Category: outdoors

Town and city bird roosts

Posted on by Georgia Locock

Recently I’ve been very busy with school work and a couple of other things but that hasn’t stopped me from getting out and about. One wildlife spectacular that I have been observing in my local city centre is a pied wagtail roost. In Lichfield city centre, as it gets dark, all the nearby pied wagtails group together to form a roost for the night.

Not only does this happen in my city centre or with pied wagtails but they take place everywhere and with other bird species too, like starlings. They are really worth looking out for as they are fantastic to watch. The noise they make when they’re settling down is incredible. If you watch all the individual birds closely you’ll see how they’re all trying to get their own spot, then settle down for the cold night ahead.

There are many reasons why they gather in our towns and cities like this. For example by roosting here they are less vulnerable to predators and in rural areas temperatures can be several degrees above those in the open countryside. This can be a difference between life or death to a small bird in the winter.

You’re most likely to see these roosts in the trees right outside the shops. So next time you’re in town at night or just as it’s getting dark during the cold months look up at the tress and you’ll be in for a real treat!

Here’s a video I got of the pied wagtail roost in Lichfield city centre.

Hedgehog rescue.

Posted on by Georgia Locock

On my way to school on Monday I noticed a hedgehog that was curled up on a grass verge. I immediately thought it was dead as it had been a cold night and the grass around it was very frosty. But on my way home from school I noticed that it had moved a few feet so I tapped it with my foot and It moved a little. Due to this I ran home and got an old shoe box then went to get the hedgehog. As soon as I got it home I wrapped it up, gave it a hot water bottle and gave it some meal worms and water. I then rang up the local hedgehog rescue to ask what was the best thing to do now. Unfortunately there wasn’t much hope for the little hog as it had been out in the cold and as it was out in the open it was most likely dehydrated.

On the Monday evening it did quiet well and it started to fidget a little bit but when I got home on Tuesday it wasn’t moving as much and it still hadn’t eaten. Therefore when I got back from school on Wednesday I rung up my local hedgehog rescue to pass the hedgehog onto one of the volunteers. But unfortunately the hedgehog had died. This was sad but at least it had died in comfort.

If you see a hedgehog at this time of the year, especially if it’s out in the day you should contact your local hedgehog rescue as it is too cold for them to be out and they should be in hibernation. My local rescue, West Midlands Hedgehog rescue,  do an amazing job and you can read more about them here – http://www.wmhr.org.uk/

Here’s a photo of the hedgehog when I first rescued it.

Rescuehedgehog

City gathering.

Posted on by Georgia Locock

For the last few years, during the winter months, I have observed and watched a pied wagtail roost in my city centre. This year though I decided that I wanted to film them as they’re so fascinating and lovely to watch. So I headed down to Lichfield city centre at about 3:00. First of all I got a few shots around the shopping precinct then I got ready for the pied wagtails to start turning up.

At 3:56 the first few arrived and were calling from the shop roof tops. This continued for the next 20 minutes until there were big flocks sitting on the roof tops. This was great to watch and the sound was amazing but it got better, as suddenly all the birds fled and were nowhere to be seen then a sparrowhawk flew above my head. Unfortunately I was too slow to film it. It was great how everyone was getting on with their shopping and just above them one of natures dramas was unfolding.

Once everything had calmed down the birds returned and started collecting in one of the trees. This was at about 4.30 when it was almost dark. The noise got louder and louder and more birds started turning up. As I looked closely at what every bird was doing it was very interesting. Some were preening, some were fighting for a place and others were just arriving. As the noise got louder more people started to notice and look up.

By about 5:00 everything had calmed down. Here’s the video I got.

Camera shy fox.

Posted on by Georgia Locock

A few weeks back I was contacted by a lady who is part of a trust which preserves and protects an area of land not far from where I live. She explained how there was defiantly foxes on the green and maybe even other species like badger. Therefore I suggested I set one of my cameras up to see what was about.

The area which I set my camera up at isn’t far from where I live and one of my local patches. I’ve visited this land for as long as I can remember and it really is a great attraction for wildlife, and dog walkers. Last week was the first time we set the camera up and unfortunately we didn’t film anything but we didn’t quit that easy. I set my camera up again last night and to our delight we managed to film a fox.

I noticed that the fox was quite camera shy. I’ve never noticed this before with other animals that I’ve filmed.

Here’s some of the footage we managed to get.