Nature Notes - November 2024

Sickleholme Nature Notes

The beginning of November saw Sickleholme still at its autumnal best, before colder weather and leaf fall provided a starker scene. That was followed by snow and frost (beautiful on occasions) before a wet and dreary end to the month. In all, enough to confuse we golfers, never mind our wildlife.

Matt and his team were reporting up to five Roe Deer, but you would normally have to be on the course early in the day to see any. Matt also provided a suite of photos and, as someone who likes to play golf at 8.30am or earlier, I chose one for this month’s image that early starters may recognise.

Most other reports were of birds, with several members mentioning the large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing overhead with some of the latter feeding on berries around the course. My own observation of these winter thrushes was the large number of Blackbirds which also arrived, most of which will not be our breeding birds but from Scandinavia and elsewhere looking for food and a milder winter. Our family of Pied Wagtails, that bred successfully in the barn, are still with us and were frequently seen on the shorter grass of the fairways.

One member commented on the frequency of both Grey Herons and Cormorants flying over the course. These are usually following rivers or moving between reservoirs and since the wildlife notes commenced, I only have one record of each feeding on the course with both being in the Upper Hirst Brook.

Paul Ince kindly contacted me as he had been using the Merlin App whilst playing golf. This records and identifies bird song and calls. Paul’s brief experiment produced 14 species which is impressive. All were birds that I have seen and heard on the course over the years, but included those such as Goldcrest, Treecreeper and Siskin that would go unnoticed by most golfers unless pointed out to them. The App seems an excellent survey tool and I hope that we might get some seasonal reports with it.

By coincidence, I have been experimenting with one called ObsIdentify. With this App, you take a photograph with your smart phone and are then given a suggested identity. I have found it very accurate on butterflies, moths and common wildflowers and am now tempted to try it on things that I know less well, such as fungi, beetles, less common wildflowers etc.

We always have something of interest from the natural world at Sickleholme.

Bryan Barnacle