Cat on the prowl

Whilst out walking along Combe Wood Lane this week I hear a commotion from a small flock of house sparrows. These birds are usually about along the hedgerows in this area and no doubt roost in the eaves of a number of older cottages along the lane. The noise alerted me to them as they were obviously making alarm calls so I thought there might be a sparrow hawk about. 

Male house sparrow

However, walking closer to the hedge soon identified the reason for the sparrows' concern. It was a black cat sitting in the middle of the field.

I noticed however that it wasn'tactually showing any interest in the sparrows in the hedge and then, only when it saw me and stood up did a pied wagtail fly up into the air in front of it. The sparrows had been a useful lookout for the pied wagtail and the cat gave up its hunt and stalked off.

Autumn colour lingers into winter

Colour in SSW is really beautiful this year as the following two pictures show.

The leaves on the trees everywhere seem to be hanging on longer this year and the oak trees in particular, after having shed their wonderful acorn crop, are still almost in full leaf, some are even still green! This is quite unusual, especially now we have had a few frosty mornings. The delay is probably due to the hot summer and fairly mild autumn which means that the chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green, is still being produced. No doubt they will all fall quickly once they start and there will be more clearing up to do on the paths and patio in the garden.

If you can though, try to use the leaves for compost rather than burning them or adding to the garden recycling bins. To see how to turn them into free compost see here http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/soil_makeleafmould1.shtml

Not only are the trees retaining their leaves , there are also some unseasonal blooms about, like these rhododendrons below, seen at Chilworthy last weekend, which would normally be out in May /June. Another odd feature of the weather or possibly climate change?

The birds are still not flocking to the garden feeders but there have been increasing numbers of starlings in the village this year which are chattering away to themselves high up in the lime trees which overhang our garden. After spending time "talking" amongst themselves they suddenly all take to the air, their wings making a sound like papers being riffled together, before coming back to rest on the topmost branches again.

There are also increasing numbers of field fare and redwing locally, the former announcing their presence with their football rattle like chuckle, the latter being almost silent.

As winter gets a hold, try to keep feeding the birds and remember, a source of clean water for them to both drink and bathe in are really helpful to our feathered friends

First frost of winter

Whilst October went out with a big blow and November came in with quite a bit of rain temperatures remained quite mild until last night when we finally had (I believe) the first frost of the season.

Yesterday though we had a morning at the Greylake RSPB reserve over on the Levels. The weather was kind with wonderful mackerel skies

 and we were surprised to see dragonflies and some rather tatty looking red admirals still on the wing as they made the most of the sunshine. Unfortunately the former will shortly die, usually only lasting 2-4 weeks as adults and the latter is unlikely to survive the winter either, even though some do manage to hibernate in sheltered spots, most of the ones  we will be seeing again in the spring actually migrate here from Europe.

Other birds we were lucky enough to see included a peregrine and some close up snipe. The peregrine, after spending some time preening whilst sitting on top of a fence post, suddenly took off in hot pursuit of three unwary pigeons which flew high over it. It flew at them, separating them and then targeted one, easily catching it up as it flew on in a panic. I did not see the outcome as they dived behind some trees but as a peregrine emerged soon after and flew back to a nearby pylon, often used by them as a look out point, I suspect the pigeon made its escape successfully.

The snipe, in contrast, remained in the reeds, brilliantly camouflaged, so even though it was close to the hide for most of our stay, occasionally preening, it was easy to miss unless pointed out.

This is always a good reserve to watch winter wildfowl from the comfort of a hide and the peregrine is often joined by merlin and other birds of prey in the winter months as it a useful "feeding" station for them when the weather really turns cold.
There is also a newly built hide( see below), which is slightly raised and  which, whilst not totally weather proof, gives even better views of the pools and reeds in front of it.

Autumn bounty

Everywhere you go people are trying to give away their apple harvest and the " hedgerow foragers" have been having a field day picking the bumper crop of wild blackberries this year. Usually I  would worry that the wildlife might suffer as their food source was being depleted but this year I think there is plenty for everyone.
Twice I have filled my bird feeders recently and both times I have had to remove them and clean them out as the birds have largely ignored what I have provided in favour, presumably, for the wild food and continued insect life that they been able to gather naturally instead.

Apart from the blackberries there have been a very good harvest of rose hips and haws, holly (above) and hawthorn berries. All if these are valuable source of food to birds and other wildlife as well as brightening up our hedges, especially now the rain is setting in!
Other pretty berries in the hedgerows at the moment are those of Black bryony (below). Be careful not to pick these when foraging as they are highly poisonous!

Another valuable food source in flower at the moment is Ivy (below). This attracts the insects, which in turn attracts the birds, so if you can leave some in your garden you will be doing the wildlife a favour.

 If you want to identify other berries in the countryside at the moment, have a look here for some clues. http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/shared_documents/winter-thrushes-survey/associated_files/berry-identification-sheet.pdf

Spiders' webs everywhere!

This September the weather has been largely dull,  indeed, according to our solar meter it was as dull as March, and last week we had the first of the autumn fogs descend over the village. Then on Monday we awoke to garden scenes which looked as if the spiders were taking over! 

Huge webs had appeared strung between anything available that provided an  upright anchor and the intricate webs glistened with moisture from the increased humidity in the air. You could hardly walk down a footpath without walking into a web strung across it.

These structures are really amazing and are really only so easily visible because of the moisture in the air. In fact the poor spider is probably not happy that its web is so visible as it makes it more vulnerable to becoming prey of other creatures. 

Most of these webs will have been spun by garden spiders and the spider will wait in the centre until an insect alights on the web before dashing across and seizing it for a tasty meal.

Garden spider web

Garden spider web

Garden spider waiting patiently for prey

Money spider webs

The Garden spider was not the only one making incredible webs however. There were also a number of horizontal webs like these which were probably made by a variety of money spider. They appear to be of a random design but are they have cleverly made a "sheet" web into which prey may fall.

Whilst I am mentioning spiders, have you also noticed the increasing number of big spiders which are appearing indoors at the moment? These are actually the Giant house spider and the ones that dash across your floor and then stop for no apparent reason are apparently males looking for a mate. Like a cheetah they can run very fast for a short distance but then have to stop due to exhaustion! If you are interested, you may like to send your sightings to the House spider survey http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/23898679 which the Society of Biology are currently running. Funny old world!

Beau the Barn owl visits Combe

Last night the Local ladies group opened its meeting at the village hall too all (men as well!) and welcomed Chris Sperring MBE and Beau the Barn owl for a presentation about the current owl situation in the country and the Somerset Barn owl project in particular.

It proved to be a fascinating and informative evening, starting with information, about how Barn owls have struggled with the weather over the last couple of years. First the wet spring and summer last year caused the vole population ( favourite owl food) to plummet as the fields, especially on the Somerset Levels were flooded. Then the snow, followed by cold winds made hunting for food very difficult. This resulted in very few successful breeding attempts and so by this summer the numbers of Barn owl locally had fallen by an estimated 75%.

Chris however explained that his recent surveys were indicating that vole numbers were increasing again and he was hopeful that the owls may have had success with their attempts at late broods this year. If that was the case he was also hopeful that numbers would increase again quite quickly.

The Somerset Owl project is a joint effort between the Hawk and Owl Trust and the Somerset Wildlife Trust and is well on the way to achieving its aim to put a Barn owl box in all 335 parishes in the county by November 2014. At the same time, Chris is visiting local farmers and landowners and encouraging them to leave field margins or corners of land uncut to help the vole populations and thereby provide food for the owls. Indeed, everyone can help by leaving areas in their own gardens where the grass can grow longer and thereby increase biodiversity as invertebrates etc can survive.

Al in all an enjoyable evening and whilst the star of the evening was obviously Beau, Chris's talk was very much appreciated!

Wildlife and sights you won't find in Combe!

As mentioned in my last post we have recently returned from Brazil and I thought I would share some of our most exciting sightings which we were privileged to see.

We spent some time in the Chapada  dos Guimarães National Park in central Brazil before travelling 250 km down the Transpantaneira " road into the heart of the Pantenal where we spent a week exploring the rivers and marshlands in search of Jaguar. For the last few days the trip we flew south to the Brazilian / Argentina border and visited the spectacular Iguassu Falls.
In all we saw 21 species of mammal ( including 6 separate sightings of Jaguar) and over 280 species of birds and between Steve and I we took nearly 10k photos! As you can imagine it will take some time to edit these, but here are a few of my favourites, from the colourful to the curious and the spectacular to the stunning! It was difficult to do justice to the sheer variety and the Falls in particular have to be heard as well as seen to appreciate the tremendous power of the water pouring over the cliff tops. We returned filled with many so many wonderful memories. Enjoy!