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Otmoor RSPB Reserve
Otmoor RSPB Reserve is a nature reserve, managed by the RSPB, between Beckley and Oddington, within the wider area of Otmoor, in Oxfordshire, England. The reserve was established in 1997 and restored large areas of marshland from what had previously been farmland. The RSPB reserve covers around . Otmoor is primarily wetland and in winter provides a home to thousands of waterfowl. It is increasingly becoming a wintering ground for thousands of wildfowl and waders. Over a thousand wigeon and teal have been recorded, while birds of prey such as merlins and peregrines are regularly seen. Large areas of Otmoor have benefited from extensive agriculture using traditional methods, resulting in good numbers of songbirds that are otherwise declining in the UK, including bullfinch, skylark, reed bunting, grasshopper warbler and European turtle dove. Spring and autumn both produce good numbers of passage migrants, including waders in the spring and common redstarts and whinchats in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves. History Cultural practices that roughly equate to the establishment and maintenance of reserved areas for animals date bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Turtle Dove
The European turtle dove (''Streptopelia turtur'') is a member of the bird family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It breeds over a wide area of the south western Palearctic including north Africa but migrates to northern sub-Saharan Africa to winter. Taxonomy The European turtle dove was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other pigeons in the genus '' Columba'' and coined the binomial name ''Columba turtur''. The specific epithet ''turtur'' is the Latin word for a turtle dove. Linnaeus gave the locality as "India". This was an error and the type locality has been designated as England. The species is now placed in the genus ''Streptopelia'' that was introduced in 1855 by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Four subspecies are recognised: * European turtle dove (''S. t. turtur'') (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe, Madeira and the Canary Islands to weste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anacamptis Morio
''Anacamptis morio'', the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid (synonym ''Orchis morio''), is a flowering plant of the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It usually has purple flowers, and is found in Europe and the Middle East. Description It flowers from late April to June in the British Isles, and as early as February in other countries, such as France. The inflorescence is of various colours, mainly purple but ranging from white, through pink, to deep purple. From 5 to 25 helmet-shaped flowers grow in a loose, linear bunch at the top of the single stalk. A pair of lateral sepals with prominent green, occasionally purple veins extend laterally like "wings", giving the orchid its name. The broad, three lobed, lower petal is pale in the center with dark spots. Leaves are lanceolate, or sometimes ovate, and grow in a rosette around the base of the plan, with some thinner leaves clasping the stem and sheathing almost up to the flowers. Leaves are green and unspotted. Plants grow to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dactylorhiza Maculata
''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to Russia. It is also found in Algeria, Morocco, and western Siberia. Etymology The name of the genus ''Dactylorhiza'' is formed from the Greek words δάκτυλος 'daktylos' meaning 'finger' and ρίζα 'ridza' meaning 'root' and refers to the tubers of this plant, which are split into several tubercles. The specific epithet 'maculata', meaning 'spotted', refers to the stained leaves. The scientific binomial name of this plant was initially ''Orchis maculata'', proposed by the Swedish naturalist and botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name was changed to the one currently accepted (''Dactylorhiza maculata'') by the Hungarian botanist Károly Rezső Soó in 1962. In German this plant is called ''Geflecktes Knabenkraut'', in French ''orch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genista Tinctoria
''Genista tinctoria'', the dyer's greenweed or dyer's broom, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. Its other common names include dyer's whin, waxen woad and waxen wood. The Latin specific epithet ''tinctoria'' means "used as a dye". Description It is a variable deciduous shrub growing to tall by wide, the stems woody, slightly hairy, and branched. The alternate, nearly sessile leaves are glabrous and lanceolate. Golden yellow pea-like flowers are borne in erect narrow racemes from spring to early summer. The fruit is a long, shiny pod shaped like a green bean pod. Distribution and habitat This species is native to meadows and pastures in Europe and Turkey. Properties and uses Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use, of which 'Royal Gold' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The plant, as its Latin and common names suggest, has been used from ancient times for producing a yellow dye, which combined with woad als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carex Filiformis
''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' may be called true sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of ''Carex'' is known as caricology. Description All species of ''Carex'' are perennial, although some species, such as '' C. bebbii'' and '' C. viridula'' can fruit in their first year of growth, and may not survive longer. They typically have rhizomes, stolons or short rootstocks, but some species grow in tufts (caespitose). The culm – the flower-bearing stalk – is unbranched and usually erect. It is usually distinctly triangular in section. The leaves of ''Carex'' comprise a blade, which extends away from the stalk, and a sheath, which encloses part of the stalk. The blade is normally long and flat, but may be folded, inrolled, cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viola Persicifolia
''Viola persicifolia'', the fen violet, is a violet (family Violaceae), native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia. In the British Isles it is very rare, occurring in a few fens in England and near the western coast of Ireland. Description The fen violet grows to a height of from a creeping rhizome, with narrow, triangular leaves across. The flowers are produced in late spring to early summer, diameter, pale bluish or yellowish-white with a short, greenish or yellowish spur. The petals are rounded and broad in relation to their width. Distribution and habitat This violet occurs in native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia. Its habitat is confined to very local damp, lime-rich places, in long herbage (fens and limy marshes). The plant is fussy about where it grows; seeds germinates in the spring on moist bare patches of base-rich peaty soil, but the seedlings only become established if the soil surface becomes drier. Most seeds germinate in close pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurasian Bittern
The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race (''B. s. stellaris'') breeding in parts of Europe and across the Palearctic, as well as on the northern coast of Africa, while the southern race (''B. s. capensis'') is endemic to parts of southern Africa. It is a secretive bird, seldom seen in the open as it prefers to skulk in reed beds and thick vegetation near water bodies. Its presence is apparent in the spring, when the booming call of the male during the breeding season can be heard. It feeds on fish, small mammals, fledgling birds, amphibians, crustaceans and insects. The nest is usually built among reeds at the edge of bodies of water. The female incubates the clutch of eggs and feeds the young chicks, which leave the nest when about two weeks old. She continues to care for them until they are fully fledged some six weeks later. Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Starling
The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the ''Mabinogion'' and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. The common starling has about 12 subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji. This bird i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Redshank
The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Scolopax totanus''. It is now placed with twelve other species in the genus ''Tringa'' that Linnaeus had introduced in 1758. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific ''totanus'' is from , the Italian name for this bird. Six subspecies are recognised: * ''T. t. robusta'' ( Schiøler, 1919) – breeds in Iceland and the Faroe Islands; non-breeding around the British Isles and west Europe * ''T. t. totanus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – breeds in west, north Europe to west Siberia; winters in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Lapwing
The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tew-it, green plover, or (in Ireland and Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia. Behaviour It is highly migratory over most of its extensive range, wintering further south as far as North Africa, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of China. It migrates mainly by day, often in large flocks. Lowland breeders in westernmost areas of Europe are resident. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America, especially after storms, as in the Canadian sightings after storms in December 1927 and in January 1966. It is a wader that breeds on cultivated land and other short vegetation habitats. 3–4 eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders, up to and including horses and cattle. In winter, it forms huge flocks on open land, particularly arable land a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Marsh Harrier
The western marsh harrier (''Circus aeruginosus'') is a large harrier, a bird of prey from temperate and subtropical western Eurasia and adjacent Africa. It is also known as the Eurasian marsh harrier. Formerly, a number of relatives were included in ''C. aeruginosus'', which was then known as "marsh harrier". The related taxa are now generally considered to be separate species: the eastern marsh harrier (''C. spilonotus''), the Papuan harrier (''C. spilothorax'') of eastern Asia and the Wallacea, the swamp harrier (''C. approximans'') of Australasia and the Madagascar marsh harrier (''C. maillardi'') of the western Indian Ocean islands. The western marsh harrier is often divided into two subspecies, the widely migratory ''C. a. aeruginosus'' which is found across most of its range, and ''C. a. harterti'' which is resident all-year in north-west Africa. Taxonomy The western marsh harrier was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth editi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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