We got some interesting footage the other night after finding a dead song thrush behind the office.  We put the trail camera out, hoping that perhaps it had been a sparrowhawk kill, and that the sparrowhawk would return to claim its prey, but it never did.  Instead we got video after video of a wood mouse/mice, feeding on the corpse after dark. In the video you can see the mouse feeding from the neck of the song thrush, with the bird's tail sticking out to the left. Over the course of a few nights the entire thrush was consumed. Gruesome but fascinating!  Lizy.

Despite the recent cold weather there are definite signs of spring in the air. Great tits are starting to sing their characteristic "teacher" call, and snowdrops and winter aconites are starting to flower around the car park and our office, adding a welcome splash of colour to the sometimes cold and damp days here at St Abb's Head. Winter aconites are not native to the UK, and are known as "spring ephemerals", meaning that they only grow for a short period of time, in this case early in January and February, and then die back to just their underground parts during the rest of the year. January might seem like an inhospitable time to flower, but this allows the aconites to flourish in the light on the woodland floor, before the trees get their leaves, blocking out the sunshine. Lizy

Winter aconites near the car park

It's been a windy day here at St Abb's Head, but that didn't stop our loyal band of volunteers coming out to get some work done. Today we were repairing some damage done to the track as a result of some recent fencing work. Many thanks to Bill, Jean and Margaret for their time and hard labour!  Lizy

Jean and Margaret repairing the track