Thanks from the Chairman

Thanks go out to everyone who helped make it a blinding start to the cutting season yesterday.  Despite waking up to grey gloom and drizzle, nearly all the regulars, 16 in all, rose admirably and cheerfully to the task in hand with impressive result. 

 

It has to be said that some ideas are so good you wonder why no one  tried them before.  Such is the Dowland Tea Pot, actually a catering size pump-action Thermos flask, which had its inaugural outing and dispensed much hot satisfaction.  Consequently, those present yesterday might reflect on the fact that they were witness to a flowering of Trust infrastructure with new officers in both Catering and Health & Safety; thank you Margaret and Roger.

 

The next working party is on Sunday 20th.November, 9:30am, continuing where we left off yesterday,  and after that the 3rd. December will conclude matters for 2011.  With BTCV booked to help twice, and given reasonable weather, I am optimistic that we can complete Area 'A' and resume on the other side of the Beck in January.

 

Thanks again for your help

Regards from John

First frost and fieldfares

Having the day off work, and the morning being so glorious, a walk across the boardwalk seemed essential. It had been cold overnight, and the first frost of the season was still lying on the shaded sections of the boardwalk. Not much wildlife to report, but I did find a female reed bunting on the reedbed. Walking down Bradfield Road my attention was drawn to what sounded like a duck in the undergrowth, but it turned out to be a couple of cock pheasants having a set-to.

As I was taking a look at Scouts' Pond, which was slightly fuller as a result of yesterday's rain, a flock of about 20 fieldfares flew overhead. These were my first for the season, and all the more satisfying for that.

Summer clinging on

It was no doubt a beautiful early morning, following a cold clear night. However, the desperate desire for a lie-in, and a rugby world cup semi-final to watch, prevented me from virtuously enjoying it. Nonetheless, when I finally did surface, it was gorgeous: warm and bright, but lacking the summer's humidity. Although the leaves on my lawn  proclaim it really is autumn, today we were back to summer, and there were still some summer creatures on view. I found a few dragonflies, including this ruddy darter at Scouts' Pond, and plenty of mosquitoes found me.

On School Common there was the usual crop of puffballs, but this year even better than last.

No doubt we are in the middle of the autumn influx of finches and thrushes, but I wasn't able to find any concrete evidence of them. There was a flock of finches making quite a racket in the trees near the main car park for the common, but try as I might I couldn't see a single bird - most frustrating! I wondered if I might find a redwing, but neither sight nor sound came my way.

Meanwhile, back at the Beck, the bright sun filtering through the becoming-brittle leaves and lighting up the stream seemed worth a snap.

Not too hot for deer

In this unseasonably hot weather I didn't expect to find much on the common this morning, but there was a jay around, presumably busily gathering acorns for its winter cache. It posed prominently enough for a long-distance snap, which does at least show off its beautiful blue wing bars.

A few yards further on I spotted a Chinese Water deer in amongst the short reeds in the area best known for its orchids and cotton grass. Fortunately the orchid flowers are long past for the season, so the deer wasn't eating those.It was clearly aware of me, and was frozen still. After a while it realised it had to get away, so slowly slunk off. In no time it had disappeared, but not before I'd got a few pictures, showing its diagnostic kangaroo-like ears.

Indian summer, or new spring?

Today is so warm it's like summer - the papers inevitably say it's an Indian summer. The chiffchaffs on School Common however are singing; so I guess they think it's spring again. They are very tame, but flitting in and out of the late summer foliage I cannot get a clear picture of them.

There is a marsh marigold on the main boardwalk that is less inclined to hide. I photographed it last week, but it's still there in all its glory, and I can't resist taking another shot today.

Nearing Pit Common from the Warren Woods direction I hear a green woodpecker. I have had strangely few sightings of Great Spotted woodpeckers this year. Further along the road, more or less opposite The Hill, I find a comma butterfly, and there was a Red Admiral at the Pit. I'd seen a speckled wood on School Common, and there was still a ruddy darter dragonfly at Scouts' Pond.

All in all, very satisfactory for what can be a rather boring time of year.

Magic half hour

2 p.m. on a very warm and sultry afternoon didn't seem a good time to go out with a view to seeing anything very exciting on the Common, but as so often turns out to be the case, my expectations were exceeded many times over. Even before I got to the Common, I had a brilliant view of a female sparrowhawk in Sandy Lane. It perched right beside my car, but not for long enough for my fumbling fingers to get my camera out of its case.

There was nothing very remarkable on School Common, but calling in at Scouts' Pond on the Jubilee Boardwalk  often yields good views of dragonflies, and today was a good example. The most obvious ones were ruddy darters, and I got photos of both the male an female:

There was also a Common Hawker, hawking around in a common sort of way, on our Common:

Once I reached the main boardwalk across the Common I was happy to see lots of swallows still in evidence (keep those records of swallows and house martins coming in please, so we can see when they leave us). Alarm calls directed my attention to a swallow giving another sparrowhawk a hard time as it flew past - brilliant! A short distance further on, and I found this female Common Darter dragonfly:

Once the other side of the bridge (sadly someone is still determined to prevent the beck's banks from being protected) I glimpsed what is incredibly my first Peacock butterfly of the year - but no chance of a photo. They do seem to have been scarce in this area this year - sightings are needed for the survey please.

Hearing another agitated swallow I looked up, to see several high in the sky to the east of the common mobbing a soaring buzzard. At the same time I noticed what was obviously another raptor moving at speed from that direction, and coming directly overhead. With a thrill I realised it was a hobby. This time I had the presence of mind to fire off a few photos. Hardly the best picture of a hobby ever taken, but for all fans of subbuteo this is what I got:

There were also plenty of grasshoppers, some of which seemed keen to have their pictures taken. I believe this is a Meadow grasshopper:

And then, to cap it all, in the same area, not far away from Warren Road, I saw at last a lizard, which I've been missing for a couple of years. A few moments later, there was a brief glimpse of a tiny one - presumably very young.

All this had happened in the space of half an hour or less - I'm glad I went out after all!

Swift exits

This call for help may already be too late, but it's worth a go. One of the species in our Southrepps Wildlife Survey is the swift, and I would like to track the last date it was seen in the area this year. It seems that they are leaving the country in great numbers now, and I have not seen one for a few days. I would therefore be grateful if you could record the last date on which you see one: the easiest way is to simply let me know every date you see one from now on.

Email me at birdsigthings@tiscali.co.uk or via the website at http://www.southreppscommonstrust.org.uk/sct2/wildlifesurveytwo.htm

Many thanks, Duncan