Tuesday 12 May 2009

Again it was very blustery this afternoon, and little could be expected in the conditions. On the way home from work I saw that the excavators had gone from migrant alley, and all was quiet, so, despite feeling rubbish ( got a cold coming, sniff, sniff, or is it Swine flu?) I decided to go over to the scrub to the north of the fields, as it affords some shelter from the wind. There were some birds here, LESSER and COMMON WHITETHROAT were just about audible, a BLUE TIT went back and forth with beakfulls of caterpillars, feeding it's nestlings in a box, and overhead HERRING and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS toyed with the wind.

I walked a circuit of the fields, and got thoroughly blasted by the incessant wind, the only reward for my bravery was seeing a flock of 30 ish LINNETS. I retreated to the shelter of the scrub again to warm up, and from there I followed the tree line down to the watery ditch, on the NW boundary of my patch, which was also pleasantly sheltered. Here there was at least some wildlife action, in the form of my first Broad Bodied Chaser, a female, which stayed put on a sunny twig for some pics. Also a Large Red damselfly, and a Blue type damselfly which flew off never to be seen again before I could ID it!

Not a very good birding day, but I had some fun with a group of 5-6 SWALLOWS that were hawking for insects low over an adjacent fresh cut silage field, I took over 30 photo's trying to catch them skimming low over the grass field, but the clever little birds always put themselves between me and the sun, so most of the photo's were into the light. I did get one half decent shot though.

Still no Spotted Flycatchers!

Below are a couple of photo's of the broad bodied chaser,


............and the Large Red damselfly
This is the only Swallow pic that resembled a Swallow!




10 comments:

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: What a neat dragonfly, at least you see where it gets its name. I have only seen one fly by so far.

Kelly said...

...that is more than a half-way decent shot. It's great...showing all the action of flight and capture those beautiful tail feathers! I'm starting to garner an appreciation of these beautiful insects through the photos on everyone's blog.

Chris said...

Hi Warren,
It is the same here, wind of 30m/s and even more. You do not really want to go out there in these conditions!!! You swallow looks like a jet, not really a bird :-)

Simon said...

Great Chaser shots. You did well to keep on the Swallow, especially in the widy conditions - nice photo.

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Great Swallow shot . Good job you weren't using film .
If only this wind would stop blowing .

FAB said...

Nice capture of the BBC Warren. We will have to batten down for a few days if these winds continue.

ShySongbird said...

I'm playing catch up again Warren and have just left a comment on your previous post.
It is still windy and cold here too. I loved your photos of the damselfly and Broad Bodied Chaser and I had to laugh at your comment about the Swallow pic.

Leslie said...

Stunning Chaser! Got my first one today! Pics not as spectacular as yours, but I was so pleased.

Tricia Ryder said...

Sorry to hear you've got the sniffles Warren - hope you feel better soon.

Great to see that flock of Linnets and lovely pics of a super dragon!!

The wind's dropped over in my patch - at last - but grey and drizzly all day!

Phil and Mandy said...

a good selection of photos Warren.