Autumn highlights

October’s usually one of my favourite months, and this year is proving no exception. Here are some of the wildlife moments we’ve been enjoying in the autumn sunshine.  

We saw some redwings this morning, the first winter thrushes to arrive. Look out for them feeding up on berries or in large flocks on the fields.

Those who came on this week’s Wednesday Wander were treated to a male bearded tit flying back and forth in front of Coucher Hide. We first heard its distinctive pinging call and then spotted it perched in the reeds – a lovely view of its lavender-grey head and Alice Cooper eyes.

Image: Bearded tit by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

To see them yourself, try either the hide or the corner of Oxholme and Elney Lakes near the busway crossing point. Over the winter they’ll be feeding on the seed of our common reeds.

The hide is also a good spot for snipe right now. Watch the edges of the radiating channels which warden Ricky has cut in the reeds and your patience should rewarded – sooner or later...

Keep an eye on the skies too for marsh harriers, wings held in a characteristic shallow V-shape. Many will be heading off shortly to spend the winter in Africa.

Conversely, the lakes are filling up with wildfowl intending to spend the colder months here, a great sight. We’ve got lots of tufted ducks, coots, pochards, shovelers, gadwalls and yesterday the first report of an immature drake goldeneye on Elney Lake. Enjoy the sounds too: wigeon whistles follow you all along busway at the moment if like me you cycle through the reserve a lot (follow the link for an audio clip).  

We’ve all been seeing lots of jays flying over, an influx from the continent. Jays always move in search of food in the autumn and the number we see here depends on how plentiful the acorn crop has been across the rest of Europe. The high numbers we’re seeing so far suggest it’s not been good this year.

There are still some butterflies around, particularly last weekend with the warmer weather: commas, a small tortoiseshell, red admirals and brimstones were all spotted. Quite a few dragonflies too: migrant hawkers, common darters, ruddy darters and a late common blue damselfly.

Image: Common blue damselfly by Jodie Randall (rspb-images.com)

With the nights drawing in we’ve also been enjoying nature after dark. Last Saturday was our last Bumps in the Night event of the year and a great one to end on. Using the bat detectors to pick up their echolocation, we heard lots of common and soprano pipistrelles and spotted a Daubenton’s bat skimming low over Drayton Lagoon as well.

It was a crisp clear evening so a wonderful opportunity to look up at the stars. There’s very little light pollution out here so we saw the Milky Way as a gorgeous band of light overhead – the rainbow of the night, as one undiscovered poet on the walk put it.

We didn’t have much luck with moths that evening but found an unexpected treat in the form of a juvenile smooth newt. At this time of year newts are out of the water feeding up on insects, slugs and spiders, before they tuck themselves away somewhere sheltered for the winter. (For those who were there: Claire was right! Here’s how to tell apart lizards and newts, and for telling the difference between smooth and palmate newts when they’re young, have a look at this.)

During the day, our common lizards have often been out sunning themselves on the wildlife stack in the Discovery Zone.

Image: Common lizard by Steve Dobromylski

Finally, for me, wildlife highlight of the month so far was spotting a late litter of weasel kits heading off on a hunting expedition this week. Small rodents beware...

Looking ahead to the rest of the month, look out for bitterns arriving for the winter. Try scanning the edges of the reeds in Holywell Lake, around late afternoon, as they’ll often come to roost there.

No news yet on the starling roost we usually have on the reserve, but when they start to gather (fingers crossed) I’ll update the note currently on our main webpage.

Please do share your own seasonal highlights and photos here or on the forum – we love to hear them.