As I hastily drove along Blackwell's End, looking forward to some quality birding at the Orchard Centre a small bird flitted out from the hedgerow and back again. Little brown job. I was about to dismiss it as a Robin when it flashed that obvious red tail at me. "Bingo!" I shouted. I don't really know why but it seemed appropriate at the time. At any rate this female
Redstart was a patch first and takes my total up to
68. Huzzah!
Once I'd made my way to the hide I settled down for some relaxing birdwatching. It was very quiet this afternoon but frankly, who cares? The expectation is always high.
Good numbers of
Goldfinches again today. Maybe 50+, not quite the numbers I saw here on Sunday (120) but it's good to see such a healthy population.
Best birds seen from the hide today: 30
Swallows, a
Kestrel, 4
Buzzards, 2
Mute Swans, 4
Moorhens, 2
Chiffchaff and 2
Stock Dove. No sign of Sunday's
Sparrowhawk or
Tufted Duck.
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| Buzzard |
Wandering around the orchard it was nice to see good numbers of dragonflies, mainly
Emperors and
Ruddy Darters. I managed to get in quite close to this little fella.
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| Ruddy Darter |
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| Add caption |
This simply has to be one of the best places for dragonflies in Gloucestershire. I think I must have recorded around 14 different species of Odonata here so far.
So next week..........
