Nature Notes October 2022

Date Published: 02-11-2022

The weather was mainly wet and windy, but mild.

SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard) : Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Tawny Owls, Heron, Sparrowhawk, Green/Great Spotted Woodpecker, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Wrens, Robins, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Siskins, Stonechats, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Foxes, Roe Deer, Hedgehogs, Pipistrelle Bats.
Insects/Spiders: Wasps, Ants, Flies, Midges, Bumble Bees, Sheet-web Spiders, Funnel-web Spiders, Orb-web Spiders, Garden Spiders.
Reptiles/Amphibians: Slow Worm, Common Frog.
Butterflies/Moths: Brimstone, Large Whites, Peacocks.
Dragonflies/Damselflies: Small Red, Southern Hawker.
Plants in Flower/Berry: Holly berries, Ivy seed heads, Rowan berries, Oak acorns.
Pond Life: Whirlygig Beetles, Pond Skaters.
Fungi: Postia Guttulata, Bolete Mold, Smoky Polypore, Hairy Bracket, Silverleaf Fungus, Snowy Inkcap, Liver Milkcap, Turkey Tail, Hintapink, Rosy Russula, Brown Roll-Rim, Brown Birch-Bolete, False Chanterelle, Sulphur Tuft, Fly Agaric, Bay Bolete, Common Rust-Gill, Scaly Rust-Gill, Fragrant Funnel, Cowpat Gem.

Recordings of Pipistrelle Bats ended towards the end of the month.
A male Sparrowhawk was seen hunting within the Hazelwood area.

NATURE FACT
The Firecrest is a small bird of only 9 cm, marginally larger than the Goldcrest. It is also more brightly coloured with greener and whiter underparts and a strongly striped head, with a dark stripe through the eye and a very obvious broad white stripe over the eye and bordered black above. Behaviour is similar to the Goldcrest, although the Firecrest feeds lower down in bushes and sometimes joins wandering flocks of small birds outside the breeding season.

Recorders: C. Wilcox , K. Wilcox