Ballachurry Reserve, 23rd November, 2016.

Reed Bed from the board walk

What a lovely morning to visit Ballachurry Reserve on Wednesday! Not a cloud in the sky when I arrived about 11 o'clock, although it clouded over towards lunchtime.There were so many birds flitting about that it took me half an hour to reach the path junction! I also visited the reserve in the afternoon to plant some Garlic Mustard near the gate. As there was about half an hour left until sunset I decided to sit in the hide for a while. Here is the summary of both my visits on Wednesday.

Birds:

SC210694  Chiffchaff ; Dunnock; Robin heard but not seen.

SC209694   Blue tit x 2; Dunnock ( probably the same one) Robin; Wren.

SC209693   Blackbird;  Chough x 2 flying over

SC209694   Blue tit; Goldfinch; Robin x 2; Wren x 2

SC208694  Wren; Robin; Blue tit;

SC208695  Pheasant x 2 ( both females) Blackbird; Blue tit x 2; Great tit

SC209695  Blue tit x 3; Great tit; 

SC209694 ( gorse boundary)  Robin x 2; Blackbird;

SC209694 From Hide: Wren; Robin; Great tit; Goldcrest; Water Rail ( flew in and walked out - brief view, no photo) Moorhen; Thrush ( probably Song although hard to ID at that distance); Magpie; Chiffchaff

 At 4 p.m. I noticed a small flock of Starlings flying over and amused myself trying to take an "arty" shot of them  from the hide against the sunset ( not very successful!) I then realised that they were circling  round in a big loop that took in both the Reserve and Ballakilley opposite. More and more starlings joined the group each time and a second and then a third flock joined them. They then ceased to come over the reserve, wheeling above Ballakilley instead and I thought I would have a better view of this small murmuration from the horse drinking area across the road. I headed over there but just as I arrived they split into a long ribbon and flew right over the Reserve towards Fleshwick plantation. I lost sight of them before then, but that was their general direction. 

I went back next evening  (24th) to see if the starlings were there again. This time the murmuration seemed to be over the Bay Queen Hotel in the distance but  a smaller flock all came down into the vegetation at Ballakilley without putting on a display. While watching them them I saw a Kestrel, Wren and Robin  + a Snipe flew in to  the stream area. A Heron also came in. Light too bad by now for any photos though. I also saw a male Pheasant fly in to the reserve SC209693 and a male Moorhen was on the pond SC209694 when I collected some old information sheets from the hide.

Other:

SC209694 Alder catkins lengthening & turning brown

SC209694 Still Great Willow Aphids on the willows

SC208694 Common wasp on willow.

SC208695 Flies ( what I call House Flies) on tree trunk

SC210694 Noon Fly on notice board

Lots of midges and flies visible in the low sunlight

Lots of spider webs across vegetation as last week.

Notes:

Karen and Mick Rodger of the IOM Fungus Group visited the Reserve on 3rd November and found 5 species of Fungus, some of which don't seem to have a common name so here goes with the Latin spelling!

SC209695 Entoloma conferendum ( Star Pinkgill) -in grass

SC209695 Hebeloma leucosarx- in grass under Willow

SC209694 Tubaria furfuracea (Scurfy Twiglet) - on bark path

SC209695 Galerina species - in grass

SC209695 Panaeolus acuminatus -in grass

The Hebeloma and Tubaria are ones I photographed the week before, so it's good to have them identified. 

Alder catkins

Acrobatic Blue Tit

Chiffchaff

Dunnock

Another view of the Dunnock

Amazing red eyes!

Noon Fly on the notice board

Still some wasps around

Great Willow Aphids

Tiny Goldcrest

Great Tit

One of the reserve's many Robins

And another

Probably a Song Thrush?

Wren

Blue Tit

Amazing spider web

the other half of the web above

Reflections in the pond

Reserve bathed in evening light

first few Starlings

joined by more

Can you count how many?

Sunset from the Hide

November sunset at Ballachurry Reserve.

Apologies for the late posting of this report - recent official "improvements" to the Blogger site completely scrambled my settings and it has taken me hours to find them again.  The moral of the story is :"If it ain't bust, don't fix it!"

P.S.  Sunday - needed to collect roll of  netting from the hide this afternoon. As I arrived the Water Rail was just flying in and landed in the vegetation.

Reminder! Friday 25th November, Manx Marine Life talk at Port St Mary.

Don't miss this opportunity to spend a fascinating evening underwater with Manx Wildlife Trust's Marine Officer!

CLICK TO ENLARGE.

Ballachurry Reserve: Work Party, 19th November, 2016.

Tea break time at Ballachurry

We had a lovely sunny day for our Work Party this morning and it was a pleasure to be out in the fresh air.  With 13 people present we were able to complete two major tasks.

One small group took up the old rusty chicken wire from the bridge near the hide, replacing it with pristine new netting.  Novices for this sort of task, it took us a while to complete this somewhat fiddly job but the end result looked good and we'll be quicker with the next one!

Meanwhile the larger group spread out along the main stream which had become choked with dying vegetation & silt. In places it was hard to realise that there was a stream there at all but by one o'clock it was flowing freely again and should now take the winter rains without too much trouble.

No Work Party at Ballachurry is complete without a sociable tea break which we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine near the hide. Very many thanks to our cake makers, as always, for the tasty refreshments.

So, a big thank you to all our volunteers for your hard work today. Much appreciated by the Southern Group Committee and all who visit the Reserve.

Plenty of work for all

making progress

a nice muddy job

teamwork

family fun

taking up the old wire

anchoring the new

so many staples

nearly there

job finished

 time for a break

sunny picnic spot by the pond

Ballachurry Reserve, 15th November, 2016.

The bird hide with its new turf roof

I went down to the Reserve on Tuesday afternoon but although I saw a good selection of birds,most of them refused to be photographed. They seemed to be favouring the depth of the thorn bushes and just be passing through the vegetation quickly rather than lingering. The exception was one of the Robins which was determined to get his picture on the Blog! It was lovely to see the Long Tailed Tits again as well as Goldcrests at opposite ends of the Reserve. I'm not sure whether they were the same one or not. 

Birds:

SC208694 Blue Tit

SC208694 Robin

SC208694 Snipe

SC208695 Song Thrush 

SC208695 Dunnock

SC208695 Goldcrest

SC208695 Robin

SC208695 2 x Jackdaw

SC208695 Chaffinch f.

SC209695 Blackbird m. 

SC209695 Song Thrush

SC209695 Blue Tit

SC210694 Wren

SC209694 (from Hide) Blackbird m. 2 x Great Tit; 2 x Moorhen m; 5 x Long Tailed Tit; Goldcrest

Other:

SC208694 7-Spot Ladybird

SC209694  Great Willow Aphids on several willows.

SC208694  Great Willow Aphids on several willows along seasonal path.

SC209695  Unidentified fungi in grass. 

SC209694  Fungi in wood chip

SC209694 and throughout the reserve - low sun picking out thousands of spider webs

SC209694 the last rose of summer?

SC210694 I was removing old notices from the board and discovered a caterpillar pupating behind one of them. I've put it back.

The Willow Aphids first arrived on the Reserve in 2014 but were absent last year. They produce honeydew which many insects enjoy drinking. In 2014 they attracted many wasps, bees and Red Admiral butterflies, but they seem to have arrived rather too late for that this year. 

Autumn colours

Autumn colours

Our smallest bird taken from a great distance.
Can you spot the Goldcrest?

Unidentified fungi 

The Willow Aphids' life cycle is a bit of mystery

They vanish overnight only to reappear months later

A 7-spot Ladybird enjoying the winter sunshine

looking back towards the road along the gorse boundary

this could be anything!

Robin seen from the Hide

and another near the entrance to the Clucas orchard

Fungi in the woodchip

last rose of summer?

sunny reed bed

thousands upon thousands of spider webs