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| recent sunshine had brought out the Blackthorn blossom |
It was lovely to step through the gate at Ballachurry on Wednesday and see a wall of Blackthorn Blossom ahead of me. A Chaffinch was singing from its song post and a female Blackbird flew across the reserve in front of me. Only the spring sunshine was missing and there was a promise for that later in the day. The water levels on the paths had visibly gone down, although the mud remained and had to be negotiated with the usual difficulty. Here is my record for the morning:
Birds:
SC209693 2 x Long-tailed Tit together, 1 with nesting material; male Chaffinch singing from song post; male Blackbird flew across path; Water Rail heard from reeds very close to path; Hedgehog footprints in mud; Heron footprints in mud.
SC209694 ( from hide) Moorhen just visible in reeds; Mallard drake asleep on bank; 2 x Chiffchaff flying together in courtship mode; single Chiffchaff in Blackthorn; 2 x male Blackbird; Goldcrest in Blackthorn and also came right up to shutter in Willow; Robin; male Chaffinch; Greenfinch; Blue Tit; 3 x Wren flying about in reeds together; Woodpigeon in churchyard trees; Jackdaws heard not seen; Water Rail heard not seen; Pheasant heard not seen.
SC209694 ( elsewhere) female Blackbird flying across near Ginnie's Bench area; pair of Teal on pond (opposite end to hide); Robin at path junction; Blackbird on path near hide; Mallard drake flying over; Buzzard flying over; 3 x Greylag geese flying over; Woodpigeon in gorse boundary tree; Wren in Blackthorn at Path junction; Chiffchaff in Blackthorn at path junction; 3 x male Chaffinch in tree together; 2 x Goldfinch; 3 x Robin seen at same time near noticeboard.
SC208694 7 x Goldfinch flying over; Chiffchaff singing in willows; male Chaffinch flying across; Goldcrest; 2 x Robins together; Long-tailed Tit; Great Tit near boardwalk; Blue Tit; male Blackbird; Wren near boardwalk; Woodpigeon flying over; Chiffchaff in willow near boardwalk.
SC208695 ( feeders) Great Spotted Woodpecker on peanuts; 4 x Blue Tit, 1 ringed; 2 x Great Tit; Robin; Dunnock; 4 x Chaffinch; 3 x Goldfinch in tree & Goldfinch chatter heard behind me; Magpie in tree.
SC208695 ( elsewhere) male & female Chaffinch; Great Tit; Robin; Raven flying over croaking.
SC210694 Buzzard directly above entrance, circling quite low.
SC209695 Robin; male Chaffinch.
Other:
SC209694 the frogspawn has hatched into Tadpoles, still all together feeding on the jelly.
SC209694 Marsh Marigolds in full flower in the dragonfly pond.
SC209694 ( and throughout reserve) Honey Bees in gorse, Blackthorn and Pussy Willow.
SC209694 large Hoverfly hovering, looked like Eristalis species.
SC209693 multiple Hedgehog footprints in the mud.
SC209693 Heron footprint in mud.
SC210694 Garden escape Daffodils, Grape Hyacinth and Snowflake near the entrance.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker ( the eye is drawn to the red - look higher!) |
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| one of many Robins, this one among the willows |
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| Ringed Blue Tit near the feeders |
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| Woodpigeon in the Churchyard trees, seen from hide |
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| singing Robin..... |
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| .........taking a breather |
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| one of 3 Robins near the noticeboard |
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| there were also 3 Wrens at the same time near the hide |
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| this one was busy in and out the reeds |
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| Goldfinch near the holly |
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| Goldcrest across the pond from the hide |
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| Great Tit |
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| I put my boot in the photo to show how tame this Robin is |
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| it always joins me when I'm watching the feeders |
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| same Robin |
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| female Chaffinch awaiting its turn |
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| snoozing Mallard |
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| Chiffchaff in the Blackthorn blossom |
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| Wren in the same Blackthorn bush |
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| singing Wren |
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| it was close to the boardwalk |
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| Blue Tit near the feeders |
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| Blackbird seen from the hide |
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| male Chaffinch among the Hazel catkins |
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| the honey bees were busy on the Reserve |
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| probably an Eristalis species hoverfly, hovering |
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| pond skater on the dragonfly pond |
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| the frogspawn has hatched into tadpoles! |
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| Tadpoles and King Cups ( aka Marsh Marigolds) |
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| there had been a lot of Hedgehog activity near the barrows |
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| close -up of Hedgehog print |
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| mud can be useful! |
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| a very large print elsewhere - Heron I think |
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| Blackthorn blossom for the bees |
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| Dandelions provide early nectar too |
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| King Cups at the dragonfly pool |
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| the one that got away! a single grape hyacinth escaped relocation last year |
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| as did these daffodils |
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| and Snowflake - all garden plants rather than native wildflowers |
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| a much drier reedy bend |
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| still mud but not so much under water |
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| usual view of hide - a pair of Teal flew up as I approached |
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| the new glade with coppiced willow |
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| and looking to the left of dead hedge |
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| the path junction |
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| direct route to the hide with more Blackthorn |
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| entrance to the bird hide |
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| usual view from the ramp - still no blue sky! |
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| views through the shutters |
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| back out into the meadow |
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| a different view of the meadow |
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| stream side greening up now |
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| looking back to bridge |
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| I couldn't spot any new reed growth yet |
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| usual views from the willow copse |
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| the other side of the hide |
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| still no blue sky as I head for the boardwalk |
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| stream level had dropped a little |
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| looking back towards the hide across the meadow |
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| view from the boardwalk |
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| the ash walk, still bare of leaves |
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| looking back to open area in front of the Bowman Memorial Bench |
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| the gorse boundary is still muddy in places |
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| Dragonfly pond photos |
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| another new nest box ? or did I just miss it last time? |
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| and so back to that wall of blossom |
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| a few more Blackthorn photos |
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the Helicopter passed quite low over the pond - the noise was deafening! |
Despite the fact that the sun was coming out at last, I headed for home for lunch after a very satisfying morning at the Reserve.
please click on photos to enlarge them
