Ballachurry Reserve, 21st and 22nd December, 2016.

December day at Ballachurry Reserve

Two visits for the price of one this week!  I thought the sunshine on Wednesday afternoon might have brought out the birds but I think the cold wind was keeping them mostly hidden in the vegetation. Mere glimpses of the following:

Birds:
SC209694 ( from hide)  2 x Male Pheasant; Robin; Blue Tit; Wood Pigeon; Wren.
SC209693  Male Pheasant flying in
SC209694  Song Thrush
SC208694  5 x Long Tailed Tits
SC210694  5 (possibly 6) Long Tailed Tits
SC209694 Wren

Other:

SC210694 Stinking Iris

Long Tailed Tit in the willows

Stinking Iris berries near the gate

Today, Thursday, I thought I would try the morning instead. My tally for the first hour was exactly one Robin! Only when I decided to leave did things start to improve, so I took another quick walk round and noted the following:

Birds:
SC208695  3 x female Pheasants
SC208694  ( compost corner)  very tame Robin, flew down to see me as soon as I arrived.
SC209694 ( from Hide) Moorhen; Great Tit; Blue Tit; 2 x Wren
SC208694  7 x Chaffinch, 2 x Great Tit, Blue Tit - all sitting together in the same tree.
SC209695  2 x Long Tailed Tits in Sycamore.

Other:
SC208695 A few daisies still in flower
SC209694 Oak Spangle Galls still on leaves

Lawn daisies

Oak Spangle Galls

a chilly looking pond and reed bed

Chirpy Wren near the Hide

My friend the Robin

Despite the sunshine, the reserve looked ( & felt) somewhat bleak both days, with a strengthening icy wind. With severe gales forecast for tomorrow and the weekend, today was my last visit until after Christmas. But....

To end with something seasonal a word or two about "The Holly and the Ivy". Now the vegetation is dying down near Ginnie's Bench it's possible to see the Holly saplings once more. These have been somewhat slow to "take off" but I was pleased to notice that there has been new growth on all of them this year. The nearby Ivy hedge is vigorous and, being mature, always covered in late flowers & early berries. Ivy is excellent for wildlife. The juxtaposition of these two plants gives me hope that one day we may be welcoming Holly Blue Butterflies to the Reserve. It is one of the very few Manx Butterflies not yet recorded at Ballachurry. Its caterpillar food plants are  - yes, you've guessed - Holly and Ivy. The first brood eggs are laid on Holly and the second brood on Ivy, so hopefully it is only a matter of time before we can add this beautiful small blue butterfly to the Ballachurry Species list.

Part of the ivy hedge with inset holly.

Holly Blue butterfly - a future possibility at Ballachurry Reserve?