Page 9 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

WILD APRIL

ALSO LOOK
Q DOG’S MERCURY
GAINING GROUND OUT FOR…
You only tend to notice dog’s mercury when
it’s flowering in spring woods – this member MOUNTAIN BLACKBIRDS
of the spurge family is hardly showy. But Ring ouzels (below) are back
nevertheless it can be a bit of a thug, as it will this month. These upland
carpet the woodland floor in great swathes, thrushes overwinter in Iberia
squeezing out other plants such as bluebells, and North Africa, although a
wild garlic and even the seedlings of trees. few seem to be risking winter
It is able to thrive in shady places and has stays in England and Wales.
evergreen leaves, spreading rapidly with Coastal hills with short turf
underground stem-systems called rhizomes. attract the recently arrived
FIND OUT MORE Learn about the UK’s wild plants migrants, before they
at www.plantlife.org.uk head to nesting
areas in Wales
and the north.

BABY STEPS
The first of the
year’s badger
cubs should be
making tentative
nocturnal excursions
out of their family’s sett,
especially in the south.
They will have been born
underground in January
or February, so are not yet
weaned and won’t go far.

AMPHIBIAN ALERT
If while watching spawning
frogs, toads or newts this
spring you think you’ve
Q LITTLE GREBE seen diseased individuals,
make sure to report them
MY LITTLE PONY? to Garden Wildlife Health,
If you visit a lake, pond or canal this month an excellent project run
you might be startled by a strange whinnying. by the BTO, Froglife,
Should there be no pony or horse in sight, the RSPB and ZSL: www.
sound can be somewhat confusing. What you’ve gardenwildlifehealth.org
actually heard is the diminutive dabchick, or
little grebe: pairs use the shrill, far-carrying calls FIERY BEE
to set up territories, so they’re usually heard in “A small, foxy-red ball of
spring. Little grebes tend to be overshadowed by winged fuzz” is Nick Baker’s
their ‘bling’ relative, the great crested grebe, but memorable description of
still look pretty handsome in breeding plumage, the tawny mining bee, in
with their reddish-brown necks and neat his book ReWild. It’s the
greenish-yellow bill-spots. female that is most striking
FIND OUT MORE Listen to little grebes whinny on (below), as her smart black
BBC Radio Four’s Tweet of the Day: www.bbc.co.uk/ head and leg
radio4/tweetoftheday