Nature Notes November 2022

Nature Notes November 2022

While the wonderfully warm autumn weather is very welcome, some of the shrubs in our garden seem confused: the Winter Honeysuckle is in full flower two months early and the Lilac six months early! Also, as well as the Robin singing as is usual at this time of year, a Blackbird seems to think it is spring and has been singing quietly in the sunshine. Migratory birds only move to their winter quarters when driven to do so by falling temperatures, which is why only small numbers of winter thrushes have arrived from the continent so far, although two Redwing were giving their plaintive ‘seep’ call in the fog this morning.

In mid-November thousands of Starlings can usually be seen in long ribbons, streaming across the sky as they race west along the North Norfolk coast, having crossed the North Sea to escape falling temperatures on the continent. On our trip to Titchwell there were Starlings going west but mainly in very small groups, or even singly. We hoped that this was due to the unseasonably warm weather and not Bird Flu which has been decimating bird populations in Europe during the summer. There were however hundreds of Golden Plover on the reserve but they were very nervous and every so often would take to the air in a rush of wings at some perceived threat, before wheeling round and round, ensuring it was safe before coming in to land again and calling all the while.

It was good to see another seasonal visitor on the sea, a beautiful drake Red-breasted Merganser. The strong sunlight made it easy to see his dark green ‘punk’ head plumes, white collar and red-brown breast. Mergansers are ducks belonging to the sawbill family as their beaks are serrated to help them grip their wriggling prey which they are very efficient at catching. They sometimes work in family groups, diving simultaneously to hoover up shoals of small fish. In the dunes there were a few fungi that are adapted to very dry conditions, such as the orange Dune Waxcap and the minute Scaly Stalkball. The latter is a member of the puffball family in which the spore bearing body is held above the ground on a short stalk, but the whole structure is smaller than a rabbit dropping, which, where there is much evidence of rabbits, makes them difficult to spot. They are very restricted in where they grow and in Norfolk they can only be found on sand dunes on the Wash coast from Thornham to Snettisham.

Do let me know of any interesting wildlife you see.