Late November Wildlife

Here are a selection of photos from walks in the sunshine these past few days. The hares were enjoying a bit of late autumn warmth in the fields, hunkering down low as we walked by. I tried not to overly disturb them although they were on high alert at my presence.

Here is one sitting upright in the sunshine. I aim to try and get to know these hares better over the winter.

I was quite surprised to see this heron in the field where the hares were.

Fieldfares and redwings are back foraging for berries. As many as 600,000 migrate to the UK from Scandinavia and Northern Europe in autumn time. They are quite shy and fly off as soon as they hear you approaching. They make a repeating “chack chack”sounding call. I think this solitary one at the top of a bush is a fieldfare. Redwings have more distinct red patches underneath their wings.

See how many fieldfares you can spot in amongst this hawthorn bush.

This winter I’m going to be listening and looking for other migrants, waxwings. They have already begun to arrive , with sightings reported in the Eastern parts of the UK. They too love to feed off berries, particularly rowan berries. Often they can be seen in more urban suburbs. Resident mistle thrushes and blackbirds are none too happy to see their berries being gobbled up by flocks of incomers.

Unlike our resident birds I’ll be delighted if I see waxwings. I’ve only ever seen waxwings once, that was in January 2016! This was my best photo from then. I’m hoping to get clearer shots one day!