Blogs

We are now into November, so it is time once again for Top Lodge to start up our exceedingly popular series of walks to see the red kites coming into roost. Many places around the country have feeding stations that attract kites to allow people to see large numbers. But such projects can always seem a bit, well, artificial. here at top Lodge however we offer the public the chance to see up large numbers of kites (the top number ever recorded was 110) in a completely natural setting.

The afternoon starts with a 30 minute illustrated talk about the kites and their reintroduction, both in this area and elsewhere around the country. Then, after a short break, we jump in our cars and drive the short distance to the roosting wood. There we stand whilst kites come in from the surrounding countryside. Often they perch up in isolated trees  short distance from the wood, checking each other out. You often find family ties being kept, with grown-up siblings perching next to each other.

Over the course of the next hour or so, kites leave the trees and start dropping into the main wood. But it would be a mistake to think this means an end to the spectacle. Often, for no apparent reason, all the kites in the wood suddenly leave together and end up in a mad aerial dance. Twisting and turning around each other in the sky. Really a sight to see.

The walks begin this Sunday and run every Sunday and Wednesday (with the exception of 13 December) until the end of January. Advance booking is essential as these are very popular and we keep group sizes fixed to avoid disturbing the kites too much with huge numbers of people. Indeed, at the time I am writing this, the first 4 Sunday walks are already fully booked. Places may be booked by phoning the centre on 01780 444691. Places cost £6 for adults and £2 for children.

Autumn is definitely a nice time of year to be out and about in the woods. The weather is still warm enough to wander around without being wrapped up from head to foot. But at the same time there is often enough of a chill to tingle your nose and bring a flush to your cheeks, making you feel alive. The leaves changing colour brings a myriad of different hues to the forest. The fallen leaves add a wonderful carpet underfoot and, as our younger visitors are finding, great to rootle around in. The falling leaves also allow slanting beans of sunlight to penetrate between the trees, adding more illumination onto the scene. Meanwhile parties of tits and finches move through the trees and squirrels dash hither and thither, gathering food for the colder months ahead.

One of the nice things that happens here at Top Lodge are the weekly 'health walks' organised by the local council. These set off at 1:30 every Thursday (Wednesday in the new year) and are a great way to get fitter in pleasant surroundings. The gentle walk is 2 miles over surfaced paths and suitable for all abilities. The group is very friendly and always welcomes newcomers. Please contact Jenna Parton for more details on 07725 422871 or email jparton@east-northamptonshire.gov.uk. Who knows, you may even see me joining the group, who afterwards meet up for a well-earned coffee in the cafe.

As we move into autumn, the fallow deer that live here in Fineshade Wood are reaching the crescendo of their rutting season. Males set up 'stands', scrapes in the ground which become their patch. They then make their mating calls to try to attract females. It has best been described as a long belch! The does move through the wood and select the male they like by the loudness of his belches and how much he smells (the males also give off a very strong scent, noticeable even to humans). How very different from human behaviour!

If you want to try to see or hear the rut, early morning or late evening are the best times. The deer are often hidden away in the wood though and might be tricky to find. Alternatively, why not visit our Date With Nature site at Cannock Chase. They are running deer rut walks on various mornings throughout the season. Find out more by visiting http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/sites/cannockchase

A: Because he's a fungi to be with....

OK, sorry about the terrible joke. But as we get into autumn it becomes a good time to look for all sorts of fungi in the woods. Here at Top Lodge I spotted four species just on a quick walk to the wildlife hide.

King Alfred's cakes are hard black lumps that can be seen on fallen branches. Their name comes from the old story of Alfred the Great who, being ousted from his kingdom by some marauding Danes sought shelter in the cottage of an old woman, deep within the woods. Because he had no money (having had to leave in something of a hurry) she instead tasked him to watch some cakes (more likely bread rolls) that she was baking. Unfortunately he was no cook and burnt them! The irate woman promptly threw him out of her cottage and threw the cakes after him. They stuck to trees and can still be seen today. They really do look like little lumps of charred bread or cake.

The dryad's saddle is a highly distinctive fungus. A thick stem flattens out to a broad pale yellow cap covered in brown scales. The entire funguis can grow to be rather large, sometimes up to 30 cm across. The name comes from the belief that dryads (makle wood nymphs) used them as saddles when riding deer around the woods.

The many-zoned polyphore might not sound too exciting, but its alternative name of 'turkey tails' gives a clue as to how it looks. These are fan-shaped bracket fungi, with distinct rings of different colours, making them look like the spread tail of a turkey.

Staying with the bird theme, chicken-of-the-woods is a large yellowish bracket fungus found at the base of rotten trees or logs. The name comes from the resemblence to cooked chicken. Young ones are sometimes eaten but may cause severe allergic reactions. As with any fungus, I would recommend NEVER eating one you find in the wild, unless an expert confirms it is safe.

So come along, and have a look to see what you can find!

If you have a chance to come along to Top Lodge between now and Sunday, do be sure to look into the Big Barn. This renovated 18th century farm building is where we show footage of a red kite nest each year, following the chicks from hatching to fledging. But for this week it is acting as a gallery for a local artist, Kenneth James Martin. He uses long exposure photograpjhy to capture ritual fire writing and to produce some really dramatic works. Well worth popping in to have a look at.

If you are looking for something else to do at the weekend, why not visit either Rutland Day on Saturday 12 September? This celebration of the status of England's smallest county is being held at Rutland Water and we will be there with our team of face painting volunteers, to add a splash of colour to the proceedings. Look out for the blue and white RSPB marquee.

Alternatively, maybe you'd like to visit the autumn fair at Barnwell Country Park in Northamptonshire on Sunday 13 September. This is a great place to see wildlife, including our lovely red kites. Again, myself and the volunteer team will be there (alas, no facepainters this time), so come along and say hello!

We do try to get out to as many local events as we possibly can, but so if you organise a fete or fair within Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, south Lincolnshire or the Peterborough area, do get in touch. Or maybe you fancy having some fun and helping out as a volunteer? Do contact the Top Lodge centre on 01780 444691 or email toplodge@rspb.org.uk

Crikey, it has been a wee while since the last update, hasn't it? Not because I have been sunning myself on a beach (chance would be a fine thing) but because instead I have been out and about in the local community.

Whilst sites such as Top Lodge are of course very important to the RSPB, it is vital that we spread our message to as many people as possible. Therefore over the past few weeks I have been on the road. Standing outside supermarkets in Bourne and Kettering gives you a great opportunity to do one of my other hobbies, people watching. Plus it led to some great conversations with some really nice people.

The most exciting work I have been doing over the past few weeks though was in the somewhat grander surroundings of the gardens belonging to a stately home. Burghley House near Stamford is just a few miles up the road from us at Top Lodge. You may have heard of it as the venue for a prestigious equestrian event, the Burghley Horse Trials. The house (which incidentally is well worth a visit) has some very nice grounds, including gardens laid out by Capability Brown in which are housed sculptures. It was there, overlooking an ornamental lake, that we pitched our marquee and set up for a week.

The lake provided most of the birdlife that we saw, with a kingfisher providing brief but regular views. Grebes, coots, moorhens and ducks dabbled or dived on the water whilst buzzards, red kites and on a couple of days a hobby wheeled overhead. In the RSPB marquee we chatted to visitors and had fun with the kids making dragonflies out of pipe cleaners, with acetate sheets cut into the shape of wings.

I would just like to say what a pleasure it was to meet everyone over that week and how grateful we are to Burghley House for allowing us into their gardens. We are hoping to repeat it in 2010, watch this space!

On Monday I was asked to give a talk about the local red kites. Nothing unusual about that, I get to do it quite often. But the people I was talking to were the Welland Gliding Club. When flying they look out for thermals to give themselves extra lift. Kites do the same and so they often find themselves in close proximity to each other, giving some marvelously close views. All of which obviously piqued their interest.

Very kindly, one of the members of the club offered to take me up in his glider so I could get the impression of what a kite must feel like. Now, I have to admit that I am not the best flier in the world, so the idea of strapping myself into what is effectively a plane without an engine did make me think twice. But pretty soon I found myself sat in the front seat whilst Mike ran through the safety briefing and explained how the instruments worked. And then it was time to be off. The winch rope was attached and we started to hurtle along over the grass. One brief hop and then we were up, up into the air. After some intial nerves I soon got into it as we rose up to 1000 feet. It was marvelous to see the local countryside spreading out in front of us and looking down it really made you appreciate how good a kite's eyesight must be to spot food from up there. We drifted around whilst Mike pointed out local landmarks, and then all too soon it was time to return to earth again.

It really was a mervellous experience and I can highly recommend it to anyone.

Ready for take off!

The kite chicks that is. They have finally taken the plunge and are now no longer on the nest. over the last couple of weeks they had only been appearing at infrequent intervals. Usually just after the parents had dropped some food off at the nest. Mum and Dad have finally got bored of waiting hand and foot on the youngsters now, so the chicks will have to look after themselves, foraging for carrion in the surrounding fields. Who knows, you may just catch a glimpse of them circling over the centre.

If you've been meaning to come to Top Lodge to see the kite chicks on the nest, you'd better get your skates on. The three chicks are getting ever more adventuresome. In preparation for their first flight they have taken to 'branch hopping', where they leave the nest for nearby branches and then half jump/half flutter from one branch to another. As a result, its not always possible to see all three birds on the nest camera. Indeed, somtimes you can only see the tail of one bird, with the others nowhere to be seen!

All of which gave us a slight problem on Sunday, when a BBC film crew came with Mike Dilger (best known as the wildlife expert on The One Show) to tell the story of our kites. Luckily the kites behaved impeccably, so watch out for them on 'Inside out', sometime in the Autumn.

It has been a busy weekend for us here at Top Lodge, as we held a summer solstice fair. Visitors were entertained by sword dancers, a juggler and live musicians. A bar provided alcoholic refreshment whist the young (or just young at heart) had fun with the games and facepainting. Then in the evening we held a barn dance in our 18th century barn. Local musicians got the toes tapping and everyone had a great time.

If all this sounds like fun, do keep your eyes on our events at www.rspb.org.uk/toplodge. Or maybe you would like to help out with future events as a volunteer? Just get in touch on 01780 444691.

I'm a free...... kite?

 Our three red kite chicks are now sporting their very fetching wing tags. These light plastic tags clip over the kites' wings and allow them to be identified from a distance. Reports of their movements will help us understand the kites  and how they live their lives better. So if in years to come you see a kite with a white tag on both wings and the numbers 78, 79 or 80, give them a cheery wave!

In other news, this weekend is set to be a big event for us. We are holding our Summer Solstice Fair, with live music, sword dancers, juggler, craft fair, bar and lots of other activities. Do come along and pay us a visit! 

The great news from the centre is that our blue tits have fledged. Of the eight chicks, four left yesterday and the remaining ones left today. They can still be seen around the centre though, being fed by their parents. As can other baby birds such as pied wagtails and house sparrows.

This weekend will be a great time to visit the centre, as we are holding a 'Wildlife Weekend' Come along and you can find out what mini-monsters lurk in the wood, help us with our bird survey or discover what the local owls have been eating by dissecting their pellets. Plus the red kite camera footage will continue.

I'm pleased to announce that the red kite nest camera is back up and running, with three fluffy chicks on the nest. They look to be about a fortnight old and we look forward to watching them grow up, probably leaving the nest towards the end of July. As well as showing the footage in the RSPB shop, if you want to sit and watch the birds we will be opening up the Big Barn (subject to availability) and have seats in there.

 The blue tits are doing well, all eight chicks are still alive, well and hungry. But we don't think it will be long now before they leave the safety of the nestbox for the big wide world. other broods around the site have already begun leaving the nest. We just had to rescue a brood which somehow managed to get into the children's toilets and couldn't get back out again. But they are free now and flying around the site.

Great news from the blue tit nest camera. For the last day or two mum has been getting increasingly restless on the nest. Then this afternoon when she moved over to take some food from her partner, we saw a little pink squirming blob, in amongst the eggs. The first of the chicks. Its already been begging for food and been fed. Although the parents do sometimes seem a bit nonplussed by its appearance.

One out, seven to go!

No, not a new item on the menu of the Top Lodge cafe. But instead a reference to a new visitor to the pool in front of the wildlife hide. A pair of mandarin ducks (mandarin, orange.... oh suit yourselves) have been frequently spotted. These ducks were originally brought over from asia as exotic additions to the ornamental lakes of big houses. However they often escaped and now there is a sizeable population living in the wild. The males are very noticeable with their fancy feathers, and really do add a spalsh of colour.

No news on the red kite camera yet, we are waiting for the Forestry Commission to finish setting it up. However the blue tit camera is still going with mum sitting on a total of eight eggs now. It can't be too long before they start hatching and the serious business of feeding all those hungry mouths begins.