Wetland Birds Count

Paxton Pits along with other wetland reserves carry out a monthly count of the birds on the Pits  (WeBS). Beautiful morning for our December count though difficult for ID etc against the light. The most prominent birds for our route round Rudd, Cloudy and Weedy Lakes were the 40 or so Canada Geese plus this one Canada GooseXGreylag hybrid. Looking it up they appear quite common and very consistent in marking with just the head, neck length and beak revealing the Greylag parentage. All the usual Ducks plus a solitary Grey heron. Couldn't resist photographing the Long-tailed Tit at the end of the walk.

Cups and Caps at Paxton

Still a lot of fungi around at Paxton Pits including several species of cups as well as traditional clumps of Mycena etc. The Scarlet Elf Caps, Sarcoscypha spp (S. austriaca is the commoner but indistiguishable in the field from S. coccinea) are just starting to fruit - this one with an unusually long stem to get above the moss but also Brown Cups (Rutstroemia firma),  Lemon Cups (Bisporella citrina) and the impressive Green Elfcup (Chlorociboria aeruginascens). The Coral Spot (Nectria cinnabarina) was on a lot of twigs.

Fungi Season Starts at Paxton Pits

As we have had plenty of rain in the last few days (!!), I was hopeful that there would be enough fungi around for the Workshop there on Wednesday (and for the following week's one at Brandon). There are not huge numbers visible, but a hunt around found plenty of different species and some attractive clumps. The images below are a mix of natural light and added LED lights and of single shots and Focus- stacked images. The Dead Man's Fingers is particularly difficult to portray so will have another go at that one!

Great White and Little Egrets Abound at Paxton Pits

We counted around a dozen Great White Egrets, Little Egrets  and Grey Herons collectively at Paxton Pits during our Third Thursday walk today plus a pair of Great Crested Grebes in winter plumage but still preening in tandem as in their spring displays. 

Nature at Your Fingertips

Yesterday was the September Wildlife Survey at Paxton Pits and was in a large meadow complex adjacent to the River Ouse with damp ditches so it was not surprising to find quite a few wet species such as this Pond Olive that I rescued from a spider's web (it has lost one tail streamer). Lots of Spiders around this time of year including Xysticus matching its surrounding as does the Pardosa species running across pond weed. Otherwise the species that I was very pleased to record two years ago, Ormyrus nitidulus, a metallic green wasp, were very abundant below the oak trees (they lay eggs in the gall-causing caterpillars!).