So far, October has been a month of contrasts with mists and warmth, gales and cold fronts moving through. It has also shown a glut of berries and a dearth of acorns, heavy rains and dry earth.
Hazel leaves brighten the riverside still but Hazel nuts
are long gone.
A Hover fly (Eristalis pertinax) feeds on abundant ivy flowers, together with
many other insects. Ivy is a very valuable plant, the flowers providing 'out of season'
food for wildlife, the evergreen leaves providing cover all the year round, for
nesting birds in the spring and shelter for roosting birds and bats. This Hover fly
imitates a drone Honey bee, pretending to be a stinging insect to avoid predators.
Like a true bee, it is a useful pollinator.
Here is the record for early October:
Sunday 5th October 2014
The morning was sunny after rain the day before but a lot colder - seeing the first frost of the coming winter, with no wind. The early sun was just reaching the maples and ivy, warming up the leaves and attracting hover flies but no butterflies at first. Rose hips and hawthorn berries shone in the sun, more evident now that leaves were thinning. Some rose hips could be seen as high as the top of the Hawthorn thickets after a summer of rapid growth.
It was good to hear robins singing now, challenging each other, sorting out their winter territories along the river banks (21) whilst blue tits (39) and great tits (22) were also more in evidence than last month, a few of the latter calling.
Numerous blackbirds were active, not singing but most making their way south amongst the river bank thickets, savouring the sloes on the blackthorn on the way, obviously new arrivals, whilst our resident blackbirds looked on, having fed well in late summer on plentiful fruits (25). House sparrows, which stay put all year, were noisier now, bickering and calling from the hedges (36) and one chaffinch was heard calling whilst others were seen flying across (6).
Starling numbers had also increased, winter visitors probably joining the existing small colony. An old Maple was whistling loudly, the starlings hidden from view whilst more birds wheeled around above, coming to land in a day-roost thicket nearby (60).
Goldfinches (13) flew into an ivy-covered area and more into a blackthorn thicket from the field margin where they had been foraging and 2 long-tailed tits were seen high in the top of an oak.
A great spotted woodpecker flew across and dived into the tree, still in full leaf, whilst 2 juveniles sat in a nearby thicket, the female clearly visible, preening for a while. A squirrel gave a loud scream but the woodpeckers sat silently, unconcerned. Two more, adults, were seen flying south, calling (6).
Nuthatches are always early establishing their nesting accommodation which they will guard and prepare over the winter. Today two were seen flying, perching and calling around the old trees.
Wrens were still mostly hiding out of sight but one was seen flying low down over the river, another two gave alarm calls and one tried out a very short song (7). Down under Hazel tree roots along the bank two dunnocks were seen foraging together with great tits and two more were seen in undergrowth further along (4). Quiet calls behind a blackthorn thicket came from two bullfinches which declined to show themselves today but one goldcrest was briefly heard and seen in a conifer.
Most of our summer warblers had left but two blackcaps (males) were seen foraging quickly in the blackthorn, maybe new arrivals or maybe summer birds staying on, briefly appearing in the sunlight.
After an unusually cold night, remaining chiffchaffs were very active catching insects, making their rapid 'U turns', contact calling, never still.
In the blue sky herring gulls were circling, with no wind to battle against (41), a few carrion crows were seen (7) with two rooks and 8 jackdaws. A lone pheasant was heard in the undergrowth and two wary collared doves looked down from a branch whilst small groups of woodpigeons sat in trees or flew across the river (27). 5 Magpies foraged on the damp field. Shots rang out from the fields beyond, indicating that woodpigeons were being targeted - but no large numbers were seen to fly up and the shots didn't last long.
The day was warming up and eventually 4 buzzards glided into view, two circling around each other, gliding, over the river and two, also keeping each other company, were seen further away. Below them, closer to the ground, about 15 house martins were flying together, feeding on insects. They will be off this month on their long journey south.
In the warmth, the butterflies began to appear, a male Brimstone, two small copper butterflies, 3 Red Admiral butterflies and 8 Speckled Woods, the autumn butterflies.
A rather scarce small bird, a marsh tit, was seen preening in a sunlit thicket before disappearing.
and a Roe deer moved into the undergrowth nearby, silently.
The stars of today were clearly a fine kingfisher - a bright blue flash flying in a gap where the sun shone just above the surface of the clear water, heading upstream - and a grey wagtail, almost as quick flying along the river, showing off its very long tail and flash of yellow.
A great spotted woodpecker flew across and dived into the tree, still in full leaf, whilst 2 juveniles sat in a nearby thicket, the female clearly visible, preening for a while. A squirrel gave a loud scream but the woodpeckers sat silently, unconcerned. Two more, adults, were seen flying south, calling (6).
Nuthatches are always early establishing their nesting accommodation which they will guard and prepare over the winter. Today two were seen flying, perching and calling around the old trees.
Wrens were still mostly hiding out of sight but one was seen flying low down over the river, another two gave alarm calls and one tried out a very short song (7). Down under Hazel tree roots along the bank two dunnocks were seen foraging together with great tits and two more were seen in undergrowth further along (4). Quiet calls behind a blackthorn thicket came from two bullfinches which declined to show themselves today but one goldcrest was briefly heard and seen in a conifer.
Most of our summer warblers had left but two blackcaps (males) were seen foraging quickly in the blackthorn, maybe new arrivals or maybe summer birds staying on, briefly appearing in the sunlight.
After an unusually cold night, remaining chiffchaffs were very active catching insects, making their rapid 'U turns', contact calling, never still.
In the blue sky herring gulls were circling, with no wind to battle against (41), a few carrion crows were seen (7) with two rooks and 8 jackdaws. A lone pheasant was heard in the undergrowth and two wary collared doves looked down from a branch whilst small groups of woodpigeons sat in trees or flew across the river (27). 5 Magpies foraged on the damp field. Shots rang out from the fields beyond, indicating that woodpigeons were being targeted - but no large numbers were seen to fly up and the shots didn't last long.
The day was warming up and eventually 4 buzzards glided into view, two circling around each other, gliding, over the river and two, also keeping each other company, were seen further away. Below them, closer to the ground, about 15 house martins were flying together, feeding on insects. They will be off this month on their long journey south.
In the warmth, the butterflies began to appear, a male Brimstone, two small copper butterflies, 3 Red Admiral butterflies and 8 Speckled Woods, the autumn butterflies.
A rather scarce small bird, a marsh tit, was seen preening in a sunlit thicket before disappearing.
and a Roe deer moved into the undergrowth nearby, silently.
The stars of today were clearly a fine kingfisher - a bright blue flash flying in a gap where the sun shone just above the surface of the clear water, heading upstream - and a grey wagtail, almost as quick flying along the river, showing off its very long tail and flash of yellow.
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