Dave Welch reported two passage migrant House Martins over the lake on the 4th, so they are still stopping off on their way south, even if breeding so distant that they don't commute from nests any more.
On the 5th, a neighbour reported a dead bird of prey near the Home Park Road entrance, so I hurried out to investigate. Not so interesting, it proved to be a young Canada goose, well eaten, with little more than wings, legs and skin left. It had all the signs of a fox kill, but it had been carried away from the scene, as there wasn't the tell-tale scatter of feathers. Foxes patrol the park evey night seeking out fast-food remains, and the Canada goose flock tends to feed out on the Great Field in the early morning. It probably loitered too close to cover, allowing the fox to ambush it. Or, then again, it just might have been a bird 'flu casualty. I spotted a dead Egyptian goose on the concrete setps of the lake outfall on the 24th and it had been removed by the following day. Four of the six Mute Swan youngsters also disappeared since September, which is unusually early. Young swans are usually sent off as their parents prepare to nest in March. Two dead geese and four missing swans doesn't prove exceptional mortality, but there's a suggestion.
I did the monthly bird count on the 26th. The 35 Canada geese and 3 Egyptian geese continued the recent trend of low numbers. By way of contrast, the 100 Greylags was the highest ever October count, so this species seems to be taking over. The 10 Cormorants was a high number for October, suggesting that there are plenty of fish to attract them. Again, there was no sign of passage migrants, except perhaps for a lone Pied wagtail on the nothern part of the golf course. Autumn numbers of wagtails are very variable, however.
Autumn colours were showing, with two Red oaks looking good, one by the small children's play area and the other in the Crazy golf patch. Red was also showing on the Narrow-leaved (Reywood) ash trees, one in the larger childrens' play area and the other between there and the cafe. The yellow flowers of the Narrow-leaved ragwort were looking good under the Leylandii hedge by the south-eastern edge of the stadium. Green alkanet and Bristly ox-tongue florish in the Lofthouse Glade. There's an American pokeweed growing at the base of the first Railway poplar north of the brook, beside the railway. If spared, it should flower and produce the inky black fruit in years to come. The Mahonia bush beside the Revelstoke Road entrance is beginning to flower, earlier than usual. It should be showing well all winter.
As is typical of mown grassland, the Great field recovered quickly once the rains broke at the end of the summer drought. Strangely, I spotted a specialist vehicle applying general-purpose fertilizer across the whole field in early autumn. Given that the soils there are fertile clay loams and that the grass growth was healthy, the necessity for fertilizer is not clear. Any excess would leach off down to the brook and contribute to the pollution of the River Wandle. On the 26th the Community Payback team were raking autumn leaves beneath Ashen Grove Wood and banking them up against the golf course fence. Quite the wrong management for an ancient woodland! It's fine making the grass verge beside the tarmacadam paths tidy, but autumn leaves belong below woodland trees further back. Earthworms soon incorporate them into the woodland soil as part of the natural cycle.
Late in the month, another rainfall event displaced the coir rolls beside the new course of the brook beside the children's play area, leading to a nice unintentional rapid. The gravel there has now almost all been carried downstream in flood flows to form a meandering course downstream.
I was surprised to see the Community Payback Team raking leaves off the ground in Ashen Grove Wood and depositing them beside the fence to the golf course. Of course, woodland leaf fall is natural and contributes to the natural soil processes. It may be sensible to clear a strip beside the paved paths, but clearing the whole wood makes no sense.
