Pull Out The Stopper, Let's Have a Whooper

 Stanley Holloway's rendition of "Get Me To The Church On Time" was suitably amended to provide this post's title. Burger King would obviously go with his original version 😂

Whooper Swans arrive at the Mere through Autumn while on passage, but they don't often stay more than an hour or two; sometimes they land and almost immediately take off again; if we're lucky a small flock will arrive at dusk and stay overnight, before leaving early on next day.

 

Eight Whooper Swans on Wed 9 October

Same swans above but zoomed in

As above, leaving after 15 minutes

22 Whoopers flew over Southorpe Road on Fri 11 October

I am still awaiting the first winter thrush of the season. Redwings and Fieldfares are arriving but not in my vicinity yet. Even the local Song Thrushes and Mistle Thrushes seem to be lurking out of my sight 🤣 Meanwhile Goldfinches are scoffing the hawthorn berries as fast as they can.

Goldfinch munching hawthorn berries

In the past two years I have seen dragonflies up to 8 October, but not this year. Last year I saw a Common Darter on 13 October, but not this year. It may be part of the overall decline in insect life - or it may just be too damn cold for them now.

Autumn is a time to pick out seeds that are everywhere you look. I think this is a desicated Hogweed umbelifer with some seeds still hanging on.

Hogweed past its best now, but looking beautiful in a different way

Squirrels are quite active now, rumaging in the leaf litter for whatever they can find. I watched one this morning as it seemed fixated on one particular piece of wood. It was chewing it at the end, along its length, at the other end, dropping it and picking it up again and again.

Squirrel chewing on a twig

In Wassand Wood another large branch has fallen from a tree and made life interesting for those of us who walk down to the hide. I'm just glad I wasn't under this one when it fell. It hasn't been particularly windy recently so it may just have been the rain and accumulated weight that did the damage.

A large branch takes its final bow