Stubble in October

Henry and I walked out across the fields between Castor Hanglands and the Marholm-Castor Road this morning and round Oldfield Ponds wood. This is a lovely area of countryside, large fields surrounded by woods. At the moment, none of the fields have been ploughed so it is full of weedy stubble.

As a result there are plenty of birds, taking advantage of this easy food source. There were skylark everywhere, some flying over, some singing. And a flock of about 500 starling and 25 lapwing feeding on the field immediately south of Oldfield Pond wood. Later the starling were up in the air and descended in a dense crowd on some dogwood trees, feeding off the dark berries.

A buzzard flapped lazily out of the wood, whilst five fallow deer, including one buck trotted across the fields. Two flocks of redwing flew over head, and one group of about 50 fieldfare. A real autumn scene.

I came across one scene of devastation during the walk (see pictures) - a recently grubbed out wasp's nest. The shattered combs were scattered near by, with some remaining at the bottom of the dug-out hole, where one solitary wasp still wandered around. The likely culprit - badger! They like nothing more than a taste of wasp!