CAN YOU FIND A

FOUR LEAF CLOVER

TO BRING YOU GOOD LUCK?

Clover as a cropFarmers sometimes plant a crop of clover with grass for grazing their animals.

Clover is a legume (a family of plants including peas, beans & sainfoin). Legumes are much higher in protein than other crops & grass, and are there-fore good for animal feed (although not too much as animals eatting legumes

will produce gas!). There are two different kinds of clover; white clover is the smaller plant you would usually see along grass verges & tracks, whereas red clover is a much bigger plant used by farmers. Red clover is often silaged in the Spring (cut, baled & wrapped in plastic to ferment) to feed animals through winter when

the grass does not grow.

Legumes, such as clover, are known as nitrogen fixing plants. They absorb the nitrogen from the air and store it in nodules on their roots. When the field is

ploughed to re seed the pasture, or to grow other crops, the nitrogen retained in the clover is put back into the soil.

Nitrogen is a key element in the growth of crops & grass. Nitrogen fertilisers are often used to increase grass growth in Spring & Summer.

However, by ploughing clover, and all its retained nitrogen, back into the soil less fertlisers are needed to support the following years crop growth.

Who’s been here?

deerTree Damage by

FRAYING

The tree’s vascular system (like blood vessels) is just under the outer bark of a tree. When the bark is damaged in any way these vessels transporting water, nutrients and sugars up and down the tree, are broken.

After fraying damage has occured part or all of the tree may die, or its growth may be stunted. You can tell if all or part of a tree is dead by looking at it. There may be no new leaves, bare branches in summer or fallen branches.

Roe Deer

Live in woodlandsFootprints Feed at dawn and dusk

DIET Spring & Summer- Shoots, buds & leaves Autumn- Berries, seeds & fruits (such as acorns, chestnuts & apples)Winter- Tree bark (when other food is scarce)

Fraying on trees is caused by deer RUBBING THEIR ANTLERS against the trunk. They do this for one of two rea-sons:1.To remove the ‘velvet’ (outer skin) from new antlers.2. Male deer (bucks) do this to scent mark their territory when looking for a mate. Look out for these signs of deer fraying on trees:The damage is up to a metre highThere are vertical cuts and scrapes on the tree trunkThe bark is peeling away in small strips revealing the inner wood

MOLEWho’s been here?

Moles dig & live in UNDERGROUND TUNNELS

The mound of soil, known as a MOLE HILL, is the entrance to a mole’s tunnel.

Moles have POISONOUS SALIVA that paralyzes (stops it from moving) the minibeasts it eats so that they can be stored to eat later.

Moles love to eat

E !They also like other minibeasts such as spiders, ants & grubs.

A mole has BIG front PAWS & CLAWS that dig like shovels. They can dig up to six metres of tunnel in one hour.

Moles are able to live mostly underground because they have twice as much BLOOD compared to other mammals. This means they have more oxygen in their bodies and need less air.

A SMROWHTR

MOLEDID YOU KNOW?

Who’s been here?

Small, round, hard droppings

A group of burrows is called a WARREN.

RABBIT There is lots of food nearby...Rabbits are HERBIVORES (they only eat plants) and come out at dawn & dusk to feed.

SIGNS A RABBIT

LIVES HERE

Lots of holes

Fur caught in brambles

In hedgerows, old tree trunks, meadows & woods

Rabbits dig tunnels-known as BURROWS- to live in.

In the warm months they eat leaves, grass, clover & greens.

In the cold months they eat twigs, buds & bark.r.

Who’s been here?SQUIRREL

Squirrels build nests, called DREYS, high in the trees. They look similar to birds nests, and are usually made of twigs, and lined with grass, moss & bark.

Squirrels feed on nuts, fruits, seeds & plants. You are most likely to spot them in woodlands. Our woods are full of oak, ash and hazel trees, which produce acorns, ash keys & hazelnuts that squirrels love!

‘RING BARKING’

DREY

It is unclear why squirrels strip the bark of trees in this way. However, bark is often found lining the dreys of squirrels, and the sugary sap found in the bark could be a good emergency food source during the colder months.

A couple of metres high on the main trunk or branch of this oak tree, and many others on the farm, you can see evidence of ‘ring barking’.

The bark has been stripped by squirrels around the trunk, damaging the whole tree. The removal of the bark in this way cuts the food and water supply to the higher branches, and leaves the tree open and susceptible to insect and fungal attacks. This will prevent growth of, or even kill the tree. Its also causes discolouration in the timber, and thus reducing its value.

Wheat Hoppers

Hopper

Wheat

They get the wheat by tapping the small spring at the base of the barrel.

We have lots of these wheat hoppers around the farm. You might have already seen some on your walk. By the end of the winter they will have been topped up with 5 tonnes of wheat!

They are mostly put on the egdes of woodlands, bird cover crops (such as maize) and hedgerows, where the birds & animals that feed from them are sheltered.

Cock Pheasant(male)

Hen Pheasant(female)

PartridgeSparrow

Pigeon

Blackbird

Squirrel& other small

mammals

Dormouse& other mice,

voles & shrews

& other woodland

birds

Who might visit this hopper?

This black barrel is a wheat hopper. In winter it is filled with wheat to help feed the wild birds & small mammals that live in the surrounding woodlands, hedgerows & fields.

Squirrels & rats are also attracted to the hoppers,

but tend to eat holes in the

plastic, letting the wheat spill out onto the

ground!