Friday 9th.September 2011

I set off this morning to see how the Fallow Deer rut was progressing at Knole Park near Sevenoaks . I quite expected to at least hear some bellowing up on the rise above the house , but , all was very quiet , with not a single animal being found on the traditional rutting hill . When I went last year in mid October , I felt that I had just caught the end of the rut , which is why I visited today . With nothing happening rut-wise , I set off to look for a species of fungi found on site last year , Devil's Fingers/Clathrus archeri . Once again , I failed miserably , as after much searching , not a single specimen was found .Once again , when found last year , they were going over , so again , an earlier visit should have proved successful . Off the beaten track , a lot of the Bracken had been flattened , and these areas seemed to attract many of the deer found , like these two females , one much darker 

than the other , probably due to in breeding between the resident population , which also includes another introduced species , Sika Deer . None of the older stags were seen today ,probably still feeding up before the rut , as they will not eat during it . Just a few young bucks were seen , like this

one . There were also quite a few juveniles around , like this one , reminded me of the two fawns

that I found in the long grass back in mid Summer . The birds were few too , just a single Green Woodpecker , what looked like a family group of Pied Wagtails that might have contained a Yellow Wagtail amongst them , but wouldn't let me get close enough to be sure , a mixed Starling / Corvid flock , and of course the inevitable Rose-ringed Parakeets , were all that was seen until just before

leaving , when I spotted this female Pheasant , as she ushered three youngsters off the track and into

the cover of the Bracken , this being one of them . I stopped on the Downs on the way home , but things were no better there , a few Slow Worms , a very fresh Comma and a still presentable male

Common Blue . The best to the eye though was a large stand of Devilsbit Scabious , that gave

the hillside a purple hue . I had to pass Sevenoaks Reserve , and as things had been so quiet , I decided to have a short visit . Everything was quiet where I had the Kingfishers last visit , but found

a few Teal preening themselves outside Willow Hide , and a family group of Tufted Ducks (sorry

Warren) , on Long Lake . Almost fully grown now , the mother is back right . The small meadow was not so sunny today , which reduced the activity there , but there was a couple of Hornets criss

crossing the area . Following one , I watched it catch a Crane Fly , dropping into the grass with it's

meal . It moved several times , with me following , before it finally took it's meal into the tree , for some peace and quiet . I couldn't leave without a last visit to the Kingfishers , and once again was rewarded with several sightings of two birds , and also watched them diving for fish . Although they

were first seen on the perches from last visit , one did move a bit closer , perching on the branches

of a swaying Willow , from which it also made a couple of attempts to catch fish . That's closer than last time , perhaps third visit will find one of them on the sticks .