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another sunny day, but a bit cooler than Friday
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Saturday found me back at Ballachurry Reserve for a walk round and chat with Karen, who is one of two Volunteers taking over from me as Ballachurry Representatives on the Southern Group Committee. It was another beautiful morning, if a tad chilly when we first arrived. We saw plenty of birds, including a marvelous, close view of a Buzzard coming up either from the ground or a tree near the compost heap. No photo of that but I did manage to capture two further sightings. Here is what I recorded during the morning:
Birds:
SC210694 4 x House Sparrow ( something I've rarely seen at Ballachurry!) ; 3 x Goldfinche doing courtship dances reminiscent of The Twist! 2 x Great Tit.; male Blackbird; male Chaffinch; Chiffchaff; 2 x Long Tailed Tit; Heron flying over; female Chaffinch.
SC209693 Goldfinch; male Blackbird;
SC208694 Goldcrest; Chiffchaff/Willow Warbler ( not singing and not good enough view to distinguish); 2 x Buzzards flying over at beginning of visit; 2 Buzzards much lower about 3 hours later, mobbed by Crow; Wren; Long Tailed Tit; 2 x Magpie on the ground; 2 x Blue Tit; Pheasant heard not seen; Single Buzzard coming up from ground or tree.
SC209694 Robin; female Chaffinch carrying nest material seen twice; Great Tit; male Blackbird; male Chaffinch. 2 x Drake Mallard.
Other:
SC209694 Gorse Shieldbug; honey bee in gorse.
SC209694 2 x Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies
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composite image of same Buzzard
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it has lost some wing feathers!
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it makes it very distinctive to recognise
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the other bird definitely objected to its presence
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thanks to Neil Morris at ManxBirdlife for ID
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He says it is a Crow
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2 of 4 Sparrows in the hedge
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female Chaffinch collecting nest material
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is this the same one - greenery this time
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another female Chaffinch or perhaps the same one?
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Blackbird near the hide
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close-up view
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two Mallard Drakes out on the water
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honey bee enjoying the gorse
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Small Tortoiseshell
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and another nearby
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Three visits in one week! So this has been quite a marathon session getting the Blog up to date!
(I now need a rainy day to get all these records into Excel.)
please click on photos to enlarge them
