Final Fling

Back to work tomorrow and the dull grey conditions matched my mood, with some other stuff to do I restricted my nature spotting activity to a couple of hours. Brookfield Plantation was my chosen destination as it had been quite a while since my last visit though I set out with low expectations as conifer plantations in winter can be very quiet.

One of the rides in Brookfield.

My first impression was that it was going to be a bit of a struggle and it looked as if I'd bought a ticket to the Wood Pigeon show. Gradually other birds began to make their presence felt, the churr of a Wren being joined by the song of a Robin. Blackbirds and Redwings were feeding on the haws and a Mistle Thrush could be heard singing some distance away. As is often the case with this sort of wood many of my wildlife encounters were brief and opportunities  for photography were limited. Both species of the commoner woodpeckers were heard with several Greens showing too. Several mixed flocks moved through while I was there and these included Marsh Tits and plenty of Goldcrests. Bird highlight of my visit were three separate Woodcocks flushed from the sides of the rides, small numbers winter here every year. Hopefully they can avoid the guns of any shooters and make it back to their breeding grounds.

Fallow Deer running away.

Two small parties of Fallow Deer were seen briefly as they crashed through the undergrowth while a singleton showed briefly on one of the rides. These were one of three mammal species on view today and none of them were native with the others being Grey Squirrel and a Brown Rat near Asda, what would our countryside look like without all these introduced or escaped species?

Toadstool.

Not much else to report though there were several species of waxy looking toadstools and none of them looked remotely appetising even if they turned out to be edible species, I'll really have to try and learn a little more about them.