Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 82

Tony Ridd with the latest countryside news local countryside country life Island Life - February/March 2011 what to look out for... DO YOU HAVE A COUNTRYSIDE STORY? CALL TONY ON 07966 292334 [email protected] 82 The Mistle Thrush is one of the first birds to start nesting, very often laying it’s first (of two) clutches in February. It is bigger and paler than the song thrush with much bolder spotting on it’s breast and belly. Favourite foods include worms, slugs and snails or berry laden trees like rowan, holly and hawthorn. back to nature A countrymans diary Apart from sun stroke, nature seems to have hit us with most meteorological conditions, over the last couple of months! I enjoyed the snow before Christmas, even though it meant we couldn’t work for a couple of days. It still has a novelty feel about it I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it return later this season. We have all but finished a lot of our larger coppicing and felling woodland work. I like to get these out of the way before we get too much into the planting jobs. Contrary to popular belief, planti ng before Christmas isn’t essential. The majority of our planting is carried out in February, March and April Compiled by TONY RIDD Mistle Thrush with no loss of success! Hedges and new woodlands are now the order of the day. We aren’t planting such big areas of woodland cover as we were five years of grant and incentives to farmers and landowners, but new and replacement of old hedges are certainly increasing and becoming more popular. I don’t really hear the terms, ‘green corridors’ or ‘wildlife highways’ any more, but this is what they are and the rewards are a real treat. There was a sad moment this month, when I had to say farewell to an old faithful, my first forestry tractor! Admittedly, it’s been coming for some time now as it hasn’t worked for three years. But whenever I looked at him, he always gave me fond memories of the good service he gave…RIP orange tractor x. ago, mainly because of lack Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com