Nature Notes September 2020

Date Published: 03-10-2020

A month of very mixed weather conditions, ending with a wet and windy spell.

SIGHTINGS
Birds: Herons, Carrion Crows, Magpies, Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, Common Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Tawny Owls, Wood pigeons, Nuthatches, Wrens, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Dunnocks, Siskins, ChiffChaffs, Stonechats, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Insects: Wood Lice, Midges, Wasps, Buff-tailed Bees, Harvestman Spiders, Field Grasshoppers, Sheet-Web Spiders, Flies, Solitary Bees, Ants.
Butterflies/Moths: Large White, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Pipistrelle Bats, Hedgehogs, Foxes.
Pond Life: Pond Skaters.
Plants (in flower/berry): Holly (Ilex), Ivy (Hedera), Blackberry, Hazel nuts.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Common Darter.
Fungi: Hare Paw Inkcap.

A number of ChiffChaffs were still seen in the last week of the month, before migration.
The Sparrowhawks were seen on several occasions pursuing their victims and succeeding in catching them on occasion.
The first of the Autumn Fungi were forming.
Herons were seen frequently flying over the site and sometimes perched on Pine trees.
Tawny Owls were heard calling, with the beginning of pairing for the next mating season.

NATURE FACT
Hare’s Paw (Foot) Inkcap is a delicate and short-lived fungus, the fruit bodies lasting only a few hours before dissolving into a black ink, a process called deliquescence. The vague resemblance of the young fruiting body to the paw of a white rabbit has earned this species the common name Hare’s-foot Inkcap.

Recorder: C. Wilcox