Autumn walk in Cockington Water-meadows, Devon.

Autumn walk in Cockington Water-meadows, Devon.

Wildlife is winding down in the water meadows at this time of year. The leaves on many of the trees are turning red, gold and brown and carpeting the damp ground.

The dragonflies and damselflies have disappeared, only their eggs remain hidden beneath the waters of the stream in the vegetation.
The only butterflies still flying were brown ones. This pretty Speckled Wood butterfly was one of them.

Buzzards flew overhead and magpies, pigeons and crows wandered through the trees.
Occasionally robins stopped their tut tut tutting to ward of intruders, and opened up their beaks to sing, their red throats trembling with the effort. Such a gorgeous sound in the autumn woods.

From the Water-meadows continued the walk to Cockington Lakes.

The lakes were a thick brown colour due to the earth colour and decaying vegetation. Visibility in the water was low and fishes could not be seen, but they were there. Evidenced by the splashing of water as they leapt up for insects and the rings of water flowing out from the centre where they had dropped.

There were ducks on the lakes…a lone Moorhen on the small lake…Mallards and Moorhens and some black ducks, so far unidentified on the larger lake.
There seemed to be two groups of these water birds on the main lake. Mallards and Moorhens and their youngsters had joined forces within each group, with clearly defined areas of the lake for each group. When one group moved into another’s territory all hell broke loose and their was a lot of quacking, beating of wings and lunging.

The black ducks had joined one group. Their bodies were predominantly black with black beaks, black eyes and black feet. They had white chests dappled with black. Their wing feather barbs were sky blue, but could only be seen when they stretched out the wing.

Unlike at the water-meadows a few red Common Darter Dragonflies still flew over the lakes.

What was in abundance as expected at this time of year were fungi of various shapes and sizes. There are hundreds of different kinds of fungi in the UK.
Looking through a book on fungi gave possible names for some, but as I cant be certain ill just show the photographs.
I did notice a skull and cross bones beside the majority of the fungi in the book I was reading, signifying danger if eaten. Definitely not on my menu then.

The meadows and lakes are quiet at this time of year…when the autumn sun is shining there is nothing so pleasant as to sit on a bench by water, eyes shut and face uplifted to the warmth.

The black ducks appear to be Swedish Blue Ducks….thanks to Aristarkhos for identification.

An English wood in early summer…gentle, tranquil, yet vibrating with life.

Torquay Woods, Devon, England.

Today was a hot summers day, one of the first this year. I took a walk in one of the many small woods surrounding Torquay. The sun shone brightly giving much needed warmth and light to shaded areas of forest.

A Peacock butterfly bathed in the sunlight. An extraordinary butterfly with brownish-red wings and a prominent smudged eye spot on each wing.
I saw only one of these apparently common butterflies last year and then only fleetingly, so this beauty sunning itself on some garlic plants was an unexpected treat.

Striped wing, orange and black, Tortoiseshell Butterflies flitted amongst dandelions and leaves close to the stream.

Robins could be heard singing throughout the woods. Here a young Robin in the bushes. The sun reflected on his head giving him a golden halo. Completely unafraid and curious he sat on a branch and watched as I took photos of him.

A Bee-Fly sunned itself on a rock opening its wings for warmth.

Bluebells and wild garlic grew in profusion filling the air with perfumes sweet and distinct.

Woods are to me magical places, like the Amazon Rainforest that I love, once inside a wood you are in a different world. Some people find woods and forests frightening, I find them soothing….like walking into an empty church. The soaring ceiling of trees gives the wood grandeur while the wild flowers and wildlife…insects, butterflies, squirrels …. give it comforting familiarity.

The Robins song…trills and warbles for hours…..(erithacus rubecula)

The Robins song…trills and warbles for hours…..(erithacus rubecula)

Every morning we are awoken by a Robin. Perched on the top branch of a skeletal tree he sings his heart out. He trills and warbles for hours like a melodic alarm clock.

The view from his branch overlooking Torquay’s harbour is a fine one and he is often found looking in the direction of the bay, but occasionally he’ll turn around and I’ll catch him and if I’m lucky,as with this photo, I’ll catch a couple of BlueTits too.

When I’m digging in the garden in spring a robin, maybe ‘the’ robin, turns up to pick at the worms and insects in the earth that I’ve disturbed. He’ll turn his head this way and that listening as I speak quietly to him. British robins generally have no fear of people, European robins are much more cautious as they get hunted and can you believe eaten in some countries.

Despite their cheeky, attractive personalities, Robins are aggressively territorial and not averse to killing off young robins trying to move into their areas, giving the young robins an average life expectancy of a year. If they manage to go beyond this year they could live as long as twelve years.
Juvenile robins lack the red breast of the adults, but are an attractive mottled brown with touches of orange as they mature.

We seem to have here in Britain an innate love for these birds. Whether it’s because of their friendliness, their cheekiness, their shape and colour or their song….they make us smile.

Young Robin seen near Torquay, Devon.

During a walk along a river bank in Devon came across what I have been told is a young Robin. It certainly had the cheeky, friendly personality of a Robin. It showed no fear and, in fact, came closer as we watched allowing me to take these charming photos.