Some autumn birds at last. Cranford Park this weekend

Two fairly short visits to Cranford CP this weekend but both times I came away feeling that at last autumn migration is under way.

 

Obviously the fungi season is in full swing already. The Stinkhorn 'egg' that I photographed on the 6th September has now fully developed in to the delightful phallic Stinkhorn. I'm one of a small percentage of people who cannot smell the odour it gives off, which is probably a good thing for me....

 

 

However when I went back on Sunday this specimen had mysteriously been kicked over, just like the last one was. Maybe someone who walks the woods takes offence against the phallic shape. Maybe they're just jealous ? Haha. Either way its a shame that both of the specimens I've found this year haven't survived long enough to develop the gooey dark head that attracts the flies.

 

The first Ivy Bees are being sighted in southern Britain but not at Cranford CP yet. I still haven't found any ivy in flower, they are all still just in bud.......

 

I carried out the weekly UKBMS transect on Saturday. Weather conditions were not ideal. When the wind blew it really was quite chilly. The butterflies weren't settling or couldn't be seen as they were huddled deep against the chill.

 

Saturdays tally - 22 butterflies of 6 species

Large White x 3

Red Admiral x 6

Comma x 3

Speckled Wood x 8

Meadow Brown x 1

Small Heath x 1

 

The longest section of the transect takes me through the meadows which includes some of the scrub, and I stopped briefly when a small bird caught my eye. A Whinchat ! My first proper autumn bird this season. This was a rather stunning female who gave me some great views. Shame my camera zoom lens is quite old now and did not do the bird justice.......

Apologies for the photos overload but it really is a lovely little bird......

 

 

The Whinchat breeds in the UK (sadly not at Cranford Park) but they are often seen in autumn when they are on route to south Africa where they spend the winter. A very nice sighting on a cool autumnal day.

 

On Sunday I found this lovely gall on one of the shrubby wild rose bushes. It's the Robin Pincushion and like all galls, is caused by the larvae of one of the tiny gall wasps. The gall will darken to a deeper red, the larvae will feed inside of it all winter and the adult gall wasp will emerge next spring....

 

 

In Cranford Woods I found a beautiful clump of Shaggy Scalycap fungi......

 

and even more Yellow Stagshorn........

 

There had been rain overnight so I was hopeful this meant the Whinchat would still be in the northern scrub area. It was, but it wasn't alone. I found two female Whinchats today, a nice healthy count......

 

 

 

Whilst I was following their movement around the scrub, three Meadow Pipits suddenly broke cover from the remaining long grasses and flew over head calling. I managed to quickly grab one dreadful silhouette photo of one before all three disappeared in to the adjacent crop field.

Another very nice tick.....

 

 

Two of the regular dog walkers, Yvonne and Serge, greeted me with the news they had seen a Red Kite soaring really low over the meadow earlier and they were amazed to see it apparently 'chasing' a Blackbird. This doesn't really surprise me. Red Kites used to be known as purely carrion eating birds but a few years ago a group of us watched a Red Kite soar down, catch and kill a feral pigeon at Lake Farm before soaring back up to the thermals and eating it's kill on the wing.

 

After the nice surprise of the Whinchats and Meadow Pipits in the scrub I decided to go for a walk along the River Crane in the vain hope there might be a Spotted Flycatcher around. No such luck but the loud call of a Kingfisher caught my attention and I managed to follow its progress until it landed. A very very distant shot below, but it's been months since I've seen one at Cranford Park so I was very pleased to add it to my sightings for the day.....

 

 

From the Stone Bridge I lingered in case the Kingfisher decided to be a bit more obliging. It didn't but a Grey Wagtail did.......

 

I'm almost certain these little beauties are breeding at Cranford Park considering I've seen them a few times this year. The Kingfisher flashed past me twice more but perched hidden from view and as the weather was turning for the worse I decided to head home. I looked up in time to see a Kestrel hovering above me, again silhouetted against the dark sky.....

 

Just two shorts visits produced a lot for me to see. There are rumours of an 'indian summer' which should make for interesting butterfly behaviour but we will have to wait and see.