October at Leighton Moss with fungi, Quaking aspen, bearded tit and otter

Aspen, Populus tremula

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A  highlight at Leighton Moss is bearded tit which show well on a bright October day.  But for me,  a tall and stately tree in a shimmer of golden leaves is a surprise and a novelty.  Sunlight and shadow play through an autumn wood at the approach of Halloween.  There are gleaming red  berries of Guelder rose and dark clots of witches' broom on birch.  And this brilliant quivering tree that I've never noticed before and cannot imagine why. Green-gold leaves tremble and there are fallen leaves on the wet ground fringing the pool at far hide.   I was here yesterday but in low cloud with sudden sharp showers the tree was unremarkable.  Now sunlight conjures it into being.  But what is it, how might we name this tree? 

A man with Merlin, the bird ID App, tells us there are marsh tit and long-tailed tit about. My friend has a tree ID App and pronounces European aspen.  A Woodland Trust website  tells about Quaking aspen, Populus tremula.  The tree bears catkins so next spring I shall look for them.  When the fall is accomplished the shape of the tree will emerge, leafless. Tree, or trees-  with a suckering habit there seem to be several  in a cluster. 
​                          Aspen - British Trees - Woodland Trust

Woodland Trust
http 

Tuesday 21st is a day of sharp showers and moisture in the air. Fungi swarm about tree-trunks and fruit-bodies rise from green mosses. A rosy clump of autumn rot shows a mingling of fallen leaves and fungi.  And a  host of different lichens are on branches.
The calls of rutting deer reach us.  There are pintail amongst shoveler and some are in eclipse plumage,  a moult of old feathers in a transition to new.  Sky-pointing is a sign of courtship behaviour which comes earlier than one might think.  Gadwall plumage is rather sombre but, upturned and shallow-feeding, their bellies are white.   Often water-birds have heads tucked into downy feathers, preening or roosting- hunkered down and half-hidden. 
What a difference a day makes!!  Wednesday 22nd brings brilliant sunshine and bearded-tits take in grit on trays in their reed-bed habitat.  Hoverflies, wasps and red admiral feed on late-flowering ivy.  Dragonflies flit through reeds on the edge of the pool on Causeway Hide.  Female water-birds can be harder to identify than males in bright breeding plumage.  Females have delicate patterns in soft and muted shades.  Marsh harrier fly over the water and one settles on the distant reeds, close to the water.   Brightness falls from the air. Gloss and sheen on the water is lost in a sudden heavy shower. There's a stir in the hide as we all watch the rain, snug and dry within its shelter.  The shower is soon over and brilliance returns.

Otter-watch is always a thrill.  It's not unusual to glimpse otter here at Leighton Moss but often the creature surfaces only briefly, giving glimpses of its sleek and glossy pelt, a flick of the tail.  One of my images captures the sinuous otter, its long body with a slick of a wake trailing behind.  Some  companions with whom we share the hide have powerful cameras, all trained on the spot where the otter pops up close to a small patch of reeds.  A woman sitting beside me gives directions to her husband and to me, telling us when it's breaking the surface and which way it's heading - the creature often changes direction. Mute swans are a handy feature  and she indicates the otter's  position in relation to various swans. The buzz of otter-watch brings out the camaraderie amongst strangers.   Otter news takes priority over whatever the marsh harrier are doing.   Gadwall swimming close to the hide are a diversion when the otter dives deep and disappears.