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COUNTRYSIDE NEWS December 2014 Wildlife Around and About East Lothian
Many of the festive traditions that we’ll be indulging in this month actually date back to pre-Christian times. The hanging of holly and mistletoe indoors were pagan customs which were absorbed into the modern Christmas. The Yule Log has undergone a similar transformation, having been part of the North European midwinter festival. A large log would be brought into the house and one end shoved into the fireplace – this would gradually burn down, hopefully lasting through the full twelve days of the festival. The twelve days also became part of Christmas, but more on that later. Various woods were used, oak or ash being popular. The use of ash may tie in with Norse folklore, in which the World Tree, Yggdrassil, was often portrayed as an ash (it’s also sometimes a yew, but that’s folklore for you). Ash trees are a common sight in East Lothian and at this time of year they are one of the easier deciduous trees to identify. The bark is smooth and grey in young trees, becoming more cracked with time. Ash twigs often have a characteristic upturned look, almost as if they are reaching up towards the sky. However, it’s the buds that are the real giveaway – they are large, rounded and black and couldn’t really be confused with anything else. Some ash will also retain their fruit throughout the winter. These take the form of distinctive drooping bunches of winged seeds known as “keys”. At the moment ash is facing a rather uncertain future due to a fungal disease known as ash dieback. As yet we haven’t been badly affected in East Lothian, but Ash buds the high mortality rate associated with the disease makes it a genuine worry for the future. The loss of ash trees would have a dramatic effect on our landscape. It would also have serious repercussions for conservation generally, since the trees support a wide variety of insects and other invertebrates. More information on ash dieback can be found at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-8UDM6S Returning to the Christmas theme, you simply won’t see a partridge in a pear tree. You may, however, manage to spot one in the fields and hedgerows around the county. The grey partridge, to give it its full name, is unsurprisingly, mostly grey. However, it has a distinctive orange face and white underbelly marked with a dark horseshoe-shaped patch. The sexes are similar, although the markings tend to be more pronounced in males. It’s a medium-sized, plump gamebird, with short, stubby wings. As a result, it’s not the most aerodynamic and tends to only fly for short distances when it’s absolutely necessary. Grey partridges have suffered a huge population decline in recent decades, which is thought to be due to habitat loss and increased use of pesticides. The latter has reduced the number of Grey partridge invertebrates which young partridge feed on producing high levels of juvenile mortality. This is despite the fact that the partridge produces the largest clutch of any UK bird, fourteen to fifteen eggs being typical. Recent conservation efforts by a number of agencies have produced some successes, although the partridge remains a species that should be more common in our countryside. So, there we go – a tree that may all but disappear soon and a bird which is increasingly scarce. Merry Christmas everyone!