In the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve

Eristalis tenax enjoying some autumn thistle.

Bald robin

Seen in the Three Brooks Nature Reserve today:

Seen near the Bradley Stoke Way bridge over the reserve - a robin completely missing all feathers on its head.

Dunnock (Prunella modularis), seen in the same area.

Autumn mushrooms

Autumn has started, and the mushrooms and fungi are appearing in Savages Wood in the Three Brooks Nature Reserve.

On an oak leaf

Spotted on an oak tree by the community orchard in the Three Brooks Reserve - shed moth larvae skins on spangle galls.

Buzzards

Seen on the reserve this weekend....


It flew low over the reserve calling.

Tufted Duck

A pair of tufted duck have been observed on the Three Brooks lake, and seem to have been there for a couple of days. Perhaps the presence of a male/female pair means that they might breed?

Unknown birds

The unusual weather is causing some more unusual birds to turn up. Disgruntled saw the following little brown thing today - it is sparrow sized, but not a sparrow - wrong beak type. Not a dunnock either - wrong plumage. Any ideas?



Likewise on the reserve (and the ducks are hungry - the cold weather is keeping people away, and they got through two loaves of bread today. If Tesco is selling off any old bread at 5p a loaf as they sometimes do, buy it and go and feed them!), the following two unknown ducks were seen:







They dabble, and Disgruntled thought that they might be female shovellers, but the plumage is wrong. Any ideas?

Definitely winter again

Definitely winter again - flocks of redwings and fieldfares have turned up in numbers over the course of the week. The hard winter is having an effect on the reserve, with the lake largely freezing over. The ducks have kept part of it open as they are forced to congregate in one area.

Winter in the Three Brooks Nature Reserve

With the recent cold weather we are now well into winter, with the deciduous trees now having lost almost all of their leaves.


Bare tree


The sun interacting with the clouds produces interesting light effects in the bare trees.


Mistletoe, ivy and other parasitic plants show up clearly when there is no leaf cover.


This plough has been left from the original farmers fields to gently rust in peace.


Rosehips provide food for blackbirds and other birds.


A solitary oak leaf still holding on.


It may be winter, but the hazel trees are producing catkins already.

Three Brooks Reserve (before the gales)

On the 1st November, before the gales arrived and dumped most of the leaves on the ground, Disgruntled took a walk around Savages Wood and the Three Brooks Nature reserve. There was lots to see, as the more open canopy made it far easier to see what is going on up above. First though, three photos showing parts of the wood.









This is an ash tree with a particularly knobbly section for some reason. It is probably caused by some kind of infection in the past.




This tree has formed an interesting base and a small cavity inside it.



The death of one thing is an opportunity for something else. Here, a fern is taking root in the hollow created by a felled tree.



There were five different squirrels at least in the woods. There are a family of three which seem to stay around the entrance to the reserve by the leisure centre, just over the foot bridge from the path which runs alongside the wood and the playing field. This squirrel is down nearer the swing gate into the wood at the bottom of the hill and path.



Many of the trees are fruiting, and the loss of chlorophyl is allowing the natural colours of the leaves to show through, in this case a particularly nice shade of red.



The man-made ponds are well established now, and this one is full of reeds and bullrushes. This one is seeding.




This lesser-spotted woodpecker was observered in the "newly" planted woodland behind the school and south of Savages Wood. It stayed high in the canopy, which made getting a clear photo rather awkward.... (see below).





Also making life more difficult was the low sun and the amount of cloud, which made for very low ambient light levels.




This dead tree is an interesting shape, and also provides perching points for larger birds to observe the area.



Down at the lake there are still plenty of birds waiting to be fed. Here we have a young black-headed gull and a mallard.



A young black-headed gull (left), and an adult in winter plumage. Note that once the bird matures, the beak and leg colour turn red, and that the wing markings also change.

Grasshoppers

While walking through part of the reserve on Saturday evening after it had just got dark, Disgruntled was struck by the sheer number of grasshoppers/crickets that could be heard chirping away. Every couple of metres walked, another grasshopper could be distinguished, and this happened all along the path from Brook Way to the Diana Gardens footpath. They seem to love the grassy areas, and given the amount I heard there must be hundreds of them, but you rarely see them during the day. The reserve is definitely not a silent place if you walk through it at night at the moment.

Wildlife in the Three Brooks Reserve

View Wildlife in Bradley Stoke - 19:25 to 20:05 on the 19th July 2009 in a larger map

The stormy weather meant that it was quiet in the reserve last night, as shown in the map above (click on the coloured icons in the map to see which birds were about - there is a different icon per bird).


This mute swan joined in with the ducks feeding on bread brought by vistors.

The ducks.....

The mallards were joined by a pair of farmyard ducks.

This plucky little youngster was in amongst the larger adults going for the bread, and would often dive in front of the older birds to get there first. He didn't show much fear or respect for his elders!

This duck family was asleep near one of the viewing platform areas, with the adult standing guard and keeping watch.

Thistles are coming to the end of their flowering all over the reserve. Here, one is being fed on by a bee type insect.