Bluebells, butterflies and birds

Sunshine and showers today, this morning I drove over to  some local woods to see the bluebells , after lunch I called at Stanton Park and walked across the meadow, a Brimstone butterfly fluttered by but didn't settle, but an orange-tip was more obliging. A quick photo showing its wings open, but then it closed them completely, and wouldn't open them again, as by then it had clouded over and was about to rain. 

Stopped by the bird table for a couple of quick photos before it began to pour! 

Looking forward to warmer, sunny weather for some more butterflies. 

fl

A SHORT WALK

A short walk at Whelford Pools revealed nothing new, the usual wren popping up at the window of the hide, robin, blackcap,  reed bunting, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit and long tailed tit, dunnock, on the water were red crested pochard, mallards and tufted ducks, cormorant, canada goose, swan, coot, black headed gull.

reed bunting

red crested pochard

Back at home the garden is filling up with blossom, around the feeders were goldfinches, greenfinches,  blackbirds, robins, dunnock, wood pigeons, long tailed tits, blue tits and a surprise visit from a blackcap.

pear blossom

cherry blossom

long tailed tit

FARMOOR RESERVOIR WALK

A forty minute drive over to Farmoor Reservoir this morning for a walk in the spring sunshine on the hunt for a yellow wagtail! 
A northerly breeze made the trek across the causeway rather chilly, but it was quieter and warmer once I had dipped down onto the countryside walk route to circuit the northern section of the reservoir.  A good variety of birds seen but  no yellow wagtail. After arriving back at the car for a flask of coffee, I decided to return to the area where the yellow wagtails are known to linger, and after seeing nothing I was on the way back to the carpark when I saw a bird, brownish in colour fly across the path from the causeway and land within the neighbouring water treatment works. As it had the look of a wagtail in  flight I decided to go back and  investigate and  finally through my binoculars there it was.. a yellow wagtail!  Sadly too far away  to photograph but a tick on my year list!

Farmoor reservoir  northern section, looking north

.. and south

great crested grebe

common terns

sedge warbler

cowslips

Then route I took, which included a brief stop at a nature reserve hide produced the following birds:

robin, blackbird, dunnock, wren, song thrush, starling, magpie, wood pigeon, kestrel, blue tit, great tit, blackcap, chiffchaff, mallard, great crested grebe, black headed gull, common tern,  martins (probably sand martins), mute swan, canada goose, greylag goose, pheasant (heard) , house sparrow, coot, grey heron, sedge warbler, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, yellow wagtail. Also some waders that I couldn't identify from a distance. probably common sandpiper and dunlins ( I looked another blog entry for Farmoor reservoir this morning to check!) 

DUCKLINGS AT STANTON PARK

I've spent a lovely sunny afternoon strolling round Stanton Park and nearby Stratton Wood.

At Stratton Wood I noticed 2 Great spotted woodpeckers, chiffchaff,  blackcap  as well as Peacock, Brimstone, and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. 

Then on to Stanton Park, where I saw Brimstones, Peacock and an Orange -tip butterfly. I sat by the lake under the trees for a while and was pleasantly surprised to see a female mallard and a brood of 4 duckings emerge from the edge of the reeds, from there I also had some nice views of blackcaps and chiffchaffs singing. 

blackcap singing

chiffchaff

peacock butterfly

mallard and one of her brood of 4 ducklings

WHELFORD POOLS NR

A short visit to this nature reserve after work, cloudy with a little sun. Birds seen included:
bluetit, great tit, long tailed tits, blackcaps, great crested grebes, magpie, tufted duck, mallard, swan, buzzard, coot, black headed gull, chiffchaff, and on the island, red crested pochard, oyster catcher, canada geese. 

oyster catcher and tufted ducks on the island

red crested pochards

DINTON PASTURES

Today I went for a walk with Sarah and Tim at Dinton Pastures Country Park, near Reading. A bit chilly and damp with some rain and hail showers but occasionally the sun shone through. Our walk took us around some lakes and in a couple of hides.

At one stage water was flowing across our path into the lake; as we were pondering how to  get across, I noticed a heron standing in the water ahead of us. As we proceeded towards it, the heron took a few steps backwards, then darted forward again to grab a fish before retreating again, no doubt taking advantage of the  flowing current bringing some fish into shallow water. 

Birds noted today: red kite, robin, blackbird, wren, great tit, blackcap, mute swan, canada geese, mallards, tufted duck, gadwall,  pheasant, grey heron, coot, moorhen, chiff chaff and reed warbler (both heard but not seen), jay.

pheasant

flooded bird feeder area

greater spotted woodpecker

canada goose

grey heron

crossing the flood

NEST BUILDING

I drove to Blakehill nature reserve for a walk, no wheatears or or meadow pipits, but lots of singing skylarks, hidden in the grass. I did see a couple of them rise up and hover whilst singing for a while before descending back down. On the way back to the car I spotted some sheep's wool in the wire fence so collected some as possible nesting material for my garden birds. 

In the previous two years blue tits have completely ignored my nest boxes on the cherry tree and on the side of the summerhouse, preferring instead to use a hole in my willow tree. However I  noticed that the hole has now grown over, but am pleased to say that both nest boxes are showing signs of activity by blue tits! 

 To return to the sheep's wool; I lodged it in the edge of the summerhouse roof and when I looked a few minutes later it was gone! I checked it had not blown down on the ground, then found a downy feather and put it there - same result!  In my craft drawer I remembered I had some stuffing material, so pulled a bit out and put it in the same place and watched. At first I saw a sparrow, then later a blue tit  pulling bits off and then taking them in to the nearby nest box, which it did several times. I shall look forward to seeing if they manage to breed successfully in it.

Pulling off some nesting material

On the roof...

... then inside

oops, a bit too much maybe!

SPRING IS COMING AT COATE WATER

A pleasant hour or so spent at Coate Water as I had to renew my permit for the hides. Nothing much going on at Hide 1, but  the lane between the two hides was alive with birdsong, with severa malel blackcaps seen and heard as well as chiffchaffs. The common sandpiper reported yesterday was no longer around. Birds seen today were canada geese, mute swans, gadwalls, tufted ducks, great crested grebes, mallards, blue tits, great tits, chaffinch, reed bunting, grey heron, blackcap, chiffchaff, wood pigeon, blackbird, robin, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, moorhen  and coot. 

reed bunting

pair of mallard amongst cowslips

canada goose

male gadwall

coot gathering nest material

OUSE WASHES RSPB

A mix of cloud and sunshine, but thankfully no wind, for a visit to this RSPB reserve. Highlights for me included  a lone whooper swan, plenty of black tailed godwits, resplendent in red  summer plumage, also a number of tree sparrows, though these preferred the feeders seen through the window of the visitor centre rather than being visible outside which wasn't great for photos, Also what I think was a marsh harrier which glided low over the bank in front of us and disappeared over the reeds, and my first swallow of the year.
Other species seen, included heron, oyster catcher, redshank,  avocet, great crested grebes, mallard, tufted duck, mute swan, gadwall, teal, shoveler, shellduck, wigeon, black headed gull, pied wagtail, (was hoping for yellow but none seen) reed bunting, house sparrow, red legged partridge, pheasant, greater spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, bluetit, dunnock,  coot, moorhen, robin, song thrush and blackbird. (32 species). A few photos below.

a lone whooper swan

greater spotted woodpecker

a trio of tree sparrows

reed bunting - loved the colouring, shame it was looking the wrong way!

FARMOOR RESERVOIR

As it was a nice day I drove over to Farmoor reservoir with the hope of seeing the red-necked grebe and possibly some yellow wagtails. As I started walking round the smaller of the two reservoirs, the great northern divers were pointed out to me; I had seen them last year but it was worth trying for some better photos. I spoke to a couple who had just been watching a pair of yellow wagtails but they had been frightened off and unfortunately didn't reappear for me. Eventually I located the red necked grebe, which was attracting several photographers.  
Species seen during my visit: great northern divers, red necked  grebe, great crested grebe, mallard, tufted duck, pied wagtail, heron, house martins, cormorant, greylag geese, meadow pipit, wheatear. 

great northern diver

meadow pipit

pied wagtail

red necked grebe

greylag goose