I'm a great believer in trying to live with an awareness of the seasons and natural cycles. For me it's very spiritual, I tune in to it when ever I can. A great part of this is regular daily observations in and around the land where my work is situated. I'm lucky I work on the edge of a huge city and not in it, on land with secluded woods and rolling fields that are all relatively undisturbed by neds and the like. The wildlife use it as a safe haven and their behaviour reflects this.
For the last few weeks it has been very dry and I've noticed a huge increase in dead badgers on the roads. This is because they are having to travel further afield to forage due to the dryness of the ground preventing them to have access to the huge quantities of worms they usually rely on as a staple food source. (yeagh they are omniverous but they rely on worms as a staple).
I've also noticed that all the fox cubs are traveling further too and they are becoming increasingly more brave in contacts with me and others around my work in search of food no doubt. I don't know if anyone else is into regular tracking has noticed, but when it is exceptionally dry and still, on hot days the humidity of fox scat ensures that the scent from it travels through evaporation, really quite considerable distances, much further than I previously ever thought possible. I usually know when there's a fox around if I'm downwind due to it's smell, but this observation has been quite excpetional, it really has surprised me at how much stronger it is and how far it can be detected in these conditions. In all my years of tracking and watched mammals, I've never smelled this so strongly before.
The Roe are coming into their rut soon are barking away like dogs at each other just now and they are looking tremendous in their light chestnut summer coat just now. They have started chasing each other and squaring up again. Unusually, the roe around here tend to stay in large groups with seasonal changes. For most of the year we have usually a group of up to 14 all feeding together in one or two fields and this number rises later on in the year and through the winter up to 21 or so. The books tend to say they are woodland species that live largley in small family groups but herd in large numbers in Europe. At the moment the bucks are all fired up and really quite obvious as opposed to just slipping around and through the brush to and from their favourite fields. My only explanation for this herding here is that it is safe for them to do that here and it may be due to the exceptionally good grazing and they are concentrated around this resource.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I've also noticed behavioural changes with the Roe the closer it comes to a full moon, I'll need to do more obs and reading to see if there is anything in it or not, who knows, it's just nice to be able to be in the position to experience this daily at my work.
WS
For the last few weeks it has been very dry and I've noticed a huge increase in dead badgers on the roads. This is because they are having to travel further afield to forage due to the dryness of the ground preventing them to have access to the huge quantities of worms they usually rely on as a staple food source. (yeagh they are omniverous but they rely on worms as a staple).
I've also noticed that all the fox cubs are traveling further too and they are becoming increasingly more brave in contacts with me and others around my work in search of food no doubt. I don't know if anyone else is into regular tracking has noticed, but when it is exceptionally dry and still, on hot days the humidity of fox scat ensures that the scent from it travels through evaporation, really quite considerable distances, much further than I previously ever thought possible. I usually know when there's a fox around if I'm downwind due to it's smell, but this observation has been quite excpetional, it really has surprised me at how much stronger it is and how far it can be detected in these conditions. In all my years of tracking and watched mammals, I've never smelled this so strongly before.
The Roe are coming into their rut soon are barking away like dogs at each other just now and they are looking tremendous in their light chestnut summer coat just now. They have started chasing each other and squaring up again. Unusually, the roe around here tend to stay in large groups with seasonal changes. For most of the year we have usually a group of up to 14 all feeding together in one or two fields and this number rises later on in the year and through the winter up to 21 or so. The books tend to say they are woodland species that live largley in small family groups but herd in large numbers in Europe. At the moment the bucks are all fired up and really quite obvious as opposed to just slipping around and through the brush to and from their favourite fields. My only explanation for this herding here is that it is safe for them to do that here and it may be due to the exceptionally good grazing and they are concentrated around this resource.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I've also noticed behavioural changes with the Roe the closer it comes to a full moon, I'll need to do more obs and reading to see if there is anything in it or not, who knows, it's just nice to be able to be in the position to experience this daily at my work.
WS
