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| 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.
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| Alder catkins |
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| Acrobatic Blue Tit |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Dunnock |
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| Another view of the Dunnock |
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| Amazing red eyes! |
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| Noon Fly on the notice board |
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| Still some wasps around |
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| Great Willow Aphids |
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| Tiny Goldcrest |
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| Great Tit |
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| One of the reserve's many Robins |
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| And another |
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| Probably a Song Thrush? |
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| Wren |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Amazing spider web |
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| the other half of the web above |
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| Reflections in the pond |
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| Reserve bathed in evening light |
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| first few Starlings |
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| joined by more |
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| Can you count how many? |
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| Sunset from the Hide |
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| November sunset at Ballachurry Reserve. |
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.
