Nature calendar

Nature calendar of the Zvārtes rock “From spring to spring”

April

The sounds of wood and winds are broken by the murmuring of the river. As the snow and ice melt, the water level raises considerably in the Amata. The strong stream carries tree trunks and branches with it. When the level falls, the banks have already changed and in some places large tree piles are brought or white sands are silted up.

Wild boar cubs are born in April. Badgers are cleaning their holes, going in night raids. Afterwards, badgers’ mating time starts. Frogs are bustling about the ponds and old rivers and laying spawn. Brown frogs introduce the amphibian “Song festival”, other species are waiting for a warmer weather. In sunnier days the over-wintering flies are buzzing, bees are visiting the first flowers, gnats are flying around. Ticks, the carriers of various diseases, are awaken, too. Sallows begin to blossom, the blue, white and yelow anemones, the stars-of-Bethlehem and a mezereon are blooming.

May

Blossom time for almoust all forest trees and bushes. On the banks of the distributaries and in moister places marigolds are blooming, bird-cherries, crabapple trees, shadberries break into leaf. The surrounding meadows of Zvārte colour in yellow for a week. From May till the beginning of June the feeling of childhood dominates in forest. Late in the evening or early in the morning the young calves of elks, deer, the young foxes are born, afterwards the young roe deer. Elks stay at the sides of grass and moss marshes, overgrown clearings, in places with a dense undergrowth. Female red deer are temporarily hiding in woods, they give birth to the fawn.

The horns of red deer, thrown in the spring, can be found in marshes or woods.

Racoon-dogs continue to change their winter coat. It lasts till summer.

From morning till evening the voices of birds do not fall silent, in the surroundings of the Zvārtes rock nightingales are heard less frequently, while ocassionally resounds a cuckoo cry of a cuckoo bird or a wood pigeon’s take two coos, tafyy…

Evenings can be chilly in May, especially during the blossoming time of bird-cherries. In evenings forest animals go for a supper, hunt, search for food, make shorter or longer hikes. Taking the advantage of the dusk as a natural cover, they come out on fields, meadows, cross the roads, go for a food search to gardens, graveyards, town’s greenery.

June

Meadows are blooming more brightly. From the humble plantain to red cover, from daysies to the  blue bell-flowers. It is time to gather plants for herb teas.

In clear nights frosts can damage gardens and the new shoots of  oak or ash-trees even till the middle of June. Although during the day air temperature can exceed +20C, nights in the Amata valley are quite chilly.

Birds are becoming more active. Until the summer solstice the loudest bird choirs can be heard in afternoon and around the sunrise. Mosquitos become more noticeable, nightflies are flying.

In the evening dusk bats go to feed. In a search for insects, on moist paths and roads toads come out. In evenings, when the surface of soil becomes moister, earthworms and various insects become active. Moles, mice, small predators are active.

Animals can be easily noticed by the waters, in places where animal tracks, footprints are found. On the banks of the Amata red deer, wild boars, beavers, otters are observed.

Even in summer water in the Amata river does not get warm and water temperature does not exceed +15° C.

There is more activity in nature during the waxing moon phase, at full moon. Then more liquid is concentraded in the upper parts of plants, more nutrients. Animals are feeding more actively, migrating, covering larger distances, are sleeping less, are more fearful.

After midsummer the voices of many songbirds fall silent. They are hiding the babies, their nesting places and are busy with the feeding of the young ones.

Adult elks are migrating, looking for a new place to stay. Female elks give birth to their calves. Elks and red deer are seeking to rub the dead velvet from their antlers.

During nights badgers cover large territories, looking for the insects, caterpillars, frogs. They are frequent visitors to gardens and parks. Racoon dogs are preying all night, already from the dusk hours.

July

The smell of hay and meadowseats scents the meadows of the Zvārte.

Roebucks occupy mating-paces. In July round trails – ‘doe rings’ can be found under the bushes. When alarmed, roebuck barks a sound much like a dog, hoping to frighten away the opponent.

During the day wild boars are sleeping, during dusk hours and at night they go to fields to feed. They eat eggs, animal babies, amphibians, small animals. During the dusk hours racoon dogs can be noticed as well, mostly along the banks of the river, streams, in moist places.

In July and August some animal babies gradually start independent life and discover the world. On the trails and roads, nearby settlements one can come across the young foxes, racoon-dog babies. Unfortunate road-crossers – young hedhedogs, squirrels, martens, hares, dazzled by the lights, end their life on roadsides.

August

Meadows are turning yellow. Raspberries, blackberries can be found along the sides of the forest trails.

The elk rut starts already in August. In evenings and nights, as well as at the morning dawn bellows and the noise of cracking twigs can be heard. Cranes are calling. In the  evening dusk a beaver leaves for food search. On the banks of the river a snap – the slapping of tail on  water, can be heard. In afternoons or in mornings beaver accomplishes most of the building works, repairs or restores  dams, gnaws trees. In the morning it often reveals that trees have been gnawed down quite close to houses, roadways.

Foxes go hunting at dusk, during the night. Very well adapted to the cultural landscape, populated areas, sometimes do not avoid to settle close to houses. Prey mainly on small rodents – mice, voles. To feed make use of reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects as a food resource. In summer, winter regularly feast on fruits.  Foxes are loners by nature. Each fox has its own established territory with several dens (mostly holes dug by badgers or by themselves) and a web of trails.

The closer to the end of August, the stronger scent of autumn fills the air, the less hot and even warm days. As the air temperature falls down, the evaporation rate of soil moisture decreases, but the humidity reserves in soil increases. During the night and morning hours a thick fog develops in the Amata valley.

September

Maples are growing red by the Zvārte little house and Vieļi house. During nights the first frost is possible in the Amata valley and in some places temperature decreases even till -4°C. In mornings the meadows and river is covered by a thick fog.

Mushroom-gathering season begins. Penny bunnies, orange birch boletes, brown birch boletes, slippery jacks at the side of sandy forest roads, Russula caps in different colours are hiding in moss and under bush.

During productive years Zvārte crabapples adorn themselves with tiny yellow and red apples.

The forest has fallen silent. The small songbirds’ voices are no longer heard. The first migratory birds are flying away. In September evenings the rutting season and  bellowing of  red deer begin. From the nearby Roči reserve roars can be heard even for kilometres.

October

Trees in the Amata valley by Zvārte adorn themselves with the magnifiscent autumn leaves. On the middle a spindle-tree with dark red leaves and the unusual rosy-orange ovaries and the golden tawn clusters of hop. Mushroom picking continues. If September has remained comparatively warm and there are few strong frosts, the mushroom season ends only at the beginning of October. One can still find penny bunnies, orange birch boletes, foxy boletes, slippery jacks, bay boletes, on the sides of forests, roads and even in gardens parasol mushrooms, in marshy pine forests  the Tall russules, the Flirts and other mushrooms.

The migratory birds are flying over the Amata River in a staggered pattern.

Autumn rains begin. Sunny days alternate with rainy ones. Water level in the Amata raises. Forest animals continue to store food for the winter. One keeps it in a hole or in a hollow, other stores up fat. Little by little everybody grows thick coats for winter.

November

The period of Autumn rains. Gradually the last bright leaves fall off. The leaves of Zvārte oaks, at the foot of Miglas (Fog) rock, remain  the last, even till the spring. Forest sage-green , grey colours of fog and brown dominate in the canvas of nature. The only bright accents are spindle-tree’s ruddy orange seed frames, buckthorn’s, sweet briar’s and elderberry’s berry clusters, which are shining here and there at the forest side. Although the vegetation period of plants ends in the beginning of November, however, penny buns and various species of russula can be found in forests even in this month.

The first snow is possible at the beginning of the month.

December

Winter comes to the Amata valley. With a frost, wet snow, the first snowstorm.

December precedes the coldest season, which starts considerably later after the astonomic calendar, namely, on the 22th of December (in the leap year on the 21th of December). Each day stretches longer for a minute. Althought th sun already turns to the summer side, it does not become warmer. Continuously the average temperature of day remains under O°C, lakes, rivers are freezing over, the upper layer of soil is frozen. The citizens of mother nature are hiding under the thick bushes at the side of forest or in thickets. Hares, does, deer and elks are feeding with blueberry, raspberry bushes, thick twigs, buds, bark. The processes of nature do not stop and the rush of activity continues even in places where the cold elements  rule – both under the ice, and under the snow. Neither artiodactyles, nor predatory animals, nor birds, which have stayed in Latvia, are sleeping. Yes, there are two exceptions: already from the first frost dormice and bats are sleeping in sweet dreams. However, as the temperature changes, they are moving in a half sleep, as well. Bats, which hibernate in holes, in stronger frost crawl deeper in cracks, or ‘chimneys’, but when thaw comes in spring, they move towards the entrance of the hole. Some forest animals, for example, badgers and racoon dogs, are adapted to spend the cold season snoozing, however when the thaw comes, appear from the hole and even search for something to eat.

January

The coldest month of winter. If anticyclones dominate, the artic continental air can flow in with eastern and northeastern winds from the side of the Artic, bringing a true frost from -25° till -30°C.

In sunny days the red sandstones of the Zvārtes rock on the background of the white snow look very majestic. In the valley of the Amata dominates the serenity of winter. Along the bank of the river a track of an otter and fox can be noticed, in the meadow by grassy knolls - a tiny string of mouse footprints.

In more peaty places, where the soil is not frozen, large dug-ups can be found – wild boars have been looking for something useful. The Amata freezes over only in very cold winters. The rapids of Zvārte usually are swirling even during frost. The rocks are covered with snow and ice caps, but around them the stream continues to swirl all around.

February

Snow storms cover trails and the road to the Zvārtes rock. Tracks of animals can be noticed along the river. In the open water hole of the Amata an otter has been looking for something to prey. A thin string of fox footprints, occasional lines of  roe deer leaps. A small herd of wild boars have left a deep furrow in the snow, but by the fir-trees a pile of cone scales.  Squirrels have been working there. At the end of the month the piles of snow slowly shrink in the sun. When the bark of sallows colours brighter, the spring will come soon.

March

Although the sun raises higher every day, still, it is snow storming, freezing and snowing. However, in some places the snow crust has already disappeared, the Amata is beginning to  get free of the ices. March is both a winter, and a spring month. The air fills with the scent of soil, long-awaited spring has come. Tree and bush trunks started to colour brighter already for some weeks before. At the end of March the over-wintered flies sleepy crawl up the warm tree trunks and house walls and a bee comes flying to explore. The sallows slowly begin to blossom.

In the children’s room of the mother nature the earliest are the babies of  the brown hare, which are born already in March, at the beginning of April.

By Līga Eglīte