Redwings, Red Kite and a Lesser Redpoll - back on the patch at Cranford Park

Hullo Cranford Park, I've missed you ! Have you missed me too ?

 

I haven't been on my patch since the 17th October, so this morning with blue skies, a chill in the air and armed with a flask of coffee, a couple of cheese rolls, my camera backpack and a huge long puffa jacket, I trotted off to the woods.

 

Straight into my old routine, first stop was the wood circle.

It's always in shade in the morning so the sun hadn't yet melted the frost.

 

 

Even some of the fungi was frosted....

 

There were lots of other fungi around the circle...

 

As always I shared my breakfast with the wood circle birds. The territorial Robin was first up for some crumbs....

 

 

Closely followed by the two usual Magpies.......

 

Today I only visited the wood circle and the river.

 Up by the stone bridge another Robin was guarding it's territory. He was a bit meaner than the wood circle Robin and was successfully seeing off a pair of Carrion Crow when I caught up with him. It's a funny time of year as although Robins are not actively looking for mates, they are establishing new territories around the park....

 

 

Also along the river I found a nice sized group of Long-tailed Tits busy amongst the branches.....

 

 

I also found a sleeping Wren. Yes, it really was dozing in the sun.....

 

It didn't even fly off when I made a noise. It just stared at me for a few seconds.....

 

Before dozing back off again...

 

Eventually it did fly in to the reeds, where another little brown bird caught my eye. After much shuffling around for a clear view I realised it was a Lesser Redpoll. Not quite as confiding as the six I had been watching in Mum's garden earlier in the week, and it was really hard to get a decent photo....

 

 

and the only picture I managed off the face was out of focus....

 

Usually these little birds travel around in small flocks, but despite searching around I couldn't find any more of them.

 

From the Iron Bridge looking down towards the Stone Bridge I spotted two Little Grebes. It's really nice to see them back here for their third winter...

 

 

Mingling with several Mallards was a much smaller duck, probably about half the size of a Mallard. After trying in vain to find a good spot to take a photo, I had to make do with half decent views from both bridges. It was a female Eurasian Teal, a patch tick for me. Just wish I'd managed to get at least one photo of it. Later in the afternoon I couldn't find it at all.

 

Whilst searching for the Teal I watched one of the resident Moorhens having a bath and preen...

 

 

Walking back up the avenue towards the wood circle, a Red Kite came over low being mobbed by a pair of crows....

 

Unfortunately the lovely blue skies had been replaced by dark clouds, so all of my photos just show the silhouettes of the birds.....

 

The Red Kite had something in its beak, but I couldn't tell you what it was....

 



 

Whilst at the wood circle this morning I had been trying to count the number of Redwings that were flitting around the edge of Cranford Woods. There must have been about 30 birds foraging amongst the many berry bushes. They were so flighty and nervous that it had been impossible to get a photo of any of them. Going back to the circle I decided to sit on the bench under the huge old Oak nearby. From there I could see three of the berry bushes clearly and decided to sit it out for a while. I'm glad I had my flask of coffee with me, it was a chilly wait. But my patience was worth it. Eventually a few Redwings appeared out in the open and I was able to grab a couple of distant shots....

 

 

The Blackbirds didn't like the Redwings stealing their food source, and several times I saw them chase the Redwings off....

 

Usually mingling with Redwings are our other winter visiting thrush, the Fieldfare, but I didn't see any of them today. The huge old Yew in the church grounds is often a good place to see both thrushes at this time of year but the yew berries appeared quite early this year and the tree has already been stripped by other birds and the squirrels.

 

Also seen briefly was a Kingfisher that went under the stone bridge heading towards the M4 viaduct, at least ten Goldcrest amongst the holly bushes and a Common Buzzard soaring high over the park.

 

I've missed you Cranford Park. It's good to be back.

Siskin overload at Maple Lodge NR

For the last ten days I've been staying mainly at Mum's house whilst she recovers from some very intense surgery. The cancer that we thought she had beaten last year had come back, and this time chemo and radiotherapy were not an option, only surgery was. So when I've not been looking after my lovely Mum, I was doing a bit of garden watching - a luxury for me as I don't have my own garden - hence my last few blog posts have been from her garden and the local church grounds.

 

 Today however I was heading back home to prepare for going back to work on Monday and decided to have a stop over at Maple Lodge NR, a beautifully maintained private reserve not far from Mums. It was all planned. I was going to set off to arrive at ML before 9am. However Mum had a bad evening last night so I hung around a bit this morning and didn't arrive at the reserve until just before 11am.

 

It was one of those days that despite being planned in advance, actually turned out to plan out itself.

 I didn't even get all the way round the reserve. In fact the furthest point I made was to the Teal Hide. I lost an hour alone in the Clubhouse Hide this morning. There was nothing of great interest, it was just lovely to sit in there and watch the comings and goings.

 

A Red Kite went over being mobbed by the usual Carrion Crows.....

 

 

Naturally with the cold weather snap the feeders were very busy with Great and Blue Tits queuing up to grab some grub.....

 

Out on the rafts a Cormorant was spreading it's wings.....

 

There were several Cormorants coming in and taking off. I could see at least six Shovellers in the distance, plus double that amount in Mallards. A lone Kingfisher flew across and out of sight. Five Tufted Ducks were diving. And three winter plumage Little Grebes were companionly sticking together in the shade.

 

Remembering that I only had a few hours of daylight left I started to make my way around to the Teal Hide (after a quick look from the Rotunda which yielded nothing, probably as to be expected after the work party there this morning). I was stopped in my tracks by the puddingstone. The calls of little birds were everywhere. Goldfinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Treecreepers, Goldcrests, a distant Nuthatch, and Siskins.........and more Siskins and more Siskins. There must have been about 20-30 Siskins in the Alders around the puddingstone area....

 

 

 

 

and about 20+ Goldfinches....

 

It got to the point where I didn't know where to look. Siskins were feeding overhead mixing with the Goldfinches and various Tits, the Goldcrests were chasing each other around a bit lower down the tree and everything briefly went quiet when a female Sparrowhawk flew past my shoulder and headed low over to the waterworks.

 

The little birds soon came out again though, and after a Siskin overload I decided to chance my luck at photographing Goldcrests......

 

Nope.....

 

Nearly......

 

and gotcha.....

 

Amongst the mixed throng a Treecreeper broke away and I managed a hastily grabbed out of focus shot as it quickly disappeared up a nearby tree.....

 

I was so intent on watching the birds above that I neglected was on the ground and it wasn't until I spotted movement that I realised a rabbit had emerged from the undergrowth. It's not the 'black rabbit' that has been reported recently, but it's definitely a shade or two darker than the ones I see on my local patch..

 

 

Another hour lost with the little birds meant I was fast running out of time, not only for daylight but also for my bus which was at 1529.

There was nothing at the Teal Hide except a pair of Mallards mating (one way to keep warm I guess), a very well hidden Common Snipe and a distant flying Little Egret, so I made my way back to the Clubhouse for a cuppa in the warm.

 

The resident Moorhens aren't stupid. Every day they see little birds and squirrels tackling the bird feeders, so I guess it was just a matter of time before one of the Moorhens decided to have a go itself.....

 

 

One of the three Little Grebes I had watched earlier had drifted nearer to the hide.....

 

and from the 'back' door a Great Spotted Woodpecker looked glorious in the sunshine....

 

Before heading off to catch my bus I made one last trip to the Rotunda. Just as I opened the door I saw a Robin inside the hide throwing itself against the closed Perspex hide window. All of the hide windows were shut. I ushered the little bird out of the door, where it spent a few seconds scolding me and possibly regaining its energy, before flying off unharmed. I know I didn't leave the windows open on my previous visit, because I know I didn't open any of them. It was too cold and I was happy to see what was around, or not, through the Perspex window. So how did the Robin get in ? There were only a few of us on site this afternoon, all regulars who know not to leave a window open. And ALL of the windows were closed when I paid my second visit. Mystery. But at least the bird, albeit a little grumpy and stressed, flew off unharmed.

 

Despite the cold snap I found three fungi specimens today. Unfortunately all were off the path way so I couldn't get any macro shots for identification purposes and you'll have to make do with my 'macro' facility on my 75-300 zoom lens....

 

 

The one above is on a fallen log on the way to the Rotunda, on the left hand side just before you reach the nest box where a Treecreeper nested earlier this year. It's only about the size of a ten pence coin.

 

This one above is along the same stretch of path but nearer to the path divide.

 

and this tiny specimen, no bigger than a penny, was on a fallen twig between the bend on the path and the Rotunda hide.

 

As always with my visits to Maple Lodge, I had a great time. I always find plenty to see and photograph. Despite not going all the way round the reserve today, I'm more than happy with what I did get to see. I'm still a newbie to the site so still have a lot to learn and observe each season.