Spring WILDLIFE
This is the season when much of our garden wildlife needs to finds a mate. Adrian Thomas describes what to look and listen out for in this annual drama
In the words of the 1977 pop classic, Love is in the air, everywhere I look around, that’s how it is in the garden in spring, when increasing temperatures and day length signal to wildlife that the good times of summer are coming and this is the moment to start the process of raising a family.
Apart from a few insects and smaller creatures that can give birth to young without having to mate, step one for most wildlife is all about finding a member of your own species. Some creatures such as slugs, snails and worms carry both male and female sexual organs and so can hitch up with any other of their kind. For most wildlife, however, males must meet females.
Finding a suitable mate isn’t always an easy business, as many of us can attest! There can be two very different problems to overcome. Firstly, you need to locate a potential partner. That is not so easy if members of your kind are scarce, in which case your search is needle-in-a-haystack time. Then, should you find a potential mate, you may be in a queue (or hormone-fuelled rabble!) of males with the same intention.
Even if you find a mate and are first in line, that doesn’t always guarantee that you will be compatible. Many females will want to ensure that they have hooked up with a prime specimen who carries suitably impressive genes for their young, and they will reject any suitors who don’t make the grade.
But the race is on, and garden wildlife has evolved a range of techniques for attracting a mate and showing off their prowess.
Sound can be especially useful for finding love. It can be heard from a distance and is the megaphone method of saying “I’m here and I’m available”. Birdsong is the most famous and obvious example, enlivening the airspace for us gardeners at this time of year. It is quite easy to let it wash over you, but take time while digging or weeding to stop, pause, and soak it in. It is a free concert like no other, and we are incredibly lucky that some of the nation’s best songsters, such as blackbirds and robins, are such willing garden soloists.
However, a form of song is also used by many other creatures. In your garden pond, for example, listen for the serenading calls of frogs and toads. This chorus is best heard by night, but at the height of the mating season they can keep going all day.
