Your local Patch/Reserve. (1 Viewer)

[pstraughan]

I've had a reasonably free week - my work comes in fits and starts - so I've been to the reservoir twice and the local wild fowl reserve once. It's amazing, how you can see so many different things within a few days.

Saturday's trip to the reservoir saw the first Swallows of the season and, most surprisingly, a Little Ringed Plover. It must have been sitting a few feet from us as it suddenly shot up into the air.

At the wild fowl reserve there was a family of Egyptian Geese with four goslings and a pair of Snipe feeding fairly openly. The highlight was a male Reed Bunting near one of the hides. They seem to have taken a long time to reappear this year.

However, the prize for best day of the week so far has to go to the second trip to the reservoir yesterday. Three year ticks in one day!

There was a newly-arrived Nightingale in an area of bramble and bushes just a few feet from the road. They are always within a few feet of this spot each year - how do they do it? In another brambly area a couple of hundred yards away there were 3-4 Whitethroat - again a favourite spot. High overhead a Peregrine cruised - third year tick. I would have guessed Sparrowhawk but others knew better.

There is always a group of men birdwatching here. One of them said he had a fourth year tick - Yellow Wagtail, but I missed that one. There were also rumours of a Cuckoo but no one had actually seen it.

I still haven't reached 100 birds for the year, so roll on the rest of the migrants. I must do some work today!

Patt

 

[Fozzybear]

Well you've certainly had a fantastic time Pat! Little Ringed Plovers, Yellow Wagtails, Peregrines, Nightingales and Snipe! :t:

No Whitethroats here yet but saw my first Swallows of the year zooming around the meadow on my patch this afternoon when walking home with a load of grocery shopping, along with a Little Egret and a Reed Bunting. Blackcaps seem to be everywhere at the moment and compared to previous years I'm actually seeing them a lot rather than just hearing their song.

 

[Fozzybear]

Haven't been out much at all recently as has been absolute madness at work and been completely shattered but managed to get away from work this weekend so went out for a very gentle walk around my Baddow Meads and Manor Farm patch on the east side of Chelmsford this morning. Very VERY pleased I did as I saw my first ever Hobby! A bird I've been lamenting not having seen and tremendously exciting to find my first one on my patch! It wasn't hard to see why one was there as the place was FULL of Swifts, easily hundreds in the air over the farmland and meadows with 50-75 just over ones small patch of field near the fishing lake.

The place was full of baby birds, particularly Whitethroats which seemed to be staring out at me from all the bushes with their wide-eyed look. In all I saw:

Hobby, Green Woodpecker, Common Tern, Yellowhammer, Carrion Crow, Swift, House Martin, Swallow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Black-headed Gull, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Pheasant, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Starling, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Skylark.

Also saw a pair of Foxes, Emperor Dragonflies, an unidentified Hawker, Common Blue Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Longhorn Beetle, Devil's Coach Horse, 7 Spot Ladybird, 22 Spot Ladybird. Butterflies: Comma, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Essex Skipper, various 'Whites'.

 

[palval147]

Wow! Fozzy, that was some walk. Brilliant sightings.
I bought a pair of second hand bins today, £2.50:-O at a car boot, so I could bird watch. They aren't bad either Pacific make & 10x50:t:

 

[Kits]

What a fabulous outing, Paul. Well done on seeing your first Hobby!

 

[Fozzybear]

Thanks Val and Kits, was really superb to finally see one.

Sounds like a good find Val, £2.50 is pretty cheap for a pair of bins! Have been wondering about picking up a decent light pair to use alongside my Bushnell 8x42s, something like an 8x32 or 36 - something lighter and smaller but not so small that they're difficult to use with my glasses on (something that made my first pair of tiny Minox binoculars nearly impossible to use). I should really have tried out some pairs when I was on holiday at Minsmere.

 

[Wendy Morris]

Not been over to the reservoir for a while, but the weather today made it too good to resist! Dozens of Mallard (old and new!), same of GBBs, a few Rooks, a couple of Crows and the ubiquitous duck crosses, these were all waiting to be fed. Several pairs of Great Crested Grebes with young but too far away to photograph.

The hay meadow was alive with butterflies, but the wind was making them all very mobile and there was no chance of a photo. However, there were large numbers of Marbled White, Meadow Brown and Gatekeepers. An odd Small White and possibly (but not certain) a single Painted Lady.

Plenty of wildflowers in the meadow and a peaceful air until two very low flying helicopters spoiled the scene!

 

[palval147]

Lovely wildflowers, Wendy. You have a nice patch there. The reservoir area looks a good place for birds & other wildlife.

 

[Fozzybear]

Yes, it does look pretty good. :t: Good that you've got grebes breeding there too.

GBB: great black back?

 

[tyrannulet]

Not my home, but on vacation in italy (will post pictures later), in panzano I have seen quite a few new species. So far new species have been Redstart, Serin, Cuckoo, Green Woodpecker, Short-tailed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Cirl Bunting, and Grey Wagtail.

Most amusing is how I managed to not see a buzzard the 4 other trips to Europe =P

 

[palval147]

Not my home, but on vacation in italy (will post pictures later), in panzano I have seen quite a few new species. So far new species have been Redstart, Serin, Cuckoo, Green Woodpecker, Short-tailed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Cirl Bunting, and Grey Wagtail.

Most amusing is how I managed to not see a buzzard the 4 other trips to Europe =P

You should have visited Devon, we have hundreds of Buzzards here. I see at least one during the week, just traveling to go to the local shop.:-O
But I see you did see one this time.
You also got birds I've not seen this year.
Looking forward to seeing your photo's.

 

[Fozzybear]

Good week on the little reserve at the back of work, saw a male Bullfinch in the cow parsley there, found two baby toads on the back path through the dense undergrowth earlier in the week and found a slightly larger (maybe 2cm long) toad walking through there on the way from work tonight which I managed to pick up and it sat very calmly in my hand and let me get a really lovely close view - a stunning little thing. :t:

Quite a few young Dunnocks hanging around there and the Song Thrush is still singing away in the mornings, along with the resident Chiffchaff. Still haven't had a glimpse of the Muntjac though.

 

[pstraughan]

First time out on patch since early June. I got up ridiculously early (4.30 am) as I had to take my husband to the station - he's off on a sailing holiday.

First Turtle Doves of the year were heard but I couldn't see them hiding in the foliage. Spotted Flycatcher in the usual place in the grounds of the big house but I didn't see any young.

I watched a beautiful male Yellowhammer and listened to a Skylark at the same time. Then a group of cyclists swept round the corner - why can't these people have bells on their bikes for use in country lanes? I couldn't hear or see them coming from behind.

Lots of Green Woodpeckers in different parts of the patch, also Wrens with young. A few Swallows and Swifts.

Full list below. There were a few birds such as the local pair of Buzzards that I hoped to see but didn't. Good numbers of butterflies - I'm only a beginner in identifying these.

Blackbird
Blackcap
Black headed Gull
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Collared Dove
Garden Warbler
Goldfinch
Great Tit
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Greenfinch
Green Woodpecker
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Kestrel
Long tailed Tit
Magpie
Moorhen
Pheasant
Robin
Rook
Skylark
Song Thrush
Spotted Flycatcher
Starling
Stock Dove
Swallow
Swift
Turtle Dove (heard)
Whitethroat
Willow Warbler
Woodpigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer

Pat

 

[tyrannulet]

Now that I am back in the US, my trip list came to only 35 species, but considering that I was stuck in Panzano (in Chianti) and the nearby cities due to traveling with family and friends, I am fine with it. My family and I left for Italy on the 22nd of June and came back last night, total of 17 days or so.

(I will try to give some order to the list, will probably fail. * - New species)


Gadwall
Cattle Egret (Not in panzano, but when driving)
Little Egret
*Short-toed Eagle
*Common Buzzard
Eurasian Kestrel
Common Moorhen
Rock Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
*Common Cuckoo (Was able to locate one after I heard several the first few mornings there)
Common Swift (Wow, there are a LOT of these)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Only one and it was flying a good distance from me)
*Common Kingfisher (Saw a couple along the river in Florence/Firenze)
*Green Woodpecker (Saw several around the house, one flew 10 feet from the window I was looking out of)
Barn Swallow
House Martin
White/Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Common Redstart (There was a male that always flew to the same spot on the roof near a window, so I was able to take some pictures of it through my scope. When I am able to I will load them, but for now I can't)
Eurasian Blackbird
Blackcap (The bird I woke up to most mornings...at 6am. x.x)
Eurasian Wren
European Blue Tit (Unless I was mistaken, all I saw were Juveniles)
Common Magpie
Eurasian Jay
Western Jackdaw (Only ones seen were in Montepulciano)
Hooded Crow
Starling (...)
Italian Sparrow (Or House Sparrow, depending on how one views the species)
Common Chaffinch
European Goldfinch
European Greenfinch
*European Serin
*Cirl Bunting (Saw one male, but was unable to photograph it as the bird took off while my dad tried to park the car >.<)

Hopefully I will be able to post pictures soon. I took quite a few, but my desktop does not have a place to put in flash drives and my laptop is ... dead.

 

[palval147]

A good list, Niko. Some there I've never seen. I would love Hoopoe.

 

[Wendy Morris]

The usual Mallard, assorted duck hybrids, Black Headed Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls and Rooks were joined today by a couple of dozen Canadas of varying age, Great Crested Grebes (no young visible this time) and a Little Egret.

The hay meadow along one side had Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Small Tortoiseshell. It was quite early and they were obviously foraging for their breakfast and not wanting to stop to have a camera pointed at them!

It was very quiet and peaceful there and I could have stayed much longer, but other matters required my attention.

 

[pstraughan]

My first Kingfisher of the year today at Sevenoaks Wildlife Trust. Hurrah! It was perched a long way off and then obliged with several flights.

Otherwise fairly quiet apart from lots of butterflies (not as good a selection as Wendy's).

One very odd thing - two young Great Crested Grebes doing the weed passing thing but with a red elastic band. They were even dropping it in the water and diving for it. I don't think they swallowed it - I certainly hope not. Eventually Mum (or maybe Dad) came along. I could almost hear it saying "What on earth are you doing - take it out of your mouth at once!" Just shows how careful we should be about dropping things.

Pat

 

[Wendy Morris]

Ages since I've had the luck to see a Kingfisher. Usually just a streak of electric blue and it's gone.

I've not been back to my patch since that last post, but hope to go early next week and will look to see if the young GCGs are about.

 

[palval147]

I missed your post, Wendy, good sightings & nice photo's.

 

[Peewit]

The usual Mallard, assorted duck hybrids, Black Headed Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls and Rooks were joined today by a couple of dozen Canadas of varying age, Great Crested Grebes (no young visible this time) and a Little Egret.

The hay meadow along one side had Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Small Tortoiseshell. It was quite early and they were obviously foraging for their breakfast and not wanting to stop to have a camera pointed at them!

It was very quiet and peaceful there and I could have stayed much longer, but other matters required my attention.

Hi Wendy

Love your Marbled White butterfly. We had them close to where I stay and they are very distinctive to look at.

Great report too

Regards
Kathy
x