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Contrasting colours on a winter's day
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It takes me less than 5 minutes to drive to Ballachurry Reserve from home and I set off quite early in the sunshine on Monday, but by the time I arrived the sun was behind a large bank of cloud and the reserve was decidedly chilly! I saw very little initially but after about an hour I settled in the hide hoping to warm up a little. At first glance there was nothing on the pond but then a movement caught my eye and a scan with binoculars showed no less than 4 Snipe among the Iris at the back of the pool. They are well camouflaged at the best of times with their cryptic markings but these were cunningly sitting with their bills at just the right angle to blend in with the broken leaves of the Iris! They were alternately dozing and preening and I watched them until my icy feet told me I needed to walk round again. This was a more profitable round of the reserve and there were Goldcrest, Dunnock and Wren picking over the compost heap. Here is my full report:
Birds:
SC208694 Snipe put up from damp meadow; Goldcrest; Dunnock; Wren; 2 x Blackbirds gave alarm calls. Possible Woodcock put up from near compost heap. Blue Tit;
SC209694 4 x Snipe among pond vegetation; Magpie flying over; Blue Tit.
SC209695 Long Tailed Tit; 2 x Wren; Robin; male Chaffinch.
SC208695 2 x Jackdaw.
Other:
SC209695 Dung fly ( Scathophaga sp.) and probable female Anthomyiidae species fly on Cushag (Ragwort)
SC208694 somewhat surprisingly there is both Meadowsweet and Hemlock Water Dropwort in flower.
SC208694 Parmelia lichen species spreading across bridge handrail
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The blue sky I left behind!
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| frost on the grass after a cold night |
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Surprisingly, Meadowsweet is in flower near the dam
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and some Hemlock Water Dropwort too
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Parmelia Lichen on the bridge.
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Some Parmelia species provide food for moth caterpillars
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This year's Alder seedhead cones and next year's catkins
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Can you see 4 Snipe? No, I couldn't either!
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It took a scan with binoculars to spot these two
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This one was awake sometimes.....
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.....and sometimes asleep
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even the bill points down like the broken Iris leaves
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Close-up of one of the Snipe
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there was a lot of preening going on close by
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below is a video of the preening Snipe
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reflections on the pool
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silvery reeds
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a view of both our bridges
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Dung fly on Cushag ( ragwort)
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| Probably a female anthomyiidae species fly. |
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the bank of cloud that blotted out the sun
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I spotted a Wren near the compost heap
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a closer view
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it was darting about all over the place
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composite view of the same Wren
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I finally got a close-up
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there was competition from this Dunnock
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which was also looking for lunch
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this little Goldcrest reminds me of a sad emoji!
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Ballachurry Robin
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| a last look across the Reserve from the hide....... |
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before heading home for hot tea after a visit well spent.
With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly identification
Please click on the photos to enlarge them. You can watch the video full screen by clicking on the square box bottom right below it. Press Esc to return to the Blog when you have finished viewing.
