Week 46: Winter Sun & Ravens Over Dellfield

Unlike this morning, a number of days this week really have been the epitome of Dickensian, winter gloom. Headlight days, I call them, where, even at midday, cars run on dipped beams. On Monday, in the dusk-like milieu, I walked the length of the moors (from Bulbourne Moor, west, all the way to Dellfield). It was not a day for nice photographs unfortunately, but the bird life was cheerful and absorbing. One of the two regular Little Egrets was in the river on Harding’s Moor; 3 Jays were squabbling with Magpies; Crows fought over some bread one of them had found, and the two young Kingfishers were perched over the river on Bulbourne Meadow, eyes trained on the shallows. Close to the Two Waters Road bridge, a Little Grebe bobbed and dived in the company of a pair of Mallards; flocks of Blackbirds stripped berries from Hawthorns along the canal, and a charm of at least 30 Goldfinches was feeding in Alder trees. The two young Herons were doing their best to look like statues at odd locations on the moors; Robins flitted in and out of bushes, and a Grey Wagtail chirped and flew overhead.

On Wednesday, with clear skies forecast, I rose early, hoping to catch the Oak in the first light of day. With dawning realisation (pun intended), it became apparent that at this time of the year, the Oak doesn’t even glimpse sunlight until at least 11am and, in fact, stands cold, mostly in the shade, until, I’d guess, around 1pm. By 3pm, it is back in full shade. The sun skirts its way around, behind Hay Wood, and then dips behind Westbrook Hay school. So, this week’s Oak photographs are a little different. The first was taken at 10:30am, when the Oak was in full shade but the sun was breaking through the tree tops of Hay Wood, casting long shadows across Dellfield. With some tinkering in photoshop, I came up with this (the original is here)...

Photo-art. Into the Sun. The Oak and Scots Pine with the low Winter sun blazing through from behind Hay Wood

Up on Preston Hill, a Mistle Thrush was bathing in the pond and 2 pairs of Bullfinches and a handful of Redwing darted through the scrub. Into Hay Wood and I found some lovely fungi. New ones to add to the list were a coral-like growth. I think the genus is Ramaria, the species is likely Ramaria Stricta (Upright Coral)? The other was a tiny, delicate but beautiful sessile “cap” of the genus Crepidotus. Both species were growing on dead wood and likely saprobic.

Coral-like fungus (Ramaria Stricta) growing on rotting wood. Max height approx 11cm.

Tiny "caps" growing on dead wood. Approx diameter 7mm Genus: Crepidotus

As I walked onto Bovingdon Reach, a Red Kite flew up from the grass and lazily rose into the blue skies. By midday, I was walking down through Barnfield meadow and on into Ryders. As I was standing amongst the Limes and furtive bunnies, photographing the view across Dellfield, a pair of large birds caught my eye. I then heard the distinctive “kronk, kronk, kronk” of Ravens (Corvus corax). Through binoculars, it was easy to see the diamond-shaped tail and their sizeable wing-span (similar to a Buzzard’s). Unfortunately, by the time I’d changed lenses, both birds had flown behind the Limes and I failed to get even a decent record shot, much to my annoyance. Still, a great way to end the morning and my first sighting of this species in Hemel or over Trust land.

From Ryders, looking north-east across Dellfield at 12:10pm. Off to my right, a pair of Ravens kronk'ed and drifted west.

On Tuesday 18th November, I'd collected a fresh Barn Owl pellet from Trust land. It was a lot smaller than previous pellets, just 3cm long and about 1.5-2cm wide, which made it ideal for dissection one dark, dank afternoon this week. Interestingly, it contained the fur and bones of just one mammal. A Field Vole (typically 13cm long + tail of 4cm). It provided the perfect opportunity to get an idea of exactly what one of these little fellas consists of...

Frankenstein's Field Vole

From one small Barn Owl pellet (3cm long): the remains of a single Field Vole, crudely and likely inaccurately(!) reconstructed. Scale in mm 

I have no idea how many ribs or vertebrae a Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) is meant to have. Nor do I know which way around the various bones go (i.e. which is left and which is right) but above is my “artisitic impression” of a Field Vole skeleton. It’s not a good sign when you have bones left over (top right hand corner) but my excuse is that you can’t really place damaged and crushed bones very easily (especially when you barely know what you’re doing to begin with!). I'm missing a humerus and the bones of the feet/toes are “absent” or unidentifiable. Anyway, it was an interesting exercise and well worth the time and patience required. (For more detailed info on pellet dissection and bone identification see my previous post).

Field Vole (Microtus agrestis): Jaws & Teeth

If you’d like to see photographs of these little mammals before they get snaffled by Barn Owls, Biodiversity Gatwick were involved in a small mammal survey recently. The relevant post is here and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and browsing their images.

I'll finish off with a photo from my Monday walk and Wednesday's Oak in the shade.

Black-headed Gull on Station Moor footbridge

The Oak in shade at 11:20am

Week 4: Between Rain Storms

I was thwarted by the weather and various other constraints on Monday, so, it wasn't until today that I made it to the Oak. After a morning of driving rain, the sky cleared and the sun came out. From the car park, I could hear the usual pair of Mistle Thrushes rattling away to one another. It turned out, they were up in the Oak tree. Unfortunately, by the time I'd reached a good vantage point to photograph them, they had moved on. Over to the east, a pair of Common Buzzards were calling and floated over Dellfield, heading west. So, today's Oak tree photograph - the canopy against the sky...

On my way to Westbrook Hay, I'd noticed one of the Little Egrets was in its usual spot on the Bulbourne River. I decided to make the most of the hiatus in the incessant rain and walk down to take a closer look. The floods had inevitably grown on Snoxall's Moor and there were plenty of gulls enjoying them. One of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls had just found what turned out to be a particularly long worm, requiring a number of good tugs to release it from the earth. Its mate looked on with envy!

Walking through Station Moor, a Sparrowhawk swooped in low from the south, over the river and into a hedge full of little birds. A mass exodus ensued but the Sparrowhawk didn't emerge. It could well have been tucking in to something.

Over on Harding's Moor, on the south side of the River Bulbourne, there were in fact two Little Egrets. However, as I crossed Station Road, a sudden spat over fishing rights (maybe) led to one of the birds heading off east, down the river. Thankfully, the other bird hung on and I spent a good 20 minutes watching it fish in the shallows. With its eyes honed on the water, it would carefully lift one (bright yellow!) foot, waggle it around over the surface of the riverbed and see what emerged. It caught at least 2 little fish whilst I was there. (To enlarge the photographs, just click on them)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), fishing

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), taking a stroll

Walking back along London Road, the pattern in the bricks under the A41 bridge caught my eye. Ok, they're not "wild" or "alive" but I'm sure I can make some tenuous link to the many and varied patterns found in nature and the idea that the aesthetics of man-made structures only echo those. Mmm…ok, maybe not.

When I arrived back at Westbrook Hay, at about 15:30, I was surprised to find that the sun wasn't the only celestial body in view. Surely a shot of the Moon through my chosen Oak, and cradled by my chosen branch, is ample compensation for the inclusion of the brickwork photograph!

Ok, 3 facts about the Moon (not something I imagined I'd include in this blog when it was first conceived, I'll admit!)

1. It's approximately 250,000 miles (384,400 km) from the Earth. Practically speaking, it would take about 130 days to travel by car; 13 hours by rocket, or 1.52 seconds at the speed of light, should you so desire.
2. Its diameter is 2000 miles (3, 476km). The surface of the Moon is about the same area as the continent of Africa.
3. Its surface temperature varies between -233 and 123 degrees celcius.

For more interesting facts about the Moon, take a look at the NASA website.

Week 2: Exploring

Gazing up into the branches of the Scots Pine tree (neighbour to The Oak), I couldn't resist the patterns and colours it created against the blue sky and stippled puffs of white cloud. However, this morning's light was quickly lost to the ever expanding mass of grey clouds. Below is my best effort of the Oak for today. I didn't photograph the individual branch - might get to it on Wednesday if weather permits.

Whilst waiting for the clouds to move through, and the sunshine to re-emerge, I explored the tree line along the upper slope of Dellfield and Preston Hill. I recently completed a 1-Day Winter Tree Identification course at the Field Studies Council (FSC), Amersham. However, my "winter tree ID skills" would be better described as my "winter tree 'I haven't got a clue' skills". Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I found young growth on a previously coppiced Hazel tree, with remnants of last year's leaves and its dangling catkins, buds formed, waiting for the warmth of Spring.

And, Hazel catkins, in a different, more shady location, which are at an earlier stage of growth. In a few weeks time, they will open out, lengthen and loosen and lose their reddish tint.

An Ash tree, with its sooty buds and hanging seed pods. The insert shows the terminal bud (the bud at the tip of the stem/branch) and the feature marked with an arrow is one of the branch's lenticels. These structures enable the tree to exchange gases with the surrounding air.

And finally, a variety of Elm.  The protective scales encasing the flowers are just beginning to break open on some of the flower buds. The arrow points to the leaf bud scale scar. From here to the next leaf bud scale scar (or the tip of the terminal leaf bud of the twig) is a year's growth.

On my way back from Westbrook Hay, out on Snoxall's Moor, there were 156 gulls (predominantly Black-headed, with a handful of Common and 6+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls) gathered on the floods. This has become a regular sight since the heavy rains.

A close-up view of the 4 highlighted birds revealed the 3 species, all adults:

• A = 1 Common Gull. Note the pale greenish-yellow bill with thin, dark band, and pale grey mantle
• B = 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Note the yellow legs, dark grey mantle, heavy yellow bill with red spot and the yellow iris.
• C = 1 Black-headed Gull. Note the red bill and red legs (and no "black-head" in winter/non-breeding plumage, just the bold, dark ear spots).