Welcome To The Kingfisher Wildlife Diaries – John Bailey
November 2nd 2009
Falling Leaves
The leaf fall now is really with us and very beautiful it is. It's abnormally late again this year and as I write on the cusp of November it still looks like summer out there in certain lights. However, as the month progresses, we'll see the trees increasingly bare.
And that's great for wildlife viewing. I remember a day last November with absolute awe. I was moving through the woods, around one of the lakes, looking primarily for fish in the margins and at some grebes. I don't know what gave me a suspicion, a hint of something out on an island but it was enough to make me stop and reach for the binoculars.
There, in the late afternoon greyness a red deer was watching me intently, his breath smoking as it rose in the rapidly cooling air. We watched each other a full ten minutes before I moved on, not wanting to disturb the creature further. 
What is for sure, is that I would not have picked up on the animal had the trees been in full leaf. The coming weeks really are some of the very best for wildlife viewing. Pick a still, relatively bright day and get out there, early in the morning till last knockings in the evening. Take time out for lunch and a warming bowl of soup. Be prepared to walk several miles and to come back to the apartment at Kingfishers shattered but amazingly satisfied.