17 Celsius at Whetsted Gravel Pits

An amazingly lovely warm day, with dragonflies, a butterfly and other insects on the wing, with small wasps or bees pollinating the resurgent Bristly Oxtongue.

There were a lot of people around enjoying the countryside. There were local dog walkers and strollers on the land, and there were boaters on the water, together with canoeists involved in some long distance race up the river.

and the lock itself was busy

In a more relaxed view, there was a leisure canoeist on the lower stage

and a quiet fisherman by the rushing spillpool

There were also leisure planes and helicopters using the skies

Despite the unseasonal warmth of the day, the seasons were rolling on and the recent rainfall had stimulated at least some late fungal fruiting bodies, even in the arable field of wheat above the Lock

On the way down to the lock there was an unidentified butterfly by the crossing hedge (its nearly the middle of November!) and there were still good numbers of Common Darters Sympetrum striolatum by the gravel pits.

Most of the Darters had found some warm wood to sun themselves on, but others were on dried leaves and vegetation on the ground, like this one on the bank of the Hammer Dyke

They were mainly males (I think I saw about 5), but there were also a couple of females, like this one by the tall hedge between the pits

There were good numbers of small wasps or bees pollinating the Bristly Oxtongue, Picris echioides,

These two close ups show one of the wasps or bees covered in pollen. If pollination is successful, will the seeds have time to form and ripen from these flowers I wonder?

This Common Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea, was also being pollinated, but this time by opportunistic flies

The birds on the gravel pits were generally peaceful (although some disturbance or other drove the cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo, and lapwings, Vanellus vanellus, from the East pit to the West pit during the course of the visit). Here is a Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus playing about on the West pit

Total bird list for the day was 1 Canada Goose, Branta canadensis, 90+ Greylag Geeses, Anser anser, 45+ Gadwall, Anas strepera, 18+ Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula, 16+ Mallard, Anas platyrynchos, 6 Shoveller, Anas clypeata, 5 Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus, 14 Little Grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis, 60+ Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, 4 Common Gull, Larus canus, 110+ Black-Headed Gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, 5 Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, 90+ Coot, Fulica atra, 3 Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, 16 Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, 30 Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, 3+ Carrion Crows, Corvus corone, 8+ Blackbirds, Turdus merula, 14+ Fieldfares, Turdus pilaris, and 1 Grey Wagtail, Motacilla cinerea, by the East Lock.

Lower Halstow walk led by Geoff Orton

A slightly dismal morning didn't dampen our spirits as 30+ of us gathered at the the old Brickworks to be led by Geoff along the seawall in an KWT walk, an exploration of the waterfowl and waders of the North Kent coast.

We learnt about the long history of the large number of brickworks in North Kent and other areas, which produced the yellow brown "London Stock Bricks", which lasted until the "igneous" clays of the Midland or Flettons that contained 5% lignite, sufficient to replace 75% of the energy needed to produce the bricks, came into use, greatly reducing the costs of brick production. However Flettons are porous and therefore unsuitable for heavy loads or external use, so it may be a bit more complex than this.

We also learnt about the Thames barges trading along the North Kent coast, and saw several examples during the day, including the excellent Edith May.

I was fascinated by the story of the Dark-bellied Brent Geese flying the two thousand miles from Siberia to winter here after their short and difficult breeding efforts. In good "Lemming" years they get a chance to produce a lot of young birds and bring them with them, but when Lemmings are in short supply, the Artic Foxes get very hungry and increase their predation upon the eggs and goslings, so that few if any birds are produced to reach the UK in that particular year.

The bird list for the day at Lower Halstow was 1 female Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus, 150+ Dark Bellied Brent Geese, Branta barnicla bernicla, 20+ Mallard, Anas platyrynchos, 10+ Teal, Anas crecca, 15+ Wigeon, Anas penelope, 6 Shoveller, Anas clypeata, 20+ Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna, 1 Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus, 60+ Black(?)-Tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, 100+ Redshank, Tringa totanus, 3 Curlew, Numenius arquata, 200 Dunlin, Calidris alpina, 2 Oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus, 50+ Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, 7 Grey Plovers, Pluvialis squatarola, 40+ Ringed Plovers, Charadrius hiaticula, 4 Common Gull, Larus canus, 20+ Black-Headed Gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, 10+ Coot, Fulica atra, 1 Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, 7+ Little Egret, Egretta garzetta, 30 Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, 10+ Carrion Crows, Corvus corone, 8+ Blackbirds, Turdus merula, 8+ Fieldfares, Turdus pilaris, 5 Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs, 3 House Sparrows, Passer domesticus.

Also 1 Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, fluttering low along the seawall, heading South for sunnier climes, by accident or design. I'm not sure if this one is going to make it to the Med, it may have left it too late, unless its lucky with some late flowers and rotting fruit!

The bird list for the day at Oare Marshes was 20+ Mallard, Anas platyrynchos, 100+ Teal, Anas crecca, 20+ Wigeon, Anas penelope, 10+ Shoveller, Anas clypeata, 10+ Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna, 5 Pintail, Anas acuta, 150+ Black(?)-Tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, 100+ Redshank Tringa totanus, (could have been some Spotted Redshank, Tringa erythropus, among them if the experts on the KOS site were correct), 100+ Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, 10 Golden(?) Plovers, Pluvialis apricaria, 10+ Black-Headed Gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, 4 Coot, Fulica atra, 1 Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, 1 Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, 2 Little Egret, Egretta garzetta, 20 Starling, Sturnus vulgaris.

I missed out on the two or three Little Stints which have been spotted over the last few days, and I think I should have been there at High Tide for them!

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.