The drab weather of the last three days finally came to an end today (Thursday) and after a drop of overnight rain and a little early morning mist the sun finally broke through the clouds. In the autumn sunshine it was mild too with the afternoon temperature reaching 16.4°C.
In the morning sunshine I couldn't resist a look around the garden. There’s still the odd hint of summer as some plants seem to want to ignore the onset of autumn.
We decided on a trip to our local RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings. It’s a nice walk through the reserve by the river. As we’d walked the length of the reserve we hadn't found too much in the way of bird life to photograph.
There were a few birds about but much too far away for our liking. Then as we arrived at the end of the walk our luck changed.
A heron flew down and perched on top of some sluice gates. We seem to have seen herons everywhere we go over the last few months. Then we spotted a cormorant sitting on a post between fishing expeditions.
Walking back through the woods we found some rather exotic looking toadstool too. Sue told me it was a Fly Agaric toadstool and it’s highly toxic. It’s not uncommon and often has white spots. It contains ibotenic acid and in the past was used as an insecticide as this acid attracts and kills flies. We decided it was best left untouched.
Down by the roadside lake the Greylag Geese had arrived.
There was no mistaking the onset of autumn here though as the trees had definitely taken on their autumn colours.
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Lovely pictures Martyn the heron standing on one leg is terrific
ReplyDeleteGreat landscape pictures and a totally red toadstool, the gnomes have forgotten to paint white spots on it.
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