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a sunny morning near the bird hide
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With
50+ trees down on the Island during Monday, 13th November as Storm Debbi hit us, I
think we were lucky to have no damage at Ballachurry. Yes, Ginnie's
Bench had blown over but had quickly been colonised by the invertebrate
population of the vicinity! Some of the dead hedging had blown onto the
paths and into the stream but this was quickly rectified. Some birch
twigs had also blown into the new pond and I removed them to the dead
hedge. A floating hogweed stem was covered in pond snails which made me
go back to the birch twigs to examine them more closely - sure enough I
had to rescue and re-home several more! But the hide and the trees were
all still standing. This was a shorter visit than usual but here is what I recorded:
Birds:
SC209693 Raven flying over croaking.
SC208694 Blue Tit; Robin heard not seen; male Chaffinch; 2 x Siskin.
SC208694 ( hide) Pheasant heard not seen; Water Rail heard not seen; 3 x Goldfinches; 2 x Blackbird ( m & f) Great Tit; Blue Tit.
SC208695 Blackbird heard not seen; Woodpigeon flying over.
Other:
SC209694 40+ pond snails in new pond on stones and floating twigs + Backswimmer Water Boatman.
SC208694 Iodine Bonnet fungi (Mycena filopes)
SC208694 Redleg Toughshank ( Gymnopus erithropus) NEW RECORD
SC208694 Russet Toughshank ( Gymnopus dryophilus) NEW RECORD
SC208695 Russet Toughshank ( Gymnopus dryophilus)
SC208695 large Pestle Puffball (Lycoperdon excipuliforme/ Handkea excipuliformis). NEW RECORD
SC209694 about 50 White-legged Snake millipedes on Ginnie's bench which had fallen over during storm Debbi + a few other unidentified millipedes / centipedes/ Woodlice.
SC209695 small slug on discarded drinks can by Bowman bench.
SC209694 a few Dandelions and lawn Daisies still in flower
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one of two Siskins taking Alder seeds
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blown over during Storm Debbi on 13th November.
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where the wood touched the ground ............
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it had been colonised by millipedes
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and woodlice
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and a different sort of millipede
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pond snails afloat on a twig
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more pond snails under water on a stone
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Backswimmer Water Boatman
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unidentified slug on litter
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fungi growing on fungi!
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a closer look
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each of these toadstools is growing on a fallen twig
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Iodine Bonnets -Mycena filopes
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Russet Toughshank -Gymnopus dryophilus
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More Russet Toughshanks at an earlier stage
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Pestle Puffball Lycoperdon excipuliforme (Handkea excipuliformis)
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full of dark spores - a new record for the Reserve
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November daisy
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November dandelion
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usual view from the boardwalk
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recent heavy rain had flooded some areas
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Hide still standing after the storm
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the meadow in the sunshine
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Oak sapling still in leaf
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stream flowing well in front of reed bed
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still a few leaves left despite the storm
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looking back as I left the reserve
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Tuesday remained quite windy as Storm Debbi moved away from us and this might have been the reason why the reserve was so quiet. Such birds as I did see were in the heart of the vegetation and therefore difficult to photograph. I was grateful for the good view of the Siskins!
With thanks to Karen Rodgers for fungi identification.
please click on the photos to enlarge them
