Oxhill News |
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www.oxhill.com / www.oxhill.org.uk |
South Warwickshire, England. |
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The Oxhill News February 2004 |
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This months News |
Contents
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Nature Notes The month of Purification – named from Februa, the great Roman feast of purification. In Gaelic Faoilleach – the month of ravaging wolves!! As I write these notes, I have been
taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which is spending an hour
watching the birds in your garden and making a total count of each type of
bird at any one time, thus ensuring that you do not count a bird twice.
I am struck by the relatively high numbers of House sparrows.
Sparrows were for many years among the commonest British birds and
the most frequent visitors to garden bird tables.
However in reality House sparrow populations have plummeted in
recent years, for reasons not yet understood, possibly loss of food
sources, nesting sites and changes in habitat, and numbers are down around
40%, so they are no longer everyday birds.
Perhaps the reason we have a good count of them in our garden is
the bird “Hilton”, a fallen damson tree covered with honeysuckle and a
rambling rose, now a thicket 12 to 15 feet high and a bird heaven.
We also have four or five pairs of House sparrows nesting under the
eaves (probably due to lack of pointing!).
We also have the so-called “hedge sparrow”, in fact the Dunnock,
unrelated to the sparrows. “Spearwa”
was the Old English name for sparrows and the two true sparrows were not
recognised in To those of you owning a dog or thinking of purchasing one – a cautionary tale. Most dogs are bred for a specific purpose, for example guarding and utility (doberman), going to ground (all types of terrier), sight-hunting (greyhound, deerhounds), scent-hunting and retrieving (labradors, spaniels), companions (dalmations, pugs etc) and herding (collies). This means that for hundreds of years they have been bred to do specific tasks and their instincts can easily be awakened: gundogs will hunt cover, sight hounds will chase, terriers will go to ground, and herding dogs will herd. Our dog February is the month of snow: Walk
fast in snow Grenville Moore |
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Last modified: June 04, 2004 |