Mopping Up October - 2014

Because of the Scillies trip, and then trying to sort out all the photos, and needing to catch up on more mundane matters, October was (outside the Scillies) a rather 'slow' month on the birdwatching and photography front. Sadly, so far, November has been even slower, due to lousy weather and trying to get a few significant domestic projects under way. Here's my 'October Mop Up'.

Owls

I've very few owl images to offer for the month. Sightings were not very numerous and mainly distant and in poor light.

On 2nd October I was out with my pal, Titus. At my LO Site No.34 we'd taken some distant shots of one of the owls on a post.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.34

We were just photographing a second bird, a little further down the field, when this happened!

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.34

Two seconds later, the owl was gone and the post was enveloped  in a fog of chemicals! (having just written that last sentence, bells started ringing as to why it seemed strange - I guess it's because 'the post was enveloped' rather than 'the envelope was posted'!)

A couple of weeks later, again out with Titus, we found an owl at my LO Site No.41.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41

And, just a short way further on, an owl at Site No.48

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.48

A couple of days later, as I passed by my LO Site No.02, one of the owls was out. This isn't a special image, but I'd been worried about this site for a while now as they didn't breed this year, and come to the conclusion that one of the owls had perished. I was, therefore, delighted when, three days later, I saw two owls here.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.02

Our Garden

Things were a little quiet in our garden at the start of the month, with much less bird food than the norm being consumed. However, things got exciting the day we returned from the Scillies when a Grey Wagtail visited the garden. This is the first recorded visit by this species since we got rid of the garden pond in 2010. It's now been visiting us on most days since our return.

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) - our Garden

Having made a mental note that I must do better, I did slightly better a few days later, on 26th October.  

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) - our Garden

Unfortunately, this bird seems to like to visit when the light is dreadful and it's raining! I'm still hoping to do better!

On the same day as that last image was taken, the Sparrowhawk visited, and allowed me to take a shot. This is a bird that stirs up mixed emotions. I'm always excited to see it, and love to try and photograph it, but I hate it when it takes one of our birds.

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (male) - our garden

- and the rest of them

A visit to the Egleton side of Rutland Water on 2nd October brought some nice views of Snipe on Lagoon 3.

Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

 The sun suddenly decided to shine and the Black-tailed Godwit with them added to the scene.

Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) and Snipe - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

The usual owling route that Titus and I take on most Thursdays includes a section of country lane where hundreds of Pheasant (bred to be targets for the guns of Homo densimus) have been released. They've hung around for months now, and are so stupid that we often get held up waiting for them to get out of the way, and can imagine them standing on a wall and shouting "here I am - shoot me". There's no denying, however, that the the male birds are spectacular in their appearance!

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (male) - near my LO Site No.48

Less than a week later, whilst out with Titus, I spotted a big white bird in the hedgerow as we passed. Titus turned the car round and we quickly realised what I'd seen - an albino Pheasant. I'm not sure how rare is the occurrence of albinism in Pheasants, but this was the third such bird I'd seen over the past (probably) ten years.

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (albino female) - near my LO Site No.47

By my Little Owl Site No.17, these fungi are growing under the trees. I'm ashamed to say I don't recall what the tree species is (I'll try and find out when I next visit, but I think that they might be Black Poplar (Populus canescens)). If anyone can identify these fungi (or the trees!) for me I'd be very grateful. They don't have a separate cap - just a smooth transition from head to short, very fat, stem. They seem to grow to about 4 inches (10 cm) across, and the nearest I can get to an identification is that they look rather like Calvatia excipuliformis (which are edible).

Calvatia excipuliformis ?

On 27th October, whilst on my way back from visiting my garden bird-food supplier, I stopped to photograph a Buzzard that I'd seen on the outward journey. Let the third image, below, be a warning to you never to stand behind a raptor when it raises its tail in the air. I've seen Ospreys do this too many times at Rutland Water to take such threats lightly!!

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - near Edingale

That's all for now folks. Thank you for dropping by. It might be another long wait before my next post as I've got rather a lot going on at present!