Fairy Inkcap fungi at Rudyard Lake.

There are numerous fruiting bodies of Fairy Inkcap covering the base of a Hybrid Black Poplar that has died and fallen in the woodland adjacent to Rudyard Lake (NW side by miniature railway).

An evening chorus at Rudyard Lake.

 Here is a list of birds seen and/or heard at Rudyard Lake between 16:00 and 18:00 on May 21st 2014. 40 species in total.

		Seen/ heard 2014	Sunny periods, fair weather cloud, calm - water high.
	Warblers
1	Blackcap	yes
2	Willow Warbler	yes
3	Chiffchaff	yes
4	(Common) Whitethroat	yes
5	Garden Warbler	yes
	Lesser Whitethroat
	Grasshopper Warbler
	Sedge Warbler
	Finches
6	Chaffinch	yes
7	Goldfinch	yes
	Greenfinch	no
8	Bullfinch	no
9	Reed Bunting	yes
	Pheasant	no
10	Great Spotted Woodpecker	yes
	Pigeons/Doves
11	Woodpigeon	yes
12	Collared Dove	yes
13	Pied Wagtail	yes
14	Grey Wagtail	yes
15	Wren	yes
16	Dunnock	yes
	Thrushes
17	Blackbird	yes
18	Song Thrush	yes
	Mistle Thrush	no
19	Robin	yes
	Spotted Flycatcher	no
20	Goldcrest	yes
21	Common Redstart	yes	On east side in tree tops on l.h.s. Of track and adj. Pasture near conservation area
	Tits
22	Long-tailed Tit	yes
23	Willow Tit	yes	N. end
24	Coal Tit	no
25	Blue tit	yes
26	Great Tit	yes
	Marsh Tit	no
27	Nuthatch	yes
	Treecreeper	no
	Corvids
28	Carrion Crow	yes
29	Jackdaw	yes
30	Rook	yes	Rookery Cliffe Wood
	Jay	no
31	Magpie	yes
	Raven	no
32	House Sparrow	yes
	Other possibilities
33	Mallard	yes
34	Great Crested Grebe	yes
35	Coot	yes
36	Mute Swan	yes
37	Gull species	yes	Single Lesser Black-backed Gull flying over
38	Canada Goose	yes
39	Oystercatcher	yes	Two on spit on E. side
40	Swallow	yes
	House Martin	no

Tittesworth Reservoir Dawn Chorus event 18th May 2014

Reed Bunting by Andy Cope

Seventeen people got up very early (04:30!) on the morning of Sunday 18^th May to join Keith (from the Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership) and I (Wendy Birks), for a dawn chorus walk at Tittesworth reservoir. The weather was beautiful. And there were plenty of birds singing away for us to listen to for the three hour long event. After the first two hours we stopped for an outdoor

breakfast of baked beans, buns and orange juice, ably prepared by Keith. Most of the participants stayed on for an extra hour so that we could go to the north end of the reservoir to watch a pair of Common Terns who seem to be preparing to breed on a floating raft, and Little Ringed Plovers, Oystercatcher chicks and Common Sandpipers on the island in the conservation pool. Thanks are due to Severn Trent Water who manage Tittesworth Reservoir and arranged to open the gates and toilets at that early hour. So conscientious are the staff and volunteer warden they even rushed around picking litter from the previous day before we used the BBQ area for our breakfast! Here is a list of what we heard or saw – 33 species in total.

	Guide to what we expect to hear/see today	Seen/ heard	Seen /heard last week	Seen/ heard yesterday 17/05/14	Seen during event
	Warblers
1	Blackcap	yes	yes	yes	yes
2	Willow Warbler	yes	yes	yes	yes
3	Chiffchaff	yes	yes	yes	yes
4	(Common) Whitethroat	yes	yes	yes	yes
5	Garden Warbler	yes	yes	yes	yes
	Lesser Whitethroat				no
	Grasshopper Warbler			no	no
	Sedge Warbler			no	Not present this year
	Finches
6	Chaffinch	yes	yes	yes	yes
7	Goldfinch	yes	yes	Seen only	yes
	Greenfinch	yes		no	no
8	Bullfinch	yes	yes	no	By some
9	Reed Bunting	yes		Poss.	yes
10	Pheasant	yes	yes	yes	yes
11	Great Spotted Woodpecker	yes	yes	yes	Heard drumming
	Pigeons/Doves
12	Woodpigeon	yes	yes	yes	yes
	Collared Dove	yes	yes	no	no
	Pied Wagtail		yes	seen	no
14	Grey Wagtail	yes	yes	yes	yes
15	Wren	yes	yes	yes	yes
16	Dunnock			no	yes
	Thrushes
17	Blackbird	yes	yes	yes	yes
18	Song Thrush	yes	yes	yes	yes
	Mistle Thrush	yes	yes	Seen only	no
19	Robin	yes	yes	yes	yes
20	Spotted Flycatcher	yes	yes	yes	yes
21	Goldcrest	yes		Heard only	Heard by some
	Tits
	Long-tailed Tit	yes		yes	no
	Willow Tit	yes		no	no
22	Coal Tit	yes		Heard only	Heard briefly
	Blue tit	yes	yes	Heard only	no
	Great Tit	yes	yes	Seen only	no
	Marsh Tit			no	no
	Nuthatch	yes		no	no
23	Treecreeper	yes		no	yes
	Corvids
	Carrion Crow	yes	yes	yes	no
24	Jackdaw			yes	yes
	Rook	yes	yes	Rookery in nearby fields
	Jay	yes		yes	no
	Magpie	yes		no	no
	Raven			no	no
25	House Sparrow	yes	yes	yes	yes
	Other possibilities
	Kestrel	yes	yes	yes	no
	Buzzard	yes	yes	Heard only	no
26	Coot	yes	yes	yes	yes
27	Curlew	yes	yes	yes	yes
	Cuckoo	nearby		no	no
	Tawny Owl	nearby		no	no
	Swift			no	no
28	Swallow	yes	yes	yes	yes
	House Martin			no	probably
	Wetland birds
29	Little Ringed Plover			yes	yes
30	Common Terns			yes	yes
31	Oystercatcher			Yes - with 3 chicks	yes
32	Goosander			Yes – with ducklings	yes
33	Common Sandpiper				yes

Fantastic photos of baby Tawny Owls

These young Tawny Owls have recently emerged from their nest somewhere in the Churnet Valley. Tawny Owls are relatively early breeders, starting in February or March. They nest in cavities such as holes in buildings or trees or specifically designed nest boxes. The clutch of 2 - 3 eggs is incubated for between 28 and 30 days and the chicks are then brooded by their mother for a further 15 days while the father hunts for their food. Tawny Owls diet is largely small mammals, invertebrates and small birds. After 15 days both parents leave the nest and search for food with which to feed the growing young. When they are 25 - 30 days owl, but before they are able to fly, the owlets may leave their nest and sit on nearby branches while waiting for their parent to feed them this is what the ones in the photos are doing).  When their wing feathers are sufficiently developed, at about 35 days the young start to fly, however they are still dependent on their parents for a further three months. Photos courtesy of John Coe.  

Spring Greens and Other Things – a Wildfood Wander.

On Sunday 11^th May a party of us joined Richard Whiting at RSPB Coombes Valley for a wildfood wander. Richard, who is the Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership Practical Projects Officer, showed us a whole variety of springtime wild plants that are edible – though not always particularly tasty. Notably, nettles were included in the list. If you want to know how not to get stung when you eat nettles fresh fromm the plant here is what you do. You take hole of the tender growing tip of the plant, making sure that the stinging hares are inside the bundle so that you don't get stung. Then you carefully pluck the tip off the stem and, keeping it tightly closed press it together so that the hairs are all squashed and rendered harmless. Then you can eat the nettle without being stung. It really works – though I can't actually say the snack was tasty!

Other plants we tried were Brooklime, Lady's Smock, Large and Wavy Bittercress, Sorrel, Lime and Beech leaves, Hawthorn buds, and Ribwort Plantain. We finished off the event with a Sunday lunch. The starter was a leafy soup and crunchy pignut roots, a main course of rabbit stew cooked with a variety of wild plant leaves accompanied with an Elderberry sauce, all washed down with Dandelion coffee (made with dried and roasted Dandelion roots).

 

Do ducks carry their eggs to safety?

On the morning of 6^th May on the Caldon Canal, near Hazelhurst Junction, an unusual event occurred. A female Mallard plus two males took off from the side of the canal. The strange thing was that the duck had what appeared to be a whole egg in her bill. The two drakes followed close behind her. The duck shortly dropped the “egg” and it entered the canal water and sank. Initially it appeared as though the drakes were chasing the duck in order to mate with her, after all this is a commonly seen behaviour at this time of year – it being the breeding season. The next day a fox was seen in the same place as the Mallards had been seen the day before. I decided to find out what might have be going on. There isn't much information about this phenomenon on the internet but this is what I did find.

In 1978 The Wilson Bulletin (published in the United States) describes observations of (American) Wood Ducks carrying, what were perhaps, whole eggs. It seemed that, when a predator - in this case Red-bellied Woodpeckers, had broken some of the eggs in a duck's nest she removed at least one of the remaining eggs to a new site. It is speculated that this is an attempt to save her remaining offspring from predation. According to this paper (see link below) this observation, by individuals from this species in particular, has been recorded several times. In an attempt to test the theory that the ducks were influenced by the action of predators an experimenter placed broken eggshells on previously un-predated nests whilst the ducks were temporarily absent. On their return the ducks removed an egg or eggs. In another paper written by an American and a British academic, the second from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge (Glous.), the authors document reports of parent birds of various species carrying their young to safety either on their backs or in their bills. In this paper, egg carrying by Mallards and other species of Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks), is described (see second link below) though in this paper they mention only addled eggs being removed from nests. The authors discuss how unlikely it seems given that the anatidine bill is poorly adapted for carrying items as they write that these species do not directly feed their young or courtship feed, and appear to have difficulty carrying nest material in their bills.

So, it seems we can't be sure what was observed, but perhaps the presence of the fox seen the next day is significant. Maybe the birds were disturbed by the fox and all three flew up, the female's instinct impelling her to grab the egg which she subsequently dropped. Had it been a fresh egg presumably it would have eventually risen to the water's surface and floated, whereas an addled egg would stay under water. Next time we see something like this we will watch to see if the egg sinks or floats! Anyway, whatever is the actual story it certainly prompted some interesting speculation!

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v090n01/p0131-p0132.pdf

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=biosciornithology

A Mallard and her ducklings.