The Forest was extremely busy today. Unsurprising as exercising outside is encouraged under Lockdown 2 but even where it is fairly quiet I didn't see much wildlife today.  It did make me think more about the habitat though. I walked past an exclusion plot (a fenced area to exclude deer grazing.) It also happens that the area around this plot has been mown regularly too.

The fenced plot was full of bracken, with some overgrown heather. The mown area was Purple Moor Grass (Molinia caerulea) with heather (Calluna vulgaris.)  Bracken is invasive and there is a lot of it in the area, so the heathy grassland provides important habitat for heathland species.  The mowing here certainly seems to be keeping the bracken in check.

There was plenty of sunshine today, although I mostly walked before and after it!  Again I missed getting a photo of the mixed tit flocks (or of the Marsh tits on our feeder) but there were wasps in our greenhouse, making the most of the autumn warmth and the grape juice.  They won't be around much longer and the grapes have gone too mouldy for us to eat.

Not really wildlife but definitely adding to wellbeing, we still have roses flowering in the garden.  The weather conditions really seem to have favoured them this year and they are a delight to see in November.

Another misty autumnal morning, followed by a day of sunshine and showers. I would really miss the seasons if I lived somewhere without them!

 Over the past few years, the population of Buzzards in the country has increased enormously.  We never used to see them here but they have bred near our house for a couple of years now and we regularly see them.  However, they are often in the distance or usually just flying off as I get my camera, so I was pleased that this one sat for a photo or two.

The afternoon walk was one of sunshine, showers and rainbows.  Something that never fails to lift my spirits, even though I never find the crock of gold. 

As I type this, Tawny Owls are hooting loudly and have been for some weeks.  They always seem to be extra noisy on autumnal evenings, just as the deer rutting sounds quieten down.  I believe they are just establishing their territories for the winter but sadly, although we always hear them, there is little chance of me getting a photograph of these neighbours.

Stress

As International Stress Awareness week draws to a close, it is important to think about what is making you stressed. Can you do anything about it? A certain amount of stress is actually good for humans in order to make them achieve but at the moment, many sources of stress are the things we cannot do anything about. In this case, I think it is important to spend some time doing relaxing things just for yourself when you can. 

The fog was slow to lift here this morning but when it did, we had a beautiful sunny day.  It was just perfect for lockdown walks so the Forest was extremely busy and apart from a Buzzard and a Roe deer, I didn't see much of interest (possibly also because I was talking!)

I did notice that someone had smashed open this greeny-blue stained wood.  We see quite a lot of this here: it is caused by a fungus, Chlorosplenium or Chlorociboria aeruginacscens but we have rarely seen the fruiting bodies which are green elf cups. The blue-green wood was used in decorative inlaid woodwork characteristic of our local area, known as Tunbridge ware.

 I hope that you managed to get out today. There is a definite feel-good factor to being out in the sunshine even if you miss looking closely at nature!

Beaks

 With the morning frosts we have started feeding seed as well as nuts. A flock of Goldfinches arrived in minutes. Watching them eat, I always think of Charles Darwin who studied finch beaks and realised that they were all adapted to their food source.  Goldfinches have small, pointy beaks which can get into the seedheads of many plants in the garden, so it is really important to let flowers go to seed and not to tidy them too soon. 

Out walking, I saw evidence of another bird beak adaptation.  I was in an area where there used to be a dormouse study so a number of boxes were installed.  These should only be checked by someone with a Dormouse licence but some of them have rotted and a couple have been opened by woodpeckers. Inside were bird's nests: woodpeckers mainly eat insects and seeds but will also eat nestlings. Woodpeckers have a range of adaptations which allow them to drill into wood without damaging their brains: these rotten boxes would have made easy pickings for them, so if you provide bird nest boxes, you may wish to keep them in good repair (although woodpeckers have to eat too!)

Frosty morning, lovely day.

You don't need a study to tell you that everyone feels better on a sunny day (unless perhaps if they are stuck indoors, although if that is the case, even sun through the window can help.)  I spent most of the day in the car but thoroughly enjoyed my walk in the frost and early morning sunshine.

 The deer seem to have finished rutting (we didn't hear them today.)  We did see a doe and an older fawn (a long way ahead) but I need to work on my focusing! 

The sun very quickly melted the frost (the deer are standing just on the green if you can't see them.) It always seems so magical, just as the sun comes over the hill and glints on frozen vegetation. I really hope we have lots of sunny, frosty days this winter.

Mixed tit flocks

 Out on our walks the past few days I have heard the high pitched contact calls of flocks of tits.  The most obvious (and my favourites are the long-tailed tits but they have been with other tits in the trees.  Sadly, long-tailed tits did not appear on our feeders in the sunshine today but bird feeders are an excellent way to observe birds and to really see the differences in the species.

First to arrive are the Great tits with their black stripe and white cheeks. They are bigger and bolder than the other tit species.

There were a lot of Blue tits, with their blue caps.

I wasn't watching for long but saw only one Coal tit: the white patch on the back of the head is their most obvious feature.  As we head into another lockdown from Thursday, this could be a good time to stock up on bird food so that you can spend some time watching the birds in your garden if you have one.  Window feeders are also available if you don't.  It can be quite relaxing seeing them come and go.