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| Water Rail - taken about 3.45pm when the light was fading |
I was there on Monday morning with Tricia Sayle, MWT Reserves Officer and her helper, Alan, who had come down to cut with the bar mower the areas where we are hoping to increase the number of wild flowers . We now have to organise a work party to rake off these areas so that the mowings don't increase the fertility by rotting down in situ (poor soil is best for wild flowers otherwise the grass out-competes them). This process will take a few years to accomplish. Date of Work Party will be announced soon.
A big thank you to Tricia and Alan for fitting Ballachurry into an already very busy Reserve Schedule.
A big thank you to Tricia and Alan for fitting Ballachurry into an already very busy Reserve Schedule.
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| Alan unloading the mower |
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| Setting off |
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| Green grow the rushes oh! |
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| But not for much longer |
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| Tricia demonstrating best technique |
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| Taking stock - almost done |
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| Job done |
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| next year's wildflower meadow? |
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| Next, the area near the Notice Board. |
I was back on Tuesday, first of all in the morning to do some recording and then again in the afternoon to do a little work. I cleared an out -of -the- way area ready to take the rakings, ably assisted by an opportunistic robin!
A couple of us will be back on Thursday to put some netting on the bridge by the dam - a job we were unable to finish at the last work party.
Here is Tuesday's tally:
Birds:
SC209694 Robin; Chiffchaff
SC208694 Female Chaffinch ; Blackbird & Robin heard but not seen
SC209694 (seen from hide) Water Rail; female Blackbird; Great Tit x 2; Robin; Wren; Moorhen x 2; Magpie;
SC208694 Wren; Robin (kept close to me while I was working, periodically swooping down to snack on disturbed invertebrates)
SC209693 Female Pheasant
Other:
SC208694 Wasp
SC209695 Honey Bee
SC208694 Rabbit
SC209694 ,SC208694 and SC209693 Great Willow Aphids
SC209694 still some fungi in wood chip
SC209695 Hogweed in full flower
SC209693 New leaves appearing on the Hemlock Water Dropwort already
Notes:
The photos taken from the hide were in very poor light ( the camera kept asking me to raise the flash which obviously I wasn't going to do) but at least they are record shots.
The photos taken from the hide were in very poor light ( the camera kept asking me to raise the flash which obviously I wasn't going to do) but at least they are record shots.
Good to know our Water Rail is still with us.
Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs are both migrants that join us for the summer. For someone like me they are hard to tell apart when not singing, but having read up a little on them I think the bird/s I am recording at the moment are most likely to be Chiffchaffs. The Willow Warblers should have gone by now, but Chiffchaffs can stay on a little later. Also, some Chiffchaffs over-winter here. It would be nice to see this little bird making Ballachurry its home. It seems to favour the areas near the entrance and Ginnie's bench, although I've also seen it from the hide.
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| Chiffchaff |
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| and another view |
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| fungi at the path junction |
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| Hogweed in full flower |
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| the only honey bee I saw on the reserve |
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| Next year's growth showing already on Hemlock Water Dropwort |
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| One of two Moorhens walking round together |
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| Easy to miss these black patches on the willows |
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| But take a closer look! |
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| Tiny Wren working its way along at water level |
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| our smallest work party volunteer |
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| this Robin was exploring the newly cut area for food |
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| just about to leave the Hide when the Water Rail arrived |
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| so of course we had to stay! |
