'Ecobites - Creature Features' are a series of local wildlife profiles put together to brighten up your busy mornings and can be found on Matthew's Thursday 'Talk of the week' show...so tune in!

Once a week, you can now boast to your friends with a 'Did you know?!' about the flora and fauna of our beautiful peninsula...and then get out there and experience the wonders of nature first hand.

Copyright Mark Fox, 2011

Episode 1 - The 'plight' of the bumblebee and springtime seals

It was early February, wandering home from Gylly beach, when I was first greeted by the gentle hum of a bumblebee - a sure-fire sign that things would start to get a bit brighter and warmer. Despite a universal fear of that nasty sting that a bee carries, I think that we all have a special soft-spot for these beautiful pollinators.

Unfortunately, the future of our bumblebee is looking bleak. Within the last 70 years, 2 species have become nationally extinct - this principally is down to poor farming practise.  However, you can help by simply planting cottage garden flowers (nothing too exotic) - it's as easy as that.

Copyright Rosie Prowse, 2011

Grey seals are a popular sight along the Cornish coastline, and can be spotted at their key breeding caves at Godrevy head.  Incredibly, grey seals are one of the rarest seals in the world and Cornwall is a safe-haven for them. 40% of the world's population resides in the UK, and about 500 to 1000 spend the summer months in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly giving us a huge responsibility to protect them.

Tune in to the 'Talk of the Week' show this Thursday morning to catch the first ever episode of 'Ecobites - Creature features' and learn more about these charismatic creatures on the brink.

Episode 2: Peculiar primroses and charismatic chiffchaffs

For those of you who missed this episode, it was a good mix of flowery and flighty where I discussed the peculiarity of primroses and the beautiful call of a chiffchaff.

Copyright Tori Orchard, 2011.

It's very easy to dismiss the primrose, Primula vulgaris, as just another common british flower - but don't be fooled - these flowers have a special little secret.  They actually have two different morphs (no, I'm not referring to the Tony Hart kind that we're all so fond of), they're known as 'Pin' and 'Thrum' morphs. The reason for the primrose being distylous (meaning it has two morphs) is that each flower cannot pollinate with a morph of it's own kind. Each morph is known as being 'self-incompatible' so it must pollinate with it's opposing morph. The weird thing is that this is almost like having two sexes, a mummy and daddy primrose....who would have thought?

Copyright Tori Orchard, 2011.

The chiffchaff - a small warbler that actively flits and flies from tree to tree, singing it's merry 'chiffchaff' tune. We are so used to this little bird that you probably don't notice it's disappearance over the winter months.The chiffchaff is actually only a summer visitor to the UK, they arrive in early spring and are one of the last to leave in Autumn. Male and female chiffchaffs are very hard-working in their own ways, the male will arrive before the female in Spring just to pracitise his courting calls for when the females flock into the UK. The mothers, however, are dedicated to building nests and rearing the chicks all by themselves.

These are some lovely additions to our Spring wildlife portfolio, so keep your eyes peeled.

Episode 3 - Redwings and Dormice

Copyright James May 2011

In this episode I presented to you some facts about two more British species - the Dormouse and Redwing.

At the time this was aired, the Redwing was just about to leave for it's 'Spring departure' when it migrates to other parts of the world. The Redwing is unfortunately not that common and has low numbers of breeding pairs in the UK. When the species returns to the UK, you can find them gracefully flocking over fields.

The Dormouse is a familiar friend of ours which can either result in an 'aw!' or an 'eek!', depending on your level of tolerance for fast little creatures running around the kitchen. The Dormouse spends a whole three-quarters of it's life asleep in order to consrve energy in the cold months of winter.

Episode 4 - Blankets of bluebells and Cattle Egrets

When this first went out on air the weather was getting beautifully warm and sunny. Unfortunately, whilst writing this little piece the weather seems to have dropped a bit...fingers crossed summer kicks in soon!

The UK is a beautiful place to be in the summertime with it's rolling hills, lovely beaches and country parks, and one of it's best spectacles is the bluebell wood. Bluebell woods are characterised by the blanket of bluebells which thrive in the shade that is created by the thick canopy of leaves above.

The Cattle Egret is actually an exotic species that has made a home on our shores quite recently. It originally comes from the African Plains where it feeds alongside cattle on the savannah - now they have adapted to live in the UK, they behave similarly alongside domestic cattle too. Definately a bird worth ticking off in the twitching journal.