The first local Snowdrops of the year are a few days late this year, but, better late than never, they are always a joy to see.
Its a lovely day, today with blue skies and bright sun. Some birds were showing a change in the year too with 10 piping Oystercatchers on the back flash creating such a commotion I had to get up from my work station to check them out. A pair of Collared Doves were singing and display flighting, while Great spotted Woodpeckers were drumming in the woods. Down at the pond there was some head nodding going on between Mallards too...
Its always exciting at this time. This year I am planning on spending a bit more time looking at two over-looked ( by me) groups.
Wild Plants and the Seashore. Like the birding, it will be a laid back affair just trying to learn a few more new species mainly to get me looking in some less watched local spots. I have just bought the Simon Harrap Wild Flowers Guide and might look into a user friendly Seashore guide too.
I've looked at rockpooling books before but they all seem to think that the only bit of coast with rock pools is Cornwall. There will be overlap I am sure but the western Atlantic and the North Sea are nearly different countries let alone habitats....
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| Looking back up the pond field track by the wet wood. |
6 comments:
There are two books on my want list Stewart for the seaside. The Collins Guide is supposed to be very good, and is inexpensive. More technical is A student's guide to the seashore by (really) Fish and Fish! I have the two Steve Trewella books rockpools and beachcombing. They are ok, good starters anyway but there are some issues with scientific names and omission of confusion species etc. I have an old Hamlyn Guide but it is out of date. If you look in the side panel of my blog there is a link to the Museum of Wales bivalve site which is excellent and MarLIN these are essential resources. Hope that's helpful someone who knows more will hopefully either confirm these suggestions or come up with something better as I'm a real beginner.
Stewart - back again, British Coastal Wildlife is the Collins Guide that was recommended to me, via FB I think.
Cheers Al, I'll investigate...
I have this one - a great general guide. https://skevsblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/retro-rockpooling-more-bugs.html?m=0
There's a distinct trend in many British coastal species that sees their distribution start in the eastern English Channel-Essex area and then run clockwise around the entire coastline before petering out somewhere near Aberdeen. So, although you will have many hundreds of species on your bit of Northumberland coast, there will be hundreds more that are common elsewhere but just don't occur along the east coast. I don't know the reason for this, presumably something to do with water temperatures and currents I guess, but it's a real phenomenon. That's why so many shore guides appear Cornwall-centric, I reckon. You'll stilll find plenty to keep you busy though, there's no danger of running out of things to look for in rockpools!
Mark -Thats great cheers, that will certainly be what I am after...
Seth - Very interesting that. It might to do with the North Sea only recently being a sea ( relatively)? Yes there will be loads for me to look at...Cheers
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