The Second Half of November, 2023 - Pt.1

I had, originally, intended to make this blog post cover the whole of the second half of November, but have come to the conclusion that it would be far too long for the comfort of my readers! This post, therefore, features my observations from 16th to 24th November inclusive.

Thursday, 16th November          Garden  :  Sence Valley Forest Park

In the morning we had the pleasure of visits from Goldcrest (UK's smallest, and least dangerous, garden bird), and the male Sparrowhawk (the most dangerous!).

I am still struggling to get a good shot of the Goldcrest. This, at that time, was the best of a bad bunch.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) - our garden

This day, the Sparrowhawk took one of our visiting Goldfinch. This may sound heartless, but I'd sooner the Sparrowhawk took a Goldfinch than any other species, as Goldfinch is by far the most numerous of our garden visitors. I am now doubting my original assessment of the sex of this Sparrowhawk. I thought it was an immature male, due to the rufous marking on the throat and white patches at the nape. However, the brown underside striping is showing no signs of turning rufous, and the bird seems rather large, and even attempted to take a Collared Dove, so I think that it's possibly a female.

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) - our garden

Lindsay wanted to try out her new three-wheeled walking assistance on sloping terrain and asked if I would like to accompany her - which, of course, I was delighted to do. We decided on a visit to Sence Valley Forest Park as it is well-supplied with benches for her to rest on. I took my camera with me 'just in case', but only found Black-headed Gull to photograph, which was a little unusual for this location. Two other birders on site also commented on this aspect.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Sence Valley FP

In the afternoon we had our next-door neighbour arrive at our front door, carrying a trug with a hedgehog in it. He'd found it wandering around the garden in daylight, and being worried by their dog. It was a small hog, and looked very much like the hog that I'd been keeping my eye on in our garden. I placed it in the hedgehog house that I was confident was not occupied - we have two in our garden, one of which was definitely being used - but it did not stay in there for long. It came out, and wandered across the back of our garden, disappearing into a corner where it had access into the garden of one of the properties at the rear.

That evening, I stepped into the gap when the speaker (Alan Cann) booked to talk to the Blackfordby Wildlife Group was unable to attend, due to catching Covid for the second time in three months! I was given enough time to revise my talk 'Speyside - a Place for All Seasons'. I'm pleased to report that it was well-received.

Friday, 17th November          Donisthorpe Woodland  :  Garden

My first-thing-in-the-morning trip into the garden to top up the bird and hedgehog feeders revealed a Hedgehog sleeping in one of the feeding stations, on top of the tray of Black Soldier-fly larvae. This is something that has never happened before. I had to assume that this was the hog that our neighbour had brought round the previous day. The garden cameras had revealed it feeding well in the other feeding station that night and moving around, seemingly OK, but maybe a little slower than usual. As it was a sunny day, I decided to leave it there as the feeding station is made from a large clear plastic storage box which would warm up a bit like a greenhouse would.

Lindsay is making good efforts to try and rehabilitate herself and, in the morning, I was pleased to accompany her to an area that she was not familiar with, and that was Donisthorpe Woodland. Little was seen, except by the isolated section of the old Ashby Canal.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) -Ashby Canal, Donisthorpe Woodland

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) -Ashby Canal, Donisthorpe Woodland

That afternoon, I kept a relatively close watch on the garden in case the Hedgehog appeared, and even took a few shots while I did so.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - our garden

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - our garden

Towards dusk, the Hedgehog emerged from the feeding station and, with an exceedingly unsteady gait, made its way to the hedghog house that it had so industriously built a nest in over the past few weeks. I could see no damage to the Hedgehog, but I was extremely worried, and made up my mind the I would seek help and advice the next day. Here is the hog at the entrance to its nest, just before it turned in.

 

Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) - our garden

Saturday, 18th November          Garden

 

The garden cameras revealed that the worrying Hedgehog had not left its nest in the night. A call to The British Hedgehog Preservation Society, who were wonderfully helpful, had me removing the Hedgehog from its nest, and weighing it. I cannot remember what the weight was but it confirmed my suspicions that its weight was less than that required for it to safely survive hibernation. I was advised to take it to my nearest Hedgehog Rescue Centre for which contact details were given and, fortunately, was only 20 minutes away. It was received there by Shannen who kindly reassured me that it would be taken care of and I would be updated with its progress.

That afternoon I photographed some of the avian visitors to our garden, still, frustratingly, not managing to get a good shot of Goldcrest. One day, one will visit when it's not dull weather. I do love the glum appearance of a Goldcrest head-on.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) - our garden

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - our garden

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - our garden

Early the following day, I had a message from Shannon to say "Sadly the hedgehog didn't make it over night, I was very shocked this morning". She had fully expected it to be OK.

Monday, 20th November          Donisthorpe Woodland

I returned to Donisthorpe Woodland, accompanying Lindsay on another of her short walks. At one point, I found myself needing to sneak off into the trees to answer the call of nature. This resulted in me finding two Treecreepers. Some of my best finds, including a Long-eared Owl, have been due to me having to disappear off the beaten track to answer the call - age does have some benefits!

 

Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) - Donisthorpe Woodland

Thursday, 23rd November          Hicks Lodge

 

Prompted by reports of Mealy Redpoll, amongst larger numbers of Lesser Redpoll, I set off for Hicks Lodge, which is only about 2 miles (3 km) from our home. I parked at Oakthorpe Colliery and walked in from the south of the site. 

I didn't find any redpolls, but there were other birds to be seen, although nothing of great note.

From the trail in, there were Canada Geese in their usual foraging/roosting field to the west of the trail. 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

As I reached the lake, a group of Canada Geese headed towards the lake from their foraging/roosting field.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

The birds on the lake were mainly quite distant, and the weather was dull, so photography was a challenge. This is the best I could manage of a drake Pochard.

Pochard (Aythya ferina) (male) - Hicks Lodge

There were a few Great Crested Grebe around, but they stayed very distant.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Hicks Lodge

A group of four Little Grebe were somewhat closer, staying close to the near side of the northern island.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Hicks Lodge

I thought that I could see something on the near bank of the island, and wondered if it was a lurking Snipe as they have favoured this location in the past. However, I could not make it out properly with my binoculars, so took some shots with the camera that I could zoom in on. I soon saw that it was just a bit of pale shrub. I don't know what made me scan along these photos, rather than discard them, when I got home but I did, and found a Snipe!

The photo, below, is an uncropped in width (but resampled to fit on the blog page) image with the lens at 400 mm, so you can see that it was a distance away. Can you see the Snipe?

 

Here's a cropped image, so you can probably find it now.

 

Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Hicks Lodge

As I started back towards my car, I took some shots of a Mute Swan.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Hicks Lodge

I was a little disappointed by the lack of Redpoll sightings and the dull weather, but I'd still had an enjoyable time.

Friday, 24th November          Garden

In the morning, I had another attempt to photograph Goldcrest in the garden. Although it turned out to be a sunny day, the sun had not yet got round to being on the bushes favoured the Goldcrest. Nevertheless, I did manage some slightly better images than those that had resulted from my previous recent efforts.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) - our garden

That afternoon, I made a visit to Rutland Water - an event which was covered by my previous blog post.

 

If all goes according to plan, my next post will feature garden observations from the last few days of November.

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard