Red Legs

Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)

For the past few days, a couple of Red-legged Partridges (Alectoris rufa) have been venturing into the garden. They're sticking primarily to the bare earth of the driveway, picking grit (and presumably seeds) from the ground as they go. This handsome species was introduced to East Anglia from the continent back in the late 1700s, mainly to provide a target for the hunting set. Over the ensuing centuries, they have expanded across much of lowland Britain, with the RSPB estimating that there are now some 82,000 breeding territories across the island. They remain particularly common in the east, and we see and hear them regularly in the countryside around our home. Despite the fact that it's an introduced species, the UK population has become quite important in conservation terms, because the bird is declining in its native range (France, Spain and Portugal).

Red-legs have the unusual ability to raise two simultaneous broods a year. The female lays two clutches, and she incubates one clutch while her mate incubates the other. The young are precocial, able to run about and feed themselves shortly after hatching. The pair then reunites, raising their now sizable family together. They eat primarily seeds, but also leaves and small invertebrates. If they escape the hunters' guns, they can live up to 5 years. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of them — maybe even (if we're lucky) with some chicks in tow.

Mousie

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)

We had an unexpected visitor to the ground under our bird feeders yesterday — a Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus). It was unexpected only in that we saw it during the day; this species is common and widespread in gardens (and a wide variety of other habitats) right across the UK. However, it's typically nocturnal, and thus not often seen. We've known for years that these little rodents are around, as we've caught some in the house. (We have live traps baited with raisins in the loft over our office, and have transplanted an astounding TEN to appropriately distant woodlands this winter.) This one appeared to be a youngster, and it was surprisingly unwary. I elbowed my way across the garden commando-style and got within a couple of yards of it. No doubt it was distracted by all of those leftover seeds!

The Wood Mouse is similar to a House Mouse, but is browner (rather than grey) with a white belly, and has larger ears and eyes. Adults measure 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) in body length, with a tail almost equally long. They're good climbers, as evidenced by the fact that they've reached our loft. But most live in underground burrows, where they also have food stores and nesting chambers. They're prolific reproducers, with females capable of bearing up to six litters a year of 4-8 young. Most live no more than a year. They're key food for Tawny Owls, which we've also seen in the garden. If the number of Wood Mice in their territory falls too low, the owls may not even breed.

Whitlowgrass

Common Whitlowgrass (Erophila verna)

Among the things already blooming in the garden (well, to be honest, they're blooming in the driveway) are many clumps of Common Whitlowgrass (Erophila verna). As you may be able to figure out from the pictures, these are tiny plants, measuring only an inch or so in height. In fact, they're so small that, until Mike pointed them out to me, I'd completely overlooked them! In my defence, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the knowledge that we've already recorded nearly 350 plant species, most of which I'm still coming to grips with identifying. This one is a member of the cabbage/mustard family, Brassicacaea. It has four petals, which are so deeply cut that it appears to have eight. The blossoms are small too — a mere 3-6 mm (1/8 to 1/4 inch) in diameter. Its seed pods are flat and oval, and almost as big as the flower.

Common Whitlowgrass is an "ephemeral" annual, springing up on dry, bare ground, well-trodden paths, cracks in pavement, shingle banks, quarries and the like. It's one of our earliest flowers, appearing from February through May. Various sources say it can grow up to 10cm (4 inches) in height, but none of our wee plants is anywhere near that tall. Perhaps it's because they're growing in places where they're regularly stepped on or driven over. Its native range includes Great Britain and Central Europe, but it has been introduced (presumably accidentally) across much of North America, in Chile and Argentina in South America, and in a few countries in western Asia. In the past, the plant was used to treat abcesses in joints and under nails. Those undernail abcesses are called "whitlows" — hence whitlowgrass!

Lecanora

Lecanora chlarotera

One of the more common lichens in our garden is the widespread Lecanora chlarotera, which grows in small, roundish colonies on the trunks of many of our smooth-barked trees. It's a crustose lichen, which means it adheres closely to the bark on which it grows, and can't be easily separated. (The yellow-orange Xanthoria parietina growing beside it, on the other hand is a foliose lichen, easily lifted with a fingernail.) The thallus of Lecanora chlarotera is creamy to grey in colour, and can be either smooth or strongly warted. Many of the colonies in our garden (like those pictured above) have been overgrown by algae, giving them a slightly greenish cast. The abundant apothecia (the lichen's fruiting bodies) are buff to reddish-brown and surrounded by a thick thallus rim. In Britain, the description of these apothecia is "like a jam tart" — that is, like a pie with a rim of crust. To give you an idea of size, the biggest apothecia shown above are 1mm across, so if you're looking at this on a computer, the picture is much larger than life-sized! As would be expected, given our location (i.e. surrounded by well-fertilised farm fields), it does well on nutrient-enriched substrates. It's one of the early colonisers of young trees in semi-urban areas, such as new plantings in car parks or housing estates.

Escape

Common Daisy (Bellis perennis) and Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)

The garden lies just outside our windows, beckoning. Branches newly furred with breaking buds toss in winds that seem destined to blow hard for weeks. Emerald green grass stretches towards the sun, regularly flattened by passing gusts. Yellow Common Primrose flowers wink above their wrinkled leaves and golden Daffodils nod in sheltered corners. Spring is coming, and it's never been more welcome. In this age of uncertainty, when life as we know it is spinning into chaos, the mindless, relentless progression of the season is something to hold on to. Everywhere new growth is pushing up through the soil, shouldering away the remnants of last year's leaves and stems. Birds are shouting challenges at each other from treetops and television aerials. Fat queen bumblebees are lumbering through the flowerbeds, searching out the new blossoms. And every morning I'm thankful that we have this half-acre to wander in — a place where, just for a few minutes, we can forget the fear and the worry and the frustration and just... be. I hope that wherever you are, you have such a place as well. And if you don't, visit us here, virtually. Together, we'll get through this.

First Rose

Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Now that spring has well and truly arrived (though it was feeling a bit wintery today), we have Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris) blooming all over the garden. We've left quite a bit of the property unmowed so far — despite the speed at which the grass is growing — because we don't want to chop their lovely heads off! This widespread flower is one of the first to appear each spring; in fact, it's vernacular name means "first rose". The pale yellow form I've photographed is the most common, though it also naturally occurs in pink or white. There are loads of cultivated forms as well (breeding of various coloured forms became popular in the late 19th and early 20th century), so we're not sure if the few pink clumps we've found in the garden are natural or cultivated.

Common Primrose is a short-lived perennial. Native to southern and western Europe, it blooms from February to May in the UK. It's found in woodlands, and under hedgerows, but is also widespread in other damp, shady places, like under the trees in our garden. It's an important source of pollen and nectar for early-emerging bees, and serves as the larval food plant for as many as eight species of moth — most of which we've recorded in the garden. Both flowers and leaves are edible, and both they and the plant's root have been used medicinally in the past. Despite the fact that humans can consume it without problems, though, the plant can be toxic to cats, dogs, and horses.