Tuesday and Wednesday were spent up on the Greensand Ridge , with very little of interest found whilst working . Back in the yard , one of the other Wardens had brought in a large
specimen of Hoof Fungus-Fomes fomentarius , which was on a large Beech that had to come down due to decay , making it dangerous to the public . His book gives it the common name Elephant's Foot , and it dwarfed the 35mm. film canister placed for size comparison .Thursday was spent hedgelaying with the Surrey Group , unusually in the week , at a school near Cheam .
Carol had booked me on Friday to help her with some more heavy work in the garden . Two trips to the tip with branches too big to go through the shredder , did give the opportunity to have a quick look in at South Norwood Country Park , but here too , things were very quiet .
Half a dozen Shoveller on the lake , were the only out of the ordinary sighting , and the only excitement was when the local Carrion Crows decided en mass , to escort a Grey Heron to the
other side of the Parish boundary .This morning , I headed up on West Wickham Common in brilliant sunshine , but still very wet underfoot , from last night's rain . Still a good amount of fungi around , with White Helvella well outnumbering it's Black relation . Still very few Boletes around , and those that were had been eaten or damaged . Some interesting ones found were :
Mycena vitilis , growing out of small fallen Beech twig ,
Oyster Mushroom-Pleurotus ostreatus , on a fallen Silver Birch ,
and every now and again , Macrotyphula fistulosa , a very simple elongated spindle . Several noisy Jays and a good sized mixed Tit flock , which contained at least one Goldcrest passed through the dense stands of Holly . The most unusual sighting though , was what I first 
thought was a moth fluttering about some Bracken , till it settled , when I could see it was a very late Speckled Wood . Surprisingly , given the recent overnight frosts , I also saw a couple of Hoverflies . No sooner had I photographed the Speckled Wood , things went very dark overhead , and as I made my way back to the car , I got a good soaking . After lunch , with blue skies again , I went for a walk in the local wood , which is basically a local dog's toilet . It is mainly Sweet Chestnut which is coppiced in areas at varying times . I find very little fungi around Sweet Chestnut so headed for a small stand of Larch in the middle , an area where the Sparrowhawk often sites it's nest . Even here the fungi was hard to find , but I found a few of interest :
Yellow-Cracking Bolete-Leccinum crocipodium ,
deep in the leaf litter , Grey Coral Fungus-Clavulina cinerea ,
and with more showing every day , the older Stag's Horn/Candle-Snuff Fungus-Xylaria hypoxylon , is really living up to it's first common name . Once again , the weather closed in , and heading home , I got soaked for a second time .
the first Red Deer was sighted , a large stag .
The sound of Geese , as two of three Egyptian Geese , looking quite exotic in flight , flew over the gathered herds .
In the bracken higher up on the slope , I found this tired looking stag , and wondered if he was the dominant force last season , but had been usurped by one of the younger challengers .
Further in the bracken were several hinds feeding , and this young stag , who will not be challenging for a few years yet .
somewhere between 75/100 RRPs . This shot shows just a small part of the flock as it got nearer , and louder . 
Two were already looking for nest sites on a gnarled old trunk .
Before a Carrion Crow arrived above them , probably declaring that he was here first .
When he departed , the RRPs returned to the tree in numbers .
Nearby , under a stand of Oaks , a Jay was collecting Autumn's harvest ,
before stashing them away under some dried grass , but will it remember where it put them ?
Heading down from the higher ground , several more stags and hinds were found chilling out .
and the local Jackdaws were helping out with the grooming , and getting breakfast too .
Heading back to the car , several hinds were seen , still suckling last years young .
The dominant male was keeping his harem together and any challengers at bay , by the odd bout of bellowing and a half hearted charge if anyone got too near . Speaking to a local dog walker , he hadn't sen any rutting amongst the Red Deer for 7/10 days , so a diary reminder to visit earlier next year . 
Heathrow , and every 2 minutes or so , one of these or similar , passed overhead at about 500ft .
Sweet Chestnut at the top of the rise , some faces were familiar in their pits around the perimeter . Different from my last visit were the numbers of really young males , keeping 
themselves away from the older males , but probably getting a feel for the rut . In all , there must have been 25+ males within a 25mtr. circle of the Sweet Chestnut copse . So it was obvious 
that that number of males about , trouble would break out , which it did almost at once . 
Sometimes it was straight forward head to head , and sometimes it involved a referee . The 
nearby car park was not out of bounds either , and it was fortunate that not many visitors had arrived at this time . As well as the males , there were 65/75 females in and around the area , 
and the dominant male had by far the largest harem . There were still the four top stags , each with their pits right on the edge of the copse , and directly opposite the dominant stag was his 
biggest rival , No.2. , but to begin with , apart from bellowing , there was no trouble amongst the top 4 .
But , the peace didn't last too long , before the dominant male and No.3 . , pitted just to the right of him , decided that some sorting out was needed , and down went the heads to an almighty crash . It was very noticeable though , that when the 4 main contenders did lock horns , it was more of a 'handbags' job compared to the two that fought down and into the car park .
It was also obvious that the bellowing , strutting and coralling , was taking it's toll on the dominant male , and when he could , he took a time out to recover his strength , before starting all over again .
But , at the end of the day , all that hard work gets it's rewards , when the victor gets his spoils .
For others , it was a mater of , forget about this year , take it out on the nearest tree , things will be better for me next year .
And the Devil's Fingers ? Yes they are still there . Three fully out , and the one above , with the fingers just about to emerge .
one or two Lapwings , a long distance sighting of a Marsh Harrier , a fleeting glimpse of a Green 
Sandpiper , a few Meadow Pipits and a startled juvenile Grey Heron that lifted noisily out of a ditch was as good as it got . Three Swallows were hawking around the car park and in the fields behind , once again at distance , anything between 100/150 Curlew , driven on land by the full tide . With such a poor start , I decided not to walk down to the hides , and slowly returned back down the track . Not much difference , until a female Kestrel , aided by the wind , sped just 
in front of the car and hovered . Seeming to have sighted something , dropped lower .
off with her meal , but she had obviously missed her target , and looked quite bemused as to what had gone wrong . Disconsolate , she flew off to find another target .
wasn't till I got closer , that I could identify them as Grey Partridge . I approached as close as I could , then waited for them to come closer , which they did .Never stopping looking for food , they came over the bank and settled in the lee of the bank to preen and rest .
at the top of the bank . The first of two Wheatears found within 100 metres of each other .
The second was on a gate post on the next bend in the track .
Just beyond the same bend was the closest Curlew seen , and on it's own .
As I moved off from the Curlew , I put up three Skylarks , and managed to get one in flight .
Almost back at the road , this Greylag Goose was taking a nap ,
and one of very few Rabbits seen , was enjoying the sun , whilst keeping out of that wind .
Swans emerged from a reedbed and took off . I only managed to get a shot of two of the four juveniles . But whilst stooped on the bend , a flash of white rump landed on a fence post , not far 
in front of me . My third Wheatear of the day was followed by the fourth , amongst the Sheep as I climbed the hill away from the Fleet on my way home . 
