Instead of the flock of about 10 Long-tailed Tits which visited our birch tree in November, on one occasion we had a similar number of Goldfinches, part of a larger flock that seems to be moving  about the village. One day we had a Fieldfare perched on the top of the birch, and Judith has seen flocks several times down beside the river, sometimes with Redwings.

We have also had visits from a Treecreeper and I took this photo through the window - not quite up to our usual standard, but you can see its stiff little tail which it uses as a strut to sit back on, and its fine curved beak which enables it to winkle out tiny insects from cracks in the bark. Judith took this closer shot near the river.

What's in your garden or hedgerow?
would be delighted to hear from you.

A flock of about ten Long-tailed Tits bouncing about in our Birch tree was a very entertaining sight at the end of the month (they did not keep still to be counted). We have heard reports of a Sparrowhawk taking surprisingly large prey in Natland gardens. In one case a Jackdaw and in another what sounds to have been a Collared Dove. The female Sparrowhawk is much larger than the male and it is probably a female that is taking the bigger birds.

At home, we occasionally see a Sparrowhawk passing by at great speed, but on Helm Judith has watched and photographed the two other birds of prey that live in the Parish: Kestrel and Buzzard.

The Kestrel, of course, is noted for hovering, and then dropping straight down onto its prey, usually a mouse or a vole. The Sparrowhawk never hovers, but occasionally one soars over the village, when it can be seen that its wings are rounded at the tip, whereas the Kestrel's come to a point. The Buzzards soar widely over the Parish, generally looking for carrion, but also probably taking rabbits on Helm, where occasionally they come low.

Down by the river, Judith has been getting to know the habits of the Kingfishers and where they perch, and has obtained this photo of this spectacular little bird. The Dippers have already started to sing: silvery trilling sounds that can be heard over the water. It is worth going down to the river to hear them! Judith caught this one 'in song'.

This is the month when our winter visitors start to arrive and the last of our summer visitors disappear. Fieldfares have arrived  - Judith saw a large flock (about 200) down beside the river. Also on the river, the Goosander are back after their summer hols (in the case of the males: in the northern fjords of Norway). Cormorants have also returned, often sitting about in dead trees, after presumably being at their breeding site.

In the case of Robins, the invasion from Siberia is more subtle. Nobody sees them arrive, but suddenly one realises that the village, and the hedgerows, are full of Robins, singing to establish their winter territories. In gardens generally the young birds of the year are now fully mature and competing for space. Blackbirds are doing their "This garden ain't big enough for both of us" performances, and even the two Coal Tits that visit our seed feeder chase each other madly round in circles, though whether the intentions are competitive or amorous we cannot tell. The occasional Long-tailed Tit and a Treecreeper (not seen for a long time) remind us that mixed flocks of little birds will be forming before long.

Meanwhile, Keith and Tina Jackson report seeing an otter in the River Kent last week at Larkrigg: "It was pulling a salmon out of the river onto the bank - amazing. We stood and watched it for about ten minutes with another group of walkers.  We have been down there a couple of times since with the camera but we think it's a shy one!"

As otters are known to be established downstream of Sedgwick and upstream of Kendal, and a holt as been reconstructed in Kendal, they are no doubt travelling up and down the river and it is likely that sightings will become more numerous.

Followers of the Wildlife Notes have sent me two excellent photographs this month. First Barry Evans sent me this shot of a strange 'critter' that he saw investigating his log pile; he wondered if it was a hornet. I think that many people would assume that it was a hornet, which is exactly the purpose of its warning colouration, evolved over millions of years, which says "I have a sting!" But firstly, we do not have real hornets as far north as this (yet), and secondly they do not brandish a sting!

They take two or three years to develop, which is not surprising on that diet - but do serious damage to standing timber. There is also an ichneumon wasp with a very long ovipositor which manages to locate the grub (it is thought that it can hear it chewing!) and penetrates the wood to lay an egg it it, so this may turn up around the log-pile later on.

The second photo was this delightful shot by Jude Holsall of two Long-tailed Field Mice (also called Wood Mice) at her peanut feeder. She has encouraged them by lying a trail of peanuts across her garden and they have become so tame that they do not flee when she goes out, though they are still easily frightened. This is a lovely example of how one can encourage wildlife in one's garden. Field Mice do sometimes come into houses, but whereas House Mice head for the kitchen, Field Mice head for the loft, easily climbing up vertical walls to get there, where, by their scrabbling about, they can make noise out of all proportion to their size.

The welcome 'summer in autumn' of mild weather this month has meant that some butterflies are still about, and Judith photographed this Comma on ivy down Hawes Lane on the last day of September.

We have had, on occasions, some sunshine to remind us what summer is supposed to be like. The numerous young birds that were visiting our garden had mostly disappeared by the end of the month, but we had several visits from the Great Spotted Woodpecker. So did Barry Evans, who took this photo through his kitchen window. The surprising thing is that this is not a young bird, but an adult female, shown by the absence of red on the head. In this woodpecker it is the juveniles that are most brightly coloured, with red caps. The male has a small red patch on the nape of the neck, but the female has no red on the head at all.

Meanwhile, the Swallows and Martins are congregating in preparation for flying off to warmer climes (sensible birds!). Judith took the above photo of (left to right) a young House Martin, and adult Swallow and a young Swallow near the village.

Down on the river, things have also changed. The Dippers, having brought up their offspring, are now intent on chasing them away to establish their own territories elsewhere.

Sparrows have declined very much nationally over the last 50 years, but they still seem to be doing very well in Natland. The Pyracantha near our bird table has become the meeting place for up to a dozen, in preparation for visiting the table. Interestingly, this gang seems to consist of several adult males looking after a whole bunch of youngsters.  By the end of the month some of them were admitting that they were big enough to feed themselves, but others were still quivering their wings and begging to be fed if there was an adult male around. We see very few adult females. Perhaps they are sitting on second broods? These photos were taken through the window in poor light so they are not up to our usual standard.

By 2nd July these young were fully fledged and were being fed by the parents in the garden. On 23 July they were feeding their second brood in the nest. Watch this space......!

The weather did not allow Judith much opportunity for photography by the river, but  she did photograph this Mute Swan, not often to be seen there.

Also, right at the end of the month, she was watching a Peacock Butterfly, when out of the blue it was pounced on by a Flycatcher. She thought at the time that it was a Spotted Flycatcher (they nested in our garden a few years ago but have become very scarce since) but when we examined her photograph it turned out to be a young female Pied Flycatcher, probably on its migration southwards. It pays to look carefully at any Flycather you may see!

Wildlife 2007

We are grateful
to Neil Robinson
who produced the
Wildlife News for Natland.info.

Thanks also to
Judith & Neil Robinson
for their photographs.

If you click on the
photos in the reports, normally an
enlarged picture
will open in
a new page.

Wildlife Archive
Follow the links to see the other articles:
Wildlife 2008
Wildlife 2007
Wildlife 2006
Wildlife 2005
Flora of Natland
(and the Vegetation of
Helm Common). 

June will be remembered for bad weather, disastrously so in some parts of the country. Here, after an initial sunny week, low pressure took over and there was only one more warm sunny morning in the whole month. At the end of May one night was so cold that it killed a brood of nestling Blue Tits in Guy Weller's nest box, and the nestling Sparrows in our box died the same night, but others have evidently been successful. Male Sparrows are very good fathers, and it was nice to see one being pursued by four begging youngsters, each of it attentively fed. The Bullfinches have continued to visit, usually singly, but we have not seen any young. If anyone sees juveniles, I would be interested to know.

This month has seen a great deal of reproduction taking place in Natland - at least among the wildlife. Bumblebee workers are visiting flowers in the gardens which shows that the big queens that we saw about in the spring have successfully established their nests and have reared the first batch of workers to take over the business of foraging and feeding the colony.

But the 'Bird of the Month' has definitely been the Bullfinch. A handsome pair has been hanging about Abbey Drive and other people have seen them in their gardens, so perhaps their is more than one pair in the Village. The female has quieter colouring than the male, but is still very attractive.

For such a conspicuous bird, they are remarkably unobtrusive. We hear them more often than we see them; a faint 'peu' call tells us that they are around. Then one, usually the male, will make a brief appearance. They do not seem to like to stay long at the bird table or the seed feeder and Judith's photographs are of them on the patio below.

This bird is not popular in fruit-growing districts because of its liking for pecking off fruit tree buds (one did have a go at our Crab-apple) and it is one of the few birds for which control licences used to be regularly issued. Now it has been found that removing shrubby cover from around orchards is a more effective method of reducing their impact.

I was interested to learn, from Bird Table, the magazine of the BTO Garden Birdwatch Survey, that, although Bullfinches have a quiet and undistinguished song, they are very skilful mimics. At one time they were popular cage-birds which could be taught to whistle tunes. We have seen the male more often than the female so we hope she is sitting on a nest somewhere - perhaps we will see a family group some time?