Dr Phil Smith’s Wildlife Notes
February 2025

In complete contrast to last year’s deluge, February 2025 was dry. The Met Office tells us that northern England had about half the normal rainfall due to a persistent Scandinavian high-pressure system. Rachael Parks kindly sent me confirmation with her rainfall data for Formby, which shows we had about 50% of the expected amount. Maybe the usual spring drought has already started! Although it often felt chilly, temperatures were about average. The lack of rain meant that the dune water-table, measured at the Devil’s Hole, fell by 5 cm during the month, the peak being 36.5 cm lower than last year’s. Even so, there was plenty of water in the dune-slacks.

February is the month for spring bulbs in the dunes Although most are non-native garden-escapes, they brighten up what can be a rather bleak landscape at this season. I noted my first Snowdrops on Range Lane, Formby on 1^st while the following day they were joined by the Yellow Crocus at Hightown. Floriferous patches of Early Crocus were a feature of various sites around Formby. Kenilworth Road dunes at Ainsdale used to be good for this species but numbers have declined in recent years. However, this site still has a single plant of the uncommon Greater Snowdrop that I first saw in February 2012. Searching for its distinctive broad blue-green leaves, I found it again but, unfortunately, the plant had no flowers this time. As usual, Cabin Hill Wood provided a wonderful display of Snowdrops but I have only ever seen the common Galanthus nivalisthere. Daffodil cultivars appeared by 21^st, while Lesser Celandines didn’t show up until 25^th. The dry weather didn’t really suit the mosses and liverworts that abound on the trunks of shady trees. However, I did find the rather attractive leafy liverwort Dilated Scalewort on Alder at Sands Lake, Ainsdale.

February tends not to be the best month for birds. Many of the winter visitors are moving on, while the spring migrants haven’t arrived yet. However, the big tides early in the month pushed in good numbers of waders to their high-tide roost at Hightown. I estimated up to 650 Oystercatchers, 600 Curlews, 240 Redshanks and 150 Sanderlings. On 3^rd, the rifle range was not in operation and someone walked round on the beach from Formby, ignored the warning signs and flushed the entire roost. My first Skylark of the spring was singing on 19th near Sands Lake, where up to 24 Shovelers were present, sometimes actively feeding in groups in the centre of the lake. They sweep their large, flat bills back and forth through the surface water, filtering out small invertebrates and plant material.

My occasional visits to Cabin Hill National Nature Reserve produced eight Common Snipe and four of the much smaller and scarcer Jack Snipe. Numbers of the latter are holding up well but the former are declining, as reported before in these notes. Always nice to see, a perky male Stonechat perched up in full view. Two Buzzards were regularon the reserve, as was a Grey Heron, while a pair of feral Greylag Geese were in residence, both here and at Wicks Lake, Formby Point, where Coots already had a nest.

Insects were in short supply throughout the month but mild, sunny weather brought out the first hoverflies at Wicks Path on 21^st. They included the Marmalade Hoverfly and Common Drone Fly but also an uncommon species, the Yellow-bowed Smoothwing.  This is widespread but scarce in the British Isles, favouring conifer woodland. Although the date is early, it is known to turn up in February. I sent photographs to Pete Kinsella for confirmation. The only other hoverfly I saw during the month was the Hairy-eyed Flower Fly. As the name suggests, this common spring-flying species is separated from close relatives by its hairy eyes, just about visible on a close-up photo. Three weeks into the month, enormous queen Buff-tailed Bumblebees were emerging from hibernation, seeking nectar, especially from early-flowering Prunus.

Management works on the sand-dunes continued throughout February, largely finishing by the month’s end to avoid disturbing breeding birds and emerging amphibians and reptiles. On Freshfield Dune Heath Nature Reserve, I was pleased to see young birch being removed to help restore the heathland. My ‘Buckthorn Bashers’ ended the season having attended 18 events, with an average of 13 volunteers each time and a total of 460 person-hours cutting invasive Sea Buckthorn on the frontal dunes north of Shore Road, Ainsdale. I managed to arrange for them to have fine weather on every occasion but one, when a ‘named storm’ caused a postponement.