Let’s not beat around the bush. You’ve overdone it. Perhaps your festive weakness is the pudding? Mince pies? A little too much booze?
Whatever the reason, the chances are that you are feeling slightly overindulgent and in need of a physical work out and a spiritual purge. No problems, the East Devon countryside holds the answers and will get you ready for the next big night of the year, in a few days time!
So put away the liver salts, close the cupboard on the paracetamol and reach instead for a warm jacket and a pair of gloves.
There are so many beautiful walking spots through the District, and now is a wonderful time of year to find a secluded spot all to yourself. How much more frugal, not to mention sustainable, is the resolution to walk the entire south west coast path in 2009, than make a hollow promise to run for soulless hours on a treadmill?
While so much of the East Devon countryside is snoozing its way through the cold season, birds are in overdrive to feed during the momentary daylight hours. Couple that frenetic activity with leafless trees, and now is the best time to get into woods to see woodland birds.
As I have written here many times before, my favourite woodland in the area is Holyford Woods, over in the Axe Valley, but woodland birding is in full swing in all our woody areas at the moment, so get yourself to the closest spot to you and start there. Its surprising the variety of birds you will see in the smallest of canopies, especially if the trees are part of a wider foraging area for birds.
From my new desk position, above reception at The Knowle, I have a prime view of the car park. Despite this vista, I am still captivated by the window scene and have spent good amounts of time listening (never tearing my eyes from the PC monitor, not even for a second) to the chatter of birds passing the window. Long-tailed *** move past en-masse a couple of times each day, maintaining contact with their morse code calls. The flock of *** also includes blue ***, great *** and a couple of goldcrests too. I followed a goldcrest along a hedgeline at Colyford Common last week – captivated by its movement, and keeping up with it for well over 20 minutes.
Look out also for the UK’s smallest bird, a close relative of the goldcrest but a great deal scarcer, the firecrest. Where the goldcrest has a yellow stripe on the crown, so the firecrest has an orange blaze. However, the most immediate way to tell these diminutive green warlbers apart is to look for the firecrest’s stripey face. They are such tiny creatures with such frenzied movement, that spotting the colour of their crest is unlikely, but the much more pattered face is always a giveaway.
Great spotted woodpeckers move through the trees too. An increasingly frequent sight in gardens in recent years, woodpeckers are always a firm favourite. The distant yaffling calls of a green woodpecker give away their presence, even if their verdant plumage remains out of sight – as I explained, my eyes are transfixed to the monitor in any case.
Mixed with the green woodpecker’s cackle is the football rattle of mistle thrushes, as the fiercely territorial pair work hard to protect their fruited trees from maraudering troops of other birds. A very large, stocky thrush, the mistle thrush is always a lovely sight in a frosty lawn; known as the storm *** from their tendency to sing beautifully during bad weather.
Winter birding is full of glorious sights, and you don’t have to stay exclusively on the coast to see the best of it. However, if you do wander down to the beach over the holidays there are a number of interesting things to look out for down there too.
There’s nothing more bracing than a crisp winter morning stroll along the shingle, except perhaps for those nutters who partake in the annual Christmas dip (madness), it’s a great remedy for clearing the head, working up an appetite and developing a new-found thirst!
Increase stormy weather at this time of year can cast a few interesting things up onto the beach, make sure you pay particular attention to the strandline as you walk. Something I have wanted to discover for a number of years, but have yet to find, is a seapod – or sea nut. The seed of a tropical palm, seapods are like small ice hockey pucks, with a dark brown colouring. Also, look out for the carcasses of dolphins and whales washed up on remote beaches in the winter storms. A saddening sight though it may be, make a note of where and when you found the stricken marine mammal and report it to the Devon Biodiversity Record Centre, on 01392 274128. The DBRC keep very valuable records of cetacean strandings, which can prove important in keeping track of marine mammal populations.
Now, I would hate to end this week’s column on a sad note. So quickly, here’s my recipe for festive mulled wine, something scrummy to return home to after an afternoon patrolling East Devon’s beaches. To a bottle of full flavoured but ordinary red wine (a shop’s own claret is ideal) add the zest and juice of one lemon, one lime and an orange studded with four or five cloves. Add a large piece of cinnamon bark and three star anise pods, sweeten with two large spoonfuls of runny honey and warm gently – don’t boil as this will waste the all important alcohol! Serve in warm mugs with a good grating of nutmeg and a slice of lemon – cheers!
Over the last few weeks, East Devon has been gripped by an odd meteorological phenomenon – you’ve probably noticed.
In the early morning the ground has appeared a ghostly white, with strangely slippery patches here and there. An extra coat has been needed to maintain comfortable body temperature and a nippy wind has made eyes water and noses run.
I’ve done a little research and can confirm this is what was known historically as “winter”. Strange? It seems that in years gone by, what we know as “that time of year when it gets dark earlier and rains a lot” experienced “winter” conditions on a fairly regular basis, with regular morning “frosts” being a well known feature of such weather.
Joking aside, it is a novel and welcome return of icy mornings and azure skies and it has brought the East Devon countryside to life in recent days. Time spent on any of our estuaries, especially the Exe, is a fearsome experience of biting wind with the ability to cut right through all but the snuggliest of jackets. Amazing to think that the winter visitors such as the brent geese or dunlin, have chosen to spend the winter here because of the comparative warmth!
The cold snap has seen a genuine weird weather event, captured beautifully by local photographer, Mo Bowman. Early one morning, waiting for a bird watching tram ride along the Axe estuary, members of the Otter Vale Association noticed that the sea off Seaton appeared to be steaming! An amazing sight, Mo sent the photographs to BBC Devon weatherman and top-ranked side parting wearer, David Braine, for an explanation.
Of course David knew exactly what was going on, and the following passage is his explanation and I am in no way attempting to assume credit for his knowledge!
Hi Mo, thanks for the e-mail and the great photos of the sea steaming at Seaton.
The phenomenon that you observed is called sea smoke and is normally observed where there is a large difference between the air temperature and the sea temperature, and is normally associated with the polar regions. Normally there needs to be at least a 9 degree difference between the land and the sea and with enough wind to aid the interaction between the two. Sea smoke results from the rapidity with which cold air becomes saturated by evaporation from the relatively warm sea surface. The sea also supplies a large amount of heat, in addition to moisture, to the lowest layers of air with the result that a large air-sea temperature difference can only be maintained if there is enough breeze to feed the cold air. It is often observed in the Arctic and Antarctic but can be seen in many parts of the world if the condition are right, Newfoundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence can observe sea smoke in most days of the winter.
I hope this helps, David
What a nice guy! The Countryside Service’s very own Arctic explorer, Fraser Rush, confirmed that sea smoke is indeed a regular spectacle of the Arctic Ocean, but he’ll grab any opportunity to remind you of his Svalbard expeditions – his tales always turn me green with envy!
Winter has, for a change, managed to influence our December weather patterns, and it is a most refreshing change for us and the wildlife. One of our few genuine hibernators, dormice, need prolonged cold snaps to ensure that they remain snoozing through the foodless winter months. A mild period around January or February will bring the little fellows out of torpor early and if this happens too often their limited fat stores will be wasted and getting through until April becomes even more of a struggle.
So, even though it means we have to put on an extra layer when leaving the house, the appearance of Jack Front in the winter countryside is good news for people and wildlife alike.