Wildlife Highlights: Wildlife in December – 4 Species to Look out for this month

December is the start of winter. With the shortest days of the year, it is often one of the hardest months to spot wildlife in the UK. Lizzie tells us about 4 species to look out for…

Robins

Robins are often associated with Christmas, featuring on many Christmas cards and even Christmas adverts and films. However, robins can be seen all year round in the UK, so why are they so strongly connected with this festive time?

Robins are particularly easy to spot in winter as, unlike many British garden birds, robins are territorial all year round, so they still sing in the winter. Robins are also particularly brave in comparison to other garden birds and their bright red chest stands out even more clearly on a frosty morning. These combined traits mean that they are much more noticeable than many other British garden birds during winter.

Not only are robins a common sight in winter, there are also historical links to the robin being associated with Christmas. Since the Victorian era, Christmas cards were delivered by postal workers wearing red jackets- granting them the nicknames "robins" or "red-breast" after the bird. Christmas cards often featured the red post boxes that the cards were delivered to or even the postal workers themselves. Soon enough, artists were illustrating robins to represent the postal workers and they are still popular on Christmas cards today.

Mountain Hares

Another common feature on Christmas cards are mountain hares. These hares lose their brown coat and turn white at the end of November and then brown again in April; they are often most visible when the seasons are changing and their coat does not yet match their environment. Mountain hares are native to the Scottish Highlands, though they can now also be found in the Peak District and some Scottish Islands. Mountain hares are nocturnal, spending most of the day resting in crevices and are active during the night. So, you will have to look out for them very carefully.

Foxes

Foxes are commonly seen in winter months as their thick winter coats and scavenger diet mean that they don’t need to hibernate or shelter in burrows over winter. This allows foxes to begin mating season earlier than many other British species and you may even hear some mating calls. The scream of a female announcing that she is ready to breed is the loudest of the fox calls and is intended to travel long distances to attract a mate. Foxes are often also heard barking as a way of identifying each other.

Foxes are very resourceful mammals and the most widespread canid in the world. They are excellent scavengers, with their omnivorous diet consisting of anything from roadkill and hunting rabbits to berries, beetles and eating out of people’s bins. In the UK, foxes are commonly seen after dusk, both in cities and the countryside.

Starlings

Photo by Peter Miller, Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

A starling murmuration is a truly stunning sight and can often be seen from November to January with the arrival of migrant starlings from Scandinavia overwintering in the UK. These murmurations occur in the early evening before the starlings roost for the night. On the way to their roost, they form flocks of thousands in the sky and perform incredible aerial displays. Each bird moves in relation to the birds next to them, allowing the whole flock to appear to move in synchronisation.

Murmurations have been studied by biologists, physicists, and mathematicians in order to understand both why and how murmurations occur. It is believed that murmurations may serve multiple purposes, including predator avoidance, exchanging information and retaining warmth. However, it is likely that predator avoidance is the main reason. With safety in numbers as well as the very fast movement of the murmuration, a sparrowhawk would struggle to single out one bird and is therefore unlikely to be successful in catching dinner.

Unfortunately, starling numbers in the UK are falling and they are now on the red list for UK Bird Conservation Status, meaning it is a species that needs urgent conservation action. This is likely due to a combination of less suitable habitat, increased use of chemicals on farmland and a reduction in food availability. Starlings may therefore depend more heavily on bird feeders than they once did, so make sure to keep your bird feeder topped up!

Thank you to Paige Blake for her beautiful illustrations. You can find more of her work on her Instagram @ptb__illustration.

LIZZIE DE LUSIGNAN

Lizzie is an MSci Zoology graduate from the University of Exeter, where she was then employed whilst living in South Devon. She now lives in Sheffield and works for Twinkl, helping those who teach. She has always loved exploring nature and whilst she now misses the coastal walks and chances of spotting a seal, she is making the most of having the Peak District on her doorstep. She became interested in the communication of conservation during her degree and since graduating she has decided to continue her passion for conservation through writing.

EnvironmentViridis Magazine15 December 2021Wildlife