Over the past couple of months, we’ve started to see some of our migrant birds enjoying our reserves, as well as fungi cropping up here, there and everywhere you can imagine!

Here are some of the sightings from across our reserves throughout November.

Brockholes

Starling Murmurations

Locals seem to have gone starling mad thanks to the spectacular murmurations we’ve been seeing at Brockholes – so much so that news outlets have been sharing our videos far and wide!

At this time of year, migrant starlings have mixed with our resident starlings to form huge groups which flock together, swerving and dipping in the sky just before sunset. You can read more about murmurations and why they happen here.

Redwing

Redwing is the smallest of our thrushes in the UK and is one of our winter visitors from northern Europe. They can be identified by their prominent white eye stripe and red patches on the flanks under their wings.

They love berries and can often be seen gorging on them in trees or bushes, just like in this photo taken by Craig Smith. Some breeding pairs actually choose to stay here year-round.

Longworth Clough

Clustered brittlestem

I spotted this delightful group myself on a rainy Sunday walk through Longworth Clough – there were several trees surrounding this one which had similar clusters. The mushrooms share a single ‘foot’ rather than having their own individual ‘feet’.

As they age, their colour turns from brown to white, so this cluster must have been relatively new.

Lunt Meadows

Stonechat

Stonechats are dainty little birds – they are smaller than our robins and weight about 15g on average. They have a distinctive way of jerking their wings and tail, especially upon alighting, and their call sounds like two pebbles being tapped together.

They prefer uncultivated land, appearing on farmland during the winter months and turning up on building sites and railway embankments and will use man-made perches such as walls or posts.

Cormorant

The cormorant is a very interesting looking bird - the green and purple sheen of its wings, combined with its feather pattern, make it seem almost reptilian in appearance.

They are strong underwater swimmers, so it’s no surprise that they can eat more than their own bodyweight in fish every day! Interestingly though, they must dry off on land as they are the only web-footed birds that don’t produce a waterproofing oil for their feathers.

Heysham Nature Reserve

Foxes

Janet Packham captured this gorgeous photo of two foxes curled up and sleeping peacefully at Heysham Nature Reserve. These nocturnal creatures love to sleep in open areas, typically covered by vegetation.

Any fox cubs that were born earlier this year will now be self-sufficient, although some choose to stay with their family group and raise next year’s cubs. They will now be developing a thick winter coat to keep them nice and warm during the freezing weather.

What will you spot at our reserves in December? Don’t forget to tag us or X or Instagram or send us a message on Facebook for a chance to be featured in next month’s roundup!