As autumn marches towards winter, there are weather benefits for the wildlife seeker despite the cold. The magic of iridescence reveals usually invisible colours if sunlight falls on a subject in the right way. These colours are visible in a summer sun but now the sun is lower and softer, it brightens anyone’s day. Even the visible colours are more vibrant and shiny.
This is especially noticeable among the current wildfowl of pintail, goldeneye (the male’s head usually dark head reflects green in the right light), shoveler, teal, wigeon, pochard, tufted duck and goosander. Hopefully the web can convey the following two examples:
Black & white tufted duck reveals deep blue/purple colour around the eye
Just behind the pintails’ eye you might be able to discern a small patch of green
What the gadwall.lacks in colour it makes up for in personality:
Disgruntled gadwall tramples another underfoot
Waders about the site’s lakes/reedbeds include redshank, dunlin, 20 curlew, 200 plus lapwing, golden plover, snipe and woodcock. The woodcock are being seen between the reedbeds and the hillside pastures.
Reedbed sightings are bittern, water rail, water pipit, fieldfare, kingfisher, meadow pipit, grey partridge, pied and grey wagtail along with the usual suspects; grey heron, little egret and great-crested grebe. Fleakingley reservoir is the place to find little grebes. A great white egret has visited again and this can probably be expected all winter on and off. Similar in size to a grey heron, it is the same brilliant white as a little egret but unlike the black-billed little egret, has a yellow bill (outside the breeding season).
At Fairburn; great white egret with not a stain in sight
Flocks of whooper swan and pink-footed geese flocks are flying over the site. Around the car park, visitor centre and hillside pastures are occasional little owl in the dragline compound area, both green and great-spotted woodpeckers, stonechat, yellowhammer and red kite.
The languid red kite who appears to have all the time in the world
Other regular predators are marsh harrier (male and female) hunting low over the water bodies, peregrine, sparrowhawk, kestrels and a barn owl at the back of Astley lake.
The wooded areas behind the reedbeds/main lake - now with far fewer leaves - is revealing lots of the smaller birds; treecreeper, blackcap, bullfinch, chiffchaff, reed bunting, dunnock, chaffinch, wren, robin, nuthatch, lesser redpoll, goldcrest, siskin, green and great-spotted woodpeckers. Plus tits: marsh x2, willow, great, blue and long-tailed.
Keep an eye out for long-tailed tit flocks for the ‘hangers on’
Long-tailed tit flocks usually number double figures as they are made up of extended family including offspring, aunts, uncles, cousins and there is probably one nobody knows or invited. They endlessly fly round their feeding places calling to one another with their high-pitched ‘surwur-surwur-surwur-sur-wurrrrr’ as they keep in touch and when they pause, they sound like they are blowing raspberries. This attracts ‘groupies’ from the other smaller species, who may be assuming ‘if there is enough food for this busload, there must be enough for me.’
From the bridges that cross the river, kingfisher can be seen and at Lowther a cettis’ warbler continues to be heard more than seen letting loose its distinctive bugle call.
And remember during the tail-end of the migratory months rarities are not impossible; recently there were brief visits from a dartford warbler (11th November) and a common scoter (17th- 18th November). The former likes lowland heath with heather/gorse and is more usually associated with southern England and the latter with coastal areas. Both were likely to be migrating across the UK (perhaps held up by unfavourable winds) and landed at St Aidan’s for respite.
However, to finish here are examples of the often not mentioned but generally present:
With a very, very shiny green head; a male mallard
Prehistoric-looking cormorants; the one in the middle is saying “give over, it was never that big” and the one on the right “what-everrrr”
Coming soon:
Dusk walk Monday 11th December & Friday 22nd December from 2pm; for info & tickets see – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dusk-walk-at-st-aidans-tickets-40143959664?aff=es2
Next community litter pick Sunday 10th December 11am- 3pm https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/events-dates-and-inspiration/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-448509
Visitor centre and car park are on winter hours and close at 4pm until the end of January.
Bowers lake path is closed for predator fence work and ridge & furrow digging to expose more habitat creating muddy edges. Perfect for those waders!
Yours, K Sp-8