Ballachurry Reserve, 23rd December 2019.

The new sign leaves no doubt as to where you are! 

Just a quick midday visit to the Reserve today. Sunny but blustery weather and very wet underfoot. Here is what I recorded:

Birds:

SC209694 A Grey Heron flew up out of the water as I approached the hide.
                   Song Thrush; Great Tit. 2 x Blackbirds heard calling to each other, one from
                   each side of the path.
SC209693 female Blackbird
SC208694  Chaffinch; Song Thrush; Robin heard but not seen

Other:

SC208694  2 x Gorse Shieldbugs in gorse bush
SC208694  Hogweed in flower
SC209695 solitary toadstool in grass.

the usual photo of the hide to record the weather conditions

the damp meadow is certainly damp at the moment!

I helped plant these willows many years ago now-
they were just little slips about 2 feet high!

solitary toadstool

distant fuzzy photo of a Song Thrush

one of two Gorse Shieldbugs

winter sunshine on the bridge

🌲Wishing you all once more a very Happy Christmas🌲

Ballachurry Reserve, 17th December 2019.

December at Ballachurry

The bad weather prevented me from visiting the Reserve last week and I was quite late arriving there on Tuesday, but I  still managed a couple of circuits before going home for my lunch. Here is what I saw:

Birds: 

SC209694 male Blackbird; Great Tit; Song Thrush; Magpie heard but not seen; male Pheasant; Wren; Redwing.
SC208694 3 x Blue Tit;  male and female Chaffinch; Robin heard but not seen; Redwing
SC209695 Wren; Blackbird;

Other:

SC209694 partially eaten Longtail on path by hide ( I moved it into the undergrowth)
SC208694 large bumble bee briefly seen on gorse flowers - orange band
SC210694 large black fly on Notice Board
SC208694 by the compost heap the reserve i s very sheltered and Red Campion remains in bloom. There are also some fresh leaves on the Hawthorn bushes there.
SC210694 Stinking Iris berries still making a bright splash near the gate
SC208694 oak leaves still clinging on to young trees despite recent gales.

one of three Blue Tits

they stayed in the willows quite some time

distant view of the solitary Redwing

unidentified fly

Red Campion still in flower

Oak Leaves

Stinking Iris

the reed bed

we are losing the water to Brook Lime

another view

approach to the hide

a sunny bench and gorse still in flower

just a hint of sunshine on the hills

It was good to have a blow of fresh air at the reserve after having to stay indoors so much the previous week and seeing the Redwing, however fleetingly, was the highlight for me. I hope I'll be able to return once more before the end of the year but this will, of course , depend on the weather and other commitments . There is a big event, of course, half way through the week!

click on photos to enlarge them - sorry so many are out of focus, hoping to get this rectified soon.

Ballachurry Reserve, December 2019.

Have a lovely festive season and thank you for visiting five years of this Blog
2015 - 2019.

Ballachurry Reserve, Work Party 7th December 2019.

 Our final work party of the year on Saturday saw leaden skies but light spirits!

 14 Volunteers came along for another attack on those seemingly endless brambles. Brambles are excellent for wildlife but Ballachurry Reserve has plenty of them already and we don't want them to take over the paths and the open areas. We divided into two groups, one to free up the Hazels lining the path which runs parallel to the road, and the other to maintain a demarcation line between the scrub and the damp meadow. We were again indebted to Ian with his dustbins and trailer for making this job easier.

We are also very grateful to Andree Dubbeldam of the Manx Wildlife Trust for giving us a small crab apple tree for the reserve. This was planted during the morning, complete with Tully Tube  (rabbit protection) and a mulch of old carpet to keep the vegetation from overpowering it while it becomes established. It will be a year or so before it produces fruit but will eventually have great wildlife value on the reserve. Thank you Andree!

Being December we thought this work party should have a festive feel so seasonal refreshments were provided in the form of mince pies and hot punch. Lest this should be misconstrued, here is a photo of what we were drinking!

Alcohol obviously doesn't mix with sharp tools, let alone the fact that we all had to drive home afterwards!

     

our new Crab Apple Tree is in there somewhere!

a few action shots from the meadow area.....

..........and among the Hazels

Then a well deserved rest

and the punch certainly made it smell like Christmas!

Cheers everyone!

after a convivial break we resumed the tasks

Unfortunately it began to drizzle shortly after our break and when this became more persistent we decided to call a halt. By this time we had pretty much finished these areas anyway. We'll no doubt be taking up the loppers again in January!

A huge thank you to all who came to help today - we know there are lots of calls on your time  just before Christmas -but also to everyone who has  worked on the reserve throughout  2019. Without you Ballachurry would not be the beautiful and interesting place it has become over the years. 

Thanks too to those who baked mince pies and biscuits for us today, some of whom were also busy in Shoprite raising money for the Wildlife Trust by bag-packing.

 Wishing all our wonderful Ballachurry Volunteers a very Happy Christmas!

P.S. Water Rail heard squealing from reed bed during the morning SC209694

Clicking on the photos will enlarge them

Ballachurry Reserve, Work Party, Saturday 7th December 2019.

Hi everyone,

Forecast is cloudy but dry with rain coming in "later". What they mean by "later" isn't very clear but other forecasts don't have rain arriving until evening. So we''ll chance it and go ahead tomorrow. As always though, please check your email/ Blog before setting out just in case things have changed overnight.

Not quite as wet as it was down there but still very muddy in places so please wear suitable footwear and bring your work gloves too. Some brambles may be at eye level so you might want to bring eye protection if you have it ( we have 4 pairs spare) .Loppers/shears/secateurs etc. although spares available. Mug if you can remember, otherwise I 'll bring a few along too. We are promised mince pies and hot punch ( non alcoholic variety) too, so should be quite jolly! Tea & Coffee also available.

Look forward to seeing some of you there tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Sheila.

Ballachurry Reserve, 3rd December 2019.

December morning at Ballachurry

A lovely sunny morning for my first visit to Ballachurry of December. I didn't arrive until 11.30 but still spent nearly 2 hours there.  I didn't see a great deal, considering how long I was there, but there were a couple of highlights and the sunshine ensured a lovely visit.

Birds:

SC210694 Wren
SC209693 male Chaffinch; Robin heard but not seen
SC209694 Wren; Robin; Grey Wagtail working its way along the stream near the hide; 2 x Redwing in adjacent garden; Song Thrush; Blue Tit; male Chaffinch; female Chaffinch.
SC208694 Great Tit; female/ juvenile Blackbird;Robin x 2;Wren; Redwing briefly in boundary hedge.
SC208695  2 x male Chaffinch chasing insects in the air then returning to tree; Wren; female Blackbird;
SC209695  3 x Woodpigeon; male Blackbird;

Other:

SC210694  Stinking Iris seeds making bright splash
SC210694  Numerous woodlice inside noticeboard glass
SC210694  Flies on ivy flowers as previous visit.
SC208694   Tawny Funnel fungus under trees

female chaffinch

one of two male Chaffinches which were flying erratically after
flies, then returning to the their perch.

Robin

Stinking Iris

Tawny Funnel

Woodlice

the cat must have slid down from the tool shed roof!

we may have tomato plants at Ballachurry next year
as someone had lobbed both red and green ones over the
gate into the reserve! 

I think I am going to send my camera back to Canon for service -I've thought for some time that the autofocus has been playing up. I had a wonderful opportunity to photograph the Grey Wagtail - it really posed for me - but every single shot was blurred! I struggled with the other bird photos too and none are crisp. The best shot is the wood lice and that one was taken with my mobile phone! Sigh.

Click to enlarge the photos  but they are a bit fuzzy again.