Heather, Thought piece
Light levels are low, the days are short and the rain seems unending. When performing habitat surveys and ecology assessments throughout the enduring winter, I’m sure most of us are longing for the bright summery days ahead. Yet, as ever, spring cannot be hurried, so let’s shine a little light on some of the benefits that the winter season holds for ecologists.
- Once deciduous trees and hedgerows have lost their leaves, we gain a much clearer view of the habitat on offer. Bird nests are easier to spot and count amongst the branches for one. Potential habitat on large trees, such as holes, deadwood and hollows are also more obvious which makes their condition and habitat assessments that bit easier.
- It goes without saying that muddy boots are unavoidable in winter. Claggy ground makes for sticky or slippery progress across a survey area, however the wet soil can be very helpful in capturing and preserving clear footprints and tracks of various species. These clues can be much harder to find and identify when the soil is dry. Upon bone dry, sandy soils tracks can be disintegrated by a breeze. Worse still, ground that has baked hard in the heat of summer seems to keep the footfall of commuting local wildlife to itself like a secret never to be told. When you come across a clear footprint, unmistakably confirming both ID and presence of a species, having muddy boots suddenly isn’t that bad at all.
- Mammalian habitats which are usually hidden under dense foliage and lush vegetation can often be more visible in winter as the surrounding plants have died back or collapsed under heavy weather. This makes locating habitat such as badger setts, harvest mouse nests or otter holts for instance, much easier when compared to later in the year.
- During botanical surveys in spring and summer, I suspect many surveyors find their focus drawn to flowering herbaceous plants first. With their showy blooms, uplifting fragrances and dazzling colours, the attention grabbers do just that. As the key identifier species for a habitat are typically prominent in summer, they provide means for quick habitat categorisation. It is logical therefore that these species are centre stage. Whether this is intentional or not, the beguiled can be distracted. The limitations of botanical winter surveying (mostly being a lack of herbaceous vegetation) impose the need to slow down, get close up and brush up on vegetative plant identification skills too. Improving vegetative ID is always useful, especially considering that any site could have vegetation cut down prior to the site visit – at any time of year. In addition, without a flowering display dominating the scene, there is greater chance to notice more varieties and pick out the plants which are infrequent – particularly those which are subdued by their more flamboyant summertime companions.
- Finally, by spending the time out in the field throughout the winter, the slightest changes which herald the returning of spring can be witnessed firsthand. The swelling of tree buds as the sap begins to rise, and the first leaves bursting from them – which usually coincides with a peak of winter tree ID confidence levels. We know that long, sunny days are around the corner, confirmed by the first appearances of the spring harbingers – such as winter aconites hazel catkins and snowdrops. All of a sudden, we find ourselves swamped in the peak survey season of summer and then, the cold, muddy days of winter will be the ones we look forward to instead.
From our surveyors to yours, here’s to a good survey season!