Endon Wildlife

Sunday, 25 January 2015

First singing Song Thrush of 2015.

This morning I heard a Song Thrush for the first time this year - it was sitting in a tree near the Station Buildings in Endon. Below is a table of other firsts of the past few years.

SPECIES

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Chaffinch

30/01/2011 singing (roaches?)

15/02/13

12/02/14

Greenfinch

02/02/2011 singing

07/02/12

09/02/2014 plus Dec 2013

01/01/2015 Wheezing Bath and on 20.01.15 singing stanley moss

Song Thrush

02/02/2011 singing

17/01/12

01/02/13

25/01/2015 Endon

Blackbird

07/02/11 singing

18/02/12

02/02/13

16/02/14

Mistle Thrush

25/01/12

10/02/14

Dunnock

25/01/12

15/01/13

first heard Nov/Dec 2013

first heard Nov/Dec 2014

Reed Bunting

28/02/12

15/02/13

05/03/14

Coal Tit

11/02/11 making nest

end Dec. 2014 Endon

Collared Dove

21/02/11 making nest

LT Tit

01/03/11 parties separating

House Sparrow

02/03/11 nesting

Chiffchaffs

30/03/11

19/03/12

11/04/13

12/03/2014 at Ford Green NR

GS Woodpecker

07/03/2011drumming

04/02/12

27/02/13

Drumming Bath 01/01/2015 and Endon 16.01.2015

Curlew

16/03/11

09/03/14

Willow Warbler

06/04/11

12/04/12

05/04/14 Northumberland

Blackcap

12/04/11

08/04/12

20/04/13

04/04/14 Yorkshire

Sedge Warbler

19/04/11

Whitethroat

19/04/11

23/04/13

14/04/14

Cuckoo

24/04/11

03/05/2014 Roaches BBS

House Martin

31/04/11

05/04/12

21/04/14

Swift

04/05/11

28/04/12

11/05/13

Skylarks

19/03/12 (radnorshire)

31/03/14 Peak Dist.

Swallow

15/04/13

10/04/14 Endon

Great Tit

17/12/14

Robin

17/12/14

Blue Tit

Dec. 2015

frogspawn

25/03/06

16/02/07

13/02/11

27/02/12

12/04/13

17/03/14

B. terrestris

19/03/11

01/03/12

07/04/13

09/03/14

B.pascorum

02/04/11

pulmonaria

22/02/12

15/02/14

butterflies

22/03/12

13/04/13

01/03/14

Andrena fulva

28/03/12

30/04/13

11/04/14

coltsfoot

29/03/13

22/02/14

Small Tortoiseshell

01/03/14

Hoverfly

03/03/14

Peacock butterfly

23/02/07

11/04/14 (gdn.)

7 spot ladybird

22/04/06

02/03/07

11/04/14

Speckled Wood

15/04/14

White

14/04/14

Orange Tip

18/04/14

Red Admiral

13/06/14

Saturday, 24 January 2015

A walk from Endon to Greenway Bank Country Park and back.

On a quite cold day (the ground and surface waters are still frozen in places) I walked from home to Greenway Bank Country Park via Marshes Hill (Brown Edge) and back along the Caldon Canal feeder from Knypersley Reservoir to Baddeley Green.

Here are photos and bird list (pdf) from the pools taken during the walk. bird list pdf

Tinster Wood (between Endon and Brown Edge).

Polytrichum sp. moss in Tinster Wood.

View from Marshes Hill, Brown Edge

Mossy dry-stone-wall alongside road below Marshes Hill.

Bryum capillare (with bright green capsules), Tortula muralis (with smaller elongated capsules on wall top) and Grimmia pulvinata (greyish round cushions) amongst other bryophytes on dry-stone-wall.

As above.

Foliose (probably a Parmelia sp.) lichen on dry-stone-wall.

Cup lichen (Cladonia sp.) with Tortula muralis.

Bright green/yellow crustose lichen amidst Grimmia pulvinata and Tortula muralis.

View of moss-clad wall.

The conservation pool Greenway Bank Country Park.

Unfortunate end for what seems to be a Tawny Owl - it's wing tips were caught in fishing line!

Detergent foam on Head of the Trent not far from Knypersley Res.

View of part of the Head of the Trent where it flows from Knypersley Reservoir (nr.Ball Green).

Little Egret in field NW of Norton Green.

Accumulation of plastic detritus on upper trent where it passes under the Caldon Canal near Heakley Hall Farm (near Baddeley Green)

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Starling preparing for the breeding season.

After a misty start the day brightened up and there was some warmth in sunshine even though, where it stays in the shade, the ground remained frozen. While the sun was out some birds continued to show courtship behaviour (see earlier posts). I saw two Starlings emerge from a hole in an Alder tree at the corner of my garden - a hole that was used by Starlings last year. Of course I don't know if either of the birds I saw today where the ones that bred there last year, not do I know for sure if they were a pair, however recently I have noticed bits of dried grass dropped out of what are supposed to be Swift nest boxes on the side of my house. Since erecting the Swift box a few years ago it has always been used by one or more pairs of Starlings. The Swifts don't get a look in as the Starlings are already in occupation by the time the Swifts arrive! In fact the Starlings go in the box throughout the year and I suspect they may roost in it during the winter. So the significance of the bits of dropped grass is that the Starlings seem to be starting to make nests, which leads me to think that the Starlings going in the Alder tree hole were a pair. More on Starlings here http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-of-month/starling?dm_i=IG4,35G9V,39GIKV,BAICI,1

Male Starling singing outside the Alder tree nest hole March 2014.

The Swift nest box on the side of my house.

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

A walk to Stockton Brook and back (including first singing Greenfinch of the year).

I spent the New Year in Bath and while I was there I heard a male Greenfinch "wheeeeze" but today I spent five or so minutes listening to the lovely song of another male, closer to home this time, in a hedgerow in Stanley Moss.

Singing Greenfinch in Stanley Moss.

While I was listening to the Greenfinch I noticed the fruiting bodies of this Cladonia lichen. There was a large patch of them (1m x 0.5m) growing amongst compacted and grazed (by horses and rabbits) grassland under a deteriorating hawthorn hedge. Pretty little green discs!

Cladonia sp. lichen.

Also continuing to display signs of courtship are Blue and Great Tits and Starlings, the last of which were singing from perches, presumably beside their prospective nest site. Meanwhile, what I assume was a pair, of Stock Doves completed a circuitous flight of their home range. There were a couple of these doves feeding in my garden this morning as well.

Stock Dove, Woodpigeon and Jackdaws feeding in my garden July 2013.

Rather strangely there was a single Meadow Pipit pecking at titbits on the frozen ground of a wet field adjacent to the Caldon Canal between Endon and Stockton Brook. It's unusual to see one of these on there own so I wonder if it is sick or injured and chose there to rest for a while.

Sky over Stockton Brook from Stanley Moss this afternoon.

On my way home the call of a Willow Tit attracted my attention on the disused railway line between the white bridge and Station Road. This is a regular haunt of this species in the winter months.

Monday, 19 January 2015

Cold snap.

The last three days have been cold. On Friday night there was been a cm or so of snow. Then on Saturday night there was a further snowfall which meant it was a good day to go out to look for animal tracks. We weren't disappointed. My photos are below, including the highlight for me, Otter prints across the frozen surface of the Caldon Canal near Cheddleton.

A visit to Deep Hayes Country Park this morning also held a new sighting. There were three Little Grebes along with Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot and Moorhen all feeding where the middle pool had remained free of ice. This is the first time I have seen more than one Little Grebe on Deep Hayes pools. I am still not sure if they breed there as I have also only ever seen one Little Grebe at a time and this has always been outside the breeding season. While I sat in the bird hide eating my lunch I was surprised to see five (or possibly six) Robins around the feeders. They had all come to get some easy pickings from the feeding station; though, what I assume was the resident bird, was not very happy. I watched a couple of skirmishes and aggressive displays between intruders and territory holder!

When I got home it was calm and sunny and I watched two male Blue Tits courting females. Presumably the winter sunshine coupled with the current calm conditions meant that these birds felt able to indulge in some breeding behaviour.