RYDA Newsletter 02/202
Robins produce what is probably the most common birdsong in February, mainly heard near human habitation though sometimes also in rural woods. They are most persistent around dawn and dusk, but also pipe up fairly often during the day at this time of year, when competition seems to be at its height. Their song is a formless twittering, hard to define, but robins are very easy to see, their boldness making them happy to sit on prominent perches quite close to humans.
Great tits are also stalwart songsters in February, singing throughout the day and more persistently and competitively than in January. Their most characteristic output is a piercing see-saw, often described as "teacher teacher" (with the emphasis on the first note). But there are lots of variations, one more like "duty duty", another an urgently repeated note with the other part of the see-saw barely sounded. The more versions a male great tit can produce, the more attractive he is to females and the less rivals are likely to encroach on his territory.
The less common coal tit also makes a see-saw noise, but with a heavy emphasis on the second syllable - "too-TWEE too-TWEE too-TWEE". Confusing the issue is that great tits sometimes make a somewhat similar noise - "pi-CHOO pi-CHOO pi-CHOO" - but one aid to identification is that coal tits favour conifers, albeit that they also come into gardens and parks.
February’s insect population is very similar to January, However, there is still a lot going on around us.
In medieval times 14 February - St Valentine's Day - was considered to be the day when birds began to mate, and that is still more or less accurate. While great tits, robins and blue tits have already started singing in January, February sees most of our other common native countryside birds joining in, aiming to attract a partner and carve out breeding territories. With no foliage the birds are (relatively) easy to see, and there are no migrant species to confuse the novice, making this a wonderful month to learn to identify birds.
The fringes of residential areas are a particularly good place to hear birdsong. Here birds take advantage of garden feeders, as well as the mix of scrub, trees and rough grassy places to be found in parks, country parks and other green spaces. By contrast arable fields are largely devoid of songbirds.
Song is stronger in the early morning and before dusk, but is by no means confined to those times. Song thrushes and blackbirds have a propensity to sing towards the end of the day, but can be heard earlier, while blue tits, wrens, greenfinches and chaffinches seem to do most of their singing in the middle of the day. Falling into both categories, robins and great tits are vocal throughout the day, but also join the dusk chorus.
Those birds that are singing in February are particularly loud because they are establishing territories and want to notify rivals a fair distance away of their intentions: once territories are established they only need to produce enough volume to be heard by their immediate neighbours. Similarly, in order to attract a mate they have to project their song over as big a distance as possible.
In some species (for example song thrushes and great tits) they are also aiming to sing creatively to demonstrate their experience to prospective females: the wider the repertoire, the better the male is likely to be as a food provider.
All of this is weather-dependent. Sunny days or ones with mild westerly winds encourage birds to sing, both because they feel spring is just around the corner, and because they have to devote less time to feeding to keep warm. Equally, cold weather, storms, or northerly or easterly winds can reduce birdsong substantially and cause most species to fall silent.
Blue tits also continue to make their soft mating call - a rapid repetition of the same note, which is often delivered between mouthfuls as the bird hops around the branch feeding. Their characteristic social churring can also be heard, distinguished from the almost identical noise made by the great tit by a rising note at the end.
Joining all these songs is the dunnock, which can be heard throughout the month with a song that has been compared to a squeaky supermarket trolley. Like the blue tit, it is not a very loud song, but once you get your ear in it is quite common - usually, but not always, heard near habitation.
A much louder, and so more obvious, explosion of notes, with a trill in the middle, is the hallmark of the wren. It can be heard any time of year but there is a definite pick up towards the end of February, when males start to make several outbursts in a row. Earlier in the month you can hear the birds practising - that is doing only part of the riff.
Listen carefully to that blue tit song, however, as if you hear it in woodland it is just possible that it is coming from a nuthatch. A piercing trill - more pronounced and clearly enunciated than that of the blue tit - is one of several sounds that this bird makes. Much more common at this time of year, however, is a "wit wit" or "de-dit de-dit" call, that sometimes evolves into a "wee wee wee", delivered either rapidly or in a slow measured way (the bird has to stop and tilt its head up to do the latter). In general, nuthatches are limbering up in February, with March being when they start to sing more earnestly.
All these songs suggest that spring is on its way, but the real confirmation comes from the mating song of the chaffinch, whose accelerating cascade of notes ends in a flourish that seems to trip over itself. In some years it is heard right from the start of February, but more often it is heard from mid month. In recent years it seems to be becoming less common in the south east, however - a worrying trend. The bird also makes a "chink chink" sound very similar to the double "weep" sound made by great tits, and a repeated "weep" metronome that can be harsher or softer toned (the latter, as mentioned above, hard to distinguish from a similar call made by great tits).
After practising by young males in January, February also sees song thrushes piping up in earnest - easily recognisable because they produce a great variety of phrases, repeating each one several times. They are particularly prominent at dusk, when they are often the last bird to stop singing, but can be heard at other times of the day. As with great tits, the more variations a song thrush male can make in his song, the more attractive he is to females - though at this stage in the year some are more accomplished than others and you can still hear some hesitant performances.
Less easy to identify - and rather rare these days - is themistle thrush, whose song is like a clipped, more repetitive version of the blackbird's and which has a haunting quality that makes it sound far away even when it is quite close.
Right from the start of February you may start to hear some blackbirds, their beautifully measured and mellifluous song evocative of spring days to come, but it is not till March that this starts to become common. It is young males in their first mating season who are singing this month, carried away by enthusiasm and so jumping the gun a bit. One can sometimes also hear them quietly practising their song (subvocalising) in a bush. They typically sing towards dusk and one often hears one's first blackbird of the year in a suburban area on a damp mild day. Older more experienced males may still mark their territories at dusk by making a tup-tup-tup call.
If you see a flock of thrushes feeding on the ground or in bushes or trees, then they will either be redwings (who do indeed have a red patch under their wings, along with a light stripe above and below their eyes) or fieldfares (like a thrush, but with a grey head and rump). These are winter visitors from Scandinavia and can be easily distinguished from our native thrushes because song thrushes and mistle thrushes never flock. Both species can congregate in large numbers in trees, where they make a chattering sound. At this time of year, when food sources are getting scarce, they can sometimes come into suburban parks or allotments.
Among the sociable group-forming birds, long-tailed tits continue to flit restlessly through the branches uttering tiny squeaks (sadly only audible to young ears...) and rasps, and you may hear sparrows cheeping away near buildings (rural as well as suburban), often from within a bush. You can also hear the twittering of goldfinches high up in trees, though they are surprisingly hard to see there despite the bare branches.
Sounding a bit like goldfinches, but much rarer, are siskins, winter visitors which look like yellowy greenfinches and feed in twittering flocks on bushes or alder trees. As for our native greenfinches, their males are now making their mating song - a mix of trilling noises and a characteristic "squeeeezh" sound - nearly always delivered from a high perch near habitation.
Other birds to listen out for in February are green woodpeckers, whose call, known as a "yaffle", is a kind of manic laugh, and great spotted woodpeckers, who drum on trees to attract females, as well as making chik...chik... contact calls. Wood pigeons occasionally make their "hoo-HOO-HOO-hoo-hoo" call, while collared doves (nearly always found near habitation) go "hoo-hooo hoo". Listen out also for the throaty "woo" of the stock dove, which is usually only heard in woodland.
On arable fields, as well as the fieldfares and redwings mentioned above, you get large flocks of rooks or jackdaws (or both mixed in together): they also assemble noisily in tree tops, where they roost. You may see flocks of wood pigeons (probably winter migrants from the continent) or gulls (lesser black-backed, common or black-headed apparently) on farmland too.
In addition, small flocks of starlings are sometimes seen on arable fields or hedgerows: again, mostly these are migrants from the continent, attracted by our milder winters. Before our native population declined it was a common sight to see these birds flying at dusk over towns and cities in hypnotic formations called murmuration’s.
If the blackbirds do sing, they do so from high perches such as chimney pots or tree tops and so are relatively easy to see. You sometimes see them silently sitting on such perches towards dusk in February as if trying to remember what they are supposed to do there. The rest of the day they search for worms and bugs on the ground: you can see them cocking their ear to listen for (or perhaps look out for) earthworms. The arrival of a walker disturbs all this and they fly off in disgust, uttering their stuttering alarm call.
How many have you heard?
Right from the start of the month (though more commonly from mid month) you might be surprised to hear a skylark singing over rough grassland or arable fields -
an incongruous summer sound, but quite normal at this time of year. You may observe several of them on the ground, scuffling and making singing forays into the air, presumably competing for territory. Also in February you can still occasionally hear the night time hooting of atawny owl, while in wetlands you may hear the startling outburst of a Cetti's warbler.
Would you like to join the South Hams Singers in a mass Anglo-German choir to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2?
July 5th and 6th next year, we are forming a mass Anglo German choir to sing KARL JENKINS’ THE ARMED MAN- A MASS FOR PEACE.
Venues are; St Andrews Church, Plymouth. Badly damaged, it continued with open air services until the 1950’s and became a symbol of unity for our port city; & Mothecombe House. An open air concert in the beautiful gardens near the sea.
The South Hams singers are hosting 40 singers from Klang Kunst Choir, Bavaria. If you would like to register your interest to sing in these concerts, we will add you to an email list and give you full details.
The South Hams Singers is a group of around 50 fun loving people who enjoy singing a varied range of rock, pop and original songs in 4 part harmony.
The emphasis is on fun but our choir master insists on enthusiasm and we achieve high quality singing.
The choir meet on Tuesdays at 7.15pm at Yealmpton Methodist Church, PL8 2LZ.
If you want to pay for parking through your phone at one of our council owned car parks, you will need to use the PayByPhone app.
If you prefer to pay by cash at one of our machines, don’t worry you still can.
Don’t have the PayByPhone app yet? You can download it at:
Find out more on our website.
Planning
There's been lots of discussions between councils across Devon following the Government's recent publication of the English Devolution White Paper.
As a special council meeting on 6th January, we [ South Hams District Council], made it clear what our position is - we do not support the creation of one unitary council for Devon and want more time to properly discuss and consult on the best way to reorganise local government for the benefit of our communities.
Whats On?
1st February 10.00 Brookings Down Woodland working party.
4th February First Tuesday Lunch Club 12.00 prompt please £6pp Allergies can be catered for. Please contact Jeanne (872442) New members welcome. WIC hall.
4th February Parish Council Surgery at The Post Office & Community Stores: Newton & Noss Parish Council Drop In Surgery from 10.00 to 12.00.
11th February WI Monthly meeting Note change of Date
The speaker is Lily Style. She lives in South Brent as is a descendent of Admiral Nelson and Lady Hamilton. She will talk about her family tree. 14.00-16.00 New members welcome.
12th February Yealm Environment Group Yealm Yacht Club 8.00pm
14th February Holbeton Film Club “Wilding” 7.00pm for 7.30
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS - HEDGE TREE PLANTING AT TORR FARM NEAR YEALMPTON
AT 09:30 ON WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2025.
PLEASE COME ALONG AND GIVE WHATEVER TIME YOU CAN?
Plan - We will be planting around 1,250 hedge saplings in guards on Wednesday 12 February at Torr Farm, near Yealmpton, as part of the ongoing Yealm Erme Species Survival (YESS) programme being coordinated by ParkLife SW CIC.
Timing & Safety - The planting will start at around 09:30 on Wednesday 12 February with a safety briefing from Andrew Price and his ParkLife team.
Lunch, Tools & Clothing - Please bring your own lunch and tools - a spade and a lump hammer if you have one. Sunshine in not guaranteed, so please bring warm clothing a waterproof anorak, wellies and gardening gloves.
Location - WHAT3WORDS LINK: ///lakes.luckier.intrigues. Car parking available along the lane.
RSVP – to Charles Weston-Baker, Terrestrial Coordinator YEALM ESTUARY TO MOOR (YEM) WILDLIFE GROUP
c.westonbaker@gmail or 07931 664 209.
17th February – 20th February WIC hall is closed due to having a new floor laid.
20th February ''Coffee and Cancer Chat Club'' ( supported by MacMillan ) at The Rose and Crown Yealmpton, 10 am onwards, and then the third Thursday of every month from now on. Anyone who had been affected by cancer in any way is very welcome. All very relaxed and informal, and free coffee too !
25th February WI Craft Group meet at WIC hall 2.00-4.00pm. We will be doing patchwork with Annette . The WI coffee meeting will also run on this date at 2.00pm.
25th February – Yealm Garden Society 7:30pm start WI Hall Newton Ferrers. The speaker is Julia Tremlitt from The National Garden Scheme
27th February Thursday Lunch Club. 12.15 Newton & Noss village Hall. Please contact mrandmrsbarnett@gmail.com Allergies can be catered for, also vegetarian option available. New members welcome.
28th February Yealm Parchment Group restart in the WIC hall 2.00-4.00pm
Parchment craft, also known as Pergamano, is the art of embellishing and decorating parchment paper (or vellum paper) techniques such as embossing, perforating, stippling, cutting and colouring.
Parchment craft is thought to have originated as an art form in Europe during the 15th century, principally in Catholic communities, where crafts persons created lace-like items such as devotional pictures and communion cards.
The craft has developed over time, with new techniques and refinements being added. Contact Lesley for details 07838375449 cost includes pattern, tuition, backing papers, etc. £8.00 pp
22nd February U3A screening of the Importance of being Earnest
22nd February 10am to 4pm Watercolour Paint Venice Like Turner with Ian Grant (Suitable for all levels of experience). To reserve a place for these workshops, please email: contact@yealmartsociety.com
Yealm Art Society have started regular painting drawing sessions in the Revelstoke room on Thursdays 10.00-13.00 Bring your own equipment. A subject matter will be suggested.
Save the Date
March 4th First Tuesday lunch club 12.00 WIC hall
March 4th Parish Council Surgery @ Post Office 10.00-12.00
March 7th WI Outing to Shilstone Manor
March 11th WI Winter coffee meeting 2pm
March 15th YAS Painting Spring
March 17th Stroke Support Meeting WIC hall 10.00am
March 18th WI Monthly meeting 2pm
March 20th ''Coffee and Cancer Chat Club'' at The Rose and Crown Yealmpton, 10 am
March 25th WI Craft group 2pm
March 27th Thursday Lunch Club Noss Mayo 12.15
March 28th Yealm Parchment Group WIC hall 2pm
March 29/30th Harbour Clean up
July 5th 12-16.00 Wembury Summer Fair @ Wembury School