Monday October 21 - Getting out more

Circumstances beyond my control continue to leave me with extra time on my hands, so rather than sit at home twiddling my thumbs waiting for hospital visiting hours to begin I've been getting out birding every morning.

The weather over the last few days has lurched from gales and rain to pleasant and mild, but none of it has produced any locally unexpected arrivals as far as I can tell. I've paid two visits to Earlswood. In thick mist on Friday I established that the Yellow-browed Warbler had gone and found almost nothing in compensation. Having said that, I do like the scrublands south of Windmill Pool and was moved to photograph some impressive lichen there.

Probably Ramalina farinacea

Next day I was at Morton Bagot at dawn, and joined the ringers who had had to furl their mistnets due to some persistent drizzle. Just as it eased I got news from Lyn that they might be moving her to another hospital (they didn't), so I aborted the visit and headed towards the car. Ironically this meant I was in the right place to see a male Goshawk powering its way towards Bannams Wood, and then to see and hear a Yellowhammer calling as it made its way south. Unfortunately, neither bird presented a photographic opportunity.

On Sunday I had a couple of hours at Earlswood in light drizzle before the wind pepped up and Storm Ashley blew in. It was quiet.

Mallard ignoring the storm

Today I was back at Morton Bagot, determined to give it a longer look. The cloudy weather and still conditions turned out to be not much use for encouraging visible migration, and the morning passed uneventfully. The birding highlight was a female Blackcap, while the usual species included five Stonechats dotted about, 23 Common Snipe, and more Song Thrushes than Redwings, though I only logged 11 of the former.

Stonechat

Reed Buntings seemed to be everywhere, and I counted 17 of them. My most interesting find, just because I hadn't seen them before, were some strange clumps of white stuff in the grass which my phone told me was a species of Slime Mould. Even better, when I got home and tried to find out what it was I came up with the wonderfully named Dog Sick Slime Mould, a description which I certainly wouldn't argue with.

Dog Sick Slime Mould

I suspect that as my phone app didn't want to commit to a full species name, other species of similar slime moulds are available.