Autumn has moved in with increasing severity.
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| Merveille du Jour |
Towards the end of October I went to the Butterfly Conservation North East AGM. It started with a moth trap emptying, which had unfortunately been adversely affected by heavy overnight rain but did produce this nice specimen. There was also some useful information, notably about the small blue introduction on Teesside, which sems to be very near the RSPB site, as well as the precise location of the graylings at Cambois. There was also an explanation the variation of size in the speckled wood. Apparently research has shown that the ones with larger wings migrate further. It's thought that wing-shape and colouration are altering as a result of the movement north.
A week or so later I went on a bike ride to Ryal, which didn't produce much in the way of nature though I
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| Clouded Funnel? |
rather liked the 'footpath' of toadstools trailing its way out of the woodland near Stamfordham. And one pleasant surprise was the appearance of a roe deer shambling along the hedgerow between two roads just north of the A695 at Crawcrook.
In the garden long-tailed tits have come onto the feeders in large numbers on a couple of occasions and several grey squirrels have been seen making their way over to the oak tree, which presumably has produced a lot of acorns this year. A couple have even ventured into the garden itself briefly.
The other day I saw a (presumably second brood?) jackdaw trying to beg food from the others. One of them took umbrage and attacked it, forcing it onto its back on the lawn - at which point a magpie immediately swept down, presumably anticipating an easy kill. Anyway, the victim jackdaw was strong enough to escape on the third or fourth attempt. Quite a spectacle.
Yesterday, Naturewatchers' trip to Big Waters provided some interesting sightings in addition to the normal fare such as wigeon, shoveler, gadwall etc. Amongst several hundred canada geese, the twitchers had spotted a white-headed canada goose, pictured below next to the real thing. Apparently it is the result of hybridisation rather than a separate species.
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| White-headed Canada Goose (r) |
The area to the rear of the hide was under water but the feeders were heavily visited, particularly by tits. I spent a lot of time photographing an elusive willow tit so we could confirm it wasn't a marsh tit but the big surprise for us was when a warbler briefly visited the willow trees on either side. It seems, according to a local expert, that a small number of chiffchaffs are now overwintering at Big Waters.
