Take it Easy

After a 10 day hiatus I finally made it back to the patch. It was mid afternoon and a warm day so I wasn't expecting too much activity.
And there wasn't!

On the water were 3 Tufted Duck, a couple of Coots (with young), 2 Mute Swans, A Moorhen and a handful of Mallards. Plenty of Chiffchaff were evident by their song (I estimated 8) and at least 4 Reed Warblers. 2 Blackcaps, 4 Stock Dove, 2 Buzzards and a few Swallows pretty much made up the rest of the roll call.
I've always found Coots to be rather unnatractive birds. What with that black coat, spindly legs and severe white "bald patch". They look a bit like Max Wall.

Max Wall

A Coot

Although the place was a little light on birds, I decided that that I would take things at a leisurely pace today and really soak up the surroundings. I'm glad I did. You see so much more when you take your time.

With the sun out, the place was alive with dragonflies. I saw at least 30 and identified Broad-bodied Chasers, Four Spotted Chasers and Black-tailed Skimmers. 

Four Spotted Chaser

There were a few butterflies around, mainly Meadow Browns and Small Whites, but also a couple of Common Blues.

I rested for a while on the small wooden bridge that links the footpath to the field behind the Orchard Centre and saw a Red Fox trotting towards me. As I was obscured by a bush he (or she) was completely oblivious to my presence. I fumbled with my camera, thinking "this could be a really special shot" but as I raised the camera I couldn't seem to focus the lens (afterwards I realised I had accidently flipped the autofocus switch to off!). The fox got closer and closer and I realised the moment was about to pass. I attempted to manually focus the lens and got off three shots before he noticed me. Much to my suprise he didn't bolt off. He just picked up the pace and trotted casually out of view.

Two of the photos were hopeless.This is the best one but not as sharp as I would have liked!

Red Fox

A Father's Day Treat

So I said to my daughter, "C'mon, it's Father's Day. You can come birdwatching with me". And to my suprise she came. I thought that she did a marvellous job keeping her obvious disappointment in check.
"You can be my lucky Charm", I said, "I could do with some good luck".
It was raining lightly when we arrived (no change there then) but every now and again the sun struggled to peek out. We made straight for the hide, making enough noise to scare off a gaggle of Mallards and 2 Tufted Ducks in the process.
There was plently of birdsong to be heard. Blackbirds, Robins, a Wren, a Whitethroat, at least 4 Chiffchaff and a Song Thrush. We also saw 4 Reed Warblers, 2 Stock Dove, 4 House Martins, 6 Swallows, 4 Long-tailed Tits, a Jay, a Moorhen and 2 Coot.
We then watched a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Carrion Crow team up to mob a Buzzard. An extraordinary sight and something I have not seen before.
However, my daughter decided that the "cute" lambs were far more deserving of a photograph than any bird life and she proceeded to snap away happily at the rather gormless looking ruminants staring at us through the hide windows:

Not a bird

A butterfly landed just next to the hide. I got a couple of shots before it flew off again. Later examination of the photograph suggested that this was a female Green-veined White.

Green-veined White

Just as we were about to leave I caught sight of a small bird alighting in a tree on the opposite side of the main pond. Could it be? Could it really be? Yes, it was...... a Spotted Flycatcher, flitting back and forth from it's perch in typical flycatching mode.

(Too far away for a photo unfortunatley)

I said to my daughter, "I told you. You are a lucky charm!"

"Look at that funny sheep with the wonky teeth, Dad", she replied.

Ah well, I consoled myself with the fact that my patch list now stood at a respectable 60.

Four Seasons In One Day

I know that I go on about the weather, but really......... what's going on?
It is June, isn't it?
I've had a few evening visits to the patch lately, so I thought I'd make the effort and get there early today (6:45am). I reasoned that the place would be buzzing with birdlife as they'd all be busy gathering food for their young. Breakfast ahoy!
It didn't quite pan out the way I had expected. I wondered for a moment if I had entered some kind of time warp and walked into a typical February morning. Freezing cold, intermittent rain (April showers?), biting winds and just the occasional glimpses of sunshine. Delightful.
I decided to abandon the hide after 5 minutes. The "windows" were taking the full force of the north wind and it was pulling it through like some kind of vacumn.

So to the birds:
23 Mallards, 2 Tufted Duck, 4 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiifchaff, a Jay, 2 Stock Doves, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Whitethroats, 2 Song Thrushes, a Green Woodpecker, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 5 Carrion Crow, 2 Buzzards, 2 Coots and a Moorhen.
However, none of these hung about long enough for me to take a decent photograph. I expect that they needed to keep moving to stay warm!
It was nice to see that a pair of Swallows have nested in one of the barns.

It was too early (and too cold) in the day for dragonflies but at least I could rely on the Brown Hares to offer me a photo opportunity. They really are very obliging animals and allowed me to get close enough for a reasonable shot.
Mind you, this poor fella is curled up into a little ball of fluff. He may just have been frozen to the spot!

Brown Hare

It's funny but when I look at that hare, I can't help thinking that he would make a really good hot water bottle cover.

One of those days

I have this theory that if you spend enough time in an unremarkable place then one day something truly remarkable will happen.
Today was not that day.
In fact, as unremarkable days go, this was the mother of them all.
I took a late afternoon visit to the patch after the rain cleared and the winds had died down a little (yes, it looks like summer is over. It was never going to last was it?)
There were very few birds to be seen. A few Swallows, a couple of Mallards, a Mute Swan and some singing Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats. Otherwise....... nothing.
I thought, "Never mind, I'll find some dragonflies instead". Although not as elusive as the birds, the weather has been unkind to them today so numbers were far from abundant. There were a few Large Red and Common Blue Damselflies and 3 or 4 large dragonflies that I simply couldn't get close enough to either photograph or identify. I did eventually manage to catch up with two Broad Bodied Chasers but the photos were disappointingly blurry. These are beautiful creatures some I'm including a photograph from a previous jaunt here:

Broad Bodied Chaser (female)

And one from today!

Common Blue Damselfly

So, dragonflies aside, a truly unremarkable day.
But I'm ever the optimist and I know something remarkable is on it's way. I can feel it my water (although that may just be the bladder infection).

Come in No.59, your time is up.

It's been a couple of weeks since I added anything to the Patch List so a pair of Swifts today was long overdue. No.59 in the bag!
I'm suprised that I haven't heard a Cuckoo yet and I was hoping for either a Spotted Flycatcher or maybe a Hobby by now, but beggars can't be choosers...
And in any case I was richly rewarded today with a variety of birds and a staggering number of dragonflies and damselflies.
First, the bird life: all the usual suspects were in situ. 10 Mallards, 6 Tufted Ducks (4m 2F), a pair of Mute Swans, 2 Grey Herons, 4 Stock Dove, 5+ Chiffchaff and 4 or more Willow Warblers.
I had a bit of luck with photographing the latter. I could hear a Willow Warbler calling but couldn't see it. As I had my Iphone with me I was able to play the call of this bird back from my Birdguides "British Birds" app. It brought 3 curious birds out of the bushes and nicely into a photo-call. Cheating I know, but I was pleased with the photos:

Other notable birds seen: 6 Swallows, 4 Buzzards, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls the aforementioned Swifts, a House Martin and a Whitethroat.

I've probably overdone the Tufted Duck photos latley but couldn't resist this. I swear the little blighter was laughing at me:

And so to the non-bird life:

A Brown Hare of course! I don't think I've ever been here and not seen a hare. It makes me wonder if I have stumbled into some top secret government hare breeding programme! Some of them are huge as well. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? (One for the conspiracy theorists).

Now, I'm no expert on dragonflies but this place is teeming with them so I've been doing my best to learn about them. The titles on the photos below are my best guesses. If anyone knows differently I'd be glad to be corrected (click on photos to enlarge):

Common Blue Damselfly (female)

Black Tailed Skimmer (immature)

Beautiful Demoiselle (female)

Large Red Damselfly (male)

In to June

My second visit this weekend and a sunny, if somewhat blustery, afternoon.
Only 2 Tufted Ducks to be seen today. I'll give them their due, they are very obliging when it comes to photographs and will sit and pose with ease. It's shame that some of the other birds can't be so loving of the camera.

A number of Skylarks could be heard singing and at least 4 Chiffchaff were in full song too. 

A large Brown Hare ran out in front of me just as I got to the hide:

Other birds putting in appearances today were : 12 Mallards (including the white bird), 2 Stock Doves, 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 4 House Martins, 2 Buzzards, 8 Jackdaw and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

There were a good number of damselfly around the water today. I believe that this one is a female Large Red Damselfly (but I wouldn't hang my hat on it). They are amazing creatures seen in close up.

I think Summer has finally arrived. This place is really bursting into life now. Wonderful.

Return of the Tufties

I haven't seen Tufted Ducks on the patch since early winter, so it was rather pleasing to see 5 here today. Two pairs and a single male. Beautiful ducks, handsome and sleek (they remind me of myself).

House Martin numbers are slowly increasing (at least 5 today) and around 8 Swallows were also zig-zagging across the skies.

2 male Chiffchaffs were still singing, a pair of Grey Herons and a pair of Mute Swans were seen from the hide, with around a dozen Mallards.

A Buzzard got close enough for me to get a couple of reasonable shots:

Other birds seen today; 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Linnet, 2 Stock Doves and a Blackcap.