Nature Notes November

The weather during November was very mixed, generally mild, wet or dry days but with a few colder days and night frosts.  Not much movement on the Reserve.

SIGHTINGS
Birds:   Carrion Crows, Jays, Magpies, Stock Doves, Wood Pigeons, Buzzards, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Bullfinch, Robins, Wren, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Siskin, Nuthatches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals:   Grey Squirrels, Fox.
Plants in Flower:   Gorse.
Fungi:   A number of species.

A Bullfinch was sighted along the Hazelwood fence line.
Fungi remained on site while the milder weather continued.  As colder days and nights set in, the Fungi will die back.
Many Finch species are now seen in flocks.
Now that the nights have turned colder, birds are roosting overnight in nest boxes.

Nature Fact

Flocking -   Birds flock for a number of reasons of which the most important are finding food, avoiding attack by predators and migrating.  In every case the primary motivation comes from the individual, for whom the advantages of joining a group outweigh those of remaining solitary.