Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2010 | Page 54
COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING
countryside
news
life
Compiled by Tony Ridd
DO YOU HAVE A
COUNTRYSIDE STORY?
CALL TONY ON 07966 292334
54
what to
look out
for...
February/March 2010
Woodpeckers
There are three native woodpeckers in our
country, the green woodpecker and the
greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers.
Listen out for them early February when they
will start ‘drilling’ at trees staking a claim to
their territory. The greater spotted will often
visit bird tables and eat peanuts.
back to nature
A countrymans diary
Wey hey, a real bit of winter at
last…Snow and lots of it! Ok, so
we missed a couple of days work,
but work was still there when we
ventured back into the woods.
The amount of wild birds that
visited our garden was amazing,
many throwing caution to the
wind and becoming pretty bold
when it came to food. We have
free range hens and guinea fowl
at home, so there’s always corn
and fresh water about, along with
the wild bird feed that we supply
all year round. We tend to get
the ‘everyday’ garden birds, so
my winter favourite was seeing
a bullfinch on a bird table at a
friend’s house.
Work is now in full-flow,
coppicing and tree felling on our
woodland sites. We have finished
our first new tree planting of
the season,
a three acre
site, bordered
by ancient
woodland, a field
hedge and the
track of the Isle
of Wight Steam
Railway. We
tend to plant a
few ‘fun’ trees
with our larger
plantings that
will make the
wood more interesting in the
future. This time a Wellingtonia,
and some dessert apples around
the edges. I am looking forward
to maintaining this and seeing it
grow over the coming years.
Next it’s onto countryside hedge
planting, some individual garden
trees and then, back into the
woods for some more coppicing.
Although it’s tempting to stay
indoors at this time of the year,
give yourself a treat, wrap up
warm and go for a walk in the
countryside – if nothing else it will
make the homecoming cup of tea/
coffee taste ten times better!
Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com