Friday November 8

Sunny with a light north-westerly following heavy overnight rain.

As we get get ever deeper into the year, so the chances of seeing anything new or unusual diminish. You end up grasping at straws, such as seeing 15 Magpies to beat my patch record count for the species.

Of three Cormorants seen, one landed and immediately stretched its wings. I'm not sure what the current thinking is on this one, the last I heard it was considered to aid digestion. That won't please the Morton Springs Fishery.

Cormorant

Red-legged Partridges don't get mentioned very often on this blog. They used to be released here every autumn for shooters to practice their aim on, but happily the HOEF has put a stop to that. As a result I generally see small coveys now, and the typical view is of flushed birds disappearing across the fields. So when I happened across 23 chilled out Red-legs enjoying the feeble November sun, it had to be worth a shot (with a camera).

Red-legged Partridges

In a bid to find a Woodcock I picked my way gingerly through the brambles and nettles of Stapenhill Wood. I don't know why I do this each winter because I've never seen one there. It just looks as though they should be there. As usual I drew a blank, flushing only Redwings, Blackbirds, Pheasants, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

What else can I tell you about? Two Stonechats remain in residence, eight Lapwings rose from the furthest flash, but very few ducks were visible there.

Clutching at straws.

PS: Moths. I put the trap out during the evening as I have finally decided to take part in the National Garden Moth scheme's winter moth survey. You are supposed to trap every Friday night whatever the weather, so with temperatures forecast to fall to sub-zero overnight I did not have high hopes.

However, this morning (Saturday morning) I found three moths clinging to the house (actually the December Moth was lying flat on its back having succumbed to the frost). The survivors were a November Moth ag (possibly Pale November Moth), and a Sprawler.

November Moth ag

Sprawler

These moths are tough cookies.