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