SKYLARK SUE’S REFLECTIONS OF NATURE 

Sept 2013

 

Warm September brings the fruit.
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Collared Dove

I agree with the first, but certainly not with the second, if, as I assume, it refers to the shooting of pheasants and other game birds.  I’m afraid I don’t think it is sporting to shoot creatures for pleasure.

However, to return to the first sentence – certainly this September has proved prolific especially for such fruits as apples, and pears. Many of the boughs on our apple tree were bent almost double as they were so laden with fruit. The exceptionally wet spring, coupled with the hot July and August, provided perfect conditions. Our tree has never borne so many apples and we have been kept busy picking, peeling, coring, slicing and freezing them as we didn’t have enough room to store them whole.

Dunnock amongst the apples

 

 

Wood Pigeon

 

Unidentified pupa

September 1^st – Today the first of the garden blackberries this year were ripe for picking. A young dunnock was acting strangely on one of the garden food trays, huddling down as though it was in a nest. There was a pair of collared doves around and I just hope the wood pigeons don’t intimidate them too much. Wood pigeons are strange birds, very clumsy and, due to their size, intimidating to most of the other garden visitors. Yet they are extremely nervous, and the slightest hint of danger – even a door opening – causes them to fly off with a frenzy of wing-flapping, so panicking other birds too. My daughter found a brown pupa whilst digging in the clay soil to plant rose bushes, but we couldn’t identify it. She also found a small green caterpillar.

 

 A young robin appeared in the garden on the 2^nd, it seemed content to sit quite close to us in the garden, perching on garden ornaments or the branches of a crab apple tree. By the 4^th, we noticed that there were many spiders’ webs around, adorning the shrubs and stretching across pathways, linked to branches on either side. Birds in the garden included blue tits, great tits, robins, sparrows, blackbirds and wood pigeons. The young robin was back on the 5^th, spending long periods in the garden, watching. It was very hot and sunny. The 6^th saw a complete change in the weather – the temperature dropped a lot, it was damp and the sky was overcast.

Sedum attracts many insects

 On September 8^th, we saw a frog in the small pond, slightly smaller than the frog that has been around lately. I’m hoping that they prove to be a pair and so we will get some spawn next year. Years ago frogs bred regularly in the garden, but then they disappeared. There were many insects about, attracted to the Michaelmas daisies, Shasta daisies and Sedum.



Emerald Moth

I found two moths on the 11^th during a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, both resting on doors. One was an Emerald moth, but the other is not yet identified, though could be a Dagger. The birds are now beginning to be in song again (13^th), especially the robins. Two days later, the weather turned chilly and windy and blue tits were feeding on a squashed apple on the tree in the garden. There were plenty of seeds and fat balls on the bird table, but I assume they enjoyed the apple’s texture, unless, of course, it was attracting small insects on which they were feeding.

Green-veined white

Galls on willow

A quick visit to Hatfield forest on the 16^th was a rather muddy experience, but there were plenty of berries; sloes, elder, blackberries, bryony, hips and haws, as well as various seed heads including teasel and honeysuckle. Some of the willow leaves were infested with bright red willow galls, while other leaves bore white tissue-like patches with a small grub beneath. The sun filtered through the trees, making the leaves glow. I saw a ragged green-veined white butterfly amongst the brambles, a grey squirrel on a branch and a green woodpecker flying across the grass to a distant tree.  A mixed group of coots, moorhens and jackdaws were searching in the mud around the lake

 

Coots, Jackdaw and Moorhen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Woodpecker

 

Kestrel demonstrates hovering at Raptor Foundation

 

 

 

Flying a Barn Owl



Kestrel



At a visit to the Raptor Foundation at St Ives, Hunts, on the 18^th September, I was able to handle a Scops owl, Harris hawk, Burrowing owl, Tawny owl and Lanner falcon. In addition, I flew Barn owls and Harris hawks. A wild kestrel flew overhead as the flying display was taking place, obviously intrigued by the birds below. Also seen around the centre were swallows, dragonflies, comma, and small tortoiseshell butterflies, bees and wasps – the mild weather seems to be encouraging the insects to stay put!  The following day was chillier, and there was a collared dove pecking at a bruised apple in the tree. These doves always seem so sleek and placid, yet they can be very argumentative if they choose. Odd to think that in the 1960s when I saw these birds in Cornwall it was quite an event, but they have spread so rapidly, and are very common nowadays.

 



Sparrows on the pyracantha



On the 20^th a robin was singing sweetly in the garden, and the small flock of sparrows was back in the pyracantha. Sparrows have lived amongst the prickly branches of our pyracantha for years, they presumably feel safe from predators, both feline and hawk, there. I also spotted a pair of mating hoverflies and a large spider. Next day we had another sweet singer, a willow warbler, in the garden. Perhaps it was on its way to warmer climes and had called in for a feed. The apple crop has been really amazing this year, and on the 21^st we picked a crateful and a bucket full from our small tree. There are still many more that we have left for the birds. We shall also leave the crab apples for them,

 

Willow Warbler

 



Mating Hoverflies



Garden spider

 

 

 

Red squirrels are getting their ear tufts

 



Adder at the BWC



 

Weasel at the BWC

On the 22^nd we visited the British Wildlife Centre. The red squirrels are now sporting their ear tufts. It was warm, though over-cast, and even the adders were out, making the most of the mild autumn day. The centre now now has a mole as well and it was fascinating to watch it digging through the soil, its bright pink nose contrasting well against its glossy black coat.  

Heron in the wetlands

 

Holes eaten in a large toadstool, probably by slugs

 

Possibly a Magpie pellet

 

As well as the captive creatures, a walk through the wetlands revealed a heron perching in a tree, great tits, butterflies and dragonflies. A persisting tapping noise was traced to a nuthatch busily hiding acorns in a tree trunk. There were some enormous brown toadstools, many of which bore perfectly round holes, so I imagine that slugs have been feasting on them. The weather was mild and sunny, and I found a large pellet. I wondered if it was regurgitated by a magpie.

 

 

 

 

A glimpse of fallow deer through the trees

 

Dew-covered cobwebs

 

Mallards and coot by the lake

 

 



Fallow deer in the wood



A visit to Hatfield Forest on the 24^th revealed a herd of fallow deer in the wood, more or less hidden by the branches. Heavy dew had coated thousands of cobwebs, and the plants and bushes were festooned. It was beautiful. Fungi was beginning to make its presence felt, including a group of large Parasol toadstools. There were mallards, Canada geese and coots on the lake, and I noticed a very young rabbit on a verge by the roadside as we drove home. Usually, young rabbits appear in spring and early summer.  In our garden a small wood mouse had managed to clamber up one of the bushes and onto the bird table where it was feasting on sunflower hearts and seeds. The following evening we noticed a smooth newt in the garden, so they haven’t yet gone into hibernation.

Parasol toadstools



Smooth newt





Common frog in garden pond



Wood mouse on bird table

26^th September – the wood mouse is still feeding from the bird table. It was a warm and sunny day, and there were plenty of sparrows, as well as robins and tits, about. On the 28^th, there was a large frog in the garden and also a comma butterfly. The next day another frog and a smooth newt were spotted there, too. There are so many insects around that these amphibians are probably delaying hibernation so that they can feast on nature’s bounty. As it is still warm and sunny, though the breeze is sometimes chilly, their bodies haven’t yet been triggered into slowing down. There were bees on the sedum and golden rod, and there were a few butterflies drifting about as well. Bird visitors to the garden included a dunnock, wood pigeon and a rather scruffy moulting male blackbird.

Moulting Blackbird

The 30^th of September was so warm and sunny that it was more like a summer’s day, and the late-flowering plants were still attracting plenty of bees and various insects. This has been an exceptionally warm September, and it is surprising to see so many insects and amphibians still around. Good weather is forecast for much of October as well. If that is correct, it will be a stunning autumn, with the golden trees gleaming in the sun, and hopefully, plenty of fungi as well.