Our trail are unique in the fact that we bring humans and nature together as one. It’s not just about having fun on our trails or learning how to become a better mountain biker, its also about learning more about the environment we live in and how, with a little knowledge and understanding we can help protect the natural world.
In this blog we will just be covering the wildlife that lives and thrives in our centre, there will be future blogs which covers information about the plants and trees at our centre too.
The main thing we want to stress in this blog is that we care deeply about all life.
So as there’s a pic of a hedgehog we will start there.
Hedgehogs
there is at least one hedgehog who lives on our trails. It has many hiding spaces so it is rarely seen but every time it is seen seems to be in good health which is good. we hope that it is part of a larger hedgehog family. A group/family of Hedgehogs is known as a Array.
I Remember a time not too long ago, when if you wished to see a hedgehog you just had to go outside of a night or early morning and sooner or later you would see one but now it seems the only time you see them is squashed in the middle of a road. Speaking of roads, it shows how much of a negative impact humans have on wildlife as believe it or not the biggest predator of the Hedgehogs is….. cars, or any motor vehicle really. It has gotten so bad that this once common native English species has now become endangered.
We already knew about the endangered status so when we first came across it and realised we had a hedgehog living on our trails we were very pleased indeed. we will be making numerous small wooden ‘houses’ and dotting them around well hidden hard to get to places so that the Hedgehog as well as other wildlife can hide in well concealed areas and make a home and raise a family and being a endangered species we would love to see the hedgehog population boom.
Buzzards
Next on our list of resident wildlife is the Buzzard. we have at least 2 of them but we think there may be 3 of them, which if right would suggest that two of them are a mating pair and the third being their offspring. It is a medium/large bird of prey bigger than the common hawk but smaller than a eagle. Buzzards make a very distinctive sound especially when soaring which we would best describe sounding like ‘CAARR’. They are now the most common bird of prey in the UK.
We often see them soaring high above the trails before diving to catch prey. Buzzards feed on small mammals/animals, insects, birds and carrion (dead animals). Their most common food source is carrion which makes them especially susceptible to poisoning. Luckily enough our trails provide high numbers of easy prey, mainly in the form of pidgins. This is good as it keeps the pidgin population down while providing a easy large meal for the buzzards without running the risk of poisoning from rotting meat.
Owl
We don’t have much information regarding the owl i.e. species of owl as we have yet to see it in person, however we know there is at least one as we hear it hoot of a night. We can only give one or two general facts that we know as we wouldn’t even begin to guess about what type of owl it is as we are not experts and don’t want to provide false information. Owls eat small mammals/animals such as various species of mice which are abundant throughout the trails and only hunt of a night. A owl can fly right past you and you wouldn’t hear a thing as they have special feathers unique to owls which absorb sound giving them the nickname of stealth hunters.
Fox
We have at least two foxes living on our trails one male (a tod) and one female (a vixen) which leads us to believe they are a mating couple and have or will have young (cubs/pups). A group of foxes is known as a skulk or a leash. The Vixen is extremely healthy looking and is of a good size and the male is of a good size but a bit more scrawny. Foxes are extremely smart and cunning so unless you remain still and hidden with the wind blowing away from them there is little chance of seeing them.
They have a huge variety of prey to choose from and we are sure the local farmers are happy as they keep the number of animals that would feed on their crops from growing too much. We stay on site over night a lot of the time and sometimes we hear them walking around outside the tent of a night and the next morning there are a few small holes dotted about where they have been digging for prey or our where they can smell our evening meal.
Squirrels
We have a number of squirrels living above our trails. We don’t know exactly how many but we know there are quite a few. These are crazy, funny little animals to watch with the energy of a 5 year old child. Squirrel nests (Dreys) looks almost identical to a birds nest looking up from the ground except they are bigger like a medium/large birds nest and they are built from twigs and grass etc. We currently only have grey squirrels but we are hoping to gradually change this over the coming years so that there is only red squirrels or the majority are red squirrels.
Grey squirrels are not native to the UK, they are originally from north America and are believed to of migrated to the UK by sneaking aboard a ship sometime in the 1870’s. Since then the Red population has dramatically declined to the point the once common native British species is now endangered except for Scotland where they are still locally common.
Grey Squirrels are just over all more evolved than the red, they are often bigger, more able to find food quickly and consume more food and carry a disease called parapoxvirus which does not seem to effect them but kills the reds. The reds also reduce mating when put under pressure or stress like having to fend against the greys.
Rabbits
We know there are at least one of two rabbits as we have come across one or two burrows but we have only seen a rabbit twice both times it was a small rabbit. Our best guess is that between the foxes, other predators and the farmers, the rabbits don’t get a chance to produce large populations.
Stoat
Don’t quote us on this one as once again we are not experts so we could be wrong and we know there are a few animals in this family which look very similar. We have done a bit of research and come to the conclusion that it is likely to be a stoat, however as stated it could be another animal from this family i.e. ferret or a martin.
Frogs
We’re unsure as to what species of frog we have possibly multiple species but we have quite a few of them. Frogs are one of the basic foods for predators in the food chain and are globally on a rapid decline. Frogs are one of our keys ‘habitat starters’. What we mean by this is frogs are one of the animals we increase the population of the most which in turn brings more animals, predators etc. boosting the overall wildlife population. We do this by making our trails when we dig holes for soil to build with they become a perfect environment for frogs to live and spawn. Did you know Frogs often bury themselves underground to hibernate over the winter.
Rodents
There are a variety of rodents from multiple species of mice, to voles and even though we haven’t come across any we’re sure there’ll be rats too but of the woodland kind not sewer rats. We wouldn’t like to say what species of mice we have but we know there are a few different ones due to shapes, sizes etc. They have lots of open land and hidden spaces to make their home which in turn keeps a healthy supply of food for predators.
Birds
There are numerous species of birds that call our trails home. the most common is the pidgin. They have lots of food from various plants and trees especially fruit in the summer from the many, many cherry trees surrounding our trails. The pidgins as stated above provide a good easy food source for the buzzards.
We have at least one Jay, but you don’t really see it flying around much except going back and forth from the same two trees now and again on a certain part of the trails.
We have the occasional magpie visit the trails but we are unsure if they call the trails home.
There are a few blackbirds that live on our trails.
There are a number of song birds and we keep finding new ones, but being small they are hard to identify but we have seen both great tits and blue tits. There is a species of song bird we haven’t yet identified which puts on a amazing sound display, creating sounds similar to laser beams like some sort of sci fi movie.
By far the most friendly and inquisitive are the robins. They realise pretty quick that following around a trail builder will result in a easy free meal for them. They are cautious at first but quickly realise we are not a threat and eventually will sit literally a few feet away watching us dig and wait until we walk away with a spade full of soil to hop along and grab a worm or insect. Sometimes the robin will spend hours going back and forth as we work.
Spiders & Insects
There a numerous species of spiders on our trails and they are particularly enjoy making homes in our tent especially over winter.
There are numerous species of insect and sub species of insect i.e. various species of bees, that call our trails home. Due to the share numbers of species, sub species and the fact we are not experts we will only name the main species or a few variants.
there are numerous species of bees from certain species of honey bees to species of bumble bees (there are roughly 270 species of bees in the UK and 24 of those are varieties of bumble bee 25 if you include the reintroduced short hair bumble bee and two native species have become extinct). this is a great example of why we aren’t giving individual species as we are not experts its impossible to give accurate records of species especially at a quick glance as they buzz on by.
There are woodlouse (plural-woodlice), ear wigs, ladybirds, black and red ants, crickets, worms, beetles, slugs, snails, mosquito, wasp and numerous other species too.
Final Note
All life is precious to us and we do our best to preserve, protect and promote the natural world whenever we can.
Trail Blazzers 