Autumn Leaves and a Few Snaps

Bird News: Ibsley Water - goldeneye 1 redhead (reported).

Not really any news as I was not actually at work today, but I did drop in with some bird food. I then took the chance to have a try out with my newly acquired digital camera, the old one having got a bit clunky recently. Even after just a few days off it was very clear that autumn had moved on as witnessed by the splendid colour of the field maple by the entrance.

The play with the camera seemed to go reasonably well, I don't think it is quite as instantly easy as my old one but the results look as though they will be OK for the blog and hopefully pictures for talks. But you can perhaps judge for yourself, a male chaffinch sat up nicely in the sun.

He was looking quite smart in fresh plumage and was having a good look around.

Possibly on the look out for females and there was one which also sat up well for a brief time.

I had a look from the Tern hide before I returned to my days off, I could not find the reported goldeneye, or much else of real note, unless you count 5 Egyptian geese. The visit did allow me to try the camera again, this time on a pair of gadwall which were close to the hide.

Ducks and Deer and Spots

Bird News: Ibsley Water - redwing 13 over west with 4 blackbirds, yellow-legged gull 1 adult, green sandpiper 1.

Mockbeggar Lake - great white egret 1, little egret 7.

The main task today was to do the wildfowl count for the month. The day started misty, which delayed me a bit, then the sun came out and conditions were excellent, until it started to rain and the wind picked up. Ibsley Water held the greatest number of birds, including 1027 coot, 104 gadwall and 202 wigeon. As well as the greatest numbers Ibsley water also usually has the greatest diversity of species. In the picture there are five, coot, mute swan, wigeon, teal and mallard.

It was not all birds though, on my way to count Mockbeggar Lake I came across a small group of fallow deer, including a very pale fawn young buck and an almost white adult buck, unfortunately I only got a picture of a typically coloured doe, just as it spotted me and dashed off.

I am sure I have noted before that Blashford is of special importance for the large population of gadwall that winter here, approximately 2% of the Western European population last winter. I did not see all that many today but a few of them were showing well in the early sunshine like the pair below doing their daily toilet outside the Tern hide.

The drake above and the duck below both displayed their white speculum, in the duck especially, this readily separates them from the many other similar ducks.

A particular feature of the sycamore trees this autumn has been many blackish spots on the turning leaves. It is something called tar spot fungus and attacks sycamores and maples, specifically it is Rhytisma acerinum.

If the predictions of rapidly deteriorating weather are correct we may not see too many insects this year, so a few red admiral, migrant hawker and common darter dragonflies were good to see. Usually I expect to see all of them into mid-November, but such things are never guaranteed.

More Broods and Bee Orchids

Despite the grim weather I am pleased to say that the newest brood of lapwing still number at least two, although they must be finding life hard, small fluffy chicks and rain do not mix well. Unfortunately I cannot be sure that the large lapwing chick has flown, it was very big when I last saw it, but now seems to have gone missing, hopefully it has just flown off. At the end of the day the pair of Egyptian geese were right in front of the hide with their single remaining youngster. The rise of Egyptian geese from occassional escapees to increasingly regular breeding bird is a bit of a concern. They are very aggressive when nesting and will displace other species. In parts of Belgium and Holland they are already becoming very common and there seem no reason why they should not become so here.

I spent a good bit of the day ferrying materials around, along the way I saw several bee orchid near the Lapwing hide and a single spotted orchid a little further south. On the silt pond near the Lapwing hide there was a brood of gadwall, the first I have seen this year. This pond has done well for breeding birds this year with both great crested and little grebe nesting there as well. I also took a quick look from the hide and found a family party of swallow perched on the fence wire just below the windows, typically in such situations, I did not have my camera.

Record Count

The main task today was to do the monthly wildfowl count, I started with Ibsley Water just after it got light. Most of the lake was frozen apart from a broad stretch across the middle running east-west. The most notable birds here were 2 Egyptian geese making aggressive noises at a peregrine on one of the islands.

Ivy Lake was almost completely frozen, whilst Ellingham was totally ice-free, but nearly bird free as well. Still I knew there would be a lot of birds on Rockford Lake and there were, counts included 799 coot, 220 gadwall and 66 mute swan. However the best bird I saw there was not on the lake at all, as I was starting the count I was aware of a bird flying over my head, after a moment I realised it was a great grey shrike, it flew into a tree on the Ivy Lake shore then off towards the water treatment works. This was presumably the one seen nearby a few days ago, but this time it was definitely in the reserve and so another one for the BTO Challenge total. I would guess it is also the bird that has been seen on and off on Ibsley Common.

I then visited Blashford Lake, I had not been there for a little while and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of birds on the lake, no doubt the reduced amount of sailing recently due to ice cover has allowed the birds the freedom to feed in peace. The number of gadwall was especially impressive and was a major contributor to the overall record count of 1149 that we got in total today. Snails Lake was also quite busy and like Blashford Lake around half frozen. However these were the last lakes to count for me as those to the south were all frozen over. The gadwall count is close to 2% of the NW European population and the first we have had over the thousand, although we have got within twenty or so twice before.

At the end of the day I went to Ibsley water again to count the geese and goosander, the greylag included the 5 white-fronted goose, although there had been only the four adults. Just before I arrived they had flown off to the valley and shortly after returned with the juvenile in tow, it seems very prone to getting lost. The goosander reached at least 111 before I had to leave, still a respectable number. One last bird of note was a Canada goose, there were lots but one stood out, in fact it seemed to prefer the greylag, it was a little smaller, darker, shorter-necked and smaller-billed than the usual birds. Evidently it was of one of the other races, with an appearance somewhere between a lesser and a dusky. Like dusky Canada goose it had a reduced white face patch and seemed to have a dark chin-stripe as well.