Page 10 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

WILDDECEMBER

5 | GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
Brute force

Easily larger than a buzzard, with a
whopping, meat-cleaver bill, this is our
most impressive gull. But it could do with
a few more friends – pinching food from
hapless cormorants, or wolfing down
defenceless puffins, is not a good look.
During summer, great black-backs are
thinly spread around our coasts. So, it’s
in winter, when many birds move inland
and visiting migrants swell the population
threefold, that you’re most likely to spot
these gulls. One place they love is landfill
sites, and nature writer Tim Dee explores
this in his new book, Landfill.

TOP TIP Watch an identification video
at bto.org/about-birds/bird-id

6 | LONG-TAILED TIT
Family afair

One of Britain’s remarkable winter wildlife
spectacles is rarely glimpsed by humans. On
bitterly cold nights, long-tailed tits will line
up on a branch deep inside a thick hedge or
bush, nestled together for warmth. The roosts
contain related individuals, often adults and ONLINE
their offspring. By day, these family parties
are much more public, drawing attention THE ONE
to themselves with high-pitched volleys of SHOW
Rare film of tits roosting
slurring ‘srih-srih-srih’ calls.

TOP TIP Listen to long-tailed tit calls
at xeno-canto.org

7 | ORDINARY MOSS
Tiny landscapes

‘Ordinary’ seems a rather
unfair name for Brachythecium
rutabulum. The more descriptive
alternative is rough-stalked feather
moss. This little damp- and shade-
loving plant suddenly transforms
into a mini forest when it produces
its sporophytes – the delicate,
stalk-like structures that disperse
its spores. Horatio Clare, in his
latest book, The Light in the Dark,
compares the effect to a “host
of tiny green diplodoci standing
together, their heads bent heavy
on the ends of long necks.” Tits: Mike Lane; gulls & moss: Laurie Campbell

FIND OUT MORE Handy fold-
out guide to mosses: field-studies-
council.org/publications

10 BBC Wildlife December 2018