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COUNTRYSIDE NEWS December 2016 Wildlife Around and About East Lothian
It’s December and winter is well and truly coming in - or at least it is as I write this. In many ways this is profoundly depressing – the weather’s likely to be lousy and the shops will all be playing really bad Christmas music (who’s sick of Slade already?) However, let’s take this opportunity to celebrate some of the wonderful wildlife that’s out there this month. The last few weeks have seen a large influx of waxwings. These birds spend the summer months in Northern Europe, but in harsh winters when food supplies over there can become low, many waxwings will head for the UK. This is good news for us, as they are quite beautiful birds. With their buff-brown bodies, dark eye-stripe and prominent crests Flock of waxwings they are not just fine-looking, but also fairly easy to identify. The name waxwing derives from the red-tips to their wing feathers, which resemble waxy globules. Their presence may be given away by a distinctive high-pitched trilling as they call to each other (or possibly by groups of birdwatchers and countryside rangers staring into trees). One of the best things about waxwings is that they like to hang around in urban areas, so you probably won’t have to go too far to see them. Their preferred food is berries, and these are usually in good supply in gardens, parks and even supermarket car parks, which are often planted with berry-bearing shrubs. So, if Christmas shopping (and Slade) get too much for you, just go and stand in the car park – there may be waxwings. Although the robin appears on many of our Christmas cards, it was the wren that was the real symbol of winter. On St. Stephen’s day (boxing day), ‘Wrenboys’ would catch a live wren and tie it to a decorated pole which they would carry round the village singing songs and asking for money. Those that donated would often get a wren feather for luck. The money would be used to pay for a village dance or fair. This tradition still goes on in many places, but in these more enlightened times a fake wren is generally deemed acceptable. This is good news, because wrens often have a hard enough time in winter, without being stuck onto poles. Their small size and reliance on invertebrates for food means that they can suffer severe Wren (Courtesy J. Wood) population declines in harsh weather. Despite this, the wren remains the UK’s commonest breeding bird. It’s also one of our noisiest, having a loud, clear call consisting of repeated notes and trills – frankly a tiny bird like this has no right to be able to sing at such volume. Like the robin, it’s one of the few birds to regularly sing during the winter months. This may partly explain why the two are closely associated with winter folklore. Whilst a lot of other animals are skulking about trying to keep warm and well fed, these birds are loudly announcing their presence to all and sundry. Merry Christmas everyone! See you in the New Year.