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| a bright and very breezy day at Ballachurry Reserve |
I had not been to the Reserve for 10 days and it wasn't meant to be on my agenda today either. However, the unexpected sunshine tempted me down there for an hour this afternoon. What the above photo doesn't show is the very windy weather! Most of the wildlife seemed to be hunkered down in the undergrowth and when a bird did venture out from time to time my eyes were often streaming too much to see and identify it properly! However, within minutes of entering the Reserve I was lucky enough to see the rare-for-the-IOM Red Kite which has been in the area for the last few days . A corvid was giving it a hard time and it didn't stay long. Lovely to see the sunshine on it's back though and a good view of the forked tail. Sorry, no photo, but if you look on Recent Sightings on the manxbirdlife website ( http://manxbirdlife.im/sightings/ ) you can see some excellent shots of it. It is tagged on both wings and enquiries are ongoing to establish where it has come from .
Here is today's list:
Birds:
SC209694 Red Kite
SC208694 Kestrel ( turned into wind and hovered briefly)
SC208695 Chaffinch x 2
SC208694 Goldfinches heard but not seen
SC209694 unidentified corvids flying
SC209694 ( hide) Great Tit x 2
Other:
SC209695 2 x Honey Bee in gorse.
SC209694 cultivated daffs blooming
SC209694 Blackthorn in blossom
SC208694 Hawthorn in full leaf
SC208695 Celandines flowering
The water levels in the streams and pond have increased, I'm glad to say, but I couldn't spot any frogspawn as yet ( we have it at home since 14th Feb.)
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| this is our "damp meadow"! |
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| water levels creeping back up again in the pond |
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and in the streams |
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| not the most flattering picture of a honey bee perhaps |
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| plenty of Celandines about now |
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| cultivated daffs from before the area was a Reserve |
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| the lovely white blossom of the Blackthorn |
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| Hawthorn in full leaf next to the reed bed |
Click on photos to enlarge
