Its been a busy few days so I was glad to spend a few peaceful hours today at my favourite place.
The butterfly transect also needed recording. Although the sun was out for nearly the whole time I was at Cranford Park, the temperature has noticeably dropped over the last few days therefore I wasn't expecting to see many butterflies, and I was more or less right.
Todays butterfly tally....
16 butterflies / 3 species
Red Admiral x 9
Small Copper x 6
Speckled Wood x 1
 |
| Red Admiral |
 |
| Small Copper - my new favourite butterfly of 2017 |
The pond is starting to really take shape now all of the plants are in and the water is topped up. The recent rain has certainly helped. The wildflower seeds that were sown in the stone trough have already started 'sprouting'....
There's a new polite sign by the pond asking dog owners to please refrain from letting their dogs go in the pond.....
and I found a Red Admiral basking on the newly laid stones.......
I often see Common Buzzards around the Headland area. Some appear to drift over from the direction of the M4 and the adjacent crop field and we've been lucky enough to have them breeding on site for the last two years. Buzzards mate for life and are very territorial. However at this time of year you can see small groups soaring the thermals as they migrate south for the winter. These are usually groups of young adults that haven't yet found a mate. For some reason Buzzards are often mobbed by crows or Jackdaws. The reason isn't clear especially as they mainly feed on rabbits and occasionally reptiles so aren't really a threat to corvids. Both Buzzards and Red Kites are also well known for following a plough when it digs up a new field, to scavenge the worms the plough will bring up. So why do crows find them so threatening ? Who knows, but I witnessed this behaviour this morning as I have many a time.......
My photos don't do the sequence of events enough justice. My old zoom lens is on its last legs, so I'm frantically saving up for a new one.
A more obliging bird for my focusing camera lens in the autumn sun was this lovely Blue Tit.....
I loitered by the river for a long time, seeing the Kingfisher whizz under the bridge and up and down the river several times. Twice I heard one call behind me and saw two together, but the little darlings had no intention of stopping for a photo opportunity.
And yet again it was a Grey Wagtail that kept me more amused........
and an hour later when I was sitting under the huge old Yew in the churchyard yet another landed by the gate......
It then flew off calling and as I walked around to the stable block there was another bird by the wall under the clock. The chances are it was the same as the 'gate' one, but it would be pretty nice if there were three individual birds.
Seeing these beautiful wagtails is becoming a very regular occurrence now, and hopefully next season I'll be able to find out if they are breeding on site.
The wild Honeybee colony in the bricked up arches was again very active this morning.....
The Secret Garden colony was a quite a bit quieter, the Oak Tree colony were even quieter still but the new colony in the dead stumpy trunk by the M4 seems to have gone.
The cooler weather meant not many hoverflies seen today, and I only found one perched in the whole time I was there.....
The lovely marked Myathropa florea with it's distinctive 'batman' symbol on its thorax.....
It's the season for our Grey Squirrels to start hoarding nuts. Watching them running around with their mouth full searching for a suitable place to bury them, can be quite entertaining....
Watching the clever Magpies following them around and digging up the recently buried nuts is even more entertaining.....
To finish todays blog, a short list of the birds seen today....
2 Kingfishers
Common Buzzard
2 Kestrel
Sparrowhawk
2-3 Grey Wagtail
5 Stock Dove
4 Mistle Thrush
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Mallard
3 Moorhen
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