by Catherine Locke

5th December

Sunny but cold. In the park I saw families of Magpies and Crows, abundant

Robins, a family of Dunnocks, a pair of Wrens, 6 Blackbirds, 6 Wood pidgeons,

2 Bullfinches, several pairs of Blue tits, and 2 pairs of Great tits.

Under trees by Overdell Path a ring of Tricholoma mushrooms grow in leaf litter.

They were grey Tricholoma with caps around 8 cms across. I read later that though

edible, some forms are poisonous, so best avoided.

14th December

A sunny day but I am feeling sad as it is the anniversary of my fathers death.

From the carpark, going up the steps into the park I can see scattered around me

lots of large hefty Monterey pine cones and hundreds of little branches with long thin

needles blown down by the recent gales. I can now hear a lot of Robins singing and

'titting', and as I wander further into the park there are lots of Blue tits too.

Blackbirds are visiting the holly trees to gorge on the berries, and I can see 4

familes of magpies in the meadow. I spotted two flocks of Long Tailed tits tick-

tocking to and fro between the branches chirping excitedly as they went. I was

thrilled to see both a Treecreeper and a Nuthatch in the same English oak tree in

sunshine at the end of Overdell Path, and in a bush nearby a single Willow warbler.

Hovering over the meadow I spied the Kestral again. I think she was keeping an

eye on the two baby rabbits that were out by the brambles not far from the 6 Sister

Oaks. The four grey squirrels that were playing in a copse of hazel were oblivious to

anything other than the dogs that dashed about under the trees with no hope of

catching them.

19th December

A horrible wet and windy day. It was raining steadily in Eastcliff Park. Rain that

would turn paper into soggy mush so the notebook stayed in my pocket and the

memory came into play. I had to remember what I'd heard as most birds were

hiding away from the weather. Lots of Robins as usual, Blue tits, Great tits, a Coal

tit, a Song thrush, Goldfinches,  Magpies, and Crows.

Everything is grey and not much daylight, so I am thinking the same as the birds

get somewhere snug and warm, so home to dry out!

Catherine Lock

Photo credits

1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Certhia_familiaris_(26224024518).jpg

attribution - Rory from Glasgow, United Kingdom [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

2. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sitta_europaea_wildlife_2_1.jpg

attribution - Paweł Kuźniar [CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

3. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willow_Warbler_Phylloscopus_trochilus.jpg

attribution - Andreas Trepte [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]