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Nature Notes
Summer seems to be here at last. We have experienced a protracted period of Arctic winds bathing our islands with cold air, night frosts in May and an ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano called Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced something like “eya-fatla-yogurt”), and literally means "island-mountains glacier". These conditions have left the nature around us with some consequences. Volcanic ash is very fertile, so we can expect some low-level improvement in soil fertility where the ash has precipitated out. The frosts have caused some plants (e.g. bracken and ash trees) to get frost-bite. Some insects will be affected, and other animals that hibernate will be late emerging. I have checked my 50 dormouse nest-boxes during April and May, and have found no dormice in any of them. However, the increase in blue-tits is phenomenal, with 55 pairs raising families in a combination of bird and dormouse boxes!
Dormice are not true mice at all, but are in a family called Gliridae. True mice are in the family Muridae. Dormice hibernate, but true mice do not. As a licensed handler of dormice, I can say that another difference is that dormice do not bite, but true mice do! The species of dormice that we find in Uckfield is the hazel dormouse, as it seems to prefer woodlands containing hazel, and loves to eat hazel nuts. This animal is highly protected and rare. The fact that we have them in Uckfield is indicative that our countryside is special, and so it is. We live among a series of primeval ghyll valleys between sandrock ridges. Our woodlands, festooned with bluebells and wood anemones are mostly ancient, dating back to at least the year 1600, and probably to the last ice age some 10,000 years ago.
Lake Wood and the woods of Downlands Farm, Butchers Wood and Paygate Wood are rich in all the expected species of ancient woodland communities. There are abundant fungi, lichens, ferns, mosses, liverworts, wild flowers, trees of all types, insects, spiders, fish in the rivers and ponds, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, the whole array, and a quiet walk in the right weather conditions can reveal them all. For example, my auction of promises walk with the family that won it revealed 35 species of birds, and many other lovely things besides, including wild watercress and kingcups.
Martyn Stenning
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Nature Notes 
