| Weird and wonderful world of the flatworm | | 11:40am Monday 10th December 2007 | | I HAVE always held a fascination for invertebrates. They exist in our world and we can to some extent interact with them but we have to really work our imaginations if we are to hope to get a glimpse of what their world is like. |
| On the trail of beautiful otters | | 10:02am Sunday 2nd December 2007 | | THIS year is probably best characterised as one of deluges, some extreme and catastrophically damaging, others just as intense but of shorter duration. The short term effects of these on wildlife has been bad but whether this will prove the case in the longer term has still to be determined. |
| Woodpeckers add welcome splash of colour | | 10:34am Monday 19th November 2007 | | WINTER is now truly with us, and a lot of our wildlife has taken drastic measures to escape from the chill. The majority of adult insects have died away leaving the hopes of future generations to dormant eggs or pupa hidden away in the soil, crevasses under bark or in rotting wood. |
| Bulrush provided valuable carbs for ancestors | | 10:19am Monday 12th November 2007 | | THE weekend before last was the pinnacle of autumn here in Wyre Forest district. The weather preceding this was mainly mild, with the odd mild frost, but most importantly it was very still. |
| Secretive water rail happy to call marsh home | | 2:37pm Monday 5th November 2007 | | BLAKE Marsh Local Nature Reserve in Kidderminster has over the years seen some troubling times. Twenty or so years ago the present day nature reserve was just a small part of what a large and extensive wetland nature reserve recognised for its national importance. |
| Close encounter with cormorant | | 11:00am Monday 29th October 2007 | | WHEN the air in the atmosphere gets cold it becomes denser and begins to fall. This in general is a good thing as this falling air does not allow water vapour to condense out of it, so clouds don't form and we usually experience sunny weather. |
| Happy to share the house with tireless spiders | | 10:03am Wednesday 24th October 2007 | | OCTOBER is frequently associated with ghosts, pumpkins and fancy dress. Shops sell all sorts of rubber horrors, one of which frequently takes the form of a large hairy spider and it has to be said October is, rubber versions apart, a very good month for spiders. |
| Make most of dragonflies during mild spell | | 11:49am Wednesday 17th October 2007 | | WHEN it comes to flight, despite man's amazing progress in the areas of aeronautical engineering, the human race still has not managed to become true masters of the air in the same way as many species of animal. |
| Keep ’em peeled for mean hornet robber fly | | 8:31am Thursday 20th September 2007 | | Wet followed by warm weather is just what many flies need to prosper and as a result we have seen a real increase in the numbers of many fly species. |
| Plants evolve strategies to cope with changes | | 9:55am Monday 20th August 2007 | | PLANTS have certain basic requirements for life. These are water, air, nutrients and sunlight. Sometimes these basic requirements can be in short supply and fortunately for animals plant species have persevered and evolved strategies to cope, allowing all but the most extreme of habitats to be colonised by plants and the animal communities they support. |
| Soggy start to summer boosts brutal horseflies | | 12:07pm Monday 13th August 2007 | | LAST week, I wrote a rather horrifying story about how the wet weather had benefited our mosquito populations and how we were now left with a real boom of these rather annoying blood-sucking creatures. |
| Pesky mosquitoes halt survival skills evening | | 1:16pm Monday 6th August 2007 | | OVER the summer period the Wyre Forest District Council Ranger Service carries out events and activities aimed at all ages to encourage an interest in the natural world. |
| Shadow Shenstone | | 12:43pm Friday 20th July 2007 | | Halesowen history enthusiasts can get on the trail of William Shenstone during a Friends of the Leasowes trip to Dudmaston Hall, near Bridgnorth, on Sunday September 9. |
| Late night drama as cattle flee storms | | 10:09am Monday 9th July 2007 | | IN April, I wrote a Nature Notes about how the exceptionally dry and warm spring weather was going to effect the district's wetland habitats of marsh and wet woodland. |
| Still paying price for 19th century imports | | 10:07am Friday 29th June 2007 | | BACK in the 19th century in became fashionable for people to show off their esteem to their neighbours by growing exotic plants from far off countries in their gardens, creating visually beautiful and exotic landscapes for all to marvel at. |
| Loving mallards earn place in our hearts | | 8:38am Saturday 23rd June 2007 | | WET weather of the type we have had last week is sometimes described as being only good for ducks and when I have looked across the waterlogged meadows and playing fields only to see ducks merrily bathing I could easily see there was at least some truth to this saying. |
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