 |
| Peacock Butterfly |
I managed a full patch walk this morning, despite not feeling 100% , its my own fault, I should have rested up with the chest infection I had last week, now its lingering on :-(
Anyway enough of my woes, and back to the patch, where I was once again cheered by the presence of the WHINCHAT at Migrant Alley ( I took some photo's of it this afternoon on a subsequent visit ), More passage migrant species were at the College Grounds, including a couple of WILLOW WARBLER which sang loudly - one of my favourite sounds, also at least 6 CHIFFCHAFFS some of them were singing as well, plus a couple of BLACKCAPS and 2 SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS. It was unusual to see a LITTLE OWL on the boundary of the college sports pitch, its not often I see one here.
 |
| Willow Warbler |
Other summer species noted today were at least 4 WHITEHROATS, two in the Greenhouse Grounds, they gave some song too, and another two in the Tree Nursery. A dozen or so HOUSE MARTINS were mixed in with the 30 -40 SWALLOWS feeding over the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley
Most of the woodland species were recorded today as I roamed the Wet Woods, Scrubby Woods, and the Small Holding, these included the COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, TREECREEPER, NUTHATCH, BULLFINCH and GOLDCREST ( I also had the treat of Long Tailed Tit and Bullfinch back at home in my garden today - very nice!) On the lakes it was as usual for this time of year, just MOORHEN and MALLARDS in twos and threes.
Flyovers today included hundreds of GREYLAGS and CANADA GEESE early on, plus the daily sight of HERRING GULLS moving from one harrowed field to the next, scores of them are still about, with the odd LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, but no Black Headed Gulls today. A GREY HERON also flew over, but just one raptor species was seen up hunting during the visit, that being the KESTREL.
48 species were recorded this morning, but no new species for the month or year, but it's getting very difficult to add anything to either now, maybe a Reed Warbler or Reed Bunting will show for the August list this week.
 |
| JACKDAW |
 |
| BLACKBIRD (Immature) |
 |
| Whinchat |
 |
| Whinchat |
9 comments:
Very nice Whinchat shots, you must have got quite close to get that.
Thanks Marc,
It took me an hour to sneak up to about 6m from it :-)
Hello there Warren. I get where your coming from.....you get antsy to get out in the field. I do the same. You feel terrible for being sick but you can't easily just relax and recover because you might miss out on that rare bird sighting:) Love your pics.
We came back from a great and epic journey into the mountains. I've found 3 new hummingbirds that will be featured coming up in the next month or so. This was the high point of the season....and I "may" still be able to capture 2 more that have been reported in the area. But one still eludes me. The rare ones are the most difficult because they are in hard to get to locations...but they are also the most memorable with the most bug bites:) Thank you again for your ideas. It has been a blast this season.
Doing well on the Whinchat front Warren and excellent images too....special birds aren't they.
Great shots of those Whinchat Warren, some great field craft to get within 6m.
Rohrerbot,
Your dead right on summing me up :-)
Good luck with those Hummers!
Hi Pete,
It's an unusual situation this August, as I have had more Whinchat Sightings than Wheatear, normally is the other way around.
Thanks Mike,
Its always worth the effort when I get some pleasing photo's :-)
I hope you're feeling much better today Warren and that the weather is better there than it is here! The Peacock photo is really pretty.
Lovely Whinchat photos :-) I Love that little Willow Warbler too.
Post a Comment