On our campsite nature is all around us.
In Spring you see the STAG BEETLE in and around the big oaks. This insect got its name from the enormous antlers that the males have and which remind you of the antlers of stags.
They fly almost vertically to compensate for the weight of the antlers, which are only there to impress the ladies and rival males. They look dangerous but they are not.
Lizards love to have a sun bath but not the FIRE SALAMANDER. He likes wet corners and the shade of leaves and stones.
The COMMON LIZARD is simply grey and brown in colour with sometimes a little yellow or blue. The big SAND LIZARD is however a beautiful green and blue, sparkling like gems.
The SLOW-WORM is like a snake but is not. He is a lizard without legs. The tail of slow-worms, like many lizards, will break off as a defence mechanism, unlike snakes.
No human will ever harm a RED SQUIRREL, the most appealing animal in the woods.
All year long many birds are about, like the woodpeckers; the great, middle and lesser spotted the black and green. And what is that little bird, blue-grey with a buff-orange belly that can walk down a tree-trunk head first? It is the NUTHATCH. This bird is so fast he is almost impossible to photograph
Children like to search for grasshoppers and crickets. There are more than a 1,000 species and so it may take some time.
You do not have that problem with the GREAT TITS, and the various other species of tits, or the finches and blackbirds. Rarely, you may see an HOOPOE, with its unique fan-shaped crest, pink head and body and then as it takes flight a dazzling pattern of black and white. When night falls the TAWNY OWL comes out of its shelter and you hear its long call.
The male ROE DEER (bucks), and the male FALLOW DEER, live solitary lives most of the year. The females (does) graze early in the mornings and late in the evenings. You can see them on the campsite if you are very quiet and lucky. Whatever, the COWS in our neighbour’s meadow in the setting sun, that too is beautiful, isn’t it?
In Summer the brambles bloom and in August the BLACKBERRIES ripen. You can go blackberrying and then make them into jam. Your children can learn in an easy way to appreciate Mother Nature.
In September you can look for conkers, hazelnuts, beechnuts, acorns and SWEET CHESTNUTS. Good for chestnut purée, savoury to go with meat and sweet for desserts
