Wednesday 19 May 2010

This afternoon I walked over to the lakeside scrub area, as the chiansaw gang seemd to have finished, but I don't know if they will be back.

It was good to catch up with the sound of the woodland birds, a bit of a surprise was hearing a TREECREEPER sing, not heard one singing since April. TURTLE DOVE, CUCKOO, WHITETHROAT, CHIFFCHAFF and BLACKCAP were all heard, but no Garden Warbler - has it left the area, or is it busy nesting ?

On the lake, two broods of CANADA GEESE were seen, one of 4 and one of 8, while 3 drake MALLARDS lazed nearby. Also on the lake today was a GREY HERON, the first seen on here this month - something a little different :-)

A quick walk round the sheep pasture and horse paddocks at Migrant Alley didn't give me the Whinchat I wanted, time is running out now to get this species for the spring, maybe i'll get lucky in the Autumn. All the usual species seen on the past few visits were seen, WOODPIGEONS, ROOKS with fledlings, JACKDAWS, CARRION CROWS, PIED WAGTAILS, LINNETS, a few GOLDFINCH a GREEN WOODPECKER, and the local SWALLOWS zooming about. One bird I saw was a bit different from of late, a LITTLE OWL, it was perched on one of the Greenhouse Roofs, but flew off into the nearby copse before I could photograph it. The only raptor seen today was a KESTREL, also hunting around the Greenhouses.

A few more butterflies were seen today, above: a Small Tortoiseshell and below a couple of Small copper photo's




Below a couple of young Rabbits in racial harmony!

Lastly a Photo of the Hedgehog that visits my Garden - great little beasty!






7 comments:

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
Love the shot of the Two Bunnies having a good Rabbit!
Also lovely photo's of the Small Tortoiseshell and the Small Copper.

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Nice to see the Hedgehog , haven't seen one for ages .
Heard Cuckoo today , but still didn't see it .

Sharon said...

How lovely to photograph bunnies and a hedgehog! Not seen a hedgehog for at least a year!

Kerry said...

Lovely shot of the Small Copper: such a beautiful little butterfly. I had to view the other image in large to spot the other one: blended in well to its surroundings.

Nice to see a hedgehog. They used to be everywhere when I lived in a town but out here in the countryside I have only seen one in over 10 years.

Chris said...

You have a hedgehog!!! How cool... you know that last time I saw one it was 20 years ago... I would love to see one again... The rabbit shot is also very nice...

Anonymous said...

Nice pics Warren.
Small Copper is refusing to show itself up here.

ShySongbird said...

Lovely photos again, Warren. You are very lucky to have the Hedgehog, until the last couple of years they were a very common sight in our garden at night and there were always little tunnels under the fences where they had their 'run'. I think there are too many 'fashionable' (mine isn't one of them) unwelcoming gardens now, such a shame.