February wildlife sightings from a garden in Annan

Well the very wet, dreary days of last month have moved on and winter has arrived! We have had several severe frosts this month - often accompanied by sunny days - and the odd sprinkle of snow. Do you remember when there used to be frost on the inside of the window?? Well, we had a few days when the window was frosted - but only on the outside!

 

 

Because of the weather we have seen more birds feeding in the mornings and evenings, but they also seem to be pairs now too. A pair of Great tits have been in and out of our nest box on the garage.We presume the same ones who have nested with us for the last 2 years. We have heard lots of lovely singing this month from both the robin and the dunnock.

 

Dunnock

 

Our monthly max of birds is as follows:

Blackbird - 2 male, 1 female

Blue tit - 3

Carrion crow - 2

Chaffinch - 1 male, 2 female

Coal tit - 2

Collared dove - 2

Dunnock - 2

Geese - 25 flying over

Great tit - 2

House sparrow - 20 male, 10 female

Jackdaw - 4

Pied wagtail - 2

Robin - 2

Rook - 3

Starling - 60

Woodpigeon - 2

Wren - 1

Yellowhammer - 2 male, 1 female

 

7 spot ladybird

 

We have also seen our first ladybird of the year this month. A 7 spot ladybird was sat in the sun on the outside of our bug box on 22nd of the month. However, this was also a rather sad day as we found a dead robin outside our door in the afternoon. I had seen 2 robins fighting earlier in the morning - one of them pinned on the ground by the other but they then both flew away. We presume the dead one was the same bird and that when he flew away he wasn't very well! I know robins are territorial but I had never seen them as vicious as they were on this occasion.

 

Robin

 

DGERC species of the month this month are Colt's-foot (Tussilago farfara) and the Common toad (Bufo bufo) 

 

Colt's-foot

Colt's foot is an early flowering member of the daisy family. It's yellow flowers appear  in Feb/Mar, and the leaves usually follow as the flowers are fading. It is often found in sunny places on poor soil, including on the edge of gravelly tracks and pathways. It is one of the most widespread plants in the UK and has been long used as a herbal remedy to relieve coughs.

 

Common toad

 

Common toads begin to emerge from hibernation in Mar when they return to their favourite breeding ponds. spawn is laid in strings (unlike clumps with frogs) and the tadpoles remain black as they develop. Adult toads have a warty skin and a blunt nose, and tend to walk rather than hop (as frogs do).

In Scots the Common toad is known as a puddock.

Thanks to DGERC for photos and information. They welcome all records from D&G. Have you sent Mark any records recently?

See dgerc.org.uk for more details about record keeping.