Nature Notes November 2020

Date Published: 03-12-2020

Mixed weather during the month, ending with a cold snap in the last few days.

SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Common Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Common Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Tawny Owls, Wood Pigeons, Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Wrens, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Dunnocks, Stonechats, Siskins, Redwings, Goldfinches, Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Insects: Wasps, Bees, Midges.
Spiders: Sheet-web, Orb-web.
Butterflies: Peacock.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Foxes.
Pond Life: Whirlygig Beetles.
Plants (in flower or berry): Holly, Ivy, Large White Pond Lily, Cotoneaster, Rhododendron.
Fungi: Pearl Oyster, Tinder Fungus, White Punk, Buttery Collybia, Sulphur Tuft, Common Earthstar, Gemmed Amanita, Rough-stermmed Bolete.

The colder weather slowed down the appearance of new Fungi forming and finished off the majority of existing fungi.
A large flock of Redwing arrived on site in the last few days of the month, devouring Holly berries.
A Firecrest was seen along the Hazelwood boundary at the end of the month.

NATURE FACT
The Pearl Oyster mushroom is a well known and sought after edible fungus, increasingly grown commercially. The cap colour is very variable and forms with strong blue tints, popularly called Peacock Fungus. Although most frequently found on Beech, it can also occur on many trees including Conifers.

Recorder: C. Wilcox

SITE MANAGEMENT
The volunteers work party constructed a post and rail barrier as a safety measure to slow down visitors when leaving the site on to the busy West Moors Road.
The cattle returned having been removed for a couple of months.