The Badgers of Rydal

 

Last time we chatted, I mentioned that I was starting work on a new book, looking at the state of British mammals in times gone by and how they are fairing now. On rainy days, I've been poring over old texts, but every now and then, I manage to get out and about with Ishbel and Mattie, and take a few photographs. Such was the case last weekend, when we visited Rydal Water.

And this is the reason. For many decades, the staff at the Glen RothayHotel have been leaving kitchen scraps out for the badgers that live in the hotel grounds. On Friday night, I was rewarded with a brief glimpse. The badger approached, cautious as a kitten and as silent as an owl, but was spooked by people leaving the bar rather noisily, and left with great alacrity. On Saturday night, we watched and waited in the comfort of our room (thanks to a webcam provided by Cumbria Wildlife Trust) and when they appeared, we took it in turns to slip out and meet them. I'm 65 now, and this is the first time I've seen a badger in the wild.

Rather than go straight home on Sunday, we popped next door to Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth spent his final years. He was born in Cockermouth, just upstream from where I am now living, so it seemed rude not to pop in while we were in the area. I fell in love with his garden. Totally unstructured, with paths, lawns and little hideaways all over the place. Plenty of birds... but no mammals.

Until we got back to the car park. And there, in the middle of the day, hopping about without a care in the world, was a wood mouse. Leastways, I'm pretty sure it's a wood mouse. The back legs look too big for a house mouse, but I've yet to have it confirmed.

Illustration from Cassell's Natural History, Martin P Duncan Vol.1 (1896)

The other little fellow that I've been studying is the mole. Fascinating, solitary little creatures. Did you know that a mole's home is called a fortress and that they all follow the same design? No, neither did I. Anyone have any moles on their land, up here in Cumbria, that I can come and photograph?

Steve's Vintage Collectables. (click to visit)

Whilst wandering around Wordsworth's house, I noticed a number of antiques similar to those that I have on sale. Nice to see them in their original settings. Retro, vintage and antiques are tipped to be big sellers on the Christmas present market this year, as people shun modern manufactured goods. Just a thought.

Steve's Books (click to visit)

And books make great Christmas presents. Easy to wrap. Easy to post.

Until next time, all the best,

Steve

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All the best,

Steve

Where Mary Sleeps

Following last week’s debacle at navigating by churches and chapels I thought we’d give it another go this week and, starting where we emerged onto the road, attempt to find another church further up the valley. 

Ivy (Hedera helix) on Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis)

It’s a lovely mountain road to walk, alongside the plane trees which are absolutely festooned with ivy. Evidence suggests that this does little or no harm to the tree at all in most cases but is, in fact, an incredibly useful plant. Its greenish yellow flowers which should be showing soon are very rich in nectar, so much so that the Ivy Bee runs its entire life around it, and the berries which come in the spring are an important food source for birds. Not content with that, the leaves are eaten by many caterpillar species including that of the Small Dusty Wave Moth which eats nothing else and one of the chemical compounds in the leaves, called Falcarinol, has been shown to kill breast cancer cells. Not bad for a plant so common that we usually walk past it without a second glance.

Seeds buried in leaf litter

Now, before you revert to childhood and start kicking through the autumn leaves, let’s get down on our hands and knees and see who we’d be disturbing. A few small beetles and the odd spider… but this is interesting, look what I’ve found under this stone. It appears to be a small cache or hoard of seeds. Many animals store up food for the winter; traditionally birds are said to cache and rodents to hoard. By the way that this has been placed quite deep and under a stone I would guess that it’s a rodent hoard. There are two types of hoarding behaviour, larder hoarding where a large amount of food is taken back and stored at home as it were – hamsters are well known for this but the wood mouse will do it too. The other type is scatter hoarding, as this appears to be, where small amounts of food are distributed at various locations. Squirrels, chipmunks and wood mice are famous for this and, given the habitat and the fact that we have no chipmunks or squirrels on Crete I shouldn’t be surprised if this was the work of a wood mouse.

Nymphalidae: Hipparchia cretica, Vanessa cardui, Pararge aegerea

That strange creaking and cracking sound? Nothing of great interest I’m afraid – just my knees complaining as I got up. Ah, this would seem to be a far better way to find a church, signposted steps. What a wonderful array of butterflies we have here. There’s the Cretan Grayling that we met last week (see The Journey Continues) as well as Painted Ladies and Speckled Wood bringing the morning alive. These are all members of the same family of butterflies, the Nymphalidae, also known as the four footed or brush footed butterflies. The reason for this being that when they’re standing they appear to have only four legs, the front pair are held curled up under the chin so to speak. These fore-legs, in many species, have a brush like set of hairs upon them. The purpose of these short, fat, hairy legs hasn’t been fully investigated as yet but the two most popular theories are that they enhance the butterfly’s sense of smell or that they’re an aid to communication. So much still to be found out about nature, even amongst our commonest friends.

Kermes Oak, Quercus coccifera with Cynipid wasp gall

Down here a bit further we have some Kermes Oaks. These are very hardy little oaks of the Mediterranean and their name derives from the Persian or Arabic for crimson. You remember that curious looking little scale insect that we found on the plane trees last week? Well, the Kermes oak has its own particular scale insect which was used in the manufacture of an exquisite crimson dye by the ancient Greeks and Romans. I can’t see any on this particular oak but I have found an interesting little gall. This would have been made by a tiny wasp (exactly how is another thing that we still don’t know) and inside is a minute larva thinking itself all safe and snug. It isn’t. That hole on the side could have been made by the larva emerging or by another type of wasp injecting one of her eggs into the larva as it develops. It’s a wasp eats wasp world in there.

Mediterranean House Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus

Finally, we have reached our little church. This one isn’t dedicated to a particular saint but to an event: The Dormition of the Theotikros, which, in simple terms means the going to sleep (a euphemism for dying) of the Virgin Mary which is commemorated annually by the Greek Orthodox Church on August 15^th. I expect that it’s prettier inside, let’s take a peek. Oh look, there’s a little Mediterranean House Gecko under the eaves. We must have disturbed him as he’s a truly nocturnal animal. I don’t suppose he gives a fig about whether Mary is sleeping or not, he’s just found a good place to lurk and catch insects. Did you know that they chirp like a bird? I’ve never heard it myself but apparently they can also imitate a male cricket and when the female turns up to investigate they pounce and gobble her up. Rather caddish behaviour in my view, after all, it’s just not cricket is it?

 

News Update

I said last week that one of the reasons for my sudden disappearance at the end of the last series was the crash of my database and the need to relocate it. The other reason is that I have been writing a book which is now about three quarters finished. It takes us on a journey from the top of the Thriptis Mountains here in Crete to beneath the waves of the Libyan Sea – but there’s a twist in the form of a nineteenth century naturalist who seems to be accompanying us on our journey. The result, I hope, is literally quite magical and I’ll keep you posted on developments. 

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LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)