Tag Archives: Jackdaw

Natural History

Contrasting May Landscapes at Wraysbury Lakes

Well, where can you see swamps, meadows, wild flowers, scrub, woodland, lakes, riverside, rough grassland, and even a Victorian monument, all in an hour’s walk, and in easy reach of London? Wraysbury is the answer.

Comfrey by the lake
Ring-necked Parakeet in its nest hole
Move over, Alabama Swamps, this is Wraysbury!
Sheep and Jackdaws on the banks of the reservoir. The Jackdaws devour insect grubs in the grass, especially in sheep droppings.
Colne Brook, May blossom, Lombardy poplars
Cowslips, Bugle
Daisy lawn, Whitethroat scrub habitat
Mute Swan drinking – the scene may look peaceful, but his wings and tail are raised threateningly even though no other birds were about! Such is the mating season.
Complicated, or what? In August 1832 it must have seemed well worth setting in stone the rights to not being flooded by anyone deliberately raising the water level above the limit defined here …

I don’t know if I’d set this in stone, but I heard 5 warblers singing, and caught a typical glimpse of a Cetti’s warbler diving from a bush beside the lake – big, dark brown, it really wasn’t any other bird. Still, I didn’t hear it call, which would have decided the matter beyond reasonable doubt. So, a 5-and-a-half warbler walk, I guess.

Butterflies: Large white, Small white, Brimstone, Holly blue, Peacock, Speckled Wood.

Odonata: Banded Demoiselle, Common blue (teneral, i.e. just emerged).

Other insects: Mayfly, Alder fly.

On the way home, I went round Heathrow airport, and a Skylark sang to me through the open car window from the grassy areas beside the runways.

Natural History

October in Richmond Park

Stag Roaring. The Hinds seem unimpressed.
Young Parasol Mushrooms. The caps open out to the size of a dinner plate.
Acorn, plump and beautiful. The Squirrels were having a feast in the woods, popping in and out of the shade of the Oak trees.

Walking down from the woods across the wide rough area with rushes, two Skylarks got up, twittering, and perched briefly on the Bracken: a very special sight for London.

Down past the Pen Ponds at the side of a wood, a Green Woodpecker flew handsomely up into a tree, swiftly hiding itself round the back of the trunk.

Puffball
Natural History

A Windy Walk at Wraysbury

Wind or not, a sunny winter’s day is too good to miss, so I wrapped up warm and squelched through the mud around Wraysbury Lakes. In the car park, a Grey Wagtail hawked for insect life. Among the few ducks on the lakes were some Goldeneye, one of the winter specialities of the area. The Great Crested Grebes had most of the water to themselves, looking predatory with their sharp spear-beaks.

On the meadow, four Stock Doves got up – an under-recorded species if ever there was one, as people take them for feral or wood pigeons. A Green Woodpecker gave its ringing Plue-Plue-Plue call, really loudly: spring is on the way, honest! The Jackdaws wheeled and dived in the strong wind, totally at home. A Buzzard soared with barely a wingbeat, turning on well-rounded wings with fanned tail. Towards the end, the bushes thrummed with twittering Goldfinches.

But the best thing wasn’t a bird at all, but the Mistletoe hanging from a bare beech branch. Let’s hope it spreads.

Best plant of the day – Mistletoe at Wraysbury
Natural History

Spring Surprises: Treecreeper, First Swallows, Ground-Nesting Heron

Ground-Nesting Heron a la Swan
Ground-Nesting Heron a la Swan

Spring is full of surprises, and this Heron, nesting not in a colony up in the trees, but all alone in an abandoned Swan’s nest in a reedbed, is certainly one of them. The London Wetland Centre this morning also boasted a mass of Blackcaps in the “Wildside” woodland, with at least three males and a female actually in sight at once,  along with an obliging Chiffchaff giving me an excellent view, and a characteristically invisible Cetti’s Warbler, shouting out its amazingly loud call. The Silver Birches were in wonderfully fresh green leaf, their bark crisply white against the clear blue of the sky.

Red-Breasted Geese
Red-Breasted Geese

Birch in Fresh Green Leaf
“Birches in wonderfully fresh green leaf”

Yesterday, round at Wraysbury Lakes, the same set of three warblers sang, but more elusively. The most delightful surprise was a Treecreeper, not only creeping up the willow branches, but singing its sweetly plaintive little song. This used to be rendered, rather tweely, as “Tree, tree, tree, once more I come to thee”, which does capture the length and rhythm of the song. It is not unlike the Chaffinch’s song, if you know that, but without the twiddly “tissy-cheeooo” ending, and not so firm and harsh. One of the Blackcaps, in the thorn-scrub area, had a fine mimetic song. Out on Horse Hill, the first two Swallows of the year flitted overhead, a solitary Kestrel beat its way against the wind, and half a dozen Jackdaws played and chased in the air, for all the world like a gang of naughty schoolboys.

Natural History

Winter Gulls

Image

Flock of Common Gulls on Pen Ponds, Richmond Park
Flock of Common Gulls on Pen Ponds, Richmond Park

A fine cloudless day, with the jackdaws chasing about in the southwesterly breeze, the edge of Storm Eva that is blowing into the already flooded Northwest of Britain. A few winter ducks on the Pen Ponds – a Wigeon or two, a few dozen Gadwall – but the main surprise was the number of Common Gulls – at least thirty – in little flocks on both of the ponds. They can be seen here to have pale legs and ‘windows’ of white in their black wingtips, unlike the smaller Black-Headed gulls (there are one or two sitting in the water towards the left of the photo) which have very pale backs, no windows, and a black spot behind the eye (when they don’t have their chocolate-brown breeding hood, that is). Perhaps they have come down from the chilly North of Scandinavia to enjoy the very mild weather here.

Love of Nature

Cetti’s, Chiffchaffs and Chaffinches at Wraysbury Lakes

First Pussy Willow of the year
First Pussy Willow of the year

Amongst the chilly weather brought by the East Wind, today has at least been sunny, and out of the wind pleasantly warm.

Down at Wraysbury Lakes, plenty of Chiffchaffs, presumably mostly recently arrived from Spain or Africa, are now singing. The other migrant warblers have not yet arrived – if they think it’s too cold, who can blame them – so the only other warbler singing is the robust, secretive Cetti’s, calling from across the lake.

Apart from them,  a flock of cheerful Jackdaws fluttered about the horse meadow; each mare had a new foal, wobbly on its new legs. A few Goldfinches and Chaffinches sang bravely.  A Crack Willow’s buds gleamed silver, the green just starting to show; a solitary Pussy Willow (Sallow) shone golden against the dry brown scrubby area, last year’s dried Teasels still tall and handsome. Some Poplar branches gleam orange-yellow with Common Orange Lichen.

Natural History, Nature Reserves, Wildlife

A Bright Winter’s Walk in Richmond Park

Red Deer Stag
A fine 16-Point Red Deer Stag

In Scotland, the male of the Red Deer is called simply a Stag, all other male deer (presumably Roe in that country) being known as Bucks. Down here, with Sika and other species about, it may be wise to name the species explicitly. There are signs up warning of the impending cull, so now may be the best time of year to see fine large stags resting quietly, the rut over.

Richmond's splendid anthills
Richmond’s splendid anthills

I was welcomed to the park by a flock of Jackdaws chattering in the trees. Down in the valley, last year’s grass stalks are whitening, the fine big anthills well outlined in the low winter sunlight.

A Stonechat was perched on a slender stalk, level with the tops of the grass; there cannot be much in the way of insect food to catch just now.

Egyptian Geese under the Willows
Egyptian Geese under the Willows

On the Pen Ponds, there were remarkably few waterfowl of any kind, but the lower pond had half-a-dozen Pochard. the males handsomely rufous-headed, a pair of Wigeon, the male with a conspicuous white wing-bar, and tucked in a corner under the willows a pair of Egyptian Geese, taking to the water and protesting with short dry honks when molested by a dog.

Male Stonechat
Male Stonechat

Walking back up the hill, a Kestrel hovered briefly, rested in a tree giving a good view of his spotted breast and back. Two herds of Red Deer, one at the base of the hill, one at the top, both with all ages and both sexes together, grazed silently. In the muddiest places, footprints of men, dogs and deer clustered together.

Natural History

Winter Flocks at Wraysbury

Backlit Teasels
Backlit Teasels

Finally, right at the end of November, autumn is starting to look something like winter. Even now, and even with a light easterly wind, it is mild, almost too warm for any sort of winter coat.

Pochard, here for the winter
Pochard, here for the winter

But winter flocks of birds have at last arrived: 45 Pochard on the lake, handsome with their reddish heads contrasting with pale grey backs; dozens of Goldfinch in the nearly leafless trees, twittering ceaselessly; a dozen or more Fieldfare in the thorn bushes in the horse field; a few Redwing in another thorn bush.

Redwings
My first flock of Redwing this winter

The low sun made the dried flowerheads of the Teasels beautiful. A single Pleated Inkcap gleamed among the short grass and muddy hoofprints.

Pleated Inkcap, Coprinus plicatilis
Pleated Inkcap, Coprinus plicatilis