Happy New Year, everyone!
hail on the mudflat - January 2025.
With "unbroken sunshine" forecast for Thursday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for my first visit of 2025 to Ballachurry Reserve and I did indeed arrive in sunshine on a cold and frosty morning. At 10 o'clock it was just 4 degrees and there was frost on the grass as I entered the reserve. My initial photos have blue-sky backgrounds but cloud quickly built up, looking positively ominous at times. The feeders were empty and the birds hungry after a cold night. They started flying in to feed before I had even finished filling them up. But then I felt the first stinging shafts of hail on my face and hurried back to the hide for shelter. The first shower was brief but a later one was heavy and quite prolonged. I did walk round again afterwards but more clouds were gathering and with so few birds about I decided not to linger - some hot tea was by now required! Here is what I recorded:
Birds:
SC210694 Chaffinch heard not seen.
SC209693 Song Thrush; Great Tit.
SC209694 ( hide) Moorhen; Robin; Kestrel flying through at low level.
SC209694 ( elsewhere) Wren; male Blackbird at path junction & male & female Blackbirds together on gorse boundary; 2 x Chaffinch; Robin; Magpie.
SC208694 male Chaffinch; Buzzard flying over adjacent field.
SC209695 (on or near feeders) 2 x Robin; 2 x Great Tit; Blue Tit; male & female Chaffinch; Goldfinch; Dunnock; male Blackbird.
SC208695 ( elsewhere) Redwing; Magpie on the ground.
Blue Tit Great Tit Moorhen feeding and swimming Robin near the feeders Robin among the hail stones frost on the grass when I arrived
blue sky on arrival |
usual view of Hide |
wintry sun across the meadow |
sun picking out the board walk |
frost lingering on the boards |
looking back the way I've come |
But then the light began to look more stormy............
gorse boundary |
near the private entrance |
and the clouds more menacing............
an increasingly cloudy view from the board walk |
not a twister, surely? |
soon it began to hail - twice!
hailstones floating away downstream as I hurried back to the hide |
I got there in the nick of time! |
it lasted quite a while |
and gave quite a covering |
view from ramp during hail storm |
no blue sky now! |
the dragonfly pond at the start of my visit |
usual views |
after the storm, with floating hailstones and interesting reflections |
clouds reflected in pond |
silver lining reflected in the water |
Not many bird photos to start the year, but an interesting visit none the less.
And finally,
Happy Birthday Blog! Ten Years completed - today starts year Eleven.
🎂🥂
please click on photos to enlarge them