Return of the ducks....

0730-0945 overcast, cool to warm, SW F1

It still being dark and gloomy till around 7ish there seemed little point in rushing out this morning.  Indeed, when I was woken by my son at just after 6 it was still night time, which confuses him somewhat when he is more aware of times of the year now and seemingly expecting it to be bright daylight as per summer....
Still, the clocks will soon be falling backwards (will they ever stop doing this I wonder??) which will only add to his confusion but should assist a slightly earlier start for a while....

Onward....a nice day and well above average temperature made for t-shirt weather after a while....and now that we have moved on well in to autumn its also fungi time....not that I know a lot about them or indeed names...but heres one probably everyone knows and can readily identify which I found in the orchard....Shaggy Inkcap, Coprinus comatus

also known as Lawyer's Wig for obvious reasons

 They are also edible when young, so this one would have made a nice snack on some decent toasted bread....though I left it where it was....just in case....so that I would still be here to write this....

Quite a busy start in the village with Starling, Robin, Blackbird, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Crow, Woodpigeon and an oddly calling Magpie.

forward:

Wren, Green Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Skylark, 15 Stock Dove in field with Corvids plus another 24 out of an Oak tree, Meadow Pipit, Grey Heron, 44 Black Headed Gull, 133 Coot, 10 Moorhen, 12 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Little Grebe, 9 Graylag Geese over SE, 14 Mute Swan, 1 Cormorant plus 4 over SE

The Ducks: 17 Tufted Duck, 23 Wigeon, 23 Gadwall, 4 Shoveler

1 Snipe, Jay, Blue Tit, Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting, Great Tit, Pied Wagtail, Long Tail Tit, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Blackcap, Goldfinch

At the gravel pits there has been a nice bit of activity regarding the, supposedly, most intelligent animal on the planet....

obviously bar-b-q time with the nice weather...though I would suggest burnt offerings with the amount of sauce sachets they seem to have used.....and left on site with their foil.....nice....

I found another fungi, this time at the gravel pits.....im not sure of their identity at all but would hazard a guess they are in the Hygrocybe family, or Waxcaps.  Brightly coloured, greasy or slimy and waxy to the touch (though I didnt touch it!).  If anyone else has any ideas or definite identity for these please feel free to say and I will post it up.

And I had better put in a disclaimer I suppose....you never know....so please dont take it that I know what the hell I am on about with fungi as I dont, so if you should follow anything I say about fungi, ie edible etc, and it turns out bad, ie hospital or death bed time, dont come complaining to me....though on the other hand I will enter you for the Darwin Awards....!  There are plenty of good organised walks you can go on to assist with i.d. with people who do know what they are on about (probably).....