Common as................

After a gruelling morning chaperoning the girls around the shops, I made my excuses and hot footed it down to the Orchard Centre.
The weather forecasts were threatening a storm and it was already beginning to cloud over, so time was of the essence.
As soon as I plonked myself down in the hide a bird flew across the pond at such a speed that I barely got a decent shuftie at it.
At first I thought it was an overgrown Sandmartin but quickly figured it was some kind of wader.
I've seen plenty of Snipe here but this didn't fly like a Snipe. Green Sandpiper? I saw one here earlier in the year but this didn't have the white rump that distinguishes it. Hmmmmmm..... I mused... "lucky I've got the the British Birds app on my IPhone".  Although I fairly quickly narrowed it down to Common Sandpiper, the call didn't match the sound on the app so I was holding out for some kind of rarity. Pectoral Sandpiper would be a nice tick. One tweet and every anorak in the county would be shuffling up against me on those hide benches. That's going to be about as cosy as Rolf Harris's prison cell.
As luck would have it, the bird was pretty restless and kept alighting just in sight of the hide. It was too far off for a decent shot but from the few I did take (and then enlarged) you could plainly see the white wing/shoulder bar. So Common Sandpiper it is! Right, lets have this little fella down as 67 on the patch list!

Common Sandpiper

I had become so engrossed with this bird that I had totally missed the blatantly obvious reason why it had been so restless. A Red Fox was skulking in the undergrowth on the other side of the water right in front of the hide. He seemed unaware of me and continued to pace up and down on the banks while I took a few photographs.

Red Fox

Plenty of dragonflies to be seen again, including Emperors, Black Tailed Skimmers, a Large Red Damselfly and a Banded Demoiselle.

Banded Demoiselle

Other birds seen today: A Moorhen, 19 Canada Geese, 2 Coot, 5 Mallards, A Blackcap, 2 Stock Doves, 2 Mute Swans, 10 House Martins, 10 Swallows and 2 Buzzards.

Foot note:

I paid another visit to the site this evening, dragging my daughter along with the vague promise that we might see a Barn Owl. We didn't of course, but my friend the Common Sandpiper was still there and as we arrived we managed to flush a Green Sandpiper to. 

That'll do nicely!

A Garden Dragonfly

All that time I spend chasing dragonflies around the Orchard Centre and then this stunning fella turns up in my garden!
An Emperor Dragonfly I believe, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (It's been known!)

A little bit of bread and no che-ese!

It got to lunchtime and I thought, "Hello, it's looking a bit cloudy out there", so I downed tools (well, the hedge trimmer, at least) and made off for the Orchard Centre.
I was hoping for another glimpse of that magnificent Hobby, but he was nowhere in sight today.
Dragonflies were out in good numbers - mainly Black-Tailed Skimmers and Emperors.
Around the hide were 15 Canada Geese, a Coot, a Moorhen and a handful of Mallards. Only one female remained from the resident Kestrel family. Two juvenile Buzzards noisily called to their parents from the trees at the back of the main pond.
It wasn't long before the first drops of rain began to fall then....... the heavens opened. A torrential downpour accompanied by overhead thunder.
I was glad of the shelter that the hide offered (despite the leaks!).
What happened next was quite astonishing. The harder it rained the more activity appeared in the airspace above the ponds. From nowhere a large flock of House Martins and Swallows appeared, darting across the surace of the water. Through my trusty, battered binoculars I could see huge clouds of swirling insects completely oblivious to the pouring rain, and those hirundines were loving it!

When the downpour had subsided I made my way out of the damp hide and walked along the reed bed.  I saw at least 5 Reed Warblers (two of the males in fine voice - belting out their demented chattering song as I passed).
A pair of Yellowhammers basked in the emerging sunlight. I was hoping for the "little bit of bread and no cheese" song but I was to be dissapointed. However, the male was a stunningly coloured handsome beast and he knew it. He could see I had a camera and he let me get close enough for a few decent shots. He was enjoying himself I'm sure. In fact, I think he winked at me. If this guy was a human he'd be reaching for the posing pouch....

Male Yellowhammer

4 Ravens flew over. they were quite low so I thought I had got some cracking shots of them but because of the brightness of the sky and my rank amateur photographic skills I just ended up with a batch of ( not completely useless) silhouettes!

Raven