Wildlife Reports for October 2006

As I sit writing this on the 13th November the lawn is still growing and will probably need another cut this year.  This morning a pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were already courting, chasing round each other and showing off like two exited children in complicated and fast flying manoeuvres.  A few days earlier we had Comma, Peacock and Red Admiral butterflies nectaring on flowers in the garden and a Common Darter dragonfly flying near the pond.  It could have been spring not the start of winter.  Many trees still have their leaves and the usual autumn visitors such as Fieldfares and Redwings after a brief visit on the 2nd but have not been seen since.  The Pyracantha and Holly berries together with the fallen apples have still to provide them with a banquet.
Roger Martin Duckend Green, has in the past lost his walnuts to the Squirrels but this year they were absent from the garden which allowed the walnuts to develop.  This did not mean that Roger could gather in the harvest as he found that the Rooks were flying off with the walnuts something he had not seen before.  When I was young there were very few Grey Squirrels around and Rooks always took the walnuts.  It was usual to shoot a rook and hang it out on a stick which was a very good deterrent to keep other Rooks away.  The Rooks usually carried their walnuts to a track running through what was then a meadow behind Haverings.  They then cracked open the nuts on the stones laying on the track.  Some of the harder walnuts defied their efforts and we youngsters always walked the track to pick them up.  Roger also had a frog die of Red Leg disease in the garden this year.  I have had no other reports of the disease this year in the Parish.

Hugh Walker Brunwin Road had their first visit to the garden of a Kingfisher which sat in the Ash tree eyeing up the fish pond.  Unlike the Herons they will only take small prey so the fish are safe unless they are still very small.  Herons though will kill very large Koi carp which they kill by stabbing them with their beak and leaving them on the side of the pond.  I remember a certain local farmer with a reservoir stocked with large trout who kept finding fish that had apparently, judging by the hole in their side, had been shot with a rifle.  The policeman who investigated was a keen fisherman and recognised the culprit at once as being the local Herons.  Hugh also has also had a Grey Wagtail in the garden.
Pauline Turner Shalford Road has had a more recent visit from a Kingfisher.  It sat on the fence near her garden pond and their neighbours garden.  Kingfishers need to feed throughout the year and any prolonged freezing over of water leads to high winter mortalities.  The present run of mild winters are a considerable benefit to birds like the Kingfisher.  At Goulds a Kingfisher visited our lagoon and we have had regular visits from juvenile Herons to our garden pond.  One morning two sat in the cedar tree looking in at us in bed.
Andy Goodey saw two Woodcock along the Flitch Way and at a later date saw two more along Shalford Road near Duckend Green.  I am waiting to receive confirmation of another sighting from a resident in Elm Walk of a Woodcock that was present in their garden.  This is very unusual as Woodcock are not usually considered a garden bird.

At Goulds I am sorry to report that the Jays have learnt how to use our peanut feeders.  We have found two Common Shrews dead on our house drive, they are very short lived but attractive animals.  Two animals I would prefer not to have in a garden have been making their mark.  The first was a mole that enjoyed the high worm population in the damp soil round the pond.  Moles are very territorial and will not tolerate other moles even if they are of the opposite sex.  So in late summer the juveniles have to move out and they will often cover large distances above ground to find new territories.  Hence one arrived in our garden and started rearranging all those plants that were in the way of his underground highways.
The other animal carries out its excavations above ground.  One tolerates individual holes dug for worms but when they decide the whole area needs turning over ones patience becomes tested.  Yes it is our local Badger but hopefully we will get some colder weather that will force it to spend more time underground and less with helping out in the garden.

Syl saw a Little Owl sitting in Pods Lane by Kings Nursery it was probably after worms from the roadside verge.  Two Crows were mobbing a Sparrow Hawk over the garden and though the crows had their talons out as if to make a strike I noticed they kept well away from the Sparrow Hawk.  If you have seen a Sparrow Hawk kill a pigeon you will realise that even a large bird like a Crow would stand little chance from a determined stoop from the Hawk.
In the garden and farm yard for the last two weeks a small female Kestrel has been sitting on poles and other high roosting places apparently ignoring us humans but always looking down for prey.  I suspect she is very hungry and has not got the strength to fly and hover looking for food.  Its chances of surviving even a mild winter are probably slim.  In this part of the country we have limited habitat for birds like the Kestrel to find prey so unless they evolve and find other food sources their numbers cannot increase.  Successful predators such as the Fox and Magpie have learnt to live off the detritus produced and provided by man during the winter.
I hope you all enjoy the Christmas break and please send me all those sightings from your Xmas walks.

Roger Jiggins Telephone 01376 324 311