If autumn was hovering in the doorway last
weekend this weekend it truly arrived. Saturday was grey cold, windy and rainy
but Sunday was the finest kind of September day. From the top of the lane on
Sunday morning the bottom of the moor was wreathed in a soft shallow silver
mist, from which the tops of the trees stood out like islands in an inland sea.
The whole was bathed in a cool golden light and the sky a peerless blue.
The moor has something of a transit lounge
about it at present, there are birds coming and going but not in any great
numbers. The regular residents are quiet and going about their business steadily
but the big influx of proper winter visitors has yet to happen.
Willow Chiffs in long meadow (c) Bark
There were mixed flocks of Willow Warblers and
Chiffchaffs moving along the hedgerows, gleaning insects and occasionally
fly-catching. It really is a clear example of feeding on the move and these
warblers are most likely to have bred or been fledged further north. From the
first screen on Sunday both Reed and Sedge Warblers could be seen feeding
busily, low along the reed margins close to the water. They favoured the
sunniest spots as presumably the insect life gets going soonest in the warmest
areas after a night as chilly as the one that had just passed.
Sedgie (c) JR
On Saturday there
was just one Whinchat on the wires near the farm at Noke and the Stonechats have
yet to arrive.
Snipe are still feeding and roosting among the
cut reed stems. On Sunday we saw at least one adult and two juvenile Water Rails
scuttling about on the muddy bank to the left of the main channel.
Scuttling Rail (c) JR
Duck numbers are just beginning to creep up,
there were four Wigeon and at least twelve Teal on the southern reedbed. In
addition to the moulting Mallard there were more Shovellers and a couple of
Pochard present and already moulted, freshly plumaged Gadwall. Kingfishers
continued to use the dead trees as lookout points and were constantly catching
small fry, they did not however show any interest in getting too close to the
screen and the waiting battery of cameras!
Autumn Bounty (c) Bark
The hedgerows are now laden with fruit. Hips,
haws, sloes and blackberries shine out in shades of red, purple and blue. The
sloes are particularly prolific this year in some places and the subtle bloom
over their dark black skins make them look as if they were touched by the early
mist. All this banquet awaits now is the birds to feed on it.
Lots of Herons (c) JR
Red Backed Shrike now confirmed in July's Meadow bird number one hundred and fortysix for the year list!
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