Rangers View - March
South Downs in March
March is when sap will be rising in the trees and flowers this month and many leaves will emerge changing our landscape from many shades of grey and brown to many shades of green with the odd sprinkle of white blossom from Blackthorn. There is a country saying, “March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb”. The Vikings said that the lengthening month of March woke the alder and gorse blooms. They knew the period, as “Lenct” meaning spring, it was a time of enforced fasting because the winter stores ran low. The Christian church adopted The Viking name “Lenct” and renamed it “Lent”.
Blackthorn blossom
Traditionally for farmers this month, if the weather turns cold again, the farmers will be busy ensuring their livestock in the fields are getting enough water and nutrients and so they will be breaking the ice on the water troughs and supplying salt licks near the feeding areas.
Farmers can help conservation by not cutting hedgerows or laying them after mid-March because of nesting birds. The longer the farmers can leave stubble in the field the more this will help birds and animals to find the left over seeds that can be found there. It is also good practice not to spray any herbicide or pesticide on field margins or beside hedgerows after mid-March because it kills off many species of insect which can be beneficial to the crops like ladybirds that eat aphids as well as save some of our less common arable plants.
Bloody-nosed Beetle
Up on the Downs, if you are lucky, you may see the mad March hares boxing. The Brown Hare is especially associated with this time of the year. It is called the "Mad March Hare" because of it's courtship behaviour. If you do happen to see hares at this time of the year they can be seen boxing at one moment, then chasing one another around at the next in an explosion of activity. Another unusual beast to look out for is the Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa). They can be found wandering around towards the end of the month in a number of habitats but especially on Downland. This large black beetle has a remarkable defence mechanism. When they are attacked they discharge “blood” from all their orifices and this usually puts off the predator, who leaves them alone to live another day.
Wild Daffodil
Among the blooms that flower this month, the one that is most likely to go unnoticed are those of the Yew tree (Taxus baccata). Small yellow flowers are to be found on the male trees and small green flowers are found on the female trees. A good place to look out for them is in churchyards although there are many scattered over the weald and downland. The best site in the county to see Yew trees is at Kingley Vale, which is Northwest of Chichester.
Box “Buxus sempervirens”
Another plant that flowers this month, but one that is not so common, is the Box “Buxus sempervirens”. Box can be found in a few scattered localities on the Downs. This is a small evergreen bush that flowers in March and into April. Both male and female flowers are found on the same plant and come out together to increase the chance of insect pollination. The male flowers are yellow and the female flowers are green. Box can increase in population by seed, runners or by allowing its branches to sag down to the ground and take root, this method is known as “layering”. It is rare to see Box grow to maturity where it can become a fine tree of around thirty-five feet in height. However, there are a few examples around, especially on Box Hill in Surrey. The timber has long been sought-after because it is a very hard wood and excellent for woodcarving. It has been used for making mathematical instruments and chess pieces.
Early Hawthorn leaves
In the woods this month there are a number of flowers to look out for. One fairly common plant found along country lanes is the Sweet Violet (Viola odorata). This violet is our only violet that gives off a sweet fragrance. This plant has been associated with love for thousands of years. The Greeks made the Sweet Violet the symbol of Athens because they were so taken by it. The flowers used to be picked and strewn over floors to freshen the smell of houses. It also possesses a substance known as “Ionine” that has a strange property - after initially smelling the pleasant fragrance of violets, “ionine” can cause temporary loss of smell.
lesser celandine
Probably the most noticeable flower we will see this month on the lead up to Easter is the Daffodil. There are many varieties of Daffodils to be seen, however, in some of our semi-ancient woodlands and hedge banks you may find the Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarsissus). The Wild Daffodil used to be widespread but because of the removal of much woodland and drainage of pasture the numbers have been reduced. But by far the most damaging and inexcusable cause of its decline is that it has been dug up and put into gardens and churchyards. Luckily for this plant it is now illegal to dig up Wild Daffodils from the wild so this hopefully will reduce the chances of losing this much-loved flower from our countryside.
Scarlet Elf Cup
One of the other obvious flowers to be seen adorning our hedgerows this month is the white blossom from the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). Traditionally very cold winters that spread into March were known as “Blackthorn Winters”.
On the heaths, a much over-looked plant that comes out into flower this month is the Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris). It can cover sandy grassland areas and looks very much like a grass. However, on closer inspection you will see that it is very hairy on its leaves, which is a characteristic of a Wood-rush. It flowers towards the end of this month into early April and usually looks its best at Easter. Because of this it goes by the other name of “Good Friday-grass”.
Field Woodrush
One of the obvious flowers to be seen adorning our hedge-banks this month is the Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria). This plant can be variable but generally the leaves are heart-shaped and the flowers are a bright yellow. William Wordsworth described them in one of his poems as “bright as the sun itself”. In the past the plant was collected for its juice to make an ointment that was used to calm piles. For this reason it was often referred to as “Pilewort”.
In our wetter areas this month if you are out walking in any wet areas this month you may stumble across a very striking fungus known as Scarlet Elf cup (Sarcoscypha australis). This bright red fungus can more usually be found in boggy areas under alder trees by streams.
There is lots of activity in the countryside this month with fox cubs being born and badger cubs coming above ground for their first time. On warm days many insects will be seen looking for food and many birds will start nest building and singing.
The clocks change towards the end of the month and so our days will at last become much lighter. Next month is traditionally associated with rain showers and so I will talk more on the theme of wetlands and what you might see during the month of April.
