Something in the Water

Bird News: Ibsley Water - goldeneye 1, goosander 10.

Mockbeggar Lake - little egret 12, great white egret 1.

Ivy Lake - water rail 2.

The moth trap was quite busy this morning after a mild night, nothing new for the year, but a merveille du jour and a mottled umber were both good to see. The mottled umber is pictured below.

As well as the moths a single hoverfly was also in the trap, an Eristalis pertinax a species that will hibernate and fly again in the spring.

I had to go and look at the fence along the northern shore of Mockbeggar Lake in the morning as we are looking to replace the old fence, which has seen better days. Looking across the lake a group of egrets included the great white egret, I gave digi-binning a try and the result is below.

The sun was out for much of the time and I saw several insects including migrant hawker dragonfly, several red admirals and a late small copper. The copper was very worn, perhaps not surprising at this late date, but it did allow a picture.

Less surprising was a speckled wood, I usually see one or two in November and today was ideal for them. This too was a very worn individual.

Despite these reminders of summer there was no doubt that it is autumn, the light, the dampness in the air and even the smell of the day all spoke of autumn.

When I went to lock up the Tern hide, I had just sat down to have a quick last look, when all the birds from the eastern side of the lake suddenly dashed westwards, in flight or, in the case of the coots by pattering over the surface. At first I though there must have been someone on the bank near the Goosander hide, but looking that way I saw a buzzard perched in a tree, so not a person, but what? Then I noticed the gulls circling over the lake just out of sight to the east of the long shingle spit, there was obviously something in the water they did not like. My guess would be an otter, the reaction of the birds was typical and although it did not come into view I am pretty sure that if I had been int he Goosander hide that is what I would have seen.

Wildfowl, Wasps and a few Butterflies

Bird News: Ibsley Water -green sandpiper 2, black-necked grebe 1, pintail 1 drake, hobby 1.

Rockford Lake - common tern 1 juvenile.

Ibsley North Lake - greenshank 1.

Dockens Water Woodland - crossbill 2+

We did the first waterbird count of the "winter" today, no great surprises, although on Iblsey Water 866 coot were notable as were 58 little grebe, although they are so hard to count that this will have been a fair bit fewer than were actually present.

The weather was fabulous, if a bit too hot and humid. The sun shone from the start, a real reminder of summer, or at least what we might have hoped for in summer but actually got in spring. That it was actually autumn was plain from the fungi sprouting all over the place, I found the ones below on the trunk of a cherry plum, they are vaguely like a hoof fungus, but I don't think that is what they are.

As I went between the lakes I also came across the bird of the day, which was crossbill, or probably crossbills, calling in the top of a tree along the Dockens Water path. I was on the edge of the lichen heath at the time investigating some nesting holes of a Colletes bee, the picture I got was of a wasp though, it seemed to be digging a nest hole. Only when I looked at the picture did I notice the fly beside it, I suspect it is the wasp's prey and there to provision the nesting hole, but that is just a guess.

There were also fungi out on the heath including the one below that looks like it belongs on a flower-pot man's head (ask your granny).

The sun brought out a few butterflies, there have been very few about recently, but today I saw red admiral, speckled wood, a very late meadow brown and the small copper below.

The butterflies that are out and about do not have much choice of flowers to nectar from, I found a few heath speedwell flowering.

One or two mid summer species are flowering again, a little anyway, one of these is the ox-eye daisy, I even saw a foxglove with a few flowers the other day.

I have not totalled all the counts yet but here are a few of the totals for all the counted lakes:

Coot 1555, little grebe 77, wigeon 54, tufted duck 186.

A Blashford "Tick"

It is always good to see an new bird and today I saw a new species for the Blashford reserve, at least the first record that I am aware of since the reserve really opened up. Sadly it was not some rarity from distant parts, but a red-legged partridge, probably a refugee from a nearby shoot. On the plus side I did manage to get a picture of it. The bird was running around the car park when I arrived this morning and when it got to the back of the hide it flew up onto the screen and then off to the east.
I saw nothing else of note from the Tern hide, although I know the great white egret was seen on Iblsey Water later in the day. On Ivy Lake the 4 mandarin duck were still around, they were feeding on insects that they were picking off the surface of the lake, making rapid dashes here and there to grab them. I was not aware they fed on insects and certainly not in this way.

The moth trap included a couple of migrants, a silver Y and a rush veneer, but not much else of note.

During the afternoon I continued cutting the sight line outside the Ivy North hide, it was very warm in the sunshine and I was being buzzed by migrant hawkers all the time. As I cut I disturbed several large wainscot moths, these feed on reed mace, so it was not surprising that there were there.

As I headed back to the Centre I flushed a small butterfly, it was a small copper, rather worn this late in the season but still bright.