A better day today, the walk to work in warm sunshine was enhanced by hearing the TURTLE DOVE singing again, and 10 CANADA GEESE with a lone GREYLAG GOOSE were in the cut silage field at Migrant Alley.
This afternoon was warm, with variable amounts of cloud drifting over. I spent some time at the lakeside scrub, looking for butterflies, and maybe the Marsh Tit, the latter did not turn up, but there were a few Butterflies on the wing, mainly Gatekeepers, and Meadow Browns, but Purple Hairstreak, Holly Blue, Red Admiral and Peacock also put in an appearance. Whilst there a CORMORANT flew over, and a family of NUTHATCHES very nearly had their photo's taken, but with my finger over the shutter button, I missed them by milli-seconds :-)
I headed off over to the Maize crop in the Pub Field, it's that time of year when I might just find a Whinchat, or maybe a Stonechat perched atop one of the seed heads, but the chances of doing so were much reduced, when first a SPARROWHAWK, then a HOBBY went low over the field. I gave the field a good scan anyway, but nowt was seen.
I moved on to Migrant Alley, where I am more likely to find an early Migrant 'chat' or Wheatear, July has thrown up the odd one before, but it wasn't to be this afternoon. I did find a Turtle Dove on the fence line, and got a distant photo of it ( above), plus as I walked round the paddocks and pasture, I had two more Raptor species fly over, first a KESTREL, then a COMMON BUZZARD. I actually saw anothe Raptor, the Peregrine, it was off patch to the south, where I have seen it most afternoons - it's about time it made a hunting trip over my patch, I could do with it on the July list :-)
A mish-mash of photo's today: Below this Fox was seen in the Small Holding as I walked over to the lakes.
A Red Admiral wouldn't quite open it's wings fully, but looked colourful anyway
Below, believe it or not, is my first newly fledged SONGTHRUSH for the year - breeding confirmed at last, the 29th bird species to be confirmed as breding on my patch.
Next up, a couple of distant shots of the Buzzard.
Lastly, a sure sign of the tail end of summer, the first Blackberries ripen.
This afternoon was warm, with variable amounts of cloud drifting over. I spent some time at the lakeside scrub, looking for butterflies, and maybe the Marsh Tit, the latter did not turn up, but there were a few Butterflies on the wing, mainly Gatekeepers, and Meadow Browns, but Purple Hairstreak, Holly Blue, Red Admiral and Peacock also put in an appearance. Whilst there a CORMORANT flew over, and a family of NUTHATCHES very nearly had their photo's taken, but with my finger over the shutter button, I missed them by milli-seconds :-)
I headed off over to the Maize crop in the Pub Field, it's that time of year when I might just find a Whinchat, or maybe a Stonechat perched atop one of the seed heads, but the chances of doing so were much reduced, when first a SPARROWHAWK, then a HOBBY went low over the field. I gave the field a good scan anyway, but nowt was seen.
I moved on to Migrant Alley, where I am more likely to find an early Migrant 'chat' or Wheatear, July has thrown up the odd one before, but it wasn't to be this afternoon. I did find a Turtle Dove on the fence line, and got a distant photo of it ( above), plus as I walked round the paddocks and pasture, I had two more Raptor species fly over, first a KESTREL, then a COMMON BUZZARD. I actually saw anothe Raptor, the Peregrine, it was off patch to the south, where I have seen it most afternoons - it's about time it made a hunting trip over my patch, I could do with it on the July list :-)
A mish-mash of photo's today: Below this Fox was seen in the Small Holding as I walked over to the lakes.
A Red Admiral wouldn't quite open it's wings fully, but looked colourful anyway
Below, believe it or not, is my first newly fledged SONGTHRUSH for the year - breeding confirmed at last, the 29th bird species to be confirmed as breding on my patch.
Next up, a couple of distant shots of the Buzzard.
Lastly, a sure sign of the tail end of summer, the first Blackberries ripen.
9 comments:
Plenty of ahhh factor in the photos today Warren.
Ripe blackberries! they're still only flowering on Sheppey, we must have autumn later than you.
Warren ,
Phil will love you for that first shot .
In between with the Blackberries here , flowers best part finished , but none ripe .
Great second shot of the Fox .
Had a tasty blackberry myself today - didn't expect it to be quite so sweet - Frank had one too, he liked it.
Cheers
Davo
Now there's another bird - the Turtle Dove - I'm green with envy over seeing on your blog Warren, I'm definitely not holding my breath until I see the next one in our area. They are so rare here that I've yet to see my first in 120 (yes,120) years birding.
I gasped out loud when I scrolled down and saw your first photo of the fox...you know how jealous I am of your fox ops! Wonderful shot Warren. I took a photo of berries the other day too...I'm seeing those end of summer signs and we've barely been having summer of late! Ugh! Another lovely post, thanks for sharing.
Very envious of your Turtle Dove(s) Warren. They`re a thing of myth & legend up here.
Hi Warren, love your fox photos,only ever saw one once but to far down the field to get a decent photo.
Thank you for your continued support of my blog, sorry I don't comment as much as I should but I really love reading your blog and seeing your photos,
Great to see that Turtle Dove, Warren. Like Dean and Phil I had decided they were a thing of myth and legend BUT...I heard one recently...well it's better than nothing :)
Lovely Fox photos and I keep meaning to say how good the one on your sidebar looks, it almost has a 3D effect!
There are far too many late Summer signs here, I saw Sloes ripening up over two weeks ago...it's going fat too quickly for my liking :(
Wonderful photos! I especially love the shots of the fox.
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