Oxhill News |
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www.oxhill.com / www.oxhill.org.uk |
South Warwickshire, England. |
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The Oxhill News October 2003 |
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This months News |
Contents
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Nature Notes October – Fruit-time and Fall-of-Leaf, the eighth month of the Roman calendar. St Francis’ Day, the 4th,
is traditionally the day that the swallows start to prepare to migrate;
watch for them sitting in tight formation on telegraph wires.
The disappearance of swallows and other migrants in the autumn was
for a long time a great mystery. Some
firmly believed that they hibernated at the bottom of lakes or ponds, and
others that they hid in holes and bushes and remained torpid until spring.
In 1776 Gilbert White in his Naturalist’s Journal questioned this
notion “But if hirundines (swallow family) hide in rocks and caverns,
how do they, while torpid, avoid being eaten by weasels and other
vermin?” Well of course we
now know that they make a long arduous journey to The swallows have done particularly
well this year, many having up to three broods.
I have just finished working in a Gothic tower just west of I have had reports of two sightings in the village of a blackbird-sized bird, but completely honey coloured with a bright red beak? This is certainly not a native or visiting bird that I know of – has anyone out there any ideas? Celebrate St Crispin’s Day –
October 25th – Anniversary of the great English victory at
This day is called the Feast of Crispian Shakespeare, Henry V IV iii Grenville Moore |
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Last modified: March 28, 2004 |