While I adopt Morden Hall as my summer patch from April-September, Beddington is definitely my winter patch. Today I had a nice little late afternoon walk. When we arrived, the light was still good, as proven by the half-decent (for a change) picture of a Grey Heron, which was circling high up. As we were walking along the main lake, the usual 4 Little Grebes and single Little Egret were present. For the first time ever a f Kingfisher darted by on the main lake. Hopefully over the winter I can get to know them better, and figure out the number/ages/sexes of the birds. 3+ Grey Wagtails were sidling around the islands, and the juv Grey Heron was fishing.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Wagtail |
I have no idea about fungi, and I want to learn more about them as I do find them fascinating, but this huge one was growing from a slightly dead tree.
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| Fungi |
I spotted a female Kestrel and male Sparrowhawk seemingly battling over a tree. Surprisingly the female Kestrel got its way, and the Sparrowhawk disappeared while the Kestrel sat sleepily on the tree for about an hour and a half, (for it was in the same place when I returned.)
After mostly walking around the south side of the park, there was nothing but singing Firecrests Goldcrests to boast. With the light fading, we started heading back.
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| fem Kestrel (1530) |
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| female Kestrel 1700 |
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| Grey Heron - the deathstare |
Most views of Kingfishers are fleeting glimpses, as was the view of it when returning to the car. We followed it, and on the tiny pond on the entrance to the pond, there sat the male Kingfisher. For a good 20 minutes, with the park slowly getting darker, it sat their- like the Kestrel - sleepily. Occasionally giving off its shrill call. Having briefly seen it on the same perch before, hopefully this is where we can expect to find it.
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| m Kingfisher |
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| m Kingfisher |
Over the past week, the last few hirundines passed through on Monday, and since then a Chiffchaff near Wilson's and only a trickle of migrants are coming through, such as a Meadow Pipit on Tuesday and a surprise Skylark flying over while walking to school at 8am on Friday.
If you want to learn about fungi, every Monday evening until the end of next month (from 17.00pm to 20.00pm) there is an identification meeting at the South London Botanical Institute in Tulse Hill. It's open to everyone, and there are always lots of fungi to see!
ReplyDeleteMario
Many thanks Mario, I will try to attend one.
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