Today I made another visit to the WMBC Reserve at Belvide. When I was here last Saturday there were just three Mute Swans present here. Today almost thirty. Here seven adults and a cygnet (with a drake Gadwall getting in the shot). The reservoir is too large for any pair of swans to claim it as their territory and non- and post- breeding birds arrive in variable numbers. I was surprised to read recently that the Mute Swan’s nearest relatives are the Black Swan, native only to Australia; and the Black-necked Swan native to the southern tip of South America. The ‘wild swans’ (Whooper and Bewick's) that are winter visitors to the UK come from a quite separate lineage.
Greylag Geese were flying to and from fields just across the A5. Here one takes off for the fields.
And here two are departing.
They did not stay out long – a group returning.
Touch down of the group does not look all that elegant or controlled.
Geese attract passing geese. Here a white goose has joined them. The bill seems big-enough for it to be a ‘farmyard goose’ with Greylag heritage. It is less convincing as a white morph Snow Goose. In flight a ‘real’ Snow Goose has black primaries. It matters little: it is most unlikely a genuine wild bird.
More exotics. Three rather distant Egyptian Geese. This species has established a free-flying breeding population in the UK and I am allowed to count it as a UK species. Following this trio is a Ruddy Shelduck. There is a free-flying breeding population in Holland but all UK records are tainted with the epithet ‘escaped from wildfowl collections’. Ruddy Shelduck is native to Asia. Two back-to-back feeding Mute Swans behind. [duck Wigeon, a pair of Mallard and a Coot can also be seen in the photo]
A male Goldeneye showing off. Raindrops spattering around him.
Still showing off. Not sure who to.
A Common Buzzard with a very full crop. It has just had a good meal I would judge. Showing well here are the many parallel, narrow and rather indistinct bands on the undertail. All the possible confusion species show very different plumage in the undertail.
On the left a first-year Moorhen next to an adult. The bill colour is strikingly different. The body colour less so. Apologies for the stray twig – they would not both walk out in the open.
Lapwing flocks lollop about and are very hard to capture in flight. One of my better efforts.
With rain streaking down this male Great Spotted Woodpecker took refuge on the lee side of the trunk.
And decided to see what it could find to eat. From the marks on the tree seems like he has been here before.
Tit parade as they wait for the feeders. I find Blue Tits charismatic.
This Great Tit has either eaten too many nuts or is feeling the cold.
Justifiably giving me the cold shoulder after that remark. Note the white tips to the tertials and the white edges to, especially, the secondaries.
Now a Marsh Tit with its small ‘Hitler’ moustache. It would not come out from behind twigs ...
... except to stand with its back to me hacking at its prize.
Last November I found some Trooping Funnel fungus. This is a reminder of what they looked like then.
Here is what they look like now. Evidently long-lasting fruiting bodies but ‘drooping funnel’ would be a more apposite name.
A windy day with squally showers. This time of year the sun is so low that almost semi-circular rainbows occur even at midday. The complete arc defeated the camera even on the widest of wide angles so I settled for the brightest part against the North Wood. I understand the physics behind the colours of the rainbow. What I have never seen explained is why the sky within the arc looks paler than the sky outside the arc.
(Ed Wilson)
