RED NECKED PHALAROPE

I've been away for the past couple of days so on my arrival home, I checked the local birding blogs. A red-necked phalarope had been found at Farmoor Reservoir a couple of days ago and was there yesterday, so I checked this morning and it had been seen a 8 o'clock this morning.  I decided that this meant that there was a high chance of seeing it today. I've seen a  grey but not red necked phalarope at Farmoor so drove over there, arriving just before 10 am. The car park seemed to be packed full of cars and sailing paraphanlia, evidence of a big sailing event,  so I wondered if this would disturb the bird, but happily no boats had yet been put in the water. 

 A photographer on his way back, confirmed that yes, the phalarope was still very much there, at the far end of the causeway and I could see a number of photographers all congregating at a certain spot. The bird  is very small so I was nearly up to the photographers before I spotted it, a couple of feet away from the shore.  It seemed quite unperterbed by the amount of interest it had caused and I had the chance to take a number of photographs before returning home.

HERE and THERE

The HERE in the title refers to this week in my garden which has seen an increase in garden bird species;  coal tit has come to the feeders for the past couple of days ,having not been seen for months, then a greenfinch appeared today after a long absence. A not so welcome guest, perhaps, was the sparrow hawk which took a great tit from the feeders in front of my eyes! A goldcrest and chiffchaff have also been around, and a couple of juvenile blackbirds.  In the hedges there continues to be red admirals on the ivy and a couple of small tortoiseshells elsewhere in the garden.

List for this week is as follows: chiffchaff, dunnock, blackbird, magpie, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, robin, greenfinch, stock dove, wood pigeon, house sparrows, goldcrest, crow, sparrowhawk

 A few photos from the past couple of days:

juvenile blackbird

small tortoiseshell butterfly

just how many sparrow can fit in one birdbath?!

And look what happens when  I open the window to get better pictures of the birds around the feeders....

...no I didn't let him in!! ( he's not mine anyway!)

The THERE  relates to my morning visit to Farmoor Reservoir. A little stint was reported there yesterday but wasn't seen today but I did get nice views of a wheatear. Also seen were heron, coot, grelag geese, mute swans, mallards, tufted ducks, great crested grebe, blackheaded gull, yellow legged gull, cormarant, grey wagtail, pied wagtail. 

grey wagtail

pied wagtail on the steps

wheatear

grey heron

LOWER MOOR FARM AND BACK HOME

Spent the first part of today's sunny morning at Lower Moor Farm Reserve. At the first hide I put out some bird food on the feeding table, and saw blue tits, great tits, dunnock, robin, and a mallard. Underneath a rat was foraging for any spillages.  On the lake I saw moorhens, heron, canada geese, mute swans and more mallards. 

blue tit amongst the many blackberries that were ripening

a tranquil lake at Lower Moor Farm

As I left the reserve I noticed this kestrel perched on the wire on the other side of the road, but too distant for a really clear shot. 

As expected, the sunshine brought out the butterflies to feast on the ivy flowers in the hedge at home.

comma 

red admiral looking pristine amongst the ivy flowers

Most of the ivy flowers are towards the top of the hedge, hence this photo against the blue sky

two of the eight red admirals on the hedge today

speckled wood sunning itself

A FEW OF THE REGULARS AT STANTON PARK

I dropped in at Stanton Country park this afternoon and spent a short time observing the feeding stations. The usual species were seen although the most frequent visitors were, in fact, nuthatches and marsh tits ( two of each). 

Back home, I have been seeing hedgehogs in the garden for the past couple of days, although haven't managed to get a photo yet, and today a small tortoiseshell butterfly  visited the garden.  The ivy is coming into flower so hopefully I shall be able to log a few more butterflies in the next week or so. 

blue tit

nuthatch

marsh tit

small tortoiseshell