Cute Young Grey Squirrels

I can never make up my mind whether I love or loathe grey squirrels. They drive me mad when they occasionally get past the squirrel baffle and wreck the feeders but I can enjoy their amusing antics in the garden and admire their problem solving skills.

Yesterday two young grey squirrels suddenly appeared in the garden and spent ages chasing each other round the lawn and hoovering up fallen seed from under the feeders.

They returned this morning and I decided to see if I could take some photos. When I first went out into the garden their initial response was to flee.



This one couldn't decide whether to flee or remain frozen to the spot in the hope I wouldn't see it!



After a few minutes they became used to my presence and allowed me to approach within a few metres without any sign of fear.

Young squirrel in "cute mode" eating whitebeam berries





At one stage I had two in the frame of my camera and as one playfully batted the other on the nose with its paw I tried to take the photo. For some reason the shutter refused to work and when I checked the camera I got the message "Card Full"!!! Drat! ( a polite version of the expletive I uttered!). It would have made a lovely photo too!

Dipped - Again!!

Desperate to undertake some birding but limited by time, I decided to pay a quick visit to some fairly local lanes this afternoon. My daughter used to go horse riding around here and weekly visits meant I got to know the area quite well. The fields are "prairie type" with few hedgerows but it does attract some birds - I have seen huge flocks of fieldfares and redwing, yellow wagtails, green woodpeckers and merlin plus the occasional hare. I was quite hoping for golden plover which often stop off briefly at this time of year. No such luck today though just large flocks of wood pigeons, rooks, crows and magpies on the stubble fields and I did get a close up view of a jay.







On the way home I stopped off at Shustoke Reservoir and went a short walk. A juvenile Little Gull has been resident here for 9 days now according to Shustoke Reservoir Blog (see link on the right) but, despite scanning every flock of gulls, I failed to see any sign of it - this is not the first time I have "dipped" on a bird at this particular reservoir! Plenty of black-headed gulls, coots, mallard, canada geese, grey heron, cormorants, dabchick, tufted duck and great crested grebe. No sign of any hirundines over the water today though.





Garden Update

The garden is fairly quiet at the moment bird-wise. Since Sunday I have only recorded Magpie 2, wood pigeon 3, blackbird 2, house sparrow 3, coal tit 1, goldfinch 1, blue tit 3, great tit 1, carrion crow 1, long-tailed tit 2, feral pigeon 1, dunnock 2 and great spotted woodpecker 1, for this week's BTO Garden Birdwatch. The coal tit is busy hoarding sunflower hearts all over the garden and it had taken a special liking to a hanging basket as a hiding place until it was mugged by an enterprising great tit! There was a red admiral in the garden on Monday although it didn't hang around long enough for a photo and I saw a small white today.

Underwings and Rustics Again!

I ran the moth trap on Friday night and, with a minimum temperature of 4.5 degrees centigrade recorded, I wasn't expecting many moths. I managed to trap 14 moths of 5 species (more than I thought there would be) - all worn yellow underwings and rustics.

Summary

Friday 17th September

Minimum Temperature 4.5 degrees centigrade

7.30 p.m. until dawn

15w Actinic Skinner Light Trap

1 x Common Rustic
2 x Flounced Rustic
1 x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
8 x Large Yellow Underwing
2 x Lesser Yellow Underwing

No moth photos this weekend but I was sorting through some old photo folders this afternoon and found this photo of a spider in the wildflower meadow which my son took some time ago.

St Alpheges

I gave my son a lift into Solihull on Wednesday afternoon as he had an appointment and so had an hour to "while away". I decided against visiting the shops as I would have made a beeline for Waterstones and I am unable to leave a bookshop without making several purchases!! and with an expensive car service due the following day that may not have been such a good idea!! I decided instead to have a look around St Alpheges Church located at the top of the High Street which I have been meaning to visit for ages.

Its a very lovely church with some beautiful stained glass windows and I even had a guided tour by one of the volunteers. Unfortunately, most of the stained glass window photos I took without flash were a complete disaster so the majority of photos of these shown below were taken with flash which I am afraid doesn't have quite the same effect.

The church is very old with the chancel and chantry chapels being built around 1277 and the remainder of the building completed by 1535. The church is built of local sandstones.









Inside the Porch



The Chancel





Jacobean pulpit dated 1610











The lower crypt chapel of St Francis built in 1277 as the chantry priest's chamber and chapel. The ancient medieval altar survived the Reformation.





The Upper Chantry Chapel







St Katherine's Chapel - the paintings are of saints commemorated by chapels within the church



The Nave

Window by Charles Kempe



Halfway up the side of the window you might be able to make out a wheatsheaf which, according to the guide, is Kempe's trademark.





This is a more recent stained glass window (1977)and was taken without flash





I just had time for a quick walk around the outside of the church before meeting my son. I did keep my eye open for spotted flycatchers as I have seen reports recently of this species being spotted in local churchyards but I was out of luck today.

On the wall by the West door arrow stones can be seen where archers sharpened their arrows in the fourteenth century.



This boulder is a glacial erratic - a rock fragment transported by glaciers during the last Ice Age and eventually deposited a long way from their original source.



Finally, a picture of the War Memorial made of Portland Limestone which has recently been renovated.

Garden Update and the Staffordshire Hoard

There were several warblers in the garden over the weekend - some may have been the same bird but I did see two on one occasion. I am pretty sure one was a willow warbler but the others were either too far away or keeping to much under cover to get decent views. The male and female great spotted woodpeckers are still visiting the feeders daily - they especially like the fat filled half coconut and are very aggressive to any other birds that dare try to feed when they are there. Two robins are feeding together quite happily and blackbird numbers are building as they feast on the rowan berries. The sparrowhawk is still visiting most days but I haven't seen it manage to catch any birds yet.

My son is on holiday this week and yesterday we at long last went to see the "Staffordshire Hoard" at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. A metal detector enthusiast, Terry Herbert, found over 1500 pieces of 7th century Anglo Saxon gold and silver pieces (mainly weapons) in farmland near Lichfield, Staffordshire in July 2009. The collection has now been purchased by the Birmingham and Stoke museums. I was very impressed with the items on display - some of the engravings on the metal work are exquisitely detailed and I loved all the tiny garnets in some of the pieces. I must admit though to being a little disappointed that there wasn't more on display. To be fair the museums concerned are trying to raise more money to fund conservation and research of the pieces found and establish permanent displays so I am sure the amount of items on display will increase in the future.

I did phone the museum beforehand but unfortunately photographs of the Anglo Saxon Gold display are not allowed so sorry no photos.

Blackberrying with butterflies

We went blackberrying yesterday morning. I took my binoculars along in the hope of seeing some warblers feasting on the berries but not a sign. The only birds I saw were a great tit and 12 mallard on the river nearby.

There were butterflies galore though feasting on the ripe blackberries - speckled wood, small white, lots of commas and red admirals looking pristine. A shame I had left the camera at home!

We collected several pounds of blackberries



We froze loads but some were used to make a blackberry and apple crumble

Dahlias at Baddesley Clinton

I met up with a friend last Thursday and we decided to revisit Baddesley Clinton in the hope that the locally famous dahlia bed would be in full bloom.

First a few photos of the house, grounds and garden - not too many this time as I posted loads on my blog posting on Baddesley in July.

































We had a nice sandwich for lunch followed by a delicious slice of carrot cake - National Trust properties certainly know how to make cakes!

Apart from mallards there were few birds around and few butterflies which was surprising as it was warm and sunny following a heavy rain shower before we arrived.

The dahlia bed which covers almost the whole of one side of the walled garden was at its very best. I try and go each year to see it and it just gets better and better. I don't know why I like dahlias so much as I am usually not keen on "showy" flowers perhaps its because my dad and grandfather used to grow dahlias. I can remember being fascinated when I was little (many moons ago!) by the amount of earwings hiding in the pompom dahlias.

A word of warning - I have been very self-indulgent in the amount of dahlia photos so if you are not keen on them it may be best to skip the rest of the post!











































A lovely day out in great company.