Raptor Rapture

Well, October is getting off to a good start.
The 1st was a nice fine day. Glorious sunshine, no wind, lots of singing birds......... what more could the heart of man desire?
Not much happening around the hide (well, ok.... nice couple of Mute Swans) so I took a walk along the footpath leading to the fields behind Collier's Brook.

Mute Swan

A large flock of Meadow Pipits (35+) were lazily making their way up the hill only to be first bombarded by a Kestrel (who obviously decided these were a bit on the large side for dinner and moved on) and then by a Sparrowhawk.
I missed the Kestrel but got a couple of half decent shots of the Sparrowhawk:

Sparrowhawk

No sooner had the sparrowhawk moved on when a Buzzard made a low fly past, as if to say, "Never mind that pair of jokers, I'm King Raptor around these parts".  I didn't want to offend him so I took his photo too:

Buzzard

Well the thrill of all these airborne killers was getting too much for me. It's more excitement than a man of my age can stand for one day.
I made my way back along the footpath where 5 Chiffchaff had joined a group of 24 Long-tailed Tits to clear the hedgerow of bugs.
Not quite the same excitement of watching a hunting Sparrowhawk, but just take a look at the blood thirsty glint in this little chaps eye. It make your blood curdle..........

Long-tailed Tit

September Round Up

It's been a busy month.

Such a busy month that a chap can barely find time to update his blog.

So here's a photographic round up of some of this months highlights at Hartpury Orchard Centre:

First up, a Little Grebe. A patch first and No. 71 on the list:

Little Grebe

Next up..... Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a wasp?

No, it's a hornet. Just the one. Quite a handsome little "dude" though, as my daughter would say. With the exception of dragonflies I haven't been keeping an insect tally. Perhaps it's time to start?

Hornet

There were still good numbers of Chiffchaffs to be seen most days:

Chiffchaff

There are usually a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers on site and Green Woodpeckers have been feeding in the orchard grass most days:

Green Woodpecker

A nice Small Copper turned up on the 28th and there have been good numbers of dragonflies and damselflies all month:

Small Copper

Common Hawker

So, I'm beginning to think that, with a fair wind, October could turn out to be a very good month indeed.

It's like buses........

.....you wait all day for one and then 2 come along at once!
Or in this case - you wait all year.
So on Sunday morning I had to make a visit to the tip. Whoops, sorry.... Recyling Centre. I really must learn to stop calling it that. Anyway, on the way back I thought, "Well me binoculars are in the car, it would be rude not to pop into the Orchard Centre for 5 minutes and see if there's anything about".
So I swung by, parked up and scuttled down to the hide as fast as my little legs would carry me. No sooner had I sat down when a flash of blue shot by. Would you Adam and Eve it! (I'm not a cockney but I'm given to regionally accented outbursts from time to time, A Kingfisher! A bloody Kingfisher! Two years I've waited to see one here. And what does the little blighter do? He alights on a bulrush in good view of the hide and I swear to god I could hear him laughing. Okay, it was the voices in my head again..... "Shame you forgot your camera Steve. Ha ha ha.". Go on, rub it in.

Nevertheless, number 69 is in the bag!

I figured all was not lost and decided to head off home to collect the camera. Surely the little fella would make another appearance. I coaxed my curious, though somewhat unenthusiastic, teenage daughter to accompany me. In truth, she's a much better photographer than me so I put her in charge of "the kit" to leave me free to find the bird.

Alas, 'twas not to be. An hour of fruitless searching and lolling around in a draughty hide produced nothing. It looked as though our little blue chum had moved along. Drat.

Once again there was a large flock of Goldfinches feeding on the thistles around the hide. My daughter snapped off a few shots and then pointed out an LBJ ("Little Brown Job" to the uninitiated) perched on the top of a hedge, partially obscured by the swirling cloud of finches. 

With binoculars sharply focused, I was able to excitedly announce that it was a Whinchat. I think I must have repeated  that about 10 times to my (still) somewhat unenthusiastic daughter. " I'll take some photos shall I dad?" Oh yeah, right. I knew you were here for a good reason. Left to me I would have missed the moment.

A Whinchat. That's quite a big deal for my little patch. Oh, and let's not forget, it's also number 70. 

Whinchat

Whinchat and Goldfinch

Goldfinches in flight

Taking stock

A quiet day at the Orchard Centre. No new birds but good numbers of those species that were present.

A small flock of Stock Doves (16) feeding directly in front of the hide, 50+ Goldfinches and 60 Jackdaws (a record number).

Other non-flocking birds today: 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Mute Swans, 2 Jays, 2 Magpies, 7 Swallows,  4 Robins, 5 Moorhens (3 juveniles), a Coot and around a dozen Wood Pigeons.

Also a Redstart on Blackwells End, approaching the Orchard Centre.

Autumn is in the air. I feel a big tick is looming.

No,  really........

A ruddy good day

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.

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.

Ruddy Darter

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..........

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!)