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COUNTRYSIDE NEWS 2017
May
Wildlife Around and About East Lothian So, here we are again. It’s the end of April as I write this, and there’s snow on the Lammermuirs surely May will give us some more Spring-like weather. Still, lousy weather or not, plants and animals are very much in Spring mode. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, trees are coming into leaf and it’s all happening. Birdsong is particularly noticeable at this time of year. This is hardly surprising, since birds will be very territorial at the moment and the song is essentially a way of expressing this. It can also be a good way of telling apart some very closely related species. The willow warbler is a small bird with a greenish back and yellow throat merging into a paler, almost white belly. It has a very noticeable pale supercilium – that’s the fancy term for a stripe above the eye. Like many warblers, it’s a summer migrant, with most spending the winter in Africa. They start to arrive in our woodlands in mid April, and by May it almost feels like every other tree in the county has a willow warbler in it. This is clearly a huge Willow warbler (Photo: A. Marland) exaggeration, but they will be singing away in most wooded or scrubby areas. The song is a cascade of clear, melodious notes, which (once you’ve got your ears properly trained) is fairly easy to spot. It’s also the best way to tell willow warblers from their close relatives, chiffchaffs. These two species are very similar in appearance; there are some subtle differences, but these are difficult to spot in the field. However, the songs are poles apart, as the chiffchaff basically sits in a tree and shouts “chiff-chaff-chiff-chaffchiff-chaff” at the top of its voice. If only every bird was as obliging, it would make identification a whole lot easier. If plants are more your thing, then May sees the blooming of many of our wildflower species. Meadow saxifrage can be found in a variety of habitats, including coastal grasslands, meadows, verges and open woodlands. This is a fairly distinctive plant, with pure white fivepetalled flowers. These form in loose clusters at the end of long, slightly sticky stems, which can reach up to 50cm, but are usually much shorter. At the base of the plant will be a rosette of kidneyshaped leaves. Well, I say “kidney-shaped” – kidneys generally aren’t Meadow saxifrage as crinkly round the edges, but the overall shape is about right. The scientific name Saxifraga means stone-breaking, and may relate to the plant sometimes growing in rock crevices. Alternatively, it may be related to herbalists using the plant to cure gallstones. The two explanations for the name may actually be linked. Many old school herbalists believed in the Doctrine of Signatures, which says that if a plant looks like a body part, or performs a function in the wild, then it must be a cure for some related ailment. Thus a plant which can apparently break rocks must be good for gallstones. Sadly, this is total nonsense and, if you suspect you may have gallstones, please consult your GP rather than chewing saxifrage.