Getting a Christmas Robin in early!

21st November 2025 - as thoughts start to turn to Christmas, a Robin was seen striking a typical seasonal pose along the ORC - well, minus the snow!!  Andy M.

Redwing - back for the winter

21st November 2025 - whilst the first Redwing of this winter were spotted on 18th October, Andy M spotted a further small flock of them feeding along the Old Railway Cutting recently. Mixed in with a few Blackbird, the flock was busy gulping down large quantities of Hawthorn berries.

Great Spotted Woodpecker is back!

20th November 2025 - John Turner reported the welcome return of a Great Spotted Woodpecker to his garden after something of an absence over the summer, this individual being a male, as evidenced by the red patch on the nape (back of head).

Magpie attacking a Great Tit

19th November 2025 - Andy M witnessed a somewhat grizzly event in his garden recently. A Great Tit was perched in a clump of ivy, when it was suddenly attacked by one of the Magpie that regularly hang around the garden. Grabbing it by the nape, the Magpie wrestled the Great Tit to the ground, where it proceeded to kill it and start plucking it. Whilst it is well known that corvids take eggs and young birds, Andy had not witnessed a Magpie taking an apparently healthy adult bird before.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

9th November 2025 - this female Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard giving its sharp 'tutting' alarm call, and then spotted feeding high in a dead tree in Sluice Wood on Granta Park. The female seen here, lacks the red patch on the nape (back of the head) seen in the male.

Moorhen in early morning dew

9th November 2025 - after a heavy overnight dew, the sun glistened off the grass by the lake on Granta Park, as a Moorhen wandered through foraging as it went.

Mistle Thrush

9th November 2025 - this Mistle Thrush was heard projecting its loud resonant song from a tree high in Lagden's Grove. Renowned for singing in the winter, it is often the only bird to be heard during windy weather, giving it one of its old names of Stormcock. Andy M.

Autumnal walk in Lagden's Grove

9th November 2025 - the sun was shining, highlighting the autumn colour beautifully as Andy M walked through Lagden's Grove on Granta Park. A tiny Goldcrest was flitting around feeding in the hawthorn, and the heavy overnight dew shone on the spider's webs. Being damp, there were a good few fungi around too, including a few lovely clumps of Fairy Inkcap. Flowers were few and far between, but a few Self Heal stood out amongst the grass.

Goldcrest

Goldcrest

dew caught on the spider's webs

a tiny toadstool - species unknown

Fairy Inkcap

Self Heal

October 2025 - Summary of Sightings from the Abingtons

A summary of sightings reported from within the Abingtons during October 2025 can be found by clicking on the link below:

OCTOBER 2025 SUMMARY 

More fungi

10th October 2025 - there seem to be plenty of fungi around this year, and Andy M found a few interesting-looking specimens on Granta Park.

Red-legged Partridge - closeup!

4th October 2025 - one windy day, Andy M spotted this Red-legged Partridge in his garden. Nothing so unusual about that perhaps, there are many around the LSA at the moment. However, this one was unusually close to the house - in fact these photos were taken through the window. Maybe it was confused by the wind, or was looking for shelter. Either way, it gave a lovely view of its striking plumage.

More unusual and rather small fungi

21st October 2025 - Iain Webb from the Wildlife Trust took these photos of a few quite unusual, and rather small, fungi and lichen on Granta Park, and along the grass verge on Lewis Crescent.

Crimson Waxcap, GP

Earth Tongue, GP

Pleated Inkcap, GP

Mosaic Puffball, GP

White Spindle, Lewis Cres

Dog Lichen, GP

Fungi - a type of Inkcap

18th October 2025 - Carole McM found this rather lovely collection of fungi in her garden recently. It's always difficult to identify most fungi from a picture alone, but these could be Glistening Inkcap, also called Fairy Inkcap, a Coprinellus species that is common in the UK.

September 2025 - A Summary of Sightings from the Abingtons

A Summary of Sightings for the Abingtons in September 2025 can be found by clicking the link below:

SEPTEMBER 2025 SUMMARY

Hairy Shield Bugs a plenty

18th September 2025 - one hot sunny afternoon, Andy and Polly M noticed a very large number of beetle-like insects emerging up the fence from behind the lavender plants. Why remains unclear, but closer inspection showed these were similar in colour and patterning, but varied greatly in size. It turns out these are the various instars (or lifecycle stages) of Hairy Shield Bug (or Sloe Bug) nymphs - which start small and teardrop shaped, and gradually grow and moult into the large more typical Shield Bug shape, although all these are nymphs, or 'youngsters', with no adults being seen.

Interestingly, in amongst these were also a different type of oval fly-like insect - small in number and similar in colouration to the Shield Bugs, but clearly different. Whilst we are not sure what these are, it's possible these are some sort of predatory insect, such as an Assassin Bug species, which prey on many species, including Shield Bugs nymphs.

One small patch of the many smaller Hairy Shield Bug nymphs, 

but including a few other 'winged' species

Later stage Hairy Shield Bug instar, and several smaller earlier instars,

as well as a similar coloured winged species

Late-stage Hairy Shield Bug nymph

Life cycle stages (from ukwildlife.net)

Rivercare - September results

15th September 2025 - the Rivercare undertook their last sampling of the year, when rvier levels at the ford were still very low. The sample revealed a relatively low count, but a look back at previous years in September indicated this was fairly typical.

A few Olive larva were seen, as were a few Mayfly larva. Both Caseless and Cased Caddisfly larvae were found, as were quite a few small Gammarus (freshwater shrimp). Three Bullhead fish were found, and a few Angler's Curse larvae.

Olive larva

Caseless Caddisfly larva

Cased Caddisfly larva (head and legs can just be seen top right)

Mayfly larve

Angler's Curse larva

Bullhead