On the twelth day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

...12 plovers flapping,

 

The golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) is a wading bird, slightly smaller than a lapwing, which in the summer breeds in the uplands of northern Britain. Moors for the Future Partnership's work to re-vegetate and re-wet the blanket bogs of the South Pennines should have a beneficial impact on this bird, and other waders such as dunlin. Bird surveys at RSPB's Dove Stone estate on the western side of the Peak District have shown that breeding pairs of golden plover present on the site have almost doubled from 59 in 2004 to 110 in 2017, as a result of blanket bog conservation work.

 

11 bags for brashing,

 

 

10 geese migrating,

 

 

9 plants a-pluggin',

 

 

8 Sphagna growing,

 

 

7 sites now set up,

 

 

 

6 leaves a-prickling,

 

 

5 red deer!

 

 

4 hare prints,

 

 

3 lizards,

 

 

 

2 mating toads,

 

and a bilberry bumblebee!

 

Work experience with Community Science

Guest blog post by Community Science work experience student Izzy:

Hello, I’m Izzy, and this week I’m joining Moors for the Future’s Community Science Project for work experience . Since 2013, I’ve been really into wildlife and nature photography and have kept a photography blog (www.frozennature.wordpress.com); I hope to photograph some of the species and landscape in and around Edale this week.

Here are a couple of common frogs in my family’s garden pond. By March, Britain’s ponds are alive with these famous amphibians, and, if you can get close enough, they’re rather photogenic!

Blue tits are another common species in British gardens, and are active all year round. I took this photo during the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch last year, using a tripod and camera remote - most garden birds can be shy and are relatively  difficult to get close too.

 

The lynx, however, isn’t an animal that you’re likely to spot in your back garden. This elusive mammal became extinct in most parts of Western Europe after the destruction of habitats and thousands of years of persecution. The last of the British lynx disappeared around the year 700, although the Lynx UK Trust is currently doing research to reintroduce them to the British Isles. This lynx was seen at Nordens Ark in Sweden.

Here are a few more of my favourite photos:

Caterpillar in Sweden

 

Mute swan in the Somerset Levels

 

Honeybee

 

 

What can a bird nest from 1934 tell us?

Twite nest from 1934

This bird nest is remarkable - it can tell us something fascinating about the history of the landscape from which it was taken.

It was built by a bird called a twite - a small finch which breeds on moorlands. Twite are now in serious decline - numbers have dropped by 90% since the 1990s. This is partly because of the loss of hay meadows which provide food - and the decrease in older heather stands for nesting.

The twite - Linaria flavirostris

The twite is almost unique - it is one of only two British bird species which feeds its young entirely on seeds - hence why hay meadows are so important for its breeding success.

What's so interesting about the nest in the photo? 

You may have noticed that it looks black in colour. This is not because it has deteriorated over the 80 years since it was collected - it was like this when it was taken from Saddleworth Moor in 1934.

The dark appearance is caused by a layer of greasy soot deposited from the atmosphere onto the grasses - from which the twite built its nest. This is an incredible window into the past - showing the widespread effects of pollution from the coal-burning heavy industries on the surrounding landscape - something which it is hard to imagine today.

It has been illegal to take the eggs of wild birds since 1954 - but egg collectors of the day reported that they would return from a day on the moor with their trousers blackened to the knee by this layer of soot.

Many thanks to Gallery Oldham for providing the photo and details of the nest - just one exhibit from their extensive natural history collection.

Visit the Gallery Oldham website or facebook page.