The unseasonal warm sunny weather seems to have left our Farnham woodlarks a little confused. They are singing as if it's the spring - not that I'm complaining, as I think the woodlark has one of the most beautiful songs of any British bird. It's a pure mellow, "fluting" kind of song. The scientific name for this songster is Lullula arborea, and the first part of the name is based on the song. The french name for woodlark is Lulu, again, based on the song. I wonder how many fans of a certain popular female entertainer are aware of the connection with this heathland bird?
Whatever the woodlarks might think, it's very definitely autumn. Despite the dry weather, there are lots of fungi about, including one of the rarest species at Farnham, a little thing called Spathularia flavida.It doesn't have an English name, but you'll have to imagine something like very small yellow teaspoons sticking out of the ground. It's more often found in Scottish pine forests, but we usually see a few here each autumn. Another conifer associate currently making itself very obvious is the crossbill. Parties of up to 20 can be found moving around the areas of pine woodland that we have kept on the site. Because they have a very dry diet,exclusively conifer seeds, crossbills are often attracted to puddles and ponds to drink, so the area around our small pond is a good place to see them.
Autumn is also the start of the busiest time for the volunteers on the reserve (not that I don't try to keep them busy the rest of the year as well!). This is when we can tackle the all - important scrub control work. This season we will be clearing scrub from about seven hectares of the reserve. The regulars have been assisted by two teams from HSBC, each of 25 people, and there is a third HSBC group booked in for later this month. The scrub won't know what hit it!