Dank and drear at Cliffe Pools

Got to Cliffe at just after 2 p.m. and we took the central track after Monty had disgraced himself by eating most of the large bread chunks a couple had scattered in the car park as bait - of course I apologised most profusely but I'm secretly not that sorry for the birds' sake!

Far too dark for photographs all day, low tide perhaps I thought (I was wrong, it was only 2 hours after high tide), and rather few birds around overall. It was a bit breezy and chilly sitting at the flamingo Viewpoint. However there were loads of gorgeous Pochard on the Conoco Pools, together with the normal Coot, Mallard, Great Crested Grebes, Little Grebes and Black Headed Gulls. There was one possible Teal. A Cormorant and a Redshank overflew, with several large gulls I didn't even try to identify.

At Flamingo, the patch of mud certainly seemed bigger after news of recent supplementation by dredging operations, and at least some of the birds might have been a bit nearer. Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, 1 Grey Plover, Mallard in pairs or groups, Great Crested Grebes, Little Grebes, Black Headed Gulls and a couple of Little Egrets with 2 Grey Heron were seen. Starlings joined the Lapwings on the mud, and a few more flocks wheeled like smoke in the distance. More cormorants and gulls overflew. On the causeway towards Radar we saw and heard a group of Fieldfares, together with a couple of blackbirds and robins, but the rest were just LBJs in the poor light.

At Radar Pools, more Lapwing, Mallard, some Shelduck, a few Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebes, Little Grebes and a couple more Little Egrets were picked up, but the light was very poor by now, the brightest things were the remaining flowers of both species of Oxtongues, so off we trotted (wounded foot permitting) back to the car and shopping at Asda's Kings Hill superstore! I would like some Delia Smith cooking books for Christmas I think, I've got an odd desire from somewhere to cook Lancashire Hotpot tonight.

Whetsted Gravel Pits

After a day in College I got out late walking towards the pits. There wasn't much about but the forage beans were emerging on the "halved" field on the way down.

Things were fairly quiet on the first pit, but I did put up a nice Grey Heron (out of a pair found there) which was reluctant to abandon the causeway to me and perched on a fence post for a while.

before eventually flying off,

The second pit was almost equally quiet, short of many of the ducks, geese and gulls that had been there the other day. However there were 38 Lapwing and a single Grey Heron on the central shallow roost.

Total estimates of bird numbers for the day were 6 (plus 1 juvenile) mute swans, 80+ coot, 3 greylag geese, 11 tufted ducks, 50+ gadwall, 2 mallard, 3 great crested grebes, 8 little grebes, 4 black-headed gulls, 3 grey herons, 38 lapwing, 1 green woodpecker, 2 fieldfares, 1 blackbird.

Fungi and Leaf Miners at Dene Park

Arriving at Dene Park I took some photos of the mines and galls on the herbaceous plants along the entrance path.

I dived into the first compartment planted up mainly with Beech and had a look at some of the dramatic green islands caused by either galls or leaf miners on the leaves. The first was caused by the Beech Leaf Gall Midge Hartigiola annulipes, Hartig 1839, a cecidyomiid midge. The galls are up to 5 mm in height, and in my limited experience nice and fluffy, although the "tree-trees website" claims it can be bare as well as fluffy. They are generally found next to a midrib or a main vein, which may allow them some control over the transport of nutrients as well as the hormonal status of the tissues around it. The gall could well be releasing cytokinins, both to cause the hypertrophy leading to the gall itself, and to cause the green island effect in the otherwise senescing leaves.

The next
As I was going through the central path, following a small valley through some scrubby trees and some oaks, I heard a bird calling quite loudly skreek-skreek-skreek. I couldn't think what it was - not a tit, finch or thrush that I could think of.

The idea that it might be a nuthatch came into my mind, and I saw a bird high up in the tall oaks which looked roughly the right size, although I couldn't get any idea of shape. I checked what I could remember of the sound that night against the call of the Eurasian Nuthatch, Sitta europea, Linnaeus 1758, on Xeno-canto, and I think I must have been right. This was the closest I found to my memory of the call, recorded by Stuart Fisher at Gomshall, Surrey in 2005. The subspecies found in the UK is ssp caesia.

What a nice tick for me in these woods! This not an uncommon bird in the UK, with 20,000+ pairs and numbers generally on the up. It feeds on insects and nuts/seeds and is one of the prettiest UK birds.
Monty does his own exploring while I look for galls or whatever else is around, but he is never too far away and always comes when whistled. Trying to be objective he often looks quite a serious solid dog in photos, but these don't seem to give the full picture of his playfulness and agility in real life. I am so lucky to have him as a companion.

The False Chanterelle

Walked around Dene Park in the gloomy evening today. It was so dark and dank, I didn't even bother to take the camera. Heard the Tawny Owl(s?) and the geese but not much else. Monty had a very good run through the woods while I stuck to the increasingly muddy tracks.

Attended the Low Carbon Group in the evening, and we talked about the "beautiful" orange mushrooms that had appeared on the compost in one of the cycle planters. The group were a little concerned about unauthorised eating, so I took a couple home, and they were indeed the False Chanterelle, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca (Wulfen) Maire 1921.

Considered by some to be edible, by others too bitter to eat, all sources agreed that they could cause some alarming hallucinogenic symptoms in some individuals, so they will be removed before they are tasted by someone!

Characteristics were the overall orange rather than egg-yolk colour, decurrent and repeatedly dividing gills, as opposed to veins, and a good mushroomy rather than a fruity smell. The cap top is often darker in the centre and finely woolly all over (feels soft and velvety), with a thin(?) skin that could be peeled back in places, the cap often remaining inrolled to maturity. Associated with conifers and heathlands, this could reflect the origin of some of the compost components in the planter, such as spruce bark for example. The season fits, as the books have it as appearing from August to November,

Whetsted Gravel Pits

The weather was overcast with a cool breeze today, but no threat of rain. It certainly felt autumnal, a feeling emphasised by the fireworks over the last few nights, celebrating Guy Fawkes infamous attempt at mass murder.

In the late morning Monty and I headed off down to the Gravel Pits, to see whether the waterfowl were concentrating inland yet in preparation for the hard weather. There were a lot of dog-walkers and other people out enjoying the countryside on the way down to the River at East Lock, but not everybody crosses the river and gets as far as the pits themselves, and the ducks and gulls seemed fairly undisturbed when I arrived. Monty had done a lot of running about by then, and I felt justified in putting him on a lead when I got to the causeway, in order to prevent him jumping into the peaceful quiet ditch and the shallow gravel pit and scaring the birds.

The waterfowl is building up very nicely on the two large pits that I can look at!

The first photo is of a fairly close mute swan, Cygnus olor, which came out quite well, using ISO 2000 to give a very quick exposure of 1/1250th of a second which reduces camera shake and at an aperture of f11 to give a good depth of exposure. The resulting noise from the high ISO doesn't matter too much at this limited degree of cropping!

This mallard duck, Anas platyrynchos, is right on the far side of the first gravel pit, and the picture has been cropped much more heavily than the picture of the swan, so it is much more at risk of noise from the high ISO, which can be seen. I did need this ISO, as even with this I was only getting 1/640th (just above spec. for the lens used to keep shake under control) at f8, just sufficient for the depth of field required. Using the telescope on the tripod to steady the camera did help to reduce the risk of camera shake, and overall I was very pleased with this attempt.

This Little Grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis, is at a closer distance than the Mallard, but the picture has been more heavily cropped, and shows the downside of noise and perhaps some camera shake. The picture is here to compare sizes of the grebe and coot (although the grebe is further away) but also because the coot is waggling something about in its bill - it seemed to do this for some time. Again I was quite pleased with picture overall. The ISO 2000 gave me a 1/1000th exposure with an f8 aperture, although the depth of field might perhaps have been a bit poor, with the centre of the focus being on the grebe, leaving the coot slightly out of focus.

There was a small flock of chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs, feeding off the seed heads on the causeway, and this female returned to the fence fairly close by and stayed long enough for me to get a reasonable shot. Again I think the high ISO helped, giving 1/640th at f8, although it could be easy to overdo it.

This juvenile swan has been diving after vegetation and water is still dripping from his beak. The picture is helped by the rapid exposure of 1/800th, again forced by the high ISO.

After checking out the first pit, I collected Monty and we moved on to the second pit, where I think we disturbed the Greylag Geese from the central gull roost. By the time I got the camera out, the geese had gone off to join the others on the far bank. The gulls on the roost were undisturbed and were almost entirely black-headed gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, but noticeable by their size, there were a couple of adult and juvenile herring gulls, Larus argentatus, mixed into the crowd.

I've been looking for a Common Gull, Larus canus, for some time now, in amongst the others. One reason for my failure has perhaps been my lack of concentration on the identification features of the different stages and plumages. One characteristic of the winter plumage which hadn't really occurred to me is that Common Gulls have a greyish hood at this time of year.

While looking at this character in the book that evening, I realised that I had seen a similar hooded bird in the photos I had taken today. I have always in this past assumed this to be the rather similar hood of the developing black head of the black headed gull, but I looked through the photos again, and found several of the same grey hooded bird in flight. They were completely ambiguous about the identity of the gull - it could equally well have been black-headed, or common, or another gull altogether.

And then - Eureka!! I got a picture of the same bird still in flight, still showing the slight hood, but this time clearly showing the significant bright white "mirrors" embedded in the black wing tips on the upper side of the wings - on a bird this size these are fairly diagnostic of my FIRST definitely identified Common Gull! What a lucky shot!

All this progress is down to doing this blog, and going carefully over the material for it - its definitely improving my identification of all sorts of organisms. what a great picture, even if its cropped to very fuzzy limits.

Now that I've got my eye in, I'm sure there were other common gulls there. Here is a possible, perched on this front post, in front of a black headed gull scratching itself in the first picture. Common Gulls (38 - 43 cm) are larger than the black-headed (35 - 38), but smaller than the herring gulls (53 - 59), although sizes can be tricky to judge. The first picture was at ISO 250, the next at ISO 2000, and the last at ISO 6500. I can't say they were comparable because of variable vegetation blocking the view in the forefront, but on the other hand I can't see that the ultra-high ISO value is causing me such problems that I cannot identify the bird. In all three shots I used the telescope to steady the camera.

The next three photos of a black-headed gull are very heavy crops at ISOs 2000 (1/800th), 6500 (1/1600th) and 200 (1/250th), the last showing movement - this is why it is so necessary to avoid these slower exposures at longer distances. Using a sufficient ISO to give an exposure of 1/500th to 1/1000th seems sensible, without any need to over-egg the pudding further.

Walking along the causeway of the second pit I was delighted to see some Hawkweed Oxtongue, Picris hieracioides, still in flower, amongst the declining Bristly Oxtongue.

Here is a Black-Headed gull in flight, to compare the upper wing pattern with that of the Common Gull

and to show the dark under wing

On the way back to the car and home, there were still loads of things to look out for and think about. These look like Horse Mushrooms, Agaricus sp. in the middle of the germinating wheat crop

The Ivy, Hedera helix, flowers in the hedgerows are now nearly all gone, and berrying up for the winter. I'm not sure if they are popular with the birds

On the other hand I do know how popular the Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, berries are!

One tired, and very serious looking, but satisfied dog, at the end of a good walk! What an excellent job he has done today, as always, exploring the countryside, checking it out, leading and guarding me - and he takes these responsibilities very seriously indeed!

The Pedunculate Oak trees, Quercus robur, are still holding their leaves in the autumnal landscape

I'm still not sure why this field has been sown in two separate halves, but it may become clearer at harvest next summer

Total estimates of bird numbers for the day were 6 (plus 1 juvenile) mute swans, 3 cormorants, 90+ coot, c. 200 greylag geese, 5 tufted ducks, 40+ gadwall, 16+ shoveller, 5 mallard, 3 great crested grebes, 9 little grebes, 80 black-headed gulls, 3 herring gulls, 1 green woodpecker, 9 fieldfares.

Wildwood and Small Mammal Surveying

I spent the whole day at the Wildwood Centre near Canterbury on their small mammal surveying day course organised on this occasion by Kent Wildlife Trust. We learnt how to set traps, identify and characterise any mammals caught, with great care for both our own and the animals' safety. I shall have to consider whether to carry out a survey near Hadlow, perhaps on a tetrad which hasn't been surveyed before! Its difficult to find a good site, with a mixed variety of habitat.

We found House Mice (Mus musculus, rather smelly introductions to the UK and so many other countries in the world), quite a few Wood Mice of both sexes and all ages, Apodemus sylvaticus, a Bank Vole, Myodes glareolus, and a Common Shrew, Sorex araneus, in the wooded surrounds of the centre. We didn't find any Yellow-necked Mice, Apodemus flavicollis, which I would have liked to see. However we also saw Water Voles, Arvicola amphibius, Brown Rats, Rattus norvegicus, Water Shrews, Neomys fodiens, a Harvest Mouse, Micromys minutus, a Dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius, a Fox, Vulpes vulpes, an Otter, Lutra lutra, a Eurasian Lynx, Lynx lynx, some smaller deer, Grey Squirrels, Sciurus caroliniensis, a Red Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, Wallabies, Macropus spp., Beavers, Castor fiber, very close up in their lodge, an Adder, Vipera berus, a Raven, Corvus corax, Little Egrets, Egretta garzetta, Mallard, Anas platyrynchos, Pochard, Aythya ferina, all in the collection at Wildwood itself, as well as seeing the new bat soft release flight cage.

It was a great day, with lots of interest. I was particularly aware of the good number of wood mice we caught. I can only assume that the woods are fairly full of small animals that we are generally unaware of as we walk through them. It would be interesting to carry out a survey in somewhere like Dene Park, but it would be difficult to ensure the safety of the traps with so many dog walkers and other usage of the wood. I am sure it would be easier in somewhere like Upper Lodge Wood.

Green Islands at Dene Park

Wow, today has been a bit of a revelation! Firstly a more careful check of some of the leaves on the Beech hedge in the front garden have revealed two old mines of a Stigmella, which must be Stigmella hemargyrella.

I had no idea that either of the Stigmella species was in the locality, nor that this species was present here, in our own front garden. The only time I've identified this leaf-miner before has been at Oldbury Hill on the Lower Greensand Ridge some distance to the North, where I photographed it on the 13th of September. What a turn-up for the books! Perhaps I've missed it at other sites as well, I just can't be sure!

In both pictures below the mine appears to start from near the margin of the leaf, and travels towards the mibrib where it ends, which is the main diagnostic characteristic of Stigmella hemargyrella as opposed to Stigmella tityrella. This is perhaps clearest in the second picture. In both cases you can also see the white spotting of the feeding marks of the Beech Leafhopper on the upper leaf surface.

The major leaf miner found in the hedge, much commoner than the two Stigmella I found today, is the ubiquitous Phyllonorycter maestingella, at least as identified according to the characteristics of the mine. This insect is specific to Beech. Ideally the adults would be raised in order to definitively separate it from Phyllonorycter messianella, which is found on a range of trees, also including Beech. However the ID to species can still be made fairly confidently I think, because of the long tubular mine which is well made within the boundaries of the main ribs of the leaf. P. messianella should be a more oval shaped mine.

Here in the picture below on the underside of a leaf you can see two old Phyllonorycter maestingella mines, both fairly decrepit. The one on the left is as found, but I had opened the one on the right to look for its contents.

Looking closer at the opened mine, I found some aphids sheltering in the old mine. Insects that use the structures of others are referred to as inquilines. I have no information on which species these may be or whether they have been noted by other observers.

Once I'd got over the enjoyable shock of locating Stigmella hemargyrella so close to home, I got Monty into the car and I struggled to get my bandaged foot into my walking boots. We headed off to Dene Park, not really hoping to do anything more than confirm previous sightings of the leaf mines and galls seen there previously, as I thought I was getting to know the Beech trees there quite well by now. The paths were clearly autumnal now, and the overall appearance of the woods has changed significantly since I was last here a week ago.

As quite a few of the Beech leaves have now turned colour, some of the branches are still mainly green, but others are already mainly golden or russet.

Amongst such concentrations of leaves that have already turned, a very few of them have either remained green entirely or remained green in obvious sections, sometimes clearly delineated by their veins. I have heard that this is a sign of hormonal interference from leafminers - and wow - that's exactly what is happening! In the picture below we can see an old Phyllonorycter maestingella mine on the top side of the midrib, which is having some, but little, effect, and two Stigmella tityrella mines on the lower side, which are very clearly causing the lamina all around them to remain bright green, and are likely to be at least recently, if not currently active. The caterpillar on the right (at least) seems to be still within the mine, visible at the end of the tunnel. These Stigmella mines must be Stigmella tityrella because the mines start next to the midrib, and generally travels outward the margin of the leaf, weaving sharply from side to side and each staying with their own segment created by two adjacent major veins.

This was fantastic! The very first time I had identified this insect was in North Wales last weekend, and I've not seen it in Kent at all before, despite the fact that it must have been there, and I'd been looking for it. And yet, I found these two almost as soon as I looked at the Beech trees, by noticing the green island - and there were these two mines!! Its going to be very easy to find some more, if they are actually present here, and they form such clear green islands!

And here is another, again Stigmella tityrella and again very obvious from the green island effect, and again found very quickly. Clearly Stigmella tityrella has been here in Dene Park all along during my autumn visits, just as Stigmella hemargyrella has been present in the garden hedge since at least earlier in the autumn!

Now that I had my eye in, and knew the patterns to look for I found half a dozen other S. tityrella mines, including this one on a leaf that was still completely green. The occupant may have only recently left, leaving the "flap-door" open!

The effect is however not confined just to Stigmella, as seen in this Phyllonorycter maestingella mine found further down the side track. Could this be an example of convergent evolution?

And here we go again, the midge Hartigiola annulipes, a very common gall former on Beech, also seems to have a very effective mechanism of keeping the majority of, if not the whole of the leaf, green. Here is a fairly clear example of the effect, of which I saw many examples.

Here is the gall again, a rather better pair of specimens perhaps, again on a green, quite fresh-looking, leaf

and here that same photo is again, this time in close-up. Note that there was a third gall, but it has been knocked off, just leaving its base.

Some of the leaves have been subject to a fungus leaf spot, which seems to appear on particular clusters of leaves, perhaps due to inoculum potential!

I've seen this damage below illustrated somewhere before, but I cannot remember for the life of me which insect causes this bizarre, if not unique, damage. Its the first time I've ever seen it in real life, but I know I've seen this picture in a book somewhere!

I spent most of our visit today in amongst the various compartments of Beech - they do look great with their russet carpet of leaves and clean woodland floors where the dense foliage of beech has inhibited the development of any significant undergrowth.