The week when the kids were off school, we saw some wild and windy weather. The beginning of the week started off with lovely weather and half term excitement, but by the end of the week we were battening down the hatches and hoping the birds weren’t blown too far away.
Our Halloween trail was in full swing, bringing spooky glee to the site with tricky riddles and prizes at the end, who could resist. Throughout the week we had some gruesome activities, the highlight of which was bug hunting. It mainly meant digging through the undergrowth for worms and other creepy crawlies, which resulted in a lot of happy customers and some slightly displeased mums!
Winter migrants are beginning to appear on a regular basis, with gadwall, wigeon, and teal on the lagoons. The further reports of a merlin and a redwing! The merlin is the UK's smallest bird of prey and in winter, the UK population increases as the breeding pairs are joined by migrants from Iceland who are coming for our warmer climate. This week we have had our first report of the otter for this autumn/winter. This is very exciting for us because things had gotten a little quiet on the otter front. There was even photographic proof.
Image credit: Redwing - Jeremy White
Image credit: Otter - Joe Weston
And finally, the long awaited starling murmurations have returned with early reports of over thirty thousand birds it looks like we are going to be in for a good year.
Bittern, Blackbird, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti's Warbler, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Greenfinch, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, Little egret, Little Grebe, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Merlin, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Raven, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Shelduck, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Water Rail, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, common darter dragonfly, Otter, Stoat, Weasel, Wood mouse.
Author: Chloe Coker
If you'd like to join us on a starlings murmuration event this month please visit https://bit.ly/3F6rc82 for details