Wildlife sightings for October 2012
This is a monthly summary so if you want to know about more recent nature sightings, please click on the recent sightings tag – front page when you enter the Middleton Lakes website.
This mid-autumn month had days which were wet, cold and blustery, wet starts with showers and chill winds.
There were autumn blue skies, morning mists and autumn sunshine.
The contractors are on site for the grasslands changeover (known as Jubilee Wetlands) to look like part northern lakes and part Fishers Mill Lake. This will be ongoing until the end of February.
The wetland circular tracks are closed but there's still the track to the river and back. The meadow circular trail is open. The woodlands are closed for track maintenance.
Birds over the site:
The first week had lots of jay sightings and this coincides with large flocks reported coming in from the east coast recently. It looks like a poor acorn year, here and in Northern Europe. So the jay sightings maybe our birds coming out of the woods looking for food or visitors from Europe.
No more sightings of hobby this month.
A buzzard was occasionally seen in the horse grazing field - looking for worms, perhaps.
Great spotted woodpecker was seen on the old oak tree in the farm grazing field before moving to the feeders, nearby. Occasionally a lesser spottie was there on the oak tree, too.
We watched the great spottie doing some very interesting dance moves – feed, look, and slide down a branch.
Also a young pair of GSWs was seen playing tag on the feeder supports.
Herons have been seen flying past the heronry, on their way north to the wetlands.
Rooks have started their autumn flockings, with groupings of jackdaws.
Great spotted woodpeckers were seen at close hand during bird ringing sessions by the feeding station.
Blackcap and chiffchaff have been seen around.
There were flocks of mute swan moving along the river corridor.
Two pied wagtails landed on a car's bonnet in the car-park.
Raven were seen over the site.
Starling flocks are starting to build-up in the evenings before dusk.
Our dedicated, keen-eyed winter volunteer WeBS surveyors counted, mid-month, (including RSPB Dosthill): black-headed gull (19), buzzard (2), canada goose (14), coot (456), cormorant (13), gadwall (207), great crested grebe (12), grey heron (3), greylag goose (18), kestrel (1), kingfisher (1), lapwing (46), lesser black-backed gull (1), little egret (2), little grebe (3), mallard (126), moorhen (22), mute swan (80), pochard (19), shoveler (62), snipe (1), teal (42), tufted duck (245), water rail (1), wigeon (168).
Wetland trail had canada goose, cetti's warbler, coot, cormorant, fieldfare, gadwall, goldeneye, goosander, great crested grebe, grey heron, greylag goose, jack snipe, kestrel, kingfisher, lapwing, little egret, little grebe, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, pochard, redpoll, redwing, raven, reed bunting, shoveler, siskin, snipe, stonechat, teal, tufted duck, water rail, wigeon.
Play meadow, car park, woodland edge trail had blackbird, blackcap, buzzard, blue, coal and great tit, chaffinch, chiffchaff, dunnock, goldfinch, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, greenfinch, jay, kestrel, mistle thrush, nuthatch, pheasant, robin, rook, sparrow, sparrowhawk, wren.
Meadow trail had blackbird, fieldfare (just a few), green woodpecker, jay, redpoll, redwing (just a few) sparrowhawk, siskin.
Seen on the few sunny autumn days around...
BUTTERFLIES: Comma, large white, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood – all seen new the bridleway ivy.
DRAGONFLIES: Common darter, ruddy darter, migrant hawker, southern hawker
Lots of hoverflies along the bridleway on one sunny day.
A muntjac was seen in the grassland reeds from the riverside track.
A few new mole hills around the site.
With a great thank you to everyone for your nature sightings – keep them coming in. You can use the car-park sightings board, phone or email. Contact details are on the maps – a copy of which can be downloaded from the RSPB Middleton Lakes internet page and also available in the car-park.
Compiled by Nigel Palmer