A Beautiful Autumn Day

It was a fantastic morning as the bird ringers arrived to raise the nets.  The sun was rising above the trees and casting a golden glow over the reserve highlighting the autumn colours.

Oak leaves are changing from green to red and orange.

Yellow/orange Larch trees were reflected on the mirror like surface of the lake.

Mallard and Moorhen were preening and feeding with their calls echoing around the reserve.  Then some Mallard took flight.

The morning was cool and after the rain and dew earlier, the intricate webs of many spiders could be seen amongst the vegetation. 

There were frost pockets around the reserve and leaves were edged with white.

Pink fruits of Spindle are just beginning to open and release their bright orange seeds.

Back to the bird ringing. Many visitors saw birds in the hand and listened to an explanation about bird ringing.

Over 50 new birds were ringed today, including Song Thrush, Blackbird, Reed Bunting and Lesser Redpoll.

A Kingfisher was caught that had been ringed initially in October 2013, making him over a year old. 

A huge thank you to everyone involved today.