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

Dragonfly bonanza

So the conditions were just right.
Still and sunny. Perfect for dragonflies, I thought.
So I scuttled off down to the Orchard Centre at Hartpury in hopeful anticipation.
Just as well I was focusing on dragonflies and not birds today as the pollen count was sky high and the din of my spasmodic and explosive sneezing fits was enough to, quite literally, "fetch ducks off water" as my old Auntie Betty used to say.
First up for the photo shoot was a rather restless Common Darter. He eventually settled for a few seconds and I managed a couple of shots.

Common Darter

As usual, there were plenty of Common Blue Damselflies to be found.

Common Blue Damselfly

Black-Tailed Skimmers were also in good numbers. I like these little fellas. Not only are they gorgeous to look at but they're very accomodating when faced with a camera. They will sit perfectly still while you compose the shot and are rarely in a rush to move on.

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer

A Banded Demoiselle passed by but I was unable to get a shot of it. Then the fun started.
I was more than delighted to see good numbers of Emperor Dragonflies but trying to keep up with them is a something of a challenge. They simply don't ever appear to alight on anything. I followed one, back and forth, for a good fifteen minutes and it never kept still. The best I could manage was some rather poor mid flight photographs, the best of which is below.

Emperor Dragonfly

and so to the birds...........
The best thing about dragonflies? They attract Hobbies. And as if by magic a fine male Hobby came hurtling across the ponds at breakneck speed, catching hapless dragonflies as it went. I was treated to about 15 minutes of this ariel bombardment but was unable to get anything other than blurred photos of the bird due to its incredible speed. But what a great performance!
I aslo nudged the patch list up to 65 with the appearance of a Reed Warbler. The young reedbeds have really flouished this year making it an ideal environment.
The Kestrel chicks have fledged and were being fed in nearby trees by the busy adults.

Male Kestrel

Kestrel and Buzzard

The male Kestrel also took some swipes at a passing Buzzard. Not the sharpest photo but I thought that Buzzard was throwing some great shapes!
Other birds seen: A Reed Bunting, 15 Canada Geese (11 young), and four (count 'em!) soaring Ravens.
All in all, a very satisfactory afternoon!

Tales of the Riverbank

So on Saturday I had this daft idea that I needed to get some river-watching under my belt. I had a flash of inspiration and recalled that a few years ago I had some twitchers luck whilst ambling along the Severn somewhere around Newnham.
It took me about an hour to locate the actual spot (planning is everything). It was the footpath leading from the village of Awre.
'Twas a very dull day so I wasn't expecting to come back with any great photographs but that was the least of my worries.
This was clearly a path that was not well trodden. The grass was a little less than waist height in some parts and wet. Really wet. Trouser soaking, boot leaking, sock squelching wet.
Ah well, all part of the adventure.
Any birds?
Well a few.
Good numbers of Reed Buntings and Sylarks.

Male reed bunting

Skylark

A Little Egret flew by and then I spooked two Oystercatchers who flew out into the river.

Oystercatchers

Little Egret

A sizeable flock of Linnets passed over and one did me the service of pausing atop a bush for a while enabling me to fire off a few photos. The exposure is poor as I was shooting towards the sky but I've had worse photos.

Linnet

Other birds seen included: Reed Warbler, a Hobby and a Green Woodpecker

The lone lapwing

Just the one.
All on his tod.
Refusing to slow down for a decent photograph.
I tried!

Lapwing

Recent Photos

Some recent photos from The Orchard Centre and thereabouts:
Firstly this caterpillar cluster

Lackey Moth Caterpillars

 This kestrel clearly can't read. That's a Barn Owl box mate!

Nesting Kestrel

Whinchat

 And as my old grandad used to say to me.... "It'd fetch ducks of water"

Mallards in flight