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| Ginnie's bench looking inviting in the spring sunshine |
On Tuesday morning the hills had a light powdering of snow, there was frost on the grass in places and ice on our bird bath. Blue sky, puffy white clouds and lovely sunshine - naturally I headed down to the Reserve! I arrived at 09.50 but the shady areas still had frost so I had to be careful on the various ramps. Scarcely through the gate, I could hear a Buzzard calling and managed to get a few photos as it circled overhead. What I presumed was a second one turned out to be a Sparrowhawk! They seemed quite happy together and drifted off towards the Ballakilley land. I saw the Sparrowhawk again about half an hour later flying over the meadow area. At the other size extreme from the Buzzard was a tiny Goldcrest which unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph. Just as I was leaving I put up a snipe and having heard our over-wintering Chiffchaff singing too, felt I'd had an excellent morning's birding. Here is the full list:
Birds:
SC209694 ( hide) Magpie; 2 Robins heard not seen at the same time; Mallard on the water; Moorhen; Woodpigeon x 3
SC209694 ( elsewhere) male and female Blackbirds, possible third bird. Mallard flying over; Chiffchaff heard not seen; Goldcrest; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Robin;
SC210694 male Blackbird
SC209693 male and female Blackbirds; Buzzard; Sparrowhawk; Chaffinch heard not seen.
SC208694 Robin; Blue Tit; Magpie; Snipe; Long-tailed Tit; Sparrowhawk flying over.
SC208695 Magpie flying over; two pairs of Chaffinch together; 3 x Blue Tit together; Greenfinch heard not seen;
SC209695 Robin ; Redwing.
Other:
SC208695 5 x 7-spot ladybirds and 2 x Gorse Shieldbugs in gorse bush
SC209694 3 x Gorse Shieldbugs in Gorse
SC209695 various flies in gorse.
SC209694 Eristalis pertinax Hoverfly on willow trunk
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Buzzard above the reed bed |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| one of several Chaffinches flying round the old beehive loop |
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| female Chaffinch |
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| male Chaffinch |
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| female Blackbird taking ivy berries |
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| male Blackbird taking ivy berries |
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| last week it was raindrops, today it's ice! |
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| pond iced over |
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| Drake appeared later when water had thawed |
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| Mallard drake |
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| Moorhen appeared from the vegetation |
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| it was feeding in the weed |
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| Magpie |
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| and another in the firs |
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| Robin in the gorse |
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| it also likes this stone perch |
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| Redwing |
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| unidentified fly |
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| and another much smaller one |
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| I think this may be an Eristalis pertinax hoverfly |
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| fly and ladybird together |
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| 7-spot Ladybird |
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| there were no less than 5 in the same gorse bush |
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| the grid reference changes in the middle of this gorse bush! |
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| they were all enjoying the spring sunshine |
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| Gorse Shieldbugs were also in evidence |
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| note the red antennae |
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| the ramp to the hide was slippery with frost |
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| the frost looked very pretty on the vegetation |
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| close up of frost on the boardwalk, or perhaps remnants of hail? |
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| all the shady paths still had frost |
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| and so did the boardwalk |
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| more progress - some new concrete bases |
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| looking back at the new work |
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| melted frost on the spider webs |
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| meadow view |
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| lichen on one of the felled logs |
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| usual view from the boardwalk |
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| the new dead hedge along the stream |
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| and seen from the other side |
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| not much change since Saturday |
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| the gorse boundary |
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| home for a frog or a hedgehog? |
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| view from that slippery ramp |
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| Usual view from entrance |
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| Hide from near the path junction |
With thanks to Neil Morris for identifying the birds of prey and to Aron Sapford for confirming the Redwing identification.
please click on photos to enlarge them
