Nature Notes October

The weather remained wet, with only a few dry days with sunshine. Very quiet on the Reserve with not much activity.
SIGHTINGS
Birds:  Carrion Crows, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Buzzards, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Wrens, Dunnocks, Siskins, Nuthatches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrests.
Butterflies:  Holly Blue, Large White, Red Admiral.
Mammals:  Grey Squirrels.
Insects:  Pond Skaters.

A welcome sight at the end of the month were several Goldcrests. This tiny bird, the smallest resident bird in Britain, was lost in large numbers during the cold spell last Winter.
No more sightings of Bats during the month.
A small number of Fungi were found with the hope that more will appear during November.

Nature Fact

Magpies are members of the Crow family. They are notorious for their habit of stealing other birds’ eggs and chicks. It is worth watching magpies closely. They are constantly inquisitive and are known to hoard bright objects. Often they seem ‘visibly intelligent’ – soaking dry bread in a fishpond, for example, to make it easier to eat; then hiding the excess in a crevice in the rockery, carefully covering it with moss and grass pulled from the lawn.