Birdwatcher’s Diary No.72

Published on: 15 Oct, 2014
Updated on: 15 Oct, 2014

By Malcolm Fincham

I enjoyed ‘the last of the summer wine’ in terms of weather and spoiled by the warm, sunshine September brought. But by the first week of October, Atlantic weather systems started to take control and it was time to sober up to the realisation that autumn had truly arrived.

One of a dozen or more teal on the scrape near Stoke Lock.

Locally on the scrape near Stoke Lock by the start of the month I started to see teal arriving back from northern breeding grounds with a maximum count of 15 so far.

While on a walk along the River Wey towpath between Burpham and Trigg’s Lock, with fellow bird watching enthusiast Dougal, we met up with a guy pulling a caged net from the river full of crayshfish

Adult signal crayfish.

These signal crayfish are highly invasive and a non-indigenous species. They have largely wiped out our native white-clawed crayfish and have become a curse to fishermen. One angler friend of mine claims to have terminated 337 he’d accidentally  caught so far this year.

Allowing me to take a photo of an adult one, the guy we met also interestingly explained how to legally fish for them once a permit has been obtained.

Many that fish for them without permission, throw the smaller ones back in the water, which is in fact illegal, as technically they are releasing a non-native species. If caught, this practice can result in a hefty fine.

While being cannibalistic in nature, the adults do help to keep down the population of the smaller ones.

And with a bucket full of young ones, he was happy to take them home to grow on in tanks he has set up – or to be a food source for the larger ones?

Kingfisher on raft at Stoke Lake.

On October 6, while on another visit to Stoke Lake, a kingfisher showed again on the tern raft.

With the light being so good I was really pleased with some of the results which I took with my bridge camera. Getting what I consider to be some even better pictures than I featured in my previous report.

With most of our summer visitors having now departed there has been little sign locally of the arrival of any wintering thrushes in the way of redwing or fieldfare. However, they are due to arrive anytime now from Scandinavia.

Autumn colours on Thursley Common.

A trip to Thursley Common during the first week of October turned out to be a quiet but pleasant one, if only to see the seasonal changes since my last visit. The bracken is now turning golden brown in the sunlight and silver birch leaves are changing colour too.

Meadow pipit on Thursley Common.

A few of the birds still on show included a few stonechats, woodlarks, a flock of meadow pipits as well as both green and greater spotted woodpeckers.

Greater spotted woodpecker on Thursley Common.

Mistle Thrush.

There was even a small flock of our resident thrush – the mistle thrush.

House martin.

On October 7, 8 and 9, I viewed several small sized family groups of house martin and swallows. These few last stragglers are now slowly working their way south on migration, feeding as they flew overhead as they passed through Wonersh.

Swallow: last few also migrating south.

They will soon be feeding on insects among the wildlife in Africa.

A jay carrying an acorn.

At this time of year jays can often be seen locally flying overhead. They are instantly noticeable by their laboured flight and white rumps. And at this time of year they often have an acorn in their beaks. It is said that they can carry as many as nine more in their gullets which they then hide away in their secret caches.

Along with squirrels, they are probably the most prolific at redistributing acorns across our Countryside. Click here for more details.

With inclement weather continuing on Saturday, October 11, I found myself rapidly running out of time to collect what I felt would be a sufficient amount of pictures for this report.

A red kite visits Wonersh.

However, late that morning, while driving along Blackheath Lane in Wonersh, I was pleasantly surprised to see two red kites following a tractor as it was harvesting the field north of the entrance to Barnett Hill Conference Centre.

Red kites in silhouette as rain continues to fall.

Only managing a few silhouetted record shots, I made a return later in the day when the rain had passed and was pleased to see the harvest hadn’t been completed. Both red kites were still present. This gave me some great opportunities of getting some more pleasing photos in better light.

Two red kites gracefully glide over the field.

There was even a bonus picture of a common buzzard that that had joined in on the man-made feast the tractor driver was creating.

Common buzzard joins the hunt for food with the kites.

As I quoted way back in my report number 27 about Red kites ”This was a bird once regularly seen over the streets of London in pre-Victorian times – before they became persecuted to the verge of extinction in the UK in the last century. Now maybe just a ‘pipe dream’, but wouldn’t they be a wondrous sight to once again take up residence in the Surrey Hills alongside our now resident common buzzards?”

Red kite in flight.

Maybe a premonition? Or just a dream coming true?

Cormorants take command of the tern raft.

Although there was no sign of the kingfisher on the raft while visiting Stoke Lake later that day, but four cormorants were there, taking up a familiar pose for this time of year.

Cormorant on tern raft.

With some patience I was able to get a shot of the kingfisher as it flew past me.

Kingfisher in flight at Stoke Lake.

I then moved on to Bowers Lock, and with the last hour of daylight fading it completed what turned out to be a great day in local birdwatching. The sun being low in the sky seemed to be working in my favour on many levels. To my surprise it allowed me to get incredibly close to a common buzzard.

Common buzzard blinded by the light.

A bird usually spooked at the first sight of humans, this buzzard was presumably unsighted by my presence by the sunlight behind me. It allowed me some rather pleasing photos on which to end my report.

Common buzzard basks in some late evening sunshine near Bowers Lock, Burpham.

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