A Happy New Year to all my readers!
The exciting news this month is the fact that we have some new animals in the area. On the River Tale, there are two beavers, who have been around for a while, so it looks as though they like it here, and will stay. I haven’t seen them myself, but I understand that The Devon Wildlife Trust people are involved, as are the landowners. Beavers have been living on the Otter for some years, so it was only a matter of time that some would move to the tributaries.
The other day, I saw lots of fieldfares and some redwings in the Mead. I even had a couple in my garden, eating the apple windfalls. Toni Lister has come across a couple of rare birds down at Topsham. These were bearded tits, which are very pretty little pinkish birds, with black markings on their faces, ie. beards! A few friends have reported seeing goldcrests in and around the village. These are Britain’s smallest birds – they must be smaller than wrens! Mary is one friend who saw one, and she also had a bullfinch – why is it that we don’t see more of these lovely finches?
Alan Jones – 841671