Yesterday morning, 5th November 2017, the first frost of the autumn was visible early on - but soon thawed in the sun. The very bright clear morning changed and a cold breeze from the north west quickly blew in clouds, making a changeable day - but remaining consistently cool.
Birds had spent a cold night and needed to do some intense foraging during the short hours of daylight.
Leaves were still falling gradually, the bare branches here and there allowing increased visibility through the thickets and canopies.
Field Maple, Hazel. Ash and Oak in different stages of leaf fall
5th November
This was intended as a quick look along the riverside rather than a full survey, as followed only a few days after the survey on 27th October. However after a quiet start with not much seen or heard, the sun finally reached the trees and activity increased.
Today was special - on a bend in the river, a sudden movement - a kingfisher hurtled down into the river from the far bank and flew up to perch in the sun on a broken branch over the water where it sat for a minute - the finest view - then flew off upstream to perch on another branch, watching the river intently before flying off.
Several roaming flocks of blue tits and great tits made their way through the trees and thickets, with two or three coal tits seen amongst them. Goldfinches started to sing on the sunlit side of the Blackthorn and Hawthorn hedges where a pair of bullfinches were more easily seen foraging. A group of about eleven long-tailed tits were following each other through a nearby thicket, calling softly. Another group (7) were seen foraging together through the oaks and maples. (total 18)
Three goldcrests were seen foraging amongst the brilliant yellow Maple leaves and two more were seen further south flying from a willow into a poplar, avoiding the conifers which were swaying in the wind.(total 5)
The meandering rivers here provide a variety of habitats which give shelter according to the wind direction and warmth according to the time of day. Blackbirds (9) were busy low down in thickets, plucking fruits, leaving a single fieldfare to reach the higher branches. This fieldfare suddenly flew off, giving the first good view of one here this autumn - but on looking up, several more were seen flying across, following the river course towards the north, these being joined by more and more, about forty in total seen against the clear blue sky. There are still plenty of fruits for them and for the redwings - three at least were glimpsed at the back of another blackthorn thicket over the river where a song thrush was also foraging, together with blackbirds and the roaming tit flocks. Robins were singing strongly on leafless branches where their colour would be very visible to others.
Flying strongly out in the sun over the banks were four Red Admiral butterflies, and a restless Brown Hawker dragonfly, ranging over the bank vegetation.
Three separate colonies of house sparrows were more active than usual, seeking sunny areas where they could also find food and plunge into the water to bathe. Eight wrens were seen and heard singing very short songs in various places along the banks, with three silent dunnocks lower in the undergrowth. These birds hardly ever seem to sit in the sun. Woodpigeons (15) were mainly seen high in the sheltered tree canopies where they could warm up in the sun all day. A Jay and two magpies, all silent, were flying across from tree to tree, whilst three noisy carrion crows flew over the starling day-roost where they could be heard singing. An early sighting of probably three redpoll flying across may mean a change in the weather elsewhere. Much closer to the river, a sparrowhawk glided quickly with the wind and a single common gull was calling whilst circling over a field. There was no sign of any black-headed gulls today and only two herring gulls were sighted in the air.
Conditions for flight were again perfect for the common buzzards, and today three were seen, calling loudly to each other, circling over the river, drifting south with the wind. These are very vocal, communicative birds! Below- a certain mammal would have been spotted by them - walking proudly on the grass bank of a drainage basin - a splendid red fox showing off its thick winter coat and fine brush. As I walked along on the opposite bank it turned its head and stared at me for a while before trotting off.
Out of the wind, amongst the old oaks, a nuthatch called repeatedly, perhaps establishing territory for next year.
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