Birds at Bushy Park

Although we chose to visit Bushy Park for the Deer, we were very impressed by the large and relatively tame bird population. Here are a few from the visit  - starting with a Jay that had taken an acorn up into the oak tree to eat - followed by Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Paraqueets, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Grey Wagtail, Stonechat, Egyptian Goose up a tree! and Mallard. 

Red Deer in Autumn sunshine

 We were lucky to have a couple of hours of beautiful autumn sunshine to enjoy the Red Deer at Bushy on Monday. The herd had two stags - the largest seemed very relaxed and did not seem to object to the presence of a somewhat smaller stag that was still interested in the Hines. A young buck just showing knobs where the antlers will form spent time digging in the bracken and had been wallowing in a mud hole. The oak trees obviously offer tasty morsels for those that can reach up.

Misty Morning Bushy Park

Bushy Park was not open till 8am so we wondered if we would be too late for good atmospheric images but luck was on our side as very soon after parking the car we located a large group of deer ideally placed to take advantage of the mist and the early sunlight showing up the breath. The large group included Red Deer and a few Fallow hines. There were a couple of mature stags, one of which roared a few times for us, and several young males on the periphery. I did not know a lot about the social interactions and breeding cycle of Red Deer so read up the following article which is full of fascinating facts such as it is the hines that choose the group to associate with rather than the stags rounding and protecting the group though this also occurs. 

 Red Deer Breeding Biology | Wildlife Online

Red and Fallow Deer at Sunset

We were very lucky to have a good sunset for our trip to Bushy Park. Here a selection of Fallow and Red Deer taken against the setting sun.

Common Birds in Good Light

I borrowed Ian's lens and converter to compare with my lens which maybe needs a service as it has had hard use over the years I have had it. First a visit to a local pond to field test the lenses. Plenty of activity with Dabchicks diving for fish, Mallard, moorhens, gulls and rooks. No discernible difference in performance - first 7 images with 1.4 converter, last three without. 

Brandon CP in the Rain

Although rain arrived in the afternoon at Brandon, we continued with our exploration of Brandon and found quite a few more fungi to record. There were lots Fly Agarics, but mostly already eaten by slugs etc, and also the Aniseed Funnel, with its amazing jade colour. Other finds were the Yellow Stagshorn, Death Cap and the Purple Jellydisc.