Monday 14th. November 2011

With the weather returning to grey and damp again , I decided not to venture too far today and settled for a morning visit to Sevenoaks Reserve . I suppose I shouldn't moan too much about the weather , as at least it was decent for my recent days of hedgelaying .I must admit though , at one point on the way to Sevenoaks , I nearly turned around when the mist got very thick and heavy drizzle was falling , but carried on , and must say that it was reasonable whilst on site . A quick look from the viewpoint over the East Lake produced lots of Greylag Geese , Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls and not much else , so I headed for Willow Hide . Snipe Bog Lake , directly outside the hide , produced a good selection of duck species , which included M&F of :

Teal ,

Shoveler , still having a lay in ,

Wigeon and

Gadwall , along with Mallard and Tufted Duck , Coot and Moorhen and two flyby Kingfishers , neither of which even thought about stopping on one of the sticks out front for a photograph . I also scanned the far reedbeds for a first sighting of a Bittern on site this year , but that didn't happen either . Down on Long Lake , the direction that the Kingfishers had come from , just a solitary juvenile Mute Swan and more Mallard were in residence . Checking the far end of the East Lake , no

sign of any visiting Grebes as yet , but several small groups of Tufted Duck , always ready to move at first sight of any movement on the bank . The small grassy area between the East and Long Lake has been cut recently , and I disturbed a Jay and Green Woodpecker who were probably looking for breakfast . The area to the left of and the islands in front of the Public Hide have also been cut and were occupied by several Cormorants , good numbers of Lapwings and a mixed flock of Black-headed and Common Gulls . The best species found though , were at least 20 Common Snipe , nearly all hunkered down of the far sides of the islands , with just the odd one or two on the nearside , like

these two in front of a few of the Lapwings . I didn't see a Little Grebe this visit , but several Great

Crested Grebes , all in their drab Winter plumage , like the one above were seen . Nothing was seen from the Tower Hide and very little from the Slingsby Hide , not even a glimpse of a Water Rail . On

 the way back towards the car , I got a distant view of a Little Egret , just before it was driven off by Corvids . In total , 41 species were seen , more than I expected to see given the weather .

A few species of fungi were found on the way around ,

Common Funnel Cap / Clitocybe infundibuliformis , two from the same family ,

Lycoperdon foetidum and

Lycoperdon perlatum ,

Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig / Copinus comatus ,

Shaggy Parasol / Lepiota rhacodes ,

and a species that I posted recently , Wood Blewit / Lepista nuda , but looking very different as gets

older . Still the odd bit of colour around , like this Red Campion / Silene dioica , a member of the Pink family , trying to cheer things up on a dull day .