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PROGRAMME INFO |
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The Living World听is a gentle weekend natural history programme, presented by Lionel Kelleway, which aims to broadcast the best, most intimate encounters with British wildlife.
nhuradio@bbc.co.uk |
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LISTEN AGAIN 听25min |
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PRESENTER |
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"The Living World is the next best thing to being there. Our contributors are skilled naturalists who are able to reveal those fascinating facts about animals and plants that you don't always find in books. It's like having a personal guided tour of the countryside, without needing to leave the house."
Lionel Kelleway
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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| Phil Gates and Lionel Kelleway looking for cones high overhead in the Norway Spruce trees in Hamsterley Forest, County Durham. |
LIFE AMONGST THE CHRISTMAS TREES
At this time of year, many of us share our homes with a Norway spruce; its branches decorated with lights and baubles. But in the forest, this graceful tree attracts a host of wildlife, as Lionel Kelleway discovers when he joins botanist Phil Gates of Durham University in Hamsterley Forest for a guide to the fungi, birds, insects and mammals which live on or amongst the Christmas Trees.
Hamsterley is the largest forest in County Durham covering some 2000 hectares. Its varied geography means that it contains a variety of habitats, including what is reputed to be England鈥檚 highest beech wood at 350m, and a flower meadow lower in the valley designated as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), and its well known in the region for its range of fungi.
Lionel and Phil find a small grove of Christmas Trees without much difficulty. In Britain, the traditional Christmas tree species with which we decorate our homes is the Norway spruce. It was a native species in the British Isles before the last Ice Age.
Its Latin or botanical name is Picea abies. Picea comes from the Latin and refers to the pith or resin some species produce. Different species produce different-scented resins and this can be used to identify a specific species. Abies dates back to when the tree was classified in the Abies or fir genus.
The Norway spruce is conical in shape. It has somewhat sharp green needles and long rounded cones. Examining some of the cones more closely, Phil explains to Lionel how you can discriminate between whether a left handed or right-handed squirrel has extracted the seeds, depending on the direction in which the cone has been twisted and nibbled!
The Norway spruce was a native species in the British Isles before the last Ice Age. It is a very useful timber tree, mainly used indoors. At one time the inner bark was used to make baskets and canoes, and the shoots were made into Spruce beer. The tree was also used for medicinal purposes.
Norway spruce plantations provide dense year-round cover for many small birds and animals; goldcrests and long tailed tits find both shelter and food in the tree top. Crossbills also feed on its seeds.
One of the most conspicuous of the Autumnal fungi often found near Spruce trees is the Fly Agaric mushroom. It has a bright red cap with white spots.听 It was once used as an insecticide with pieces floated in milk to intoxicate or kill flies attracted by its aroma. Many people are aware of its poisonous reputation.
Fly Agaric contains two toxins, ibotenic acid and muscimol, which are responsible for its psychoactive and hallucinogenic effects.
Reindeer in northern Europe are also attracted to the fly agaric鈥檚 euphoric effects and Siberian people apparently would notice the drunken behaviour of such animals and slaughter them, and then experience the same effects from eating the meat. It鈥檚 the consummation of fly agaric and its hallucinogenic effects that is thought to have given rise to the legend of flying reindeer and little men in red and white coats.
Wildlife in Hamsterley forest including roe deer, badgers, otters, goshawk, merlin, sparrowhawk and kestrel, woodpeckers, crossbills, siskins, nightjar, common lizards, glow-worms, ringlet, small-bordered fritillary and brimstone butterflies.
However, the most spectacular nest which Lionel and Phil discover is that of a Wood Ant colony. Large ants swarm over the vast mound of pine needles, some repairing the nest, others carrying food into the mound or acting as guards. Wood ants are armed with formic acid which they spray when threatened.
Scrambling across the undergrowth, Lionel carefully inserts a microphone into the nest, and reveals the sound within the mound. You鈥檒l have to listen to the programme to hear the sound of a million tiny feet on the move! |
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