Apologies for the late response but many thanks for all your comments Wurzel, David, Mike, and Goldie
Sunday 27th September
A sure sign that autumn is here is the increasing numbers of birds coming to the feeder in the garden with gangs of Great, Blue, Coal, and Long-tailed Tits visiting most days along with Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds and the occasional Wren picking up the fallen seed on the ground. There is also a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers with at least one juvenile that is usually around at some point during the day. Even if I don’t see them I often hear the distinctive sound of one of them drumming on the trees with their beaks.
A pair of Nuthatches have also been about and it is interesting to see these the right way up for a change instead of hanging upside down which is how I usually see them.
- Nuthatch - Coverdale 27.09.2015
Later on Sunday afternoon I went for a look around my local spot at Bickenhill but there was not much butterfly activity about despite the nice sunny conditions. A total of three Speckled Woods, one Small Tortoiseshell and a couple of passing whites was all that I saw. The difference between this site and Castle Hills on the previous day (Saturday 26th Sept.) was the almost complete lack of nectar flowers here with just a few straggly ragwort plants scattered about.
I did notice a large number of orb weaver spiders sitting in their webs that were stretched across the long grass and many of these were Four-spotted Orb Weavers (
Araneus quadratus) along with the common Garden species (
Araneus diadematus) that I usually see.
- Four-spotted Orb Weaver - Bickenhill 27.10.2015
Sunday 4th October.
All week whilst I have been at work, after a foggy or cloudy start the sun has come out and it has turned into a beautiful afternoon. Getting home from work, the shadows are now lengthening across the garden and a few Speckled Woods and the odd Comma has been about, usually higher up around the trees which are still lit up by the sun.
- Speckled Wood - Coverdale 02.10.2014
- Comma - Coverdale 02.10.2014
Saturday arrived and despite a forecast which promised another similar day of a misty start clearing for a sunny afternoon, it remained dull and cloudy all day with temperatures that refused to rise above the low teens. It was that dull and gloomy that not even the Specklies were tempted out.
Today (Sunday) dawned much better with clear blue skies and by mid-morning there was enough sun on the garden for a couple of male Specklies to be squabbling over the best spots.
- Speckled Wood - Coverdale 04.10.2015
- Speckled Wood - Coverdale 04.10.2015
- Speckled Wood - Coverdale 04.10.2015
The forecast for today had it clouding up later through the afternoon but by 2.00pm with clear blue skies still as far as the eye could see and a couple of hours free I decided to go out and make the most of it...
To be continued,
Neil
