Ballachurry Reserve, 2nd February 2017.

Where has all the sunshine gone?

A lunchtime sunbeam tempted me to try an unscheduled visit to Ballachurry Reserve on Thursday. Needless to say, it had clouded over by the time I arrived! Seeing very little in the way of birds, I had decided not to write up the Blog on this occasion but then when I checked my photos later I relented and decided that perhaps there was just enough here to be of some interest. So here is the list:

Birds:

SC209694 ( from the hide) Hooded Crow flying over; Wren in the rushes.

SC208694 (path through the willows)  2 x Blackbird; male Chaffinch; BlueTit.

Fungi:

SC208694 Coral Spot? on boardwalk - has reappeared.

SC209693  Scurfy Twiglet - still the odd one or two appearing in the wood chip path

Other:

SC208694  One of the Blackthorn saplings has flower buds

SC209694  A Hawthorn sapling is now in full leaf

SC208695  I spotted another nest from last year in the fork of a sapling. Lovely to see that birds are nesting in the Reserve.

SC209694  a variety of lichens on some of the saplings

SC209693  I'm never quite sure how to distinguish between a Pill Woodlouse and a Pill Millipede! Something to do with the number of legs per segment, I think. When they are rolled up into a pill you can't see the legs and when they are "unfurled" I can't get a good enough photo to count! Anyway, one or the other was under a corner of carpet at this location, along with a small unidentified snail.

Tiny snail - to be identified.

Pill Woodlouse or Pill Millipede?

Hawthorn in full leaf

Lichen colonising the saplings

A few Scurfy Twiglets still appearing

Damp wood on the boardwalk being  recycled by Coral Spot?

Last year's nest. Blackbird perhaps?