Misty Mornings and Birds

From my kitchen window I can see a cotoneaster its boughs heavily laden with berries, shiningly colorful, and brightly glistening in the rain, good autumn food for birds. Across the lawn a robin and a blue tit vie for the last apple hanging from the tree, and a malus is filled with a flock of pigeons, whereas other years it has been the territory of blackbirds, thrushes, redwing and fieldfare, sadly this year we haven't seen even one redwing or fieldfare.

Hanging from a lower bough is an overwintering insect box, I hung it with a happy smile in the summer, thinking of how it would provide protection for hibernating insects. Interestingly it has proved very successful as a feeding station, especially for the great tits who are delighted with the easy pickings it provides.

Misty mornings now, and drifts of mist hang low over the fields that border the river, the tiny misty droplets highlighting and jewel bedecking the myriad cobwebs, draped over or hanging from bushes and plants. Watch out for an influx of spiders indoors, sheltering from the coming cold winter. Now is a good time to go fungi foraging, there are many and varied types to be found, all shapes and sizes, I once found a navy blue one growing under a yew tree.

Today through the lounge window I watched a heron take off, flying low over the lawn and upward through the branches of our trees. I have very mixed feelings about herons because they empty the pond, but I do love to watch them and I am always awestruck when I see them in flight. Today he didn't fly very far, just across the paddock and into the field where he spent the afternoon silently stalking by the river's edge.

Later on I saw a tiny restless goldcrest who spent several minutes flying repeatedly between a bird bath and a conifer. At just 3.5 inches long the goldcrest is Britain's smallest bird and is a joy to see with its vivid bright yellow streak along the top of its head.

Now is a good time to clear out and clean nesting boxes and before replacing them put in a handful of dried leaves to help out overwintering creatures.

Walk Along Brimming Canal

We have had a very wet several days and the fields at the back of the garden are flooded again. So we knew the river would be high, making the sights and sounds of our usual walk a little different.

Weirs usually dry are now overflowing with rushing, crashing, foamy water. One weir ran through a concrete tunnel connecting it to the river. We stood above the tunnel in awe of the roar of the water underneath the bridge, and the spray that shot high into the air.

During the course of our walk we saw only one fresh mole hill. I imagined the little creature with his warm furry coat poking his head out and quickly drawing back as the wind hit his little snout.

We met a red-faced fisherman sitting huddled on the bank. He told us he had caught but one small roach. On our return, later, he had caught another half a dozen including a 15” bream. He didn’t like killing them, so he’d thrown all of them back in.

The wind was strong and cold; it made one’s eyes water. The sun shone out highlighting the foliage with its golds, oranges, reds and browns – a truly beautiful autumn day. We were well wrapped up and determined to enjoy our walk, but no matter how quickly we moved to stay warm, our ears became cold as did our arms and gloved hands.

We were amused by the sight of swans swimming along with ducks and Canada geese on flooded fields that a day earlier had been lush green meadows.

We came to a weir that was usually dry and were enchanted by a magic carpet of leaves of all shapes, sizes and colors drawn toward the weir. We watched spellbound, then placed bets on which clump of leaves would first escape the current of the weir and float off downstream.

A Noise in the Night

The beech woods I wrote about last month are the setting for this piece, also the tale I am about to recount is absolutely true.

In the middle of a dark and moonless night my grandson was roused from sleep by the frightened and frightening cries of a creature, he was tired after a long day and had work to go to in a few hours so he tucked down and tried to ignore the sound. After several unsuccessful attempts he decided to investigate, leaving his bed he pulled on jeans and tee shirt picked up his mobile and set off. The calls were already becoming more urgent, and the woods were very dark and not the friendly place he usually frequented. He followed the direction of the sound and could hear the fear in it, he found this very unsettling and at one point was fearful as to what he was going to find. The unfamiliarity of going through the woods at night coupled with the distressed and distressing calls had quite unnerved him especially as he had no self protection should he need it, briefly he faltered but the calls were so near now he went on. He even wondered if it was a young child and knew then he couldn't stop. It was not only dark he was cold and the tree roots tripped him often, eventually he climbed up from a steep drop and as he reached the brow he heard a different sound, switching on his mobile phone he had enough light to see facing him and close enough to touch at his eye level a fully grown badger instinctively he stood tall, held his arms out and shouted. The badger stepped back a few paces and then stood its ground off to one side he could still hear the desperate cries of a creature in trouble, carefully he sidestepped away from the adult badger and made his way to the sound, it was coming from a lidless culvert. Using the light on his phone he looked down and found a young badger cub up to its neck in mud and at a good arms stretch, he was very slimy and smelly and almost impossible to grasp. After several attempts Ric managed to hold him by the neck and draw him upward, where he could use the other hand to support the youngster. When finally out, the cub rubbed himself on the ground, then made his way to his mother who had been waiting close by, obviously pleased to see her cub she nuzzled him before setting off through the woods with him.

Ric said he felt very privileged to have rescued the little chap he also said he was astonished at how heavy the cub was, how solid he felt and how coarse was his fur, he was also surprised at how the adult had waited so patiently while her cub was rescued displaying no fear or aggression. Did the adult realise she needed help which Ric could give her? Is this why she waited and watched so patiently?
Ric went back the next day and covered the hole to avoid any future mishaps.