Compared to last Saturday, today was very mild. But this also meant there wasn't so much to see at Cranford Park today.
There were plenty of Grey Squirrels about as always.....
The wild Clematis seeds around the fenced off cellar were looking at their best.....
In previous years I have attempted to grow these from seed, but failed dismally every time.
At the back of the park by the orchard and M4, there were signs that a Muntjac deer had been present. The recently frayed bark also indicates this was within the last couple of days. Muntjac often fray the bark of trees as part of their territory marking. But fraying also occurs to scrub off the old velvet on their small antlers and allow the new velvet to grow through. You can normally tell if a Muntjac has caused this damage as there will be droppings and track marks nearby, and the fraying will be about a metre off the ground....
In Cranford Woods the all alone Yellow Stagshorn was still present and still protected by the hollow of the trunk....
There was a colourful 'hoof' fungus too....
and a new spread of bracket fungi was by the path....
Bird-wise it was very quiet. Along the River Crane there were no signs of the Little Egret, Little Grebe, Kingfishers nor Grey Wagtails. There was also no sign of any Mallards or Moorhen.
This puzzled me for a while, until I realised the water was a weird 'mossy' shade of green. It looks as if the bottom has been stirred up and disturbed. Then I realised that all of the shopping trolleys that had been dumped in the river recently, had all gone. So therefore I can only conclude that there has been a clean up operation that has temporarily disturbed the birds.
But at least it's not quite the eye sore that it was.
In the woods there were plenty of both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling from high up in the tree tops. The 'marmite' Parakeets were making their usual racket, topped only by the noisy Jackdaws who are now appearing to pair up. Every now and then several Carrion Crow would take to the sky to chase away a passing Common Buzzard.
I could hear lots of Goldcrests but only saw two or three, and as always they stuck to the most shadowy parts of the evergreens therefore making photography impossible.
I had a bit more success with the Long-tailed Tits, but the only decent photo was of one flying down from a twig....
I was just starting to head home and was walking past the old burnt out Information Centre when I spotted this Kestrel perched in a tree.....
It was so intent in looking for prey, that I was able to creep quite close....
then it suddenly flew down and landed in the leaf litter that has accumulated by the stable block wall.....
It stood there for a few seconds before then flying up and settling on the back of the stable block, and it wasn't until I fired off the shot below, that I realised it had caught something......
As quickly but as quietly, as I could I crept under the arch leading to the back of the block, snuck up the side of the hedge, and managed to position myself behind the sign on the padlocked gate without the bird spotting me.....
The barred chestnut tail tells me this is a female. However there is a fair bit of grey on her head which indicates this is probably a young female, maybe one of last summers juveniles. The resident Cranford Park female has a brown head so I know its not her.
She was very intent on feeding which allowed me to shuffle about a bit to get the best view.....
I am pretty sure it is a mouse she caught and ate, as you can just see the remains of a tail in the above photos.
After swallowing her prey down almost whole, she glanced around a bit, down a bit of 'beaking' on the stone wall (ie cleaning her beak) and swallowed hard a few times.....
before flying off to one of the trees behind the church.......
It's not the first time I've seen a Kestrel hanging around the stable block. Last summer whilst the resident juvenile Kestrels practised their flying and hunting techniques in the open meadows, I spotted and heard a crying juvenile around the church and stable block which appeared to be fed by the same parents as the meadow young. Maybe this one is the 'runt' of the nest, the last one to hatch, and therefore still hanging around.
Obviously I will keep my eyes peeled on my next visit. It does seem to favour the back of the stable block, maybe because it's less likely to get disturbed there due to the padlocked gate. Anyone who knows me knows that the Kestrel is my favourite bird, so it was a very good end to my visit.
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