Autumn vs Winter

 Marsh Harrier flew east today. Garganey still about. Also 30+ Woodpigeon and a few Mipits moving south.

  I thought this bird looked more like a herring x LBB ?

 Leucistic first-winter Herring Gull

 Caddis fly sp. Saw a bumblebee in Gillian's garden today too. Species possibly Limnephilus affinis (thanks Derek)

Tidied up our woodland glade planting and the butterfly strip at the reserve entrance

Autumn refuses to give up the ghost with a bit of visible migration this morning including one of the farmlands few records of Marsh Harrier for November. The Garganey still about too.

However I've finally yielded and started looking through the gulls. Better make the most of them because the landfill might only have a two or three years left. So the gulling season starts- winter is here(ish) .

Also been doing a bit of habitat work recently (on the Hackbridge wildlife gardens and Mile Rd)- putting a few places to sleep for the winter, cutting back overgrowth and tidying things up. Put a load of bulbs in recently too for the spring and quite of bit of additional planting. A bit dissappointed that we didn't manage to extend the wildlife gardening habitat too much further this year- just an additional 1/2 acre or so. Will use this winter to plan a big push for next year.
Filed a formal complaint to the local authority this week about the delay in restoration at the farmlands. Stop the Incinerator campaign members are still looking into legal appeal options so one way or another hoping to keep encouraging along the restoration programme and see some progress over the winter months.