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.
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