Pergrines and SEOs - a visit to London today

I was off to meet Ali and Nathalie at Charing Cross Hospital this morning. Despite chatting to Ali via the FaB Peregrines Facebook page over the last couple of years, we've never met, so just like yesterday when I met up with Angie at Cranford Park, it really was nice to put a face to the name.

 

Sadly the Margravine Cemetery, often the best view point for the FaB peregrines, has recently had a horrific spate of vandalism. Several monuments of angels have had their heads 'chopped' off. And this isn't the work of unruly teenagers, according to CCTV footage this was the act of a lone man. Quiet terrifying really, and even more so when the cemetery has gates which are locked each evening.

 

 

Hope the culprit is caught very soon.

 

The peregrines themselves were quite elusive today. Ali caught a glimpse of Charlie the falcon about an hour before Nathalie and I arrived. As the three of us chatted, Tom the tiercel flew on to one of his favourite perches. Convinced Charlie would follow, we hung around watching good numbers of Blackbirds, feeding very approachable Grey Squirrels and listening to Goldcrests and Coal Tits calling. But after another half an hour Charlie still hadn't appeared. Nathalie made her way home and Ali and myself made our way to the London Wetland Centre leaving Tom preening on his perch near the hospital roof....

 

One of the first water birds we saw at LWC was two Little Grebes on the front lake.....

 

 

After a quick hot drink we made our way to the Dulverton hide. There was no where to sit so we soon left but not before a loudly singing Cettis Warbler briefly showed itself next to the hide. A dreadful photo, but as always the Cettis like to remain quite hidden.....

 

We were approaching the WWF hide when we came across a couple of other birdwatchers. One of them had spotted a Water Rail right on the edge of the reeds. It wasn't hard to see, and it was calling too which made us all wonder if there was a second hidden bird. I couldn't get good photos at first.....

 

 

but after shuffling down the path, the Rail then turned and I managed to get some lovely views....

 

Still a shame about the reeds in front of its beak and body, but this is my best view of a Water Rail this year.

 

All morning I had joked Charlie was missing from her usual hospital haunt because she was at the Wetlands Centre. When Ali and I were settled in the WWF hide and the gulls suddenly went up, I was utterly convinced it was because Charlie or Tom, or both, were around. Scanning the sky with my bins I spotted what had set the gulls up, but it wasn't one of the peregrines.....

 

 

It took me a few minutes to digest what we were seeing. It was a Short Eared Owl......

 

 

 

At first it was being mercilessly mobbed by various crows and gulls, then as it started to head high up over the hide, I ran outside to get some better views. Eventually it drifted off alone. What a great sighting though ! In all the years I've been going to the Wetlands Centre, I have never seen a SEO there. Thinking that would have been our last sighting of it, Ali and I made our way to the Peacock Tower. Within minutes of arriving and getting confirmations from other watchers who had also seen it, the owl then came back in to view....

 

 

Again it circled around before being mobbed and chased off, and again it eventually disappeared from view. Two sightings in one hour ? This was turning out to be a well chosen day out.

 

On our way back to the café for some lunch, we were chatting to some more birdwatchers when I happened to glance up and spotted the owl yet again. We pointed it out to some others who hadn't heard the commotion, and again the bird disappeared after soaring up quite high. It was becoming very obvious that the owl wanted to land, but with all the crows and gulls mobbing it at every opportunity, it was looking less and less likely that there would be a SEO on the deck at the Wetlands Centre.

 

Ali had to leave after we had lunch, so I was on my own and wondering whether to hit the Wildside, or go back to where the Water Rail had been seen, when word started filtering through that the Short Eared Owl had not only reappeared, but that it had finally landed somewhere in the marshes. From the Wildside hide myself and several others scanned all of the area, but to no avail. I was heading back to the Water Rail site when a couple of birdwatchers advised me the owl could be seen from the Peacock Tower.

 

Moments later I was seated in that hide and scanning the marshes in front of me. I found a pair of Stonechats, but could see no sign of the owl......

 

 

Spot the Stonechat......

 It wasn't until someone managed to find the owl through their scope, therefore putting everyone else on to it, that I actually believed the SEO had landed. It was not only very well camouflaged, it had also hunkered down so low that only it's head was visible. I could just see it through my bins, but getting a photo of it with my 150-300mm zoom lens was a different matter......

Can you see it ??????

Can you see it now ?????

For the next 90 minutes I was glued to that hide window, hoping the owl would either move out from the long grass or take off again. But then the clouds moved over, rain began to fall, and it was almost a certainty the owl wasn't going anywhere.

 

A stunning male Pintail was viewable in the distance though......

 

 

and there were plenty of Shovelers around to keep me interested......

 

Eventually I gave up my hide seat, and wandered down back to the Dulverton hide hoping to see one of the two reported Bitterns on site. I didn't, but others I had spoken to today had seen one from that hide, so it looks like I will be visiting again within the next few weeks.

 

All in all, it was a really good day. I found more fungi at the cemetery and the Wetlands Centre......

 

 

It was really nice to catch up with Nathalie, the peregrines Godmother, and meet Ali for the first time. I bumped into Sue Barry briefly, and had some nice chats with the coach load of birdwatchers from Gravesend, and some more birders from the Richmond and Twickenham RSPB Group, including the incredibly talented Les McCallum. Please click here for the link to Les McCallums excellent website.

 

And my day was completed by meeting David Lindo and getting my book autographed by him....

 

 

 

My 200th blog post - an afternoon spent looking for the invisible Little Owls at Cranford Park

Happy 200th post dear blog of mine.

 

I spent a couple of hours mooching around Cranford Park this afternoon after spending an enjoyable lengthy chat with Angie Mayo from the Friends of Cranford Park Facebook page. It's great to put a face to a name.

 

The River Crane was looking very swollen after all the rain we had during the night and this morning. As mentioned in my post two days ago, I feared the Little Grebes may disappear again if the water levels rose too high, and it looks as if I wasn't wrong. No matter how hard I looked there was no sign of either of the Grebes. The overhanging vegetation they liked to hide under was underwater. In face many of the Mallards that were around on Wednesday had also gone, leaving behind just one pair plus two Moorhen.

 

View from the iron bridge looking down the river to the stone bridge

View from the bank, with the iron bridge on the right

After spending some time looking for the Grebes and hoping for a Kingfisher fly-by, I walked away from the river with no sign of either. There were plenty of Grey Squirrels around though. At least they are reliable enough to pose for a half decent photo.

 

 

and there were large numbers of Magpies on the ground too, either looking for some juicy worms bought to the surface by the rain, or maybe looking for nuts hidden by the squirrels.

 

I was watching this male Great Spotted Woodpecker enjoying the sun when I first heard a Little Owl calling from somewhere behind me..

 

 

It called again and I was able to narrow the area down to the copse next to the Ice House copse. A third call and I had the area down to four trees.

 

But could I find the Little Owl ? Nope. Despite it calling twice again, I still couldn't locate it. I stood under every tree, scanned every branch, stood back silently and waited, but the Little Owl didn't call again.

However, by going through this particular copse, which admittedly I don't often do, I found some more new species of fungi. I'm waiting for confirmation of the id's for these, and when I get them I will be putting up a 'fungi album' on the new Wino Wendy's Wildlife World Facebook page (copy to the page here)

 

Just this week alone I've found and photographed at least 15 different species. Here are todays finds....

 

 

To end my 200th blog post, this is a photo of my most favourite tree at Cranford Park. It's a huge Sweet Chestnut estimated to be up to 490 years old. Yes, that isn't a typo, the tree is approximately 490 years old. You can only imagine what history that tree has seen !

 

 

Happy 200th posting Blog. Here's to many many more posts. Clink clink cheers......

A gloomy morning at Lake Farm

I had a morning stroll around Lake Farm today. I rarely go there now, since the new school has been built the thrill of visiting the site has left me.

 

There are only two good things I have to say about the school, it has nice large living green roofs (or rooves, if you spell it the old fashioned way) and young oak trees are starting to be planted around the perimeter. The school has even stolen Lake Farms statue of the symbolic Skylark for it's own.

 

 My initial reason for visiting was to hopefully spot Stonechats. Sue had seen two there recently, and I was hoping that might be a sign that they will over winter on site again. For the first time in my memory, they failed to over winter last year, and I do blame that on the new school being built. And again today, there was not one sign of any Stonechats. Maybe next winter, when the birds are more used to the new noises from the school, they may over winter again. Also lacking today were any Reed Buntings. Lake Farm used to host a large population of these over winter (one memorable day in Feb 2012 I counted 22 of them). Today, not one. And lastly, noticeable by their absence, were the House Sparrows. From the sounds I could hear, it seems they have defected over to the houses in Botwell Common Road.

 

So what did I find this morning ? A distant skein of geese were going over.....but too distant to make out what they were.....

 

 

Accidentally I kept flushing a Green Woodpecker.....

 

It was very overcast and gloomy today, so none of my photos are going to win any prizes. And the autumn colours that I would expect just haven't happened this year. So artistic licence let me make my own...

 

Before.........

 

and after.....

 

 

There are lots of pockets of shrubs with berries at the moment, but not many winter Thrushes around to feed on them. The Hawthorns haws are almost black in colour now, instead of the lovely red that they were a few weeks ago.....

 

 

but the wild rose hips are looking beautiful.....

 

 

and the mahonia that grows along the boundary fence always looks good at this time of year....

 

 

In the Navnat field, the usual gulls were gathering. Three different varieties today.....

 

Herring gull....

 

 

Common gull....

 

and Black-headed gull......

 

By the school, a large hole has appeared and is flooded with water. I'm not sure if this is meant to be a new pond or whether its going to be built over, but it was attracting several batheing Magpies, Wood Pigeons and a little Pied Wagtail.....

 

 

Birds seen but not photographed included three Goldcrests in the copse by the canal, a handful of Linnets, a large mixed flock of Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, several Blackbirds and a wonderful sighting of a female Sparrowhawk emerging from the canal copse, flying low over a grassy path and missing its intended Linnet target by just a fraction of a second, and which all happened way too fast for me to even remember I had a camera in my hand.

 

So not a bad morning, just a shame it was so gloomy....

Fruiting fungi at Cranford Park

Yesterdays fungi foraging in the rain at Pulborough with Susy, had given me an urging to visit my old patch, Cranford Park, today. The ancient woodland there is ideal for spotting fungi at this time of year.

 

It was a long overdue visit. Note to self: don't leave it so long next time.

 

Sue and Jasper the bird-dog joined me, and we had an enjoyable couple of hours this sunny afternoon after the rain this morning.

 

I'm definitely no expert when it comes to identifying fungi, but I decided to at least try to id some of them. Fungi may look boring and they certainly don't move or fly, but they're still a living organism. Often these little fruits literally appear over night. How's that for rapid growth ?

 

Some years ago I reached a crossroads in my life. One of the roads I nearly took was to give everything up to become a mushroom farmer on the Isle of Wight. It may sound daft but it wasn't. During my research I discovered there was just one supplier on the whole of the island. He wanted to sell up to spend more time with his family. Mushroom growing is a 24/7 occupation, and requires considerable skill when it comes to getting the temperature right and knowing the correct time to pick. My ambition was to run some sort of farm that was sustained by solar and wind power. My Mum and I even found a suitable site, and at one stage Mum was even going to move to the island with me. As it happens, the plan never took off, and I chose to stay working within the transport industry. I often wonder how different my life would have been if I'd chosen that other road.

 

Since then the sight of any fungi growing wild, still piques my interest. So back to today.......

 

I've had a go at identifying the fungi we saw today, and if any fungi experts read this and need to correct me, feel free to comment......

 

possibly one of the Sulphur Tuft family...?

Many-zoned Polypore

Blushing Bracket

more Blushing Bracket

possibly Honey Fungus.....?

possibly Charcoal Burner....?

Possibly another member of the Sulphur Tuft family.....?

possibly Dryads Saddle....?

possibly Hairy Stereum......?

 

We don't get the photogenic Fly Agaric at Cranford Woods, but I did find some lovely specimens of my new favourite fungi........

 

Yellow Stagshorn fungus

Yellow Stagshorn

What made the finding of these even more special, was that it was only yesterday that Susy was telling me about these gorgeous little fruits and advising me what to look for.  

 

Elsewhere around the woods, now the leaves are dropping the masses of mistletoe can be seen really easily......

 

 

and the Holly bushes are starting to become full of berries.....

 

I'm not sure what has happened to this autumn. The trees haven't coloured up as much as they did last year. Leaves are falling before they've turned into the rich reds, oranges and yellows that I would normally associate with autumn........

 

Bird-wise, there was plenty of small birds flitting around in the woods but they were more heard than seen. Marmite Parakeets, Jackdaws, Crows and Wood Pigeons were the most often seen larger birds, with the occasional call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. We did get a glimpse of a distant Buzzard but not the usual flyovers that we are used to at Cranford Park.

 

In the church grounds there is a large Yew tree which is normally full of berries at this time of year. There seemed to be very little today but the tree was still busy with Coal Tits, Goldcrests, Great Tits, Thrushes, Blackbirds, Blue Tits and Grey Squirrels feasting. The best time of day to watch the activities in this tree is in the morning. By the afternoon, the sun has dipped so low that most of the tree is in shade.

 

 

By the burnt out Information Centre we had stunning views of a Song Thrush.

 

and along the River Crane it was nice to see a fleeting fly-by of one of the Kingfishers, and even nicer to see that two Little Grebes are back. If the water levels stay as they are, the Grebes will probably stay for the winter. Last year they pushed off after the levels rose very high after the late 2013 storms. The Little Grebes like to hide under the vegetation that overhangs the far man made bank. When that vegetation was swallowed up by the rising water last autumn, the Grebes had no where to hide and disappeared. They can be seen on the stretch of the river between the stone bridge at the main entrance, and the iron bridge. They are incredibly shy and often the best view you can get is from the iron bridge looking down the river towards the stone bridge. No doubt my mission over the next few weeks will be to try and photograph them. Not easy when as soon as they spot an unusual silhouette on the banks, they dive and re-emerge hidden from view.

 

Lastly, but by no means least, Jasper the bird-dog met his look-a-like today........

Which one's Jasper ??? I know, but do you ??

Not only was the other dog the same breed, he was also wearing exactly the same collar, and after talking to his owner it turned out they were both the same age, a mature ten years young.

 

 

and then there were three......

 

The other little dog was a female aged five, she's the one at the front of the picture with that glorious happy look on her face and the pink collar. Sadly although we chatted to the owner (who was an incredible 80 years young yet looked about 60), I failed to get his dogs names, but whoever you are it was lovely to chat with you and watch Jasper playing with his look-a-like and his younger friend.

 

Jasper the bird-dog