Wildlife Reports for November 2005

Wendy Moss, Kidder Road, also has a new sighting for Rayne a Waxwing, which was feeding on a Pyracantha covered in berries.   This is one of the most spectacular migrant birds we get in the country, its plumage appears to have been arranged by a feather stylist and its colour appears to have been painted in acrylic paint.   It has been recorded in Braintree but we now have our own record.   Wendy also reports two House Sparrows in the garden the first for some years, with visits from Magpie, Jay, large numbers of Starlings, increased number of Collared Doves (4 pairs) and the first visit by a Kingfisher who sat on the bird table to get a good view of the garden pond.   After several visits the Kingfisher probably decided that the fish were two large and left them for the Herons.
Elizabeth Miller, Duckend Green, has the same problem as reported by Richard Price last month, a Kestrel that sits on her outside aviary and terrifies the Budgerigars.   They sit around petrified for up to an hour after the Kestrel has left.   I get many reports about gardens being emptied of birds, usually it is a Sparrowhawk flying through, but a Kestrel can cause the same panic.
Allan Spooner has told me that the white-headed House Sparrow in his garden had young, which were of normal sparrow plumage.   That spoils the theory I put forward in last month’s report.
Sid James Brunwin Road has just phoned, as I was about to send this to the Editor, to say he has had a fast flying bird with a short tail in his garden.   It had a long pointed beak and a very bright sky blue breast. I am unable to identify the bird so can birders let me have their ideas.

I had a very good view of a Long Eared Owl that flew up from the bank of our farm lagoon one morning and then turned to fly past me again before heading off towards some Lleylandii, presumably to roost up for the day.   The last Long Eared Owl in the Parish was in the front garden of Rosemary and David Whitehurst when they lived in Gore Lane.   It was 8ft. up in a thorn bush and stayed for the day.   When David reported the sighting I was very sceptical but there it was perched just above head height.   The 35 Grass Snake eggs that I reported last month in our compost heap were moved to our poly tunnel and hatched two young which measured 17cm (7ins) long which is remarkable as the eggs were only 3-3.5cm long.   We thought the rest were infertile but before we moved them a baby snake was found by one of my tenants Anna Brown curled up in their workshop.   The young have been released under woodpiles in the garden.   We hope the mild weather has allowed them to fatten up before winter sets in.   A Green Woodpecker returns to the garden late every night, I believe it is roosting in the hole where it has nested for the last three years.

On the 5th November there were several large flocks of pigeon flying over early in the morning, were these the first of our continental migrants arriving?   In the garden we only have a few Blackbirds normally by this time of year we have over 20 presumably mostly migrants.   As Andy reported above the Fieldfares are late in arriving suggesting the rest of Europe is probably also having a very mild spell and the wild berry crop is as plentiful there as it is here.
Two new sightings for the Parish in one month perhaps we can improve on that over the Christmas break.   Please don’t forget your reports in the run up to Christmas and lets hope the predicted very hard winter is another figment of the forecaster’s imagination.
Roger Jiggins, 01376 324 311, email r.jiggins@btconnect.com