The Nature Blog

photo credit: law_keven

On my visit to Woods Mill Nature Trail, managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, I heard a lot of commotion in a small forest area where a Jay was. Creeping forward to see what was going on I observed what I consider to be some fascinating behaviour.

The Jay was standing on the top of a tree stump, picking at something whilst calling at the top of it’s lungs with that strange rattling call that Jays have. But what was it doing?

It turns out that the Jay was flying down to the ground and picking off individual, furled leaves of a Lords And Ladies plant nearby. Then it was taking the still-rolled leaf over to the tree stump and pecking at them with it’s beak.

To my knowledge Jays don’t eat Lords And Ladies so I can only assume that perhaps insects try to hide in the tube created by the new rolled-up leaves and this Jay was trying to remove them.

I’ve never seen anything like this before so if you can shed any light on the situation please leave me a comment by filling in the box at the end of this article.

Below are photos of the tree stump with some leftover leaves, the individual plant that the Jay was plucking leaves from and a close-up of the leftover leaves showing where the Jay had been pecking them.

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I’m very pleased to say that Friday saw me take my first “proper” nature walk this year. Oh, of course I have been out and about and seen a few things here and then but the bad weather has generally meant these have only been short strolls. Friday 5th of March was my first serious “all dayer” of a nature walk.

The weather was with me, and the bright sunshine really made for a memorable day – especialy after all the rain and grey skies I have seen recently.

The buzzards were out in force and over the course of 4-5 hours I must have seen 8 to 10 of them circling around hunting. Unfortunately though they were too far away for my camera.

However what *wasn’t* too far away was the profusion of Lords-And-Ladies (Arum maculatum) which were just starting to peep their heads above ground. They should be ready to flower in April or May so need to get their skates on to get to the sort of size necessary. I found specimens all over but most noticeably in grassy banks in semi-shade near trees or hedgerows.

Take a look at the photos I took which really illustrate just how fresh and green the first leaves look. There seem to be signs of spring all around us now, including crocuses in full bloom.

Perfect Lords-And-Ladies Leaf

Sunshine gleaning through the opaque Lords-And-Ladies leaves

Lords-And-Ladies appearing out of the ground - March 2010

Spring Crocuses

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