With 49 June bird species already recorded on my patch, finding any new ones will be a lot harder, and so it proved - for most of the 5 hour visit today. I had just about come to the end of the first half of my walk, and had racked up 40 species, before finding something different for the months list, that being the LITTLE OWL (50), it was where i've been seeing them recently, on the Greenhouses, a nice species to reach the 50 mark. A SPARROWHAWK that flew over moments later gave me a good photographic opportunity, especially as it was carrying prey, and a pair of SWIFTS added as I neared home made the daylist up to 42, very good for the halfway point.
It was getting warmer by the hour, and by 08:00 I was in a tee shirt, as I walked up Ashes lane towards the Wet Woods and lake area, I was most surprised to see a KINGFISHER (51) go zooming past at hedgerow height, very strange to see one of these over farmland, but a welcome addition to the months list anyway!
The Wet Woods was relatively cool and damp - a relief from the hot sun, and I quickly found one of my target species that is to be found here -TREECREEPER (52) , two in fact were scampering around the trunk and large limbs of an old Oak. This species brought up the 50 for the day, a good count for my patch, but more were to come!
Upon reaching the the lake, I heard a COAL TIT (53) calling, and thought to myself this would be it for the day, all the most obvious species had now been accounted for, apart from one, that may be on the lake, and as it happened it was - a single GREYLAG GOOSE (54). A GREY HERON was also fishing contentedly on the lake, and as I moved round for a photo of it, a whir of wings left the water, 5 MANDARIN DUCKS (55) , a real June bonus, and most unexpected! One more unexpected species was to be recorded before I called it a day, a TAWNY OWL (56) hooted twice from the scrub area around the lake.
What a great mornings birding! 55 species recorded, a mammoth total to reach for my patch. The only missing species that could have been realistically seen this morning was the Nuthatch, or maybe the Yellowhammer, the latter has yet to be seen this month, and one was heard singing just to the north of my patch.
The months list hits 56, still eleven species behind the record June total set back in 2008, things will get very difficult from now on !
I took quite a few pics today, the first 3 are of a hunting KESTREL
The next 3 are of the Sparrowhawk, taking off it's prey, I couldn't quite make out what sort of bird it had ( might of been a patch tick !)
I also took a couple of WHITETHROAT photo's
Below is the GREY HERON on the Lake
I also caught up with this moth again - which I now know is a Small Yellow Underwing
lastly, a Broad Bodied Chaser, seen in the lakeside scrub.
8 comments:
Hi Warren, nice mixed post, particularly like the Kestrel and Sparrowhawk shots they're hard to get right when the subject is moving.
Great to read about your good birding, and glad to see the sun has finally come out over there. Those hunting kestrel pictures are fantastic.
Lovely photos of the Kestrel and also the Sparrowhawk. Well done on the 56!
Some nice additions to the June list, Warren and i echo what the others have said regards the photos.
Warren ,
Great action shots .
Especially the Kestrel .
Well done, Warren..that sunny weather sure does make a difference doesn't it? I had a lovely day Thurs. too...June is magical! Very nice action shots of the kestrel, by the way.
Fantastic captures of the raptors!
Cracking flight shots Warren. Do you often hear Tawny around mid-day? I've been fooled by a mimic Jay in the past!
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