Monday 1 November 2010

Monday 1st. November 2010

First stop this morning was Down House , to do the Bird Survey . After several poor visits recently , it was nice to get 27 species today . Two of those species , were the Winter Thrushes that I had so far failed to find this year . 26 Fieldfares , in several small flocks and 15 Redwings in two almost even flocks certainly brightened a grey morning . Good numbers of Corvids and Starlings , and 2 Green and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers kept the interest going . The most unusual record for the site was a fly over Common Gull .
The birds might have been better than usual , but it was hard work finding fungi . The first found was what is termed a 'slime mould' , Mucilago crustacea , unusual for a fungus , found on grass . I then got into a run of Wax Caps :
Blackening Wax Cap-Hygrocybe nigrescens ,
the beautifully coloured and rare Hygrocybe calyptraeformis . I looked for this species last visit , without finding it , and only found 6 specimens , mostly just emerging as above , but also a single fully emerged specimen on the main lawn of the house . It was then down to the Cricket Field to provide some more species ; normally found in numbers , but only a few Scarlet Hood-Hygrocybe coccinea ,
and Hygrocybe ceracea ,the square itself provided Clavulinopsis helvola , a small , club shaped species .On a log in the Sandwalk Woodland , Rhodotus palmatus , which can vary from Peach to Apricot in colour .
Also in the woodland was this female Roe Deer . Unfortunately , she saw me at the same moment I saw her . After seeing Warren's shot of Hawthorn in flower on a recent post , I kept my eyes open for something similar , but could only come up with a couple of small stands of Ox-Eye Daisy , and the odd flower still blooming on some Bramble . There was also the odd Spear Thistle and Black Knapweed flower to be found . On the edge of the Golf Course , I found a couple of specimens of Magpie Fungus-Coprinus picaceus . I must admit , I thought I had seen the last of this species about a month ago . Heading home , as I drove through Downe village , I had to slow down for a couple of Peahens , outside one of the pubs . The first one retired onto the roof of the pub's outbuildings , but the second , a strange looking specimen , insisted on playing 'Chicken' in the road .
I looked at Keston Ponds on the way home , just one male Mandarin in residence and a single Tufted Duck was all that had changed . The Farm Lake was no better , nothing different on the lake , but a flock of 20/25 Rose Ringed Parakeets screeched overhead into the woods , the largest flock I have seen locally for some time .
And finally , for anyone who has recently taken up 'twitching' , there is a fly on the wall programme all about it on BBC4 at 9 o'clock tonight , repeated 1030 Thursday night , you never know , we might see ShySongbird . Obsessive and fixated are both mentioned in the write up . It is followed by a programme on the Cuckoo . There are also two bird programmes on the same channel on Wednesday .

4 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Glad you caught up with some winter thrushes Greenie :-)

I'll watch that twitching programme tonight, but I hope Songbird isn't on it, I'd hate to ruin the image I have of her in my minds eye. :-) :-)

ShySongbird said...

Thank goodness you reminded me Greenie! I heard a couple of weeks ago it was coming on but had completely forgotten again, in fact I meant to mention it on my post. Of course they did ask me to appear but I declined so as to maintain my air of mystery :) :)

You certainly manage to track down some unusual looking fungi, well done with the rare one! Nice to hear about the plants still hanging on too.

Anonymous said...

Doing well with the fungi Greenie. I can`t find any fresh/new ones.

Kingsdowner said...

I tried to watch the twitchers programme but only found Alan Partridge