Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2012 | Page 101

COUNTRY
What to look out for...

RS P B
This time of year many birds
are beginning to look for a new
home. If birds start pecking
away at the nest-box entrance
hole they are not trying to make
the holes larger, it is territorial
behaviour, claiming the box
ahead of the breeding season.
Many birds are starting to do
early checks of nesting sites to
claim their patch.
They tap around holes and in
nest-boxes as visual and audible
signs to other birds that this site
is taken. Blue tits and starlings
are the most obvious culprits
but other birds will be showing
similar signs. It is important to
site them correctly; a nest-box
in the wrong place could mean
birds suffer harshly in the heat.
Unless there are trees or
buildings which shade the box
during the day, they need to be
facing between north and east
to protect them from overheating
in strong summer sunshine.
It will also shelter them from
wetter south westerly winds. For
further top tips and advice on
how you can make your garden,
balcony or even window box a
‘Home for Wildlife’, visit www.
rspb.org.uk/hfw

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1. Sea Campion

2. Wheatear

Common around most parts of the British
mainland. Sea Campion has always been
rare and localised on the island. It was
more widespread but appears to be in
decline, becoming rarer each year. It forms
patches of white flowers each with five
petals, growing between 10 and 30cm tall.
look for it at Gore Cliff or St Lawrence.

The Wheatear is a summer visitor, having
overwintered in Africa and being one of the
earliest migrating birds. They can be seen
in open countryside and along the coast.
They nest in rock holes and crevices,
stone walls and rabbit burrows. Their most
distinctive feature is their white rumps, the
Anglo Saxons calling them White Arses!

3. Common Cockchafer

4. Garlic Mustard

Also known as the ‘Maybug’, the Common
Cockchafer appears late April to early May,
and can be seen frequently flying into lit
windows and around porch lights. They
have antler like antennae, the males having
seven ‘leaves’, the females only six. These
leafy antennae can detect pheromones,
enabling the males to find the females in
the dark.

Found growing along lanes and
underneath hedges, Garlic Mustard (also
known as (Jack-by-the-hedge) is one of
our more common wild flowers. The white
rosette flowers smell strongly of garlic
and the leaves are heart shaped on tall
stems, growing up to 120cm (4ft). It is
an important food plant for caterpillars of
the Green-veined White and Orange Tip
butterflies.

www.visitislandlife.com

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