No, this isn’t a post about the 1990 film starring Sean Connery. It’s instead about the wonderful things you may see and hear at Coombes Valley over the coming weeks. See if you can spot the common theme amongst the items!
Redwings –
Redwings are one of Coombes Valley’s winter migrants, visiting the reserve to dine on the bright red berries of the rowan and hawthorn trees; they'll be arriving in the next few weeks. Although quite a shy and skittish bird, you can get your best chance to see them by waiting quietly till they come to feed in the treetops.
Image by Roger Wilmshurst (RSPB Images).
Red Deer-
These secretive residents of Coombes are in the middle of their annual rutting season. This is when mature stags compete for the attentions of the hinds by showing everyone they’re the biggest and strongest. Mainly this consists of walking in parallel to each other and roaring (basically a ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’). If this doesn’t work, it’s time to lock antlers and flight, taking advantage of the valleys steep sides to try and push each other to lower ground. Although the red deer of Coombes often stay away from the main trails, their loud roars echo round the reserve, and are extremely impressive to hear! The best time to hear the rutting is dusk and dawn, although the roars have been heard throughout the day
Red Deer in rutting season - Image by Guy Rogers (RSPB Images).
Red autumn leaves-
As winter draws nearer, the reserves deciduous trees shed their leaves, leaving(no pun intended) piles of red, gold, yellow, green and brown to build up on the ground, These piles of leaves are great fun for kids (and big kids) to jump around in, just make sure there’s nothing hiding in the leaf pile first!
Fly Agaric-
These impressive fungi can be found in the mixed woodland around Coombes, living amongst the birch and pine. Seen as a sign of good luck by Victorians, this toadstool is highly poisonous, and ingestion can cause death, so it’s vital to look but DON’T TOUCH. For help with indentifying this and other fungi at Coombes Valley, come along to our fungal foray on Sunday October 26th. The walk will be led by FungalPunk Dave (http://www.fungalpunknature.co.uk/FW1.html), and full details can be found at http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-382793
Red Squirrel (Vote for Bob)-
Although not on the reserve, we here at Coombes are supporters of Bob, a red squirrel with a message! Bob is campaigning to get more people speaking up for nature, and putting nature back on the political agenda. So to demonstrate how much nature means to you, we urge you to add your name to Bobs petition at voteforbob.co.uk
If you can’t work out the theme between the items, then I recommend you red read this post again!
My very amateur wildlife photos: instagram.com/lucy_lapwing