HERE A DABBLE, THERE A DABBLE...

A few days ago I did a post on the pair of Mandarin Ducks that I'd found on a small pond in Ashridge Estate in Buckinghamshire, also on the pond were a pair of Mallard Ducks doing what Mallard Ducks do well... dabbling! 

I won't bore you with lots of info on the Mallard as I'm sure you already know everything there is to know about one of our most numerous and friendly ducks!

However I couldn't resist taking a few photos and some video...so I'll bore you with those instead!!

MANDARIN DUCK - ORIENTAL BEAUTY

I'm still trying to sort, file and catch up with all the images that I've taken over the last couple of months, or in other words, I'm consigning  the majority of my recent photographic  endeavours to the trash can!!

I did however find these that I thought I might share with you.

Exactly a month ago I went to Ashridge Estate in search of the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers which had recently been seen there. Unfortunately I didn't find the Woodpeckers , but what I did find, on a small muddy pond about 300 yards from the very noisy visitor centre, were a pair of beautiful and very confiding Mandarin Ducks.

 The adult male is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill with a white tip, a large white crescent above the eye, a reddish face and long reddish neck feathers that resemble a beard or whiskers. The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back.

 

 The adult female is mainly a drab grey -brown in colour with a white belly and large white spots on her neck, breast and flanks she also has  a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye,(like a pair of spectacles!) and a pale tip to the end of the bill. 

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The true range of the Mandarin Duck (aix galericulata) is Eastern Asia where it was once widespread, but large-scale exports and the destruction of its forest habitat have reduced populations in eastern Russia and in China to below 1,000 pairs in each country; Japan however, is thought to still hold some 5,000 pairs. The small UK breeding population has derived from escapee birds from private collections,  and for this reason most 'grown up' birders class them as 'plastic'!

I guess this pair might also have been escapees as they didn't seem to be too worried by my presence and only took flight when a group of (about 30!) red uniformed, very noisy, young (infants class) school kids arrived to do some pond dipping!!

THE COLOURS OF AUTUMN

A couple of days ago, in patchy Autumn sunshine and dark clouds, I went for a walk around my local patch....Ashridge Estate, Ivinghoe Beacon hills and Incombe Hole. Whilst the sun was shining the golds and reds of Autumn made for a stunning display.

Ashridge

Looking East from the base of Ivinghoe Beacon

 Whitebeam     (I think!)

Beech

And finally.... I spied this chap admiring the view whilst taking a ride on a passing cloud!

Isn't nature a beautiful thing?

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY

It's that time of year when the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting worse!  the wild flowers are starting to fade, the butterflies have all but disappeared and the birds are flying away (we still have passage migrants to look out for, of course).  Now  is the time for us photographers to once again get our knees and elbows wet and muddy down amongst the leaf litter. Yes, it's FUNGI TIME.

Yesterday was my first fungi photo foray (that's a lot of f's) of the year. I went to a good fungi spotting location,  the large mixed woodland of the Ashridge Estate, which straddles the Herts/Bucks border.

I spent about four hours wandering the woods and found reasonable amounts of  'specimens'  to photograph. One area however was pretty much devoid of any decent photo opportunities and I soon realised why, two women busily picking every edible fungi in sight! after a nod of introduction we got chatting and they turned out to be an Italian mother and daughter "up from London" (about 20 miles away at its nearest) for the day  specifically to collect "mushrooms", which they do two or three times a year, and judging by their basket which was overflowing with Boletes and Puffballs they were having a very successful day!  

 With hindsight  I should have taken a photograph of their basket, doh!

Here  are a few(!) images from 'my basket'.

Lilac Bonnet  (mycena pura)

Yellow Swamp Brittlegill  (russula claroflava)

Bitter Beech Bolete  (boletus calopus)

Common Funnel  (clitocybe gibba)

Sepia Bolete  (boletus porosporus)

Bicoloured Deceiver  (laccaria bicolor)

Purple Jellydisc  (ascocoryne sarcoides)

Common Puffball  (lycoperdon perlatum)

Orange Milkcap  (lactarious aurantiacus)

Clustered toughshank  (collybia confluens)

Cep or Penny Bun  (boletus edulis)

 I've given some I D's but they're by no means 100% certain. please feel free to correct me where needed.  

Bluebell Time

Yesterday afternoon (in bright sunshine and 21*C.) I went to the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire to see the Bluebells (hyacinthoides non-scripta) which are at their best about now. As soon as I opened the car door I was hit by the heady scent that seemed to fill the whole area and the sight of a vast carpet of blue covering the woodland floor was just amazing. With hindsight perhaps I should have visited earlier in the day because it was crowded, and getting a photograph without lots of people in was rather difficult but with a little perseverance I did manage to get a few shots worth keeping! 

Ivinghoe Beacon Walk

21 March 2011

It was a sunny warm morning as I left the car park to start my walk through the meadows and arable fields that lie behind the slopes of Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.

A panoramic shot of the area walked. Ivinghoe Beacon or Beacon Hill, as it is sometime called, is the high point to the left hand side of the picture.

There were lots of new lambs and proud mums taking it easy in the sunshine.

Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were trying to out sing each other as they rose into the air before dramatically falling back to earth.

 In the distance I could see the chalk lion carved into the hillside below (London) Whipsnade Zoo. The smaller building of the two in the picture is a cafe and the other larger one is the Rhino house.

All the time I was walking I could hear lots of noise from Jackdaws and Crows but couldn’t see where it was coming from but eventually from the high ground further along I could see an animal water trough that was being used as a communal bath and drinking fountain by lots of very noisy bickering Jackdaws, Crows and Rooks. I sat in the sunshine for about three quarters of an hour, or so, just watching the comings and goings with all of the disagreements and noise. It’s not every day you can have your lunch whilst sitting on a sunny hillside and watch a very interesting, if rather noisy cabaret!

I also spied in the grass by my feet a bright red bug moving over some sheep droppings. It was less than 5mm long but because of its colour it stood out in the green grass. Later research at home showed it to be a Velvet Mite (eutrombidium rostratus) and is apparently quite common and a beneficial little predator in the garden.

By the time I had reached the top of Beacon Hill, 233m (757ft.) above sea level, it had clouded over and a chilly wind was blowing (as it often does up here). From here you get a magnificent view over most of the Vale of Aylesbury. 

The castle like building shining in the distance is Mentmore Towers which was build for the Baron Mayer de Rothschild in 1852-1854. In 1997 after passing through numerous owners including George Harrison of Beatles fame it was sold to a private company with a view to turning it into a hotel, as is the way of these things the new owners promptly went bankrupt and the property has fallen into disrepair and is now on the English Heritage at risk register. It continues however to be used regularly as a film and TV ‘prop’.

On the way back to the car park I came across a flock of 12 to 15 Meadow Pipits busily foraging in the grassy hillside. 

I also spooked 5 or 6 Yellowhammers from a bush beside the path (alas no photo!)

And finally back at the car I could see in the valley below and close to the Ashridge Estate woods a small herd of Fallow Deer quietly grazing. 

Wildlife sightings along the way :-

Brown Hare

Fallow Deer

Blue Tit 

Great Tit

Blackbird 

Magpie

Meadow Pipit

Skylark 

Carrion Crow

Rook

Jackdaw

Buzzard 

Red Kite

Siskin

Yellowhammer

Common Gull

Woodpigeon

And heard:- 

Woodpecker "drumming"

Green Woodpecker "yaffeling"

Pheasant

All in all a very enjoyable few hours.