Before I parked up though, I passed a Muntjac by the entrance to Nightingale Wood. Unfortunately my camera was in the boot, so I carried onto the car park, got the camera out and drove back to see if I could find it. Sure enough it hadn't ventured far and had actually crossed the track, and was just a few metres inside the wood. It didn't seem to be to bothered about the car and I did wonder whether it was recovering from a a bit of a battle, as there appeared to be chunks of fur missing around his rump.
Muntjac
Muntjac with a few chunks of fur missing
After a few photos I parked up and headed off into the wood. Following the same path I took a few days ago I ended up at the pool where the Toads had been. I say been because there wasn't a single one to be seen. Either the heavy frost from last night had driven them to the bottom of the pond or they had simply finished mating. Either way the pool was silent. The Sallow / Willow overhanging the pool was once again alive with insects and around the banks there were Bumblebees, Hoverflies, a Pterostichus cupreus beetle, several Bee-flies, 2 Drone Flies, 4 Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Comma butterflies.
Drone Fly
Pterostichus cupreus
Bee-fly
Comma
Leaving the pond I followed Marston Brook down to the River Cole and then turned left into the meadow. All along the banks of the brook and river were lots more Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. The trail takes you past the scrapes where there were a few Chiffchaff singing and as I head back into the wood I could also hear Moorhen and Reed Buntings calling. A Grey Heron flew over but didn't stop.
Chiffchaff singing
A Buzzard appeared overhead and a Redwing vanished into the trees to my right and a Fieldfare uttered a few warning notes from the top of the Oak Tree next to me. A few minutes later he flew off and I carried on around a couple of bends on the woodland trail and as I did so a pair of Muntjacs crossed the path in front of me.
River Cole
The view of Nightingale Wood from the meadow
Small Tortoiseshell
Hen Pheasant
Another Muntjac
And with his other half
Fieldfare
Fieldfare
The track I was on eventually took me past the large aerial and up to the barn. But just before I got there another Buzzard soared over my head with something in its talons and landed on the roots of a fallen tree at the back of the scrape. It fed there for a few minutes before taking off, when he was disturbed by a tractor. As he left so I did to, heading back through the main wood, past the Cottage and up to the Car Park.
Buzzard
Buzzard feeding
A good old tug
Leaving Nightingale Wood I headed off to Foxhill via Bourton and came across a Kestrel and Red Kite. At Foxhill apart from a dozen or so large gulls, two Blackbirds and a Meadow Pipit, there wasn't much else about, so I headed off home.
Bird Species Recorded at Nightingale Wood were: Grey Heron, 4 Buzzards, 5 Pheasants, Moorhen, Wood Pigeon, 1 Skylark, 5 Meadow Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 1 Song Thrush, 10 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, 4 Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 1 Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Siskin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, and Reed Bunting.
Mammals: 3 Muntjac and 2 Rabbits
Insects: 2 Commas, 13 Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, Pterostichus cupreus beetle, several Bee-fly, 2 Drone Flies and at least 3 different species of Bumblebee and Hoverfly
Today's Photos Here