Those Last Warm Days in October

After a summer heatwave, the UK was hammered by torrential rainfall from Storms Ali and Bronagh. Next, the British Isles experienced a very warm and settled autumn, a phenomenon known as an Indian Summer. An Indian Summer was defined as a warm, calm spell of weather occurring after the first frost in Autumn, especially in October and November. A large area of high pressure had brought plenty of dry and fine weather with sizzling temperatures. What a sunny, warm welcome for the students to the start of the new academic year.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enjoy the fine weather. I started October being off work for 3 days. I even had to re-schedule my flu jab appointment. I was furious with some of my colleagues who came to work spluttering, coughing and sneezing their heads off. Why oh why??? For the sake of their own health and everyone in the office, it was best if they called in sick and just stayed home. I followed my own advice and stayed at home armed with cough syrup, Paracetamol and vapour rub. I’d a Great Spotted Woodpecker drilling in my head. It was that bad. I spent the whole day in Babe’s reclining chair with the patio door open to let in some fresh air. Even the birds weren’t at the feeder cos they don’t want to catch anything from me

Once I got my mojo back, we went for a very long walk at Bradgate Park, just in time for the rutting season. October was always the most exciting time of the year to watch the deer as they engaged in fierce mating battles. As the foliage changed colour into the russets, oranges and yellows of autumn, the sounds of amorous males could be heard. It was interesting to watch them because their behaviour changes as the rut progressed. With testosterone coursing through every vein, the male deer jostled for position and display their virility to set about bagging themselves a harem.

The male Fallow deer was known as a buck, the female was a doe, and the young a fawn. Starting in early October, the Fallow deer rut lasted for 3-4 weeks, although bucks’ rutting physique started to develop earlier when velvet, the layer of initially soft, hairy skin that covered the growing antlers, died back and was rubbed off as the bone hardened ready for the battles ahead. Their Adam’s apples began to bulge and bulk increased, particularly around the neck and shoulders with rutting odours developing..

In early September, Fallow bucks re-appeared in traditional rutting areas, having spent the preceding months in bachelor parties, separate from the does. The bucks remained for a while in each others company, but increasingly prepared for action. Play fights developed; rutting postures were intermittently assumed; vegetation was thrashed; antlers became burnished; and scrapes and wallows were made in which the bucks churned the ground, urinated in the quagmire and rolled in the resultant mess. It apparently made them more attractive to the ladies!!!

Outside the rut, bucks lived in small bachelor herds, separately from the does and fawns. Only bucks have antlers, which were broad and shovel-shaped. In the first two years, the antler was a single spike. The Fallow was the only British deer with palmate antlers. These increased in size with age reaching up to 70cm long when the adult was 3 - 4 years old. It was found that males with larger antlers had higher mating success, while asymmetrical antlers did not. Large bucks may stop feeding completely during the rut and lose condition as a result, whereas younger bucks hanging around on the fringes continued to eat as normal.

Groaning - the Fallow buck’s mating call – was best described as a cross between a loud belch, a groan, a snore, a snort and a growl. It was used to attract the does for, unlike Red deer stags, Fallow bucks generally do not actively round-up and maintain a harem. They depended for courtship success upon the attractions of their groan! With head held not much above the horizontal, lips curled back and pursed, the primeval sound seemed to come from deep within the animal's very being.

Noise and posturing was often enough to settle disputes, but when rival bucks were evenly matched and equally belligerent, battle royals occurred. Then the woods reverberated to the sound of bone striking bone as fights commenced. But combatants don’t just stand head-to-head, trading blows – these contests were really battles of strength as, heads down, antlers locked, the deer pushed and shoved, using every straining muscle to gain advantage. It would be lovely to see this but not today.

Rutting activity generally quietened by mid-morning. Then the resident buck sat down in the midst of the stand, whilst does and younger bucks settled around the edge, or feeding nearby. For the bucks, the rut was an incredibly tiring time. By the end of the process, they had lost weight and exhausted, ready to slip into the background where they blended well with the leaves and bracken whilst trying to regain back their health before the onset of winter.

Red deer were usually content to stand and stare whilst visitors walked by, before casually wandering away. But early on autumnal mornings, during the annual rut, testosterone charged stags with thickened manes made a fearsome sight as, muscles rippling, flanks caked in mud, breath billowing white against the darker heather, they were a sight to behold. The biggest stags had the finest antlers, or heads, as they were often known, with as many as 20 sharp, burnished points. Each was a potential weapon in the fight for supremacy, the battle for mating with the hinds. Fights between stags were infrequently witnessed. More often sound, display, posture and chase were sufficient to settle disputes.

We were walking  to one of our favourite corner of the park, when we heard the familiar roars and grunts that sounded like ‘a cross between a chainsaw and a burp’ and something thrashing the branches. We walked slowly and quietly towards the noise. We hid behind a tree and watched this handsome stag  having a go at the branches. We stood there watching him doing his neck exercises, full of testosterones coursing through every vein. Although a small stream divided, we kept a very safe distance, still behind a tree watching this spectacular behaviour. We’d to be extra careful as stags were aggressive during the rutting season.

Then it crossed the river and trotted off towards the hills. It stopped in the middle of the field and threw back its head to roar and showed off the thick neck and manes to its best advantage. The main vocalisation was bellowing, often several times a minute, combined with low grunts. These deep, guttural bellowing weren’t war cries but were seduction calls to the hinds. The sounds was suppose to bring the viable hinds into heat in readiness for mating. In the world of the Red deer, the most attractive stags were the ones that roared the loudest and the most often.

He kept on calling and calling, while marking his territory, creating rutting stand and thrashing the grass, before making his way up the hills. We also watched another stag thrashing the ground so that the vegetation was caught up in his antlers and made them looked larger. He seemed content to do  his work sitting down, allowing his heavy bellows to announce his presence. After more bellowing, he went off to sleep. What an anti-climax.

Unlike Fallow bucks that try to attract females to a rutting stand, Red deer stags had less allegiance to a piece of ground, much preferring to try to control the movements of a chosen group of hinds. When engaged in this high energy task, the stags were rarely still, sometimes running, sometimes walking, often slowly, deliberately pacing, but always with obvious intent – to bring wandering hinds back into the fold, and drive off competitors.

Yearling stags, those with single spikes for antlers, often hang around the edge of the group, jousting amongst themselves, preparing for the day when they too will hold a group of hinds. Providing that they do not get too close, their presence was often tolerated, but encroaching animals were chased away, only to return a little later when the resident, mature stag’s back was turned. By mid to late-morning, rutting activity quietened, and the deer settled in the field content to lie-up for the remainder of the day. On the way back, we spotted these ladies having a quiet moment in the sun.

There was also wedding celebration being held at Lady Jane’s Grey chapel. Bradgate Park wasn’t licensed for weddings but The Trust worked with a celebrant company that could write and conduct a ceremony. The well-dressed guests walked for about 20 minutes towards the Chapel while the beautiful bride was cycled in a well-decorated rickshaw. This was the first time we saw a wedding being held here. The 16th century Bradgate House was a ruin but the chapel was still intact, containing a tomb effigy to Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford and his wife.  We wished the couple a lifetime of love and happiness.

I took a day off work to go fungi hunting. Autumn was the season to be amazed by the myriad of fungal fruiting bodies that were on show. We were lucky that our favourite playground had erupted and came alive with these fantastic fungi and I do not want to miss any sightings of them. No matter what the season, dry conditions were not good times for fruiting fungus. Most mushrooms appeared soon after rain. The moist condition quickly triggered the fruiting process and that was why so many seemed to ‘pop up’ overnight. The reserve was buzzing when someone had found Earthstar in the grounds.

Babe went looking for it and called me to find out where it was located. Via the Twitter feed, I was able to assist him to the exact location. Whoop…whoop. When he showed me the photograph that he’d taken, I really wanted to see it before the news got around. It was quite hard to spot because it was well camouflaged among the fallen leaves. But once seen, it was easy to see the distinct, star-like appearance. It was an interesting fungus that sat on a platform consisting of four to ten plump, pointed plants that gave them the star-shaped features. The central puffball or sac, was smooth, while the pointy arms had a crackled appearance.

While searching for fungi, Babe had spotted a whole field of my favourite fungi, the Fly Agaric, popping along the damp banks of the ditches. Even Babe was impressed at the stunning display as either side of the mossy bank was sploshed with scarlet. We’d never seen so many Fly Agarics in one place. It was more magical of the sight of them, nestling amid the dead leaves, caught in the shaft of autumnal sunshine, smouldering in all its scarlet beauty.They were the quintessential fairy tale toadstool, a home for woodland sprites and we were surrounded by them. It was indeed, magical.

There were many fully formed caps with the bright red and white spots in variable size and forms. Some picture-book perfect hemispheres, others were ranging from golf balls to dinner plates, a few inverted into bowls. The scarlet caps were speckled with flakes of popcorn, the remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that covered the fruiting body as it emerged from the ground looking like white eggs. As it grew, the red colour appeared through the broken skin and the warts became less prominent. They do not change in size, but were reduced relative to the expanding skin area. The cap changed from globose to hemispherical, and finally to plate-like and flat in mature specimens. Fully grown, the bright red cap was usually around 8–20 cm in diameter. The red colour faded after rain and in older mushrooms.

It had been a glorious autumn for fungi hunting as we went round in search for more. A hot summer, followed by a mild, moist autumn had helped to usher in a bumper crop. The forest had played host to a diverse fungal flora because they needed  moist and shady environments due to their simple vasculature system. It smelled deliciously damp and decaying that you could hear everything recycling itself. Nutrients returning to the soil, bacterial activity busy at work. There was a substantial body of evidence that fungi were fruiting earlier as a result of climate change. Various reasons had been suggested, including one that mycorrhizal fungi which formed symbiotic links with tree roots were receiving more nutrients from the host trees that had a longer growing season. Another was that decay rates in forest soils were increasing as the average temperature rose.

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants -
At Evening, it is not
At Morning, in a Truffled Hut
It stop opon a Spot

As if it tarried always
And yet it's whole Career
Is shorter than a Snake's Delay -
And fleeter than a Tare -

'Tis Vegetation's Juggler -
The Germ of Alibi -
Doth like a Bubble antedate
And like a Bubble, hie -

I feel as if the Grass was pleased
To have it intermit -
This surreptitious Scion
Of Summer's circumspect.

Had Nature any supple Face
Or could she one contemn -
Had Nature an Apostate -
That Mushroom - it is Him!

~Emily Dickinson ‘The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants’~

We also checked out the hides to see what the natives were up to. At Baldwin Hide, we noticed this pair of Mute Swan was displaying the classic image of devotion, with their curved necks entwined in a perfect love heart. This was part of a courtship ritual, in which pairs faced each other and, with a ruffle of feathers and lifted wings, bow gracefully. Their courtship "dance" was accompanied by a range of hissing and grunting sounds. Once courtship was completed, the pair were bonded for life.

We also watched a swim of Cormorant fishing together in the corner of the lake. They looked a bit eerie as they adopted a communal feeding strategy. They herded shoals of fishes, forming a broad front to drive them into the corner,  catching them by diving from the surface, chasing their prey underwater and seizing them with their hooked bills. After diving for food, they flew back to the posts and island to dry their plumage. The Cormorant’s feather had absorbed the water and they all adopted an outstretched wings posture.

Then we headed to the very busy East Marsh Hide. As soon as we sat down, a Water rail was dashing across the reed-bed. The chestnut brown and black upperparts with black-and-white barred flanks were visible as it whizzed past on its long powerful legs.  They were highly secretive inhabitants of freshwater wetlands, more often heard than seen with their wide range of loud and snorting calls, traditionally known as ‘sharming’. They were omnivorous, mainly feeding on small fishes, snails and insects.

In the water, a single female pintail was busy dabbling and upending to feed on the seeds and nutlets of moist-soil and aquatic plants along the shallower edges of the lake. Unlike the male with a signature white stripe down their chocolate-coloured necks, she was intricately patterned and pale-faced with a dark-brown upper body with a buff head and lower body. The bill was blue-gray blotched with black, and the legs and feet were slate-grey.

Then a Muntjac walked along Wigeon bank. This path was the super highway for these animals as they moved from one end of the reserve to another. The Muntjac was the smallest deer found in Britain but it wasn’t a native species as it originated from China and India. Active by day or night, they were mostly seen at dusk, but we often see them using this path at any time of the day. They were notorious browsers, munching on the grass as they walked past as well as eating the shoots from shrubs, saplings and Brambles.

Muntjac were generally solitary or found in pairs (doe with kid or buck with doe) although pair-bonding does not occur. Bucks defend small exclusive territories against other bucks whereas does' territories overlap with each other and with several bucks. Bucks had short (10 cm) antlers growing from long pedicles. Antlers were usually unbranched but a very short brow tine was occasionally found in old bucks. They had visible upper canines (tusks) suggesting that they were primitive species. Muntjac had two pairs of large glands on the face. The upper pair were the frontal glands, whilst the lower glands, below the eyes, were called sub-orbitals. Both glands were used to mark territories and boundaries. They had a ginger forehead with pronounced black lines running up the pedicles in bucks, and a dark diamond shape on does.

Babe had photographed a Hobby dashing across the sky chasing after grasshoppers and other large insects, earlier in the week. It looked like a giant swift with its long swept back, scythe-like wings and square tipped tail. It was capable of high speed manoeuvres and accelerating rapidly in flight. The Hobby had a dark eye ring and moustache stretching below the beak and a white throat leading down to bold dark streaks on the breast, the back was dark grey. On closer inspection the adults could be seen to have brick red ‘trousers’ and undertail (vent) – a feature that was missing on the juveniles.

Preys were caught in their talons and ate in flight, passing the food from the talons to their beak while still in the air. Soon these summer visitors will be flying off for its autumn migration, as it was the only British falcon that spent the winter months south of the Sahara Desert. Their main prey here were the flying termites. Hobbies were listed as a Schedule 1 bird on The Wildlife and Countryside Act. I kept on scanning the skies but I guess, they’d already flown back to their wintering grounds.

We also made a trip to Slimbridge WWT to celebrate Babe’s birthday and also to see what the natives were up to. The place was buzzing with the opening of a new attraction, a giant Bionic bug trail. The trail offered visitors to get up close to a host of 6 gigantic bugs that included a 6-foot long dragonfly, 4-foot buzzing bee, 6-foot wingspan butterfly and a 6-foot long hopping grasshopper. They were brought to life with state-of-the-art animatronics and incredible sound effects which was a hit with the kids. There were also themed activities such as pond-dipping, minibeast hunts and making a mini bug house.

Clutching their free bug book, the young and not-so-young went hunting for these bugs which they couldn’t miss because they were huge and then received a sticker for each one they found. They explored The Spinney and North American zone to see what was hiding, peered under branches, through leaves and down murky holes to see these creatures up close.  It was a n interesting way for the visitors to find out fascinating facts about the minibeasts that inhabited our wetland world. Meanwhile, we preferred keeping our eyes peeled to the ground and snapping the real-life bugs as we did our usual walkabout.

Out first pit-stop was Rushy Hide which was very quiet. The highly gregarious Northern Pintail were fast asleep by the shore of the lake. They were all winter visitors, flying from the more northern and eastern breeding areas in Scandinavia and countries bordering the North Sea. They must be resting after the long journey or had just been feeding. Their winter diet was mainly plant material including seeds and rhizomes of aquatic plants. I found it ridiculous that these elegant masters of the air were ‘quarry’ species which meant that they could be legally shot in winter.

On the water, the handsome males were happily dabbling away, feeding at the water’s surface. They looked stunning with a chocolate brown coloured head and a thin white stripe running down from the back of its head to its neck. They had black stripes on their backs, a blue-grey bill, grey legs and feet. Another striking feature was the long tapering tail. The females were more subtle and subdued with drab mottled light brown feathers. The males call had been described as a tooting two-toned whistle while the females had a Mallard-like nasal quack.

From here we checked out the next hides but didn’t stay long as there was nothing much about. Even the water-rail didn’t make an appearance at Willow Hide. It was that quiet. Thankfully, these family of White-fronted goose kept us occupied at Robbie Garnett Hide. These Geese that winter in Britain were from the Baltic/North Sea population which bred in European Arctic Russia and northwest Siberia, and winter predominately in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Britain was on the very western edge of the population’s wintering range hence only small numbers were seen. The adults had a large white patch at the front of the head around the beak and bold black bars on the belly. The legs were orange and Siberian birds had pink bills, while Greenland birds had orange bills.

We walked back into the grounds and headed straight to Hogarth Hide which was surprisingly busy. We waited for a few minutes to get an empty seat. Out in the dried mudflat, a pair of Common Crane was busy preening. The slate-grey plumage, enhanced with black or bluish-black on primary and secondary flight feathers, gave to them a proud pace. The fairly long feathers fell on the short tail, and “dance” while the birds were moving. Later, we found out that they were 5 year old Oakie and 4 year old Sherbert. In May this year, they’d successfully raised a chick together.  Fingers-crossed, they do the same next year because the Common Crane were monogamous and pair bonds lasted for life.

While the Common Cranes continued on with their preening, Babe and I played counting the Common Snipes. They were skulking in the reed-beds, well camouflaged among the sleeping Teals. Both sexes were cryptically patterned mottled brown above, with paler buff stripes on the back, dark streaks on the chest and pale under part. They had a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below. They were usually shy and concealed themselves close to ground vegetation and flushed only when approached closely. When flushed, they uttered a sharp note that sounded like scape, scape and flew off in a series of aerial zig-zags to confuse predators. They foraged in the soft mud, probing or picking up food by sight, using their greatly elongated bills. We left when the Common Cranes flew off.

I ended the month by taking part in a Halloween Scavenger hunt organised by Warwick Sports with my colleagues. It was a campus-wide hunt for about 10 pumpkins including a golden one that was hidden in different locations in the university grounds. We collected the map of where they might be hidden, with a unique challenge card. We walked for nearly 2 kilometres around the campus searching for the pumpkins and was chuffed that we managed to find all. We took turns to have a selfie with the pumpkins as proof that we have found them. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the main prize but we got loads of chocolates and sweets, instead.

When black cats prowl, and pumpkins gleam, may luck be yours on Halloween

~- ~Author Unknown ~

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people light bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts. The day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. But, over the centuries, Halloween had transitioned from a pagan ritual to a day of parties, costumes, jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treating for kids and adults.

In the United States, pumpkins go hand in hand with the fall holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Pumpkin was used to make soups, desserts and breads, and many Americans included pumpkin pie in their Thanksgiving meals. Carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns was a popular Halloween tradition that originated hundreds of years ago in Ireland. Back then, they were made out of turnips or potatoes. It wasn’t until the Irish immigrants arrived in America and discovered the pumpkin that a new Halloween ritual was born. We bought a lot of pumpkins because they were so cheap but not for carving. I have made soups, pie, bread, cupcakes and had them roasted. And there was still loads left. Thankfully, if stored properly, they lasted ages. Bon appetit.

"When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween."
- ~Author Unknown

Not the way to Amarillo

Autumn looked set to get off to a good start, with high temperatures dominating the weather, with warm, dry and sunny days in the beginning of September.  The scorching summer had given way to an autumnal ‘above-average’ temperatures. Record heatwaves across the country, drought conditions and sporadic rain had hampered this year’s harvest, leaving farmers to count costs and consumers to count their pennies. There was a pause in the Indian summer as a low pressure swept in from the East of England, bringing 30 mph wind gusts and heavy rains. And conditions worsened when the remnants of tropical storm Florence hit the UK. While Florence wasn’t expected to pose any danger, hurricane Helen was swirling across the Atlantic, getting caught up in the jet stream which meant another wet and windy weather. 

We celebrated the meteorological autumn with a visit to Slimbridge WWT. For meteorologists, summer came to an end on August 31 and autumn began on September 1, running until Thursday, November 30. But for astronomers, summer ended on September 22 in the northern hemisphere and autumn began on Friday, September 23. According to the Met Office, the meteorological seasons consisted of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics. We headed straight to Rushy Hide where a Greenshank greeted us.

Greenshanks were medium-sized slim waders with olive-grey above and silvery-white below, with dark streaking on the breast. They’d long, slightly upturned grey bills with striking grey-green legs. They fed in the shallow water, pecking at the mud, water or vegetation as they walked and caught fish by using a dash-and-lunge technique. They were passage migrants and scarce winter visitors and tend to be solitary when feeding. They frequently bobbed up and down when standing and flew off in a low zig-zag pattern when disturbed, appearing dark above with a prominent white rump and contrasting black underwings.

We’d a fun time playing spotting the Common Snipes. These cryptically coloured waders were seen foraging in the vegetated fringes of the mudflats and skulking under the overhanging shrubs. These superbly camouflaged waders were seen probing under the moist substrate for insects, earthworms, crustaceans or spiders with their elongated bills. Food on the surface were located by sight and picked up, but prey under the mud was located using the touch-sensitive sensory pits at the tip of the flexible bill.

We then checked out the rest of the hides. Unfortunately, the tack piece was empty except for a few sleeping Tufted ducks, Shelducks and Mallards. A large, inquisitive Southern hawker was patrolling the ponds and hawking. through the reed-beds. Hawkers were the largest and fastest flying dragonflies, catching their insect-preys mid air. They do this by hovering and also by flying backwards. They will still be on the wing through to October.

We then heard the bulging calls of the Common Cranes from the Dumbles. We headed for the multi-storey Holden tower overlooking the spectacular River Severn and saw a pair feeding on the mud-flats. There was also a Little Egret hunkering down in the reed-beds. Unfortunately, they were too far to photograph. Plenty of birds were seen flitting in and out of the trees. I was chuffed to see this adorable Chiffchaff moving restlessly through the foliage and sometimes briefly hovering over the branches for insects and spiders. It needed feeding continuously to put on extra fat for the long migration flight back to Africa.

Then we walked back into the grounds walking through the boardwalk. We walked past the enclosure containing the Eider ducks with their flirtatious ‘whoa whoa’ calls. At the end of the lake, there was bedlam where a large gathering of Black headed gulls were scrambling over bird seeds that visitors had thrown in the lake. They had lost their chocolate-brown hood for winter, leaving just 2 dark spots. They were bold and opportunistic feeders and it was so noisy as they scrambled over each other for the food.

We left the bedlam and walked towards the very peaceful enclosure of the Andean flamingos. The ‘fostered’ chicks had grown successfully and were seen wandering around the sand pit. Their parents kept a close, protective watch on their chicks as they explored their habitat. The chicks began to grow their flight feathers after 11 weeks. At the same time, the bill began to hook, allowing the chicks to feed itself. They lose their juvenile grey or white colour gradually over 2-3 year period, at which time their pink feathers began to show.

Then we checked out Hogarth Hide where a Ruff was feeding quite close to the hide. It was feeding on the soft mud, probing or searching by sight for edible items. It primarily fed on insects, especially in the breeding season, and consumed plant material, on migration and in winter. Virtually all wintering Ruffs in Britain were males as they were able to tolerate colder winter conditions because they were larger than females. They stored fat as a fuel and used lipids as the main energy source and kept warm by shivering.

Nearby, a few dozen Black Tailed Godwits were also feeding in the shallow water.The black and white stripes on their wings were visible and now in their winter greyish-brown plumage. They were sociable birds, forming large flocks when feeding, probing the mud with their bill for shellfish, marine snails, worms and shrimps. The female’s beak was longer than the male’s which meant they don’t compete for the same food. Black Tailed Godwits were migratory and spent the non-breeding season in wetland sites in Spain, Portugal and West Africa.

I was chuffed to bits when we spotted the Crane family at the end of the reserve. We’d been following Bart and Ruby since April when she was seen incubating her eggs on the South Lake duck marsh reed-beds. The 2 eggs hatched around 26th May and the two chicks were often spotted around the lake as they foraged for food. Bart and Ruby had done well, protecting their chicks from predation and teaching them how to find the food they needed to grow. Common cranes foraged on land or in shallow water, probing around with their bills for any edible organisms. They were omnivorous largely eating plant matter and animal foods such as earthworms, insects, snails and rodents. They dug in the soil for food items and uprooted tufts of grass to access any invertebrates to feed on. Both juveniles were fledged by late August and their antics provided quite a show for the visitors.

We took the scenic route on the way out and was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favourite butterfly, the Painted Lady, feeding on the Buddleia. It was a long distance migrant which was the most spectacular butterfly migration observed in the UK. They don’t hibernate here and soon will be migrating back to Northern Africa as they couldn’t survived our winter. Although a bit tattered, its pale buffy-orange background colour to the upper wings was still vibrant. The underwing colouration and eyespots had amazing details which was visible from close quarters. On sunny days, they were very active feeding but as soon as the sun disappeared, individuals tended to leave the nectar source and find a bare patch of earth, stone or rock on which to bask and absorbed the heat with their wings spread wide open.

We also came across the last of the new additions to the Giant Lego® Brick Animal Trail in the Puddleduck corner, being surrounded by real ducks. Skye the stork was one of the fourteen individually-designed 1.5m Lego® brick animals that formed a wild adventure trail for kids (and big kids) to inspire them to build a better future for nature. Each sculpture was built by professional Lego builders, taking hundreds of hours and using no less than 253,728 bricks and it took  6,328 bricks of those to build Skye. It was an amazing way of putting the spotlight on some really important species, many of which were endangered. We left Skye with her admirers and walked back to the car.

We also partied at the 20th anniversary of Europe's biggest free festival, the Godiva Festival 2018 which took place between Friday 31 August and Sunday 2 September. It was the largest family music festival in the UK, and was made up of two fields; a Main Field and a Family field, which each offer a different experience in the 12-acre site in Coventry's War Memorial Park. Other features of the festival included the Family Field, an Acoustic Stage, a Paradise Tent, food stalls, a Hilltop bar, craft stalls, an Urban Youth Tent, a vintage market and a fairground. In the Family Field, were  attractions such as a petting farm, charity village, Community Stage, Lives and Times area, Greenspace area, Make Space tent, a funfair, cycle training, falconry and visits from local groups such as the Coventry Bears and the Fire Service, alongside displays from dozens of community groups, local scout groups and wildlife organizations.

Although it was a 3-day event, we only went on the Sunday. There was already a queue to get into the parking site and there was a large crowd lingering at the turnstiles. We were early as the gates were only opened at 12 pm. We also wondered whether we were allowed in as we brought along our DSLR cameras which was categorised as professional-looking. I did tweeted/emailed the organisers but I didn’t receive any reply. When the gates opened, we were allowed in, no questions asked. Phew…

The sun was shining throughout the afternoon keeping the crowds in good spirits. We headed for the Family field and made a pit stop at the BBC Coventry & Warwickshire stage which we thought was much smaller than before. The stage was dedicated to showing local and up-and-coming talents, demonstrating the Festival’s commitment to its home origins. The Notables was again present to accompany the performers with learning disabilities. These were professional musicians, formed in response to a request from learning disabled adults to make music as a group.

The Hawkwise Falconry was back again and we managed to get close and personal to the various birds of prey. We then went into the Vintage tent which was heaving that we walked out again. The crowds were beginning to arrive that we decided to head to the main arena walking past a huge funfair with a range of rides for the thrill seekers. There were already hundreds of people milling about, staking their places, having picnics and enjoying the fantastic sunny weather and atmosphere. We cooled down in the Rhythem tent where the main theme was Bhangra to Bollywood: the sounds of South Asian Britain. Vocalist Abi Sampa was on stage with her own unique sound, combining Western popular music elements with qawwali, carnatic and Hindustani classical music.

Then we headed to the Main Stage for the act I wanted to see, Tony Christie. I know there were amazing acts such as Professor Green, Gabrielle, Jonas Blue and Ronan Keating being headlined but somehow this silver-haired crooner took my fancy. I blamed it on Peter Kay who was credited to the resurgence of the single ‘Is this the way to Amarillo’. The song was re-leased on March 14th 2005 to raise money for Comic Relief. There was a buzz when Christie went on stage and when he sang that song, everyone stood up and did the ‘walking on the spot’ scene, clapping and singing along. It was amazing. We left after his set was over as more people were coming in to see Ronan Keating, who was closing the show later that night.

I was still high with adrenalin when I got ready for my 3 day conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. My colleague and I flew via Fly-be but our flight was delayed due to the aftermath from Storm Florence that hit the area. The airport was closed causing travel chaos as the airport authority tried their best to clear the backlogs. It was chaos when we finally touchdown at the airport but I’m glad that we arrived safely, albeit 1.5 hours late. We took the taxi to the university and it was another slow ride as we encountered the rush hours. But what greeted us made up for it.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t our accommodation. I could just see Rapunzel letting her hair down for her Prince Charming from one of the towers. This was a mid-19th century St. Leonard’s Hall which could be hired for weddings. Our home-away from home was Chancellor’s Court, located at the foot of the Royal Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat. After dumping our luggage, we went for a short walk to check out the town. We’d coffee and cake at a very hipster coffee house and then went to the  pre-conference meet-up in the Summerhall Bar. The cafe bar was once the Small Animal Hospital of the Dick Vet School and we were surrounded by an eclectic mix of wall decorations. Unfortunately, I left my camera in my room which was a shame. We introduced ourselves and joined in the fun. It was a fabulous way to break the ice and let our hair down before the conference began.

The Cataloguing and Indexing biennial conference was held at the John McIntyre Conference Centre. This year conference ‘Metadata : Create, Share and Enrich’ showcased the continued need for quality metadata in a data dominated world and those who created, shared , enriched and used it’. The first day was full on with presentations on collaborative cataloguing, metadata revolution, Dewey development, RDA, institutional repository, discoverability in archives, legacy data, metadata mapping, data migration and Marc Edit. There was so much to take and thankfully a lot of these wasn’t new to me.  The break was a blessing for our brain to rest before the next assault.

A lot of us wasn’t happy with the seating arrangements because we were crammed so close together and there was no place to put our laptops. It was quite difficult to work without a table. By the end of the day, we made gaps between the chairs so that we could sit comfortably. After a long day, a few brave delegates including moi, decided to climb Arthur’s Seat which loomed behind our accommodation. My room faced the hill and I slept with my curtains opened. When I woke up at around 6.30 am, I saw quite a number of people up there waiting for the sun to rise. I was envious and wished I was up there with them.

Arthurs Seat was the highest point, an ancient dormant that sat 251 metre above sea level with excellent views of the city.  It was also the site of a large and well preserved 2000 year old hill fort with a diverse range of flora and geology making it a site of Special Scientific Interest. It was described by Robert Louis Stevenson as

“a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to climb up the hill. After about 10 minutes of walking up the very well trodden and eroded path through shrubs and gorses, I was breathless and decided not to continue. I asked the others to go ahead while I waited for them at the bottom. I spent the time people watching and from the edge, there were great views down over Holyrood Palace, the Scottish Parliament, the white roof of Dynamic Earth, and further afield to Leith and the Firth of Forth. From time to time, I did looked up to see figures of the climbers at the top silhouetted against the skyline but I don’t know whether they were my mates. After about an hour, I heard and then saw them climbing down safely. From their photos, it really looked amazing up there.

The 2nd day was the keynote address from Professor Melissa Terras on using library metadata as a discovery in publishing history. She highlighted this when she did a research for her book “Picture-book professors: academia and children’s literature”.  After her very informative talk,  it was back to cramming topics such as MARC, zine cataloguing, serials standards, World Cat, subject headings, NBK, metadata memory, cataloguing art objects, Linked Open Data and ethical issues in catalogue content standards from some very knowledgeable presenters . Some of these were new to me and it was something which I would like to learn more about.

The highlight of the conference was the dinner at The Caves. We dressed up in our party frocks and walked about 30 minutes into town. The Caves had been magnificently restored from its original 18th century stone vault storage complex, part of the legendary Edinburgh Vaults, a distinct series of chambers formed in the 19 arches of the South Bridge. It was an eerie venue, right under the bustling city of Edinburgh. When we arrived a glass of wine was freely available to everyone but those who don’t drink had to pay £3 for a glass of orange juice. I was furious and put that on my feedback form. Then we walked 3 floors underground for our 3-course meal. Since I opted for a vegetarian option, my starter was Roasted tomato soup which was ok. The main meal was beetroot with chickpeas and artichoke mush which was really a let down. It didn’t even come with any salad or roast potatoes. Pudding was a salted caramel torte which was so-so. I didn’t enjoy my meal but thankfully, the conversations and ambience made up for it,

The third and final day of the conference was the day that everyone was looking forward to. RDA Day covered the latest developments in the RDA cataloguing standard, providing a forum for discussion, learning and sharing. There was focus on the latest developments in the RDA standard and the Toolkit which unfortunately led to more questions than answers. We were lucky that our library was one of the first users of RDA when it was released in 2010 and felt sorry for fellow cataloguers who were just about to adopt it. It would take a lot of time and patience to get used to. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay till the end as we’d a plane to catch and we don’t want to get caught in the Friday evening rush hour. We arrived with plenty of time to spare. Kudos to the CIG committee members for a fantastic conference.

After a 3-day conference, I needed something relaxing to do. Babe suggested checking out the Midlands Air Museum which was just down the road. The Midland Air Museum was started in 1967 by a small group of local aircraft enthusiasts as the Midland Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS). In 1975 a lease was secured which laid the foundations for a permanent museum. MAPS changed its name in 1977 to Midland Air Museum (MAM) and became a Charitable Trust with Educational Charity status following in 1979. Following the arrival of the Vulcan bomber in 1983 and the Argosy freighter in 1987 the museum  moved onto its present site and establishing the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre. MAM became one the first independent aviation museums to achieve the government's Museum and Galleries prestigious registration status in 1990.

After parking, we entered the reception area into the Sir Frank Whittle section where we learnt and absorbed the history of the jet engine and saw and touched examples of one of his early designs. We managed to watch a very cheesy propaganda film with him talking about how to apply for a patent of his invention. On leaving this area, we walked around inside the cramped hanger and climbed up the meteor cockpit and stuck our noses in to the Canberra cockpit. We also heard the typical start up and sortie in progress. We then wandered upstairs in to the gallery display area and checked out artifacts from WW1, WW2 to a full on Saphire jet engine. Although the place tiny, it was a maze of corridors to explore all packed with exhibits. On climbing down the stairs, via the display cabinets we read about the history of the RAF and its Coventry and Warwickshire associations plus a  close up on some jet/rocket/piston engines.

Local aviation history was strongly featured in the Wings Over Coventry gallery on the mezzanine floor of the main hangar, showcasing products from local manufacturers which included aircraft exhibits. Most obvious was the huge Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy which dominated the external display area and was the largest airframe; AWA also built many Meteors, Sea Hawks, Javelins and Hunters and an example of each was on display. Also in recognition of the local area's contribution to the war effort, there were WWII related exhibits which included a rare Bristol Beaufighter cockpit section (built locally) and a rear fuselage section from one of the more than 1,800 Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley bombers built here at Baginton. Unfortunately no complete Whitley airframe had survived which was a shame.


From the hanger, we ventured outside, a field filled with aircraft. We headed straight to our favourite aircraft, the Avro Vulcan B.2. It was incredible to see the vast futuristic delta shaped design this close. I bravely climbed the steep steps into the cockpit of this classis V bomber where a very enthusiastic guide explained all of the interior and exterior details. The pilots seats weren’t open to visitors as they were very cramped and contained very fragile safety equipment but I was allowed to sit on the rear seats. It gave me the shivers as the guide relived the lives of those crews that flew it during the Cold War. It was hard to imagine how they sometimes spent nearly 20 hours flying the plane on long distance trips.

Five people could fit in the tiny cramped space not much larger than a London taxi cab as the rest of the plane was dedicated to its war function. Protected under a metal panel was the switch that thankfully was never used to drop the nuclear bomb. While performing conventional combat missions, the Vulcan could carry up to 21 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs inside its bomb bay. From the 1960s, the various Vulcan squadrons would routinely conduct conventional training missions and the aircrews were expected to be able to perform conventional bombing missions in addition to the critical nuclear strike mission the Vulcan normally performed.

The Midland Air Museum's XL360 was the only preserved Vulcan with a name - City of Coventry. It was only given the name after it had left RAF service. Even when in service very few Vulcans were ever given names. She entered service with 617 squadron on the 1st of March 1962, then served with 35 squadron, 230 OCU and 44 squadron before being flown into retirement at Coventry airport on the 26th of January 1982. Although this one didn’t participate in that famous Black Buck raids, the fame of these astonishing machines were secured during the Falklands War.

After getting our fill of this fantastic machine, we got close and personal with the rest of the aircraft on display. From the Vulcan, our next largest aircraft was the locally built Armstrong Whitworth Argosy Freighter, the civil version with the nose door, as opposed to the RAF version, with rear clamshell doors. The main purpose of these doors was for quick loading and unloading. We climbed in the freight hold and moved forward in to the cockpit under the supervision of a guide, who explained the history of the aircraft.

On leaving the Argosy we wandered around the aircraft on display outside which was behind barriers. The only problem for us as photographers were that they were too close together that they photobombed each other in the photographs and the rope barriers was always in the way. The jet aircraft exhibits ranged from the rare Swedish SAAB J29 Tunnan  which was the first post-war European swept-wing jet fighter and the only one in the UK; the Dassault Mystère IV A, a first French swept-wing fighter; the English Electric Lightning which was the only all-British Mach 2 fighter, and the mighty American McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II which was a genuine MiG-killer with combat history over Vietnam.

The incredible variety of designs produced by the British aircraft industry in the 1950s and 1960s was represented by an equally wide range of aircraft from carrier-borne types such as the Hawker Sea Hawk, de Havilland Sea Vixen, Fairey Gannet and Sea Harrier to RAF fighters such as the Vampire, Meteor, Hunter, Javelin and Lightning. The jet bomber force was represented by the English Electric Canberra and this was a rare reconnaissance version and the huge Avro Vulcan 4-engined nuclear bomber. There were also several military trainers including the American Lockheed T-33, the Polish PZL Iskra and the British Vampire T.11. At the back, we walked past more aircraft of a bygone era including two Lightnings and some American cold war aircraft. At the bottom of the site was Victor Nose section the Vickers Viscount aircraft and the Robin Hanger where restoration work was carried out.

And the Wright brothers said they thought they had invented
something that could make peace on earth
(if the wrong brothers didn’t get hold of it)

when their wonderful flying machine took off at Kitty Hawk
into the kingdom of birds but the parliament of birds was freaked out
by this man-made bird and fled to heaven

And then the famous Spirit of Saint Louis took off eastward and
flew across the Big Pond with Lindy at the controls in his leather
helmet and goggles hoping to sight the doves of peace but he did not

Even though he circled Versailles
And then the famous Yankee Clipper took off in the opposite
direction and flew across the terrific Pacific but the pacific doves

were frighted by this strange amphibious bird and hid in the orient sky
And then the famous Flying Fortress took off bristling with guns
and testosterone to make the world safe for peace and capitalism

but the birds of peace were nowhere to be found before or after Hiroshima
And so then clever men built bigger and faster flying machines and
these great man-made birds with jet plumage flew higher than any

real birds and seemed about to fly into the sun and melt their wings
and like Icarus crash to earth
And the Wright brothers were long forgotten in the high-flying

bombers that now began to visit their blessings on various Third
Worlds all the while claiming they were searching for doves of
peace

And they kept flying and flying until they flew right into the 21st
century and then one fine day a Third World struck back and
stormed the great planes and flew them straight into the beating

heart of Skyscraper America where there were no aviaries and no
parliaments of doves and in a blinding flash America became a part
of the scorched earth of the world

And a wind of ashes blows across the land
And for one long moment in eternity
There is chaos and despair

And buried loves and voices
Cries and whispers
Fill the air
Everywhere

~Lawrence Ferlinghetti ‘History of the Airplane”~

Was it worth the £7 each fee entrance? We thought it was because you only needed to visit it once, unless a new amazing exhibit was added. It took us about 3 hours to do everything and we photographed all the planes there and took the time to listen to the very enthusiastic volunteers. This was a place where aircraft retired and then restored lovingly by enthusiasts. A lot of money, sweat and tears were poured into these old planes and the Museum had done well.

We also checked out Bradgate Park to see what the natives were up to. Bradgate Park was renowned for its fine herds of deer and was the only remaining enclosed medieval deer park in the East Midlands. The park was home to a large herd of Fallow deer and Red deer. Unfortunately when we were there, the Red deer was AWOL. As we walked through the park, we spotted small herds of Fallow deer dotted here and there. Some were chilling out under the shade, ruminating while chewing cud, watching the visitors checking them out. For most of the year, males and females were in separate single-sex groups, and large herds aggregated in open areas where there was plenty of food.

The fallow deer went extinct in Britain during the last Ice Age, and was re-established by the Normans for hunting in the 11th century. They subsequently escaped from deer parks and were today the most common deer in England. They were grazing animals and their preferred habitat was mixed woodland and open grassland. Throughout a large portion of the year the sexes remain separated and only congregated during the mating months. The male fallow deer was known as a buck, the female was a doe, and the young a fawn. The breeding season, or 'rut' occurred between October and November where the males made a loud belly belch to proclaim their territory and fight over the females.

Outside the rut, bucks lived in small bachelor herds, separately from the does and fawns. Only bucks have antlers, which are broad and shovel-shaped (palmate). In the first two years, the antler was a single spike. The Fallow was the only British deer with palmate antlers. These increased in size with age reaching up to 70cm long when the adult was 3 - 4 years old. It was found that males with larger antlers had higher mating success, while asymmetrical antlers did not. Large bucks may stop feeding completely during the rut and lose condition as a result, whereas younger bucks hanging around on the fringes continued to eat as normal.

The name Fallow was derived from the deer's pale brown colour. Much variation occurred in the coat colour, with four main variants: common, menil, melanistic, and leucistic – a genuine colour variety, not albinistic.  The white was the lightest coloured, almost white; common and menil were darker, and melanistic was very dark, sometimes even black. In summer, their fur was usually reddish-brown, with lighter spots, while in winter it was thicker and greyer, with less distinct spots. A distinguishing feature of the Fallow deer was the tail area which showed a black border surrounding a very pale, almost white area of rump hair. The black often extended along the length of the tail. We spotted this pair in between feeding bouts, laying up in to ruminate and chewing the cud.

We turned back after checking out the herd in the main field. It was a shame that Lady Jane Grey ruins wasn’t opened. We walked along the grassy path and was chuffed to see a Small Copper. A tiny but dazzling butterfly with bright orange forewings, dark brown spots and a thick, dark brown margin. It had dark brown hindwings that were banded with orange. Once-common butterfly, it joined a growing list of shrinking species, despite no discernible habitat loss in recent years, suggesting climate change was having greater impact than previously thought. This sun-loving butterfly was nectaring on the dandelions. It later basked on the bare ground absorbing the sun's rays. Due to the recent good summer, the Small Copper may have several generations between April and October, with the last generation overwintering as a caterpillar

Along the River Lin that flowed through the middle of the Park, a Common Darter was also basking on the stone wall. A summer and autumn species, this dragonfly could be found well into November and may be one of the last on the wing in the UK. The Darter was a red, narrow-bodied dragonfly that  hovered around all kinds of waterbodies, darting out to surprise its prey. As their name suggests, Common Darters darted forward suddenly from a hovering position to catch their insect-prey. They then take their catch to a favoured perch to eat it. It was able to remain active in lower temperatures than other species, partly by seeking out sunny spots to warm up in..

As soon as we reached the entrance, we spotted this pair stereotypical “spotty’ Fallow deer crossing the road. Everything stopped in their tracks to let them through. People were pointing their fingers and taking photographs via their telephones and cameras. All eyes were on them as they disappeared in search of food. The Fallow deer’s diet consisted of a range of vegetation and ground plants such as grass and heather. Fresh shoots of holly and bramble bushes were also eaten along with low hanging shoots of trees such as beech and oak. During the winter months when food was scarce they also fed on acorns, fallen nuts and fungi which were plentiful in the Park.