In their natural environment, giant sequoias are to be found only in a high and narrow area on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.  Like, bristlecones, giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are a long lived species - their life span can be 3000 years.   However, their most spectacular feature is their sheer size - they can reach heights of 300 feet with a trunk that may be 20 feet  or more in diameter.  Indeed, the world’s largest tree (by volume) is General Sherman - a sequoia estimated to have a volume in excess of 52000 cubic feet. The trees are not only long lived but ‘tough’.  They have protection against fire and rock fall, both of which are hazards in their home habitat.  Protection is afforded by their bark, which is very fibrous and can be up to 3 feet thick. Read more...

Swifts are amazing creatures - they migrate from Europe to Africa and back every winter, they cruise at 70mph and in a lifetime they might fly a distance equivalent to three return trips to the moon.  There is some question about where swifts actually mate - it is certain that they can copulate in mid-air, but they also routinely mate at their nest sites.  Possibly mating on the wing is a lightening quick liaison between individuals that are paired with someone else - a case of a 'swift quickie', that may have the effect of widening the gene pool - even if it's a long shot.  Despite all their aerial stunts, they spend about a month every year incubating eggs or brooding chicks on a solid surface such as a ledge or crevice, an old nest or a specifically designed swift box or swift brick. Read more...

When we applied for permission to build a solar farm in West Sussex the planners initially worried about the impact on wildlife and insisted that we do surveys of the bats and newts, but in practice the solar panels, now installed there, have created a haven for wildlife.   Several surprising facts struck me as I walked amongst the PV panels: Read more...

The Big Butterfly Count is back and it starts today.  The people at Butterfly Conservation say that ‘this year’s count is more critical than ever’.  Following the good weather in Spring, some of the earliest average emergence dates of butterflies for the last 20 years have been recorded. It is important that they gain some understanding of how these weather patterns affect butterflies, so that it might be possible to protect them in the future. Giving just a few minutes of your time and joining the count will help the Butterfly Conservationists understand how different species are faring in your area. This information / data will, in turn, help them to target research and conservation work where it is most needed Read more...

The Long-tailed Tit is a relatively common bird. In 2020 they made it into the top ten of the RSPB's annual garden bird watch, though they are more a bird of woodlands than gardens.    Outside of the breeding season they spend their time in small family groups of about 10 birds. Female young tend to move away to join other groups. The groups are territorial and maintain extensive territories, often 20 to 30 acres or more.   The groups form tight winter roosts – sometimes in tight rows along a branch, or in small huddles, with the more dominant birds in the centre. These huddles help to maintain their body temperatures, and are critical for such small birds during cold spells. The recent mild winters have contributed significantly to their winter survival rate and probably account for why they are now high on the garden watch bird count.   Over the last three years we have occasionally seen them in Woodcock Wood. They are unmistakable - small and round with long tails moving energetically from tree to tree in search of insects and larvae, which form the main part of their diet throughout the year. They aren't easy to photograph because they seem to be constantly on the move, searching one tree and off to the next. Read more...

Gill Perkins is one of those people you can't help liking - there's a smile in her voice when she speaks and we found her to be generous with her time and knowledge.  She arrived early for our woodland meeting and had come equipped - a small plastic tube with a plunger (costing about £5) allows her to catch bumblebees as they graze on flowers and she can trap them for long enough to tell us that "this one's a queen of the buff-tailed type and you can see she's very freshly minted as her wings are so undamaged ... a lovely specimen ...".    She releases the bee and it seems quite unphased as it quickly goes back to collecting nectar. Gill loves to get out into the woods and see the bees first-hand - most of the rest of the time she's in her office with the 40 or so staff employed by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and despite being the Trust's CEO she's often teaching groups about bumblebees and working with various sponsors including a big housebuilder and a big London law firm. Read more...

Over the last 20 years there has been a revolution in understanding the history of our woodlands.  That's because a technology known as LiDar (Light Detection and Ranging) allows planes to map the forest floor to an accuracy of 4-6 inches (100 to 150mm) which means that earthbanks and holes of any significant size can be mapped accurately.  An aeroplane flies over the woodland with very precise plotting of its height and position and it bounces laser beams off the forest floor to collect enormous quantities of high-precision data.  The cleverness of the technology is that even though a beam is bounced off the ground the signals from trees and leaves can be filtered out: so it maps a detailed picture of the ground surface totally naked. Read more...

We are just easing into that time of year when the mushroom hunting season looks about set to kick off in earnest. No longer is the more fervent fungi fanatic forced into gazing obsessively into the undergrowth in search of tiny black dots on dried stalks and twigs and left to wonder which of literally thousands of potential candidates they might have found - you’ll have to wait until next year for that post, I’m afraid. No, now is the time when we can prepare to lay aside the camera’s macro lens and focus on the more readily identifiable and photogenic cap-and-stem-and-gills varieties we know as agarics. Read more...