{"id":861461,"date":"2026-09-26T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861461\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T14:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T14:58:09","slug":"country-diary-im-virtually-living-in-the-woods-now-wildlife-is-everywhere-trees-and-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861461\/","title":{"rendered":"Country diary: I\u2019m virtually living in the woods now. Wildlife is everywhere | Trees and forests"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have made the woods my home, moving from Brighton to the outskirts of Lewes, where the garden backs on to the remains of an old oak wood. Here there\u2019s a riot of wildlife: a badger that makes snuffle holes in the lawn, a family of tawny owls in the trees and a cauldron of bats in the chimney.<\/p>\n

The mystery tree in Kate\u2019s garden. Photograph: Kate Bradbury<\/p>\n

I have plans to let the wood expand into the garden, but in the meantime there\u2019s a mystery tree whose branches almost reach my bedroom window. It\u2019s nearly dead, stressed from too many droughts, perhaps, or coming to a natural end. Some have suggested it\u2019s a willow, but I suspect it\u2019s a cultivated species I\u2019m not familiar\u00a0with.<\/p>\n

Without leaves, flowers or fruit there\u2019s not much to help with identification, but there\u2019s fresh growth in the canopy that might make the job easier soon. The exposed branches lay bare a world\u00a0of birds that I wouldn\u2019t otherwise see \u2013 tits, robins, blackbirds, thrushes, woodpeckers\u00a0and nuthatches.<\/p>\n

My favourite, though, is the treecreeper<\/a>. It stops by in the morning, moving around the tree as if climbing an imaginary curved staircase. It will be searching for insects and spiders, using its long bill to probe beneath the bark, its curved toes to cling to the trunk and its stiff tail feathers\u00a0for\u00a0balance.<\/p>\n

I spot its white bib first, then reach for my binoculars and admire its intricate brown and gold\u00a0plumage, which helps it blend\u00a0in with the bark.<\/p>\n

Resident in Britain, treecreepers leave their breeding territories in autumn and move to a winter habitat in a nearby woodland or park, sometimes joining a roving group of tits. So my morning visitor may soon be gone. But I hope it returns in spring to build a nest of spiders\u2019 webs, grass, moss and feathers, and to scale my mystery tree once more.<\/p>\n

Standing dead wood is a rare garden habitat, and I admit to worrying about winter storms and\u00a0the tree\u2019s proximity to my house. But dead wood is full of life,\u00a0as the treecreeper and its friends attest. I am watering the roots, hoping a moist soil will yield\u00a0more growth, and that there\u2019s life in the old tree yet.<\/p>\n

Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian\u2019s Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now at guardianbookshop.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have made the woods my home, moving from Brighton to the outskirts of Lewes, where the garden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-861461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}