Spotted Flycatchers and more at Cranford Park

 

By the time I got down to Cranford Park mid morning Dragena and her band of merry men had already made a great start with the new wildlife pond. There are just a few more pieces to do on Thursday then we wait for the wildlife to move in.....

Dragena and her team have done a great job and I cannot wait to see what it looks like next weekend.

 

 

The Stinkhorn fungus that I found a couple of days ago has survived another day of not being kicked over......

 

 

I found the below fungi growing out of one of the many log piles. I'm not 100% sure of identification but I think it's one of the Boletes family. It's very small at the moment so I'll check back on it when I'm next off shift at work.....

 

Which brings me nicely on to my next couple of photos. There are two fungi that I've always wanted to see but never had. One is the tiny Birdsnest fungi and the other is the weirdly wonderful Earthstar. So I was more than a little jealous when my favourite Aunt found eight Earthstars in her garden !! She has sent me the below photos to share.....

 

Fantastic garden tick.

 

Back to Cranford Park, I found the usual male Great Spotted Woodpecker by the Stone Bridge. It is going to be well worth watching the dead trees there in Spring. I've got a funny feeling he may make a nest hold in one of them....

 

 

Even though it was warmer and sunnier today than yesterday, there still weren't that many butterflies out and about. This Comma was the only one that was still enough for a photo.....

 

 

My young friend Stella joined me at lunchtime. It was her first visit to the park so I showed her around most of it.

The leaves are turning in one of the copses producing this great show of autumnal colour.....

 

 

I've said before that Stella is my lucky charm, and she proved me right again today....

We were sitting in St Dunstans church yard when I saw a little brown bird fly out of one of the evergreens, do a semi circle flight and settle back out in the open. The characteristics of the Spotted Flycatcher ! One of the migrating birds that I had hoped to see at Cranford CP this autumn. And there wasn't just one, there were at least two birds, possibly three. Excuse the bad photos below, they weren't being too obliging and were choosing to perch very high up......

 

 

A great few hours out and only cut short because I had to come home and get ready for my next four shifts at work.

 

Stella - you little star, thank you for being my lucky charm.......again ! Hope you enjoyed your visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Loitering by the river at Cranford Park

Initially I was at Cranford Park this morning to hopefully help continue work on the new wildlife pond, but Dragena and her crew were again let down by the delivery of the membrane. When I left just after lunchtime the crew had gone to Watford to pick up a new order themselves rather than rely on waiting for it to be delivered. Hopefully when I go back tomorrow the membrane and liner should be fitted.

 

Today was very cloudy and a lot chillier than yesterday so hardly any butterflies on the wing. However the Honeybees are very active still.

 

 

This is the wild colony that have set up home in one of the bricked up archways at the Stable Block.

 

In the woods the Stinkhorn fungus that I found yesterday had survived the night without being kicked over......

 

 

I take our Grey Squirrels so much for granted that I rarely bother photographing them, but this little fella posed for me so obligingly that I had to take a snap.....

 

 

Where the pond is situated there is already a resident Robin. Here he/she is perching nicely on one of the old logs that will border the pond eventually....

 

 

I decided to kill some time looking for the Kingfisher.......again.

And again I saw it whizzing past me several times.....

And again I failed to get a photo......

But even though the weather was far from perfect there was plenty to see at the River. In fact all of the below photos were taken just from the Stone Bridge.

 

First up was a distant male Great Spotted Woodpecker.....

 

 

......followed by a female who also didn't stick around for more than one photo....

 

The Stone Bridge is quite handy for leaning on and observing the birds. A very funny Jay landed on one of the dead trees and struck several poses for me whilst I used the Stone Bridge as a bit of cover.....

 

At this time of year you often see roving tit flocks moving around the trees. One such flock held not just Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits but also a good number of Goldcrests. Again the bridge came in handy to hide behind and I managed to get several photos of the Goldcrests, the UK's smallest bird......

 

 

Down on the reed bed a shrill call told me there was a Wagtail around, and then I saw it pottering about on the debris that accumulates between the reeds. A stunning Grey Wagtail with that lovely flash of yellow on its chest and tail.......

 

 

and again the Stone Bridge meant I could watch the bird for ages without disturbing it.

 

If only the Kingfisher would oblige too.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend news from Cranford Park

 

Cranford Parks old wildlife pond is undergoing a complete make over. During the week Dragena, the boroughs Conservation Officer, and her team excavated the old pond and have made it wider.

 

On Saturday some of the Friends of Cranford Park volunteers, including myself, joined Dragena and her team and between us we levelled the new area out and laid down a good inch of sand. Unfortunately the underlay wasn't delivered in time so we couldn't do any more, but what we did achieve was very therapeutic. Work will continue on Monday if anyone wants to join us.

 

 

 

 

The darker circle will be more of a bog pond and will also act as an overflow should the main pond flood

 

 

Sunday I was back at the park to not only complete the butterfly transect but to have a good walk around, it's been over ten days since my last visit due to work commitments. Luckily for me it was the sunniest day of the weekend and the butterfly count was a decent figure.

 

Butterfy tally

37 butterflies of 6 species....

Red Admiral x 16

Comma x 3

Large White x 6

Speckled Wood x 7

Small Copper x 3

Meadow Brown x 2

 

Speckled Wood

tatty Small Copper

Red Admiral - 16 seen during my transect and probably another 10-15 seen after the transect.

Comma

There was plenty of fungi to find, as to be expected at this time of year.

I found another Stinkhorn fungus, my third this season, and away from where I found the other two. Hopefully this one will be left to mature and not get kicked over like the others....

 

 

Below is the delicate Porcelain fungus......



 

Of course I checked all the sites for the Yellow Stagshorn and found the below. The Stagshorn on the right is just going over and the fungi on the left is new and fresh........

 

In the meadows there were two very good sized Parasol mushrooms, both specimens bigger than my hand......

 

 

In the woods I found three feathers.

From left to right, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Wood Pigeon and Ring-necked Parakeet.....

 

In the Memorial Garden the old Poppy patch was mainly taken over by thistles this year. Now they've all gone to seed they were attracting a fairly nice 'charm' of Goldfinches including lots of juvenile birds.

 

Juvenile Goldfinch

Adult Goldfinch

 

Our resident Kestrel was putting on her usual good show......

 

Also seen today but not photographed was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, my second sighting of one at Cranford Park. Also six Ivy Mining Bees and hundreds of Honeybees. All four wild hives were very active today in the warmer weather.

 

I lost an hour today trying to photograph our Kingfisher. It's the male and he really doesn't like perching for a photo. He's currently being seen most often along the river between the M4 viaduct and the stone bridge. I had six sightings of him during that hour but every time I managed to get my camera on him, he flew off.

 

Also seen today - one Common Buzzard, one Red Kite, three Great Spotted Woodpeckers, two Stock Doves, one Sparrowhawk and one Grey Wagtail.

 

Not a bad haul for an afternoon visit