Thursday, 2 January 2025

Ballachurry Reserve: Thursday, 2nd January 2025.

 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
view from the ramp on arrival

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