06-May Eggs, Fledglings & Spring’s Burst of Colour

Eggs, Fledgling, Colours

A fine range of colour and markings exists on the eggs now hidden away across the landscape. Some evolutionists explain this by indicating there may have been no selective pressure for them to change over all the vicissitudes of time. Species that nest in holes and burrows generally have no colour whatsoever on their eggs, not needing them to be camouflaged e.g. swifts and woodpeckers. Others such as tits and nuthatches, although they also nest in holes, have eggs with just a few spots. This may indicate they have taken to holes perhaps more recently in their evolutionary history. It is still difficult to explain why so many birds have blue eggs e.g. crow, thrush, blackbird, wheatear, pied flycatcher and redstart. To our eyes the humble hedge sparrow has eggs which are such a remarkable shade of blue, they hardly seems designed to deter egg stealers.

Most birds, when accidentally disturbed on the nest, will either sit tight, call loudly or have a distraction display. Partridges were even known to lose their heads with scythes rather than abandon their nests. Owls forgo all this and think nothing of attacking an intruder. Lapwings can often be seen mobbing crows and crows, in turn, mobbing birds of prey both trying to protect their young. Redshanks and woodcocks prefer to feign death and even the normally shy dabchick will try and lure you away. By the end of the month some fledglings are starting to leave the safety of their nests. This can be a hazardous affair if there is little cover in which to hide. Young blackbirds can easily find themselves in streets, where they are easy prey for cats. Young rooks, crows, herons and ducks are usually the first to be noticed. In gardens, it is often either robins, blackbirds or blue tits. A flock of long-tailed tits with their noisy young in attendance passing through a garden is one of the more pleasant sights of the month.

May is a month of changing colours. At the beginning of the month it is predominantly yellow, with meadows full of buttercups, heaths covered in gorse and broom and perhaps chalk downland covered in cowslips as it still is on parts of Farthing Down. There is still much new plant growth producing lively greens especially in trees such as beech and lime. Even the new leaves on evergreens can be quite piercing especially in spruces. In country lanes, white tends to dominate, with hawthorn, cow parsley and stitchwort everywhere. Occasionally, there are splashes of pink from wild crab apples. There is much more pink and red in central areas due to the endless ornamental cherries. Marshy areas may get a lift from any lilac-coloured carpets of cuckoo flower and strong yellow dots of wild irises.