuff like flaky pastry.
Orwell had an enduring interest in natural history which stemmed from his childhood. In letters from school he wrote about caterpillars and butterflies and he had a keen interest in ornithology. He also enjoyed fishing and shooting rabbits, and conducting experiments as in cooking a hedgehog or shooting down a jackdaw from the Eton roof to dissect it. Wikipedia
Devon polar explorer Ann Daniels offers these hot tips and more for enjoying this month’s Arctic temperatures.
Also from Devon video of Trapped swans freed from frozen River Exe
This five-day-old badger cub was on the brink of death after being left abandoned in the snow somewhere in Devon. More ridiculously cute photos and the story here
From the excellent badgerland.co.uk:
Badgers have unusual breeding patterns since mating can take place at any time of the year. After mating, badgers exhibit what is known as delayed implantation. They keep the fertilised eggs, in the womb in a state of suspended development until they implant at the end of December. Cubs are usually born during the first fortnight in February in the south and west, but sometimes a little later as you go further north in the UK.
So this cub was born rather early in the year. I wonder if the mother was moving her cubs to a warmer sett and this one got dropped, or did it just remove it from the sett because it couldn’t feed it. Please drop me a mail if you can enlighten me on this.
Defra has released this advice on caring for farm animals and pets during the cold weather, including this note for horse and pet owners:
Where pets (such as rabbits and guinea pigs) are normally kept outside in hutches during mild winters, eowners should consider moving them into garages / sheds to provide additional thermal insulation. Where cages cannot be moved additional protection or insulation should be provided wherever possible.
It is also important to ensure a supply of drinking water. Ice should be cleared from drinking water containers and the spouts should be defrosted regularly.
As with farmed livestock, horses and ponies usually kept outside during the winter should have access to shelter at all times and a regular provision of feed and water ensured. Where such provision is inadequate, owners should consider moving the animals and/or permanently stabling in the interim period Water supplies for all horses and ponies should be checked regularly and alternatives sources supplied if mains failure occurs.
In an emergency you should contact the RSPCA for help and advice. Read their advice on animals in the cold spell here.
Stunning photo taken on 9/1/10 of the River Dyfi estuary near Aberdfi by John Mason on the UK weather forum (more photos from him), who notes ” ice-floe interacting with a mooring-buoy at Frongoch. The noise was amazing!!“.
Looks more like northern Canada rather than mid Wales.
The Met Office has released this useful advice if you really need to go out in the wilds. They recommend:
…wear several layers of clothing and keep dry to prevent loss of body heat. Watch out for signs of hypothermia — uncontrollable shivering, slow/slurred speech, memory lapse and drowsiness and frostbite — loss of feeling in and pale appearance of fingers, toes, nose and ear lobes. Keep moving your arms and legs to help the blood circulate.”
Fictional countryside
March 17, 2010
Interesting article by Jonathan Meades in The Guardian.
No longer a place of work, the English countryside has been tidied up and made picturesque, based on a mythical rural idyll…Read
Reminds me of DH Auden comment in the 1940s on the Lake District.
“Am I to see in the Lake District, then….Another bourgeois invention like the piano?”
Swift survey
March 17, 2010
The RSPB is gathering extensive information about exactly where swifts are nesting in the UK. It is suspected that their rapid decline in recent years is linked with a drop in suitable nesting sites, as buildings are modernised.
The first year’s survey reveals that of the houses where swifts are nesting:
New Forest conservation
March 17, 2010
A new generation of commoners will receive financial support to ensure animals continue to graze in the New Forest and so conserve its rich biodiversity.
Commoning has shaped the New Forest over hundreds of years. It is because of it that we have this beautiful landscape, a mosaic of pasture, heath and lawn. And it needs to be encouraged - Lyndsey Stride, commoner.Guardian
Urban bee project
March 1, 2010
The Co-op is further expanding its Plan Bee campaign by providing aspiring urban bee-keepers with free training and equipment. Life in the city can be better for bees than in the countryside, points out Chris Shearlock, the Co-op’s Environment Manager:
They can find flowers in city parks and gardens, and they are away from some of the pesticides that are threatening them on farmland. It’s a misconception to think that they won’t thrive in cities and towns. I’ve heard of honey being sold from apiaries around King’s Cross station in London.In the end, what’s going to save the British honeybee, whose population has dropped sharply in the last 25 years, is its value to the economy: as fruit-tree pollinators and annual producers of 5,000 tonnes of honey, they’re worth 165m a year. Independent
Landscape blogs
February 24, 2010
There are now some excellent landscape blogs covering Britain. Here are a few:
British birds in the news in February
February 17, 2010
Here is a quick round-up of latest British bird news:
Archive of nature articles
February 11, 2010
We’ve put together this monthly archive of the articles on Britain nature.
Allotment fever
February 10, 2010
With more and more people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners have over 100,000 people on their waiting lists. The National Trust have responded to this demand by allocating land for “super allotments” or community farms. In return for a monthly fee, members will decide what should be grown, and have the opportunity to work on the farms, receiving a share of the produce. Daily Telegraph
The 87 mile-long Ridgeway National Trail is remarkable in being the oldest road in Britain and because you can still walk it, following the same route used since prehistoric times by travellers and, herdsmen. The route connects the Dorset and Norfolk coasts, passing over rolling, open downland to the west of the River Thames, and through secluded valleys and woods in The Chilterns to the east. It is littered with historical sites dating back to the iron age. Lots of details from the National Trail website here.
A trip to a children's farm is a great idea in the lambing season. The Guardian has a list of recommended places in their half-term holiday special, including Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley, where they are expecting no less than 300 lambs and 50 piglets to be born in February, with more expected for Easter. They have other attractions such a baby Alpaca called Snowy.
For the first time in many years, the freezing conditions have been perfect for ice skating, allowing the inhabitants of the Cambridgeshire Fens to revel in a centuries-old tradition. The Guardian
The Fens of East Anglia, with their meres and washes, networks of drainage ditches, slow-flowing rivers and easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates were introduced into Britain from Holland or France in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch the top skaters. Wikipedia
David Munt from Potter’s Bar, Hertfordshire braved the Arctic weather and sub-zero temperatures to spend a night in an igloo in his garden. He decided to sleep in his creation after spending the previous day making the igloo from snow and ice, with help from the children on his street. More here
Yowie snowshoes were designed, fittingly, in Australia. They look like beach sandals attached to rubber flippers with a deep hexagonal tread and metal cleats. Extremely versatile and user-friendly, once you're strapped in, with body weight nicely spread out to avoid sinking, you can enjoy snow walks on the flat or more challenging treks up and down mountains. The material reportedly offers better insulation from the cold than more conventional heavy-duty snowshoes. They are also lighter, cheaper and easier to stow in your ruck sack.
Another idea is to use ice grips - unobtrusive devices you can attach to your usual footwear to radically increase traction on slippery surfaces.
Meirion Owen is an expert sheep dog handler, who’s been working with Border Collies since he was nine. He now travels around Britain, showing the skills of this intelligent breed at fairs, private parties and, increasingly, corporate days out. The other stars of the Quack Pack are a troop of Indian Runner ducks, who love to charge around at a fast pace in a tight group (with the occasional lone rebel). First of all, Owen gives a demonstration of how it’s done, instructing his dogs with only four commands to herd the ducks through an obstacle course. Then the spectators have a go.
"We never try to embarrass anyone," he says. "I'll always try to help. With duck herding, there is a sense of the unexpected and seeing a manager lose control of his ducks is great entertainment for the staff."
A recent tendency among lowland livestock farmers is to replace Border Collies with quads, and Owen would like to turn this around by promoting the many qualities of this breed. More information
The Woodcraft School runs various courses for acquiring skills that pre-historical man needed for survival. Bark, Bone and Antler is a particularly interesting 2-day course that explores the materials available to our primitive ancestors. Those attending will be taught about the sustainable harvest of bark, weaving crafts to make knife sheaths, folding crafts to make baskets and containers, and the preparation of bone and antler.
This particular course will be held in May 2010 in West Sussex, with groups limited to 12, but there are many others to choose from.
Paragliders will use birds of prey to guide them to the best thermals. They often report that the birds are not afraid of them and will even approach out of curiosity. Parahawking takes this one step further. You're taken on a tandem paraglider and specially trained birds of prey will accompany you on your flight, rewarded by offerings of food. This unforgettable experience is available in Wales, organised by the Axis paragliding school
With Pesky Husky Trekking you can become a musher for a day. Instead of a sledge, you stand on a specially designed non-motorised scooter. And instead of snow-covered arctic lands, the Siberian huskies whisk you through the Yorkshire countryside. The experience is only available between October and March, after which it becomes too warm for an energetic husky. You can start off on a practice lap or do a more advanced trek of up to two hours.
Latest news The Guardian Country Diary Wild WorldA few good wildlife apps for iphone / itouch are starting to trickle onto the market. The best is probably the Collins British Wildlife Photoguide, priced at £5.99 which is an app version of a large book. The Guardian notes "Arranged by taxonomy – mammals, invertebrates, butterflies and moths, birds and so on – it features photos and brief descriptions of over 1,500 species. The navigation is a bit fiddly and there's no identification feature, so you need to know what you're looking at or be willing to scroll through several pages to get a match."
In the same article they recommend a guide to 24 of Britain's trees and a guide to European bird songs - but this only features 80 species. When are they going to produce an app for the Collins bird guide?
For those who don’t succumb to the charms of grey squirrels, keeping them off the bird feeder is a challenge. There are plenty of ideas on the forums, such as placing a table on top of a greased pole, or capitulating by scattering food on the ground to distract the squirrels and give the birds a chance. If unwanted rodents are consuming kilos of bird food, it might be worth investing in a specially designed squirrel-proof bird feeder. Those sold by the RSPB include conventional seed and nut dispensers caged within bars too narrow for a squirrel to pass through. Then there’s the robust–looking Squirrel Buster, which automatically closes down when something heavier than a small bird tries to access the food. It’s the most expensive option, but comes with a life-time guarantee. Not bad considering the fearless acrobatics and determined wire-chewing tendencies of squirrels.
View at the RSPB
Cute they may be, but this article in The Guardian thinks that it is not a good idea to keep a fox as a pet. Others agree. the US foxes.org list these reasons
Useful list of the best or at least most unusual bird feeders on the market put together by The Guardian here. I liked particularly the above mobile bird feeder. Meanwhile the RSPB's national Feed the birds weekend starts tomorrow.
Shopping trolleys have lost their social stigma, partly because of pleasingly designed trolleys like these. Using one will help avoid unnecessary use of plastic bags and also contribute to saving turtles in Sri Lanka where the Turtle Trolley was created. Turtle bags online shop
RSPB