This last month has been a real mixture of windy days, very wet days, some sunny mild days and even some cold snowy days. During these cold wet periods it pays the farmer not to over stock their fields, otherwise it attracts unwanted docks and thistles which do not make for good grazing and costs money to eliminate later in the year. Rolling and harrowing of grass pasture fields should to be done before mid-March, this will improve the conditions for the grass to grow and will avoid disturbing early ground nesting birds like the lapwing.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

At this time of year, especially with the cold spells, ice has to be broken on animal water troughs and salt licks are to be provided. Many animals have their diet supplemented with extra feed and hay to get them through this period until the grass starts to grow again. The sheep with lambs this month will especially benefit from the extra food.
By mid-February Frogs and toads will be gathering in and around ponds to breed.

Hazel Catkins (Corylus avellana)

The Common Frog (Rana temporaria) can vary in colour from green to olive brown. If you live close to a breeding pond you will be able to hear the faint mating croak sounds of the male frogs at night. One sure way to know if a pond is a breeding pond for frogs is if you find their eggs known as Frogspawn in the water.

At this time of year flowers such as Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) are starting to emerge. The name "Galanthus" stems from two Greek words "milk" and "flower" and one of its country names is "Snow piercer" because it is one of the first flowers to emerge through the snow to brighten the woodland floors.

Hazel Catkins (Corylus avellana)

Another pretty flower to be seen is the yellow Winter Aconite (Eranthas hyemalis), which originates from Southeast Europe and is now a widely distributed naturalised plant often found in and around churchyards.

Hazel (Corylus avellana) has the country name of "Lamb's-tails" at this time of year because the male flowers resemble lamb's tails. Hazel has long been used for thousands of years and has been cut during the winter months. The poles cut from hazel are very versatile in that they can be split lengthways, and twisted, bent into sharp angles and even tied into knots.

Coppiced Hazel (Corylus avellana)

These properties have made it invaluable for house building in the form of wattle panels for walls and thatching spars for roofs and wattle fence hurdles for gardens and fields. The poles make good pea and bean sticks and many poles are cut and made into walking sticks. Areas where hazel is grown in blocks and cut for poles in rotation are known as coppice woodlands and the term used for cutting the poles and then letting them re-grow is known as coppicing. There are many conservation benefits with coppicing because it allows a wide variety of transitional habitats to exist, allowing many flowers like bluebells, primroses and violets to take advantage of the extra light in the spring where the poles have been cut. Insects like the Pearl bordered Fritillary Butterfly are attracted to the flowers to feed on the nectar and lay eggs on the violet leaves for the caterpillars to feed on. The opened up areas attract birds like the Nightjar to nest and feed in and where coppice has been left to mature, this makes the perfect habitat for the elusive Dormouse.

Another tree that is coppiced during the winter is the Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa). The poles from the Sweet Chestnut are much stronger than the Hazel and are cut and split for fence rails, and it can also be used in house building so long as the bark is removed first. It is thought that it was originally brought here by the Romans to be used for charcoal and used in kilns for pottery. When the wood is not used for fencing or garden pagodas it is often pulped and used to make cardboard.

Next month I will talk about what to look out for as spring comes.