COOMBE HILL MEADOWS

An extremely pleasant sunny and warm afternoon at Coombe Hill Meadows Nature reserve, just north of Gloucester today. Today's highlight was watching a pair of garganeys feeding in the flooded meadows from the hide. Other ducks present included teal, wigeon, gadwall, shoveler, shelduck, mallard. Also curlew, herring gull, lesser blackbacked gull , greylag and mute swan. 

Loads of chiff chaffs singing from the willows, and a first sighting of a speckled wood butterfly. 

I followed the path along the side of the canal before crossing over a small bridge on the way to the Grundon hide

chiffchaff

another chiffchaff

comma butterfly sunning itself on the dry ground

view from the boardwalk

which leads to the hide

male garganey

view from the hide; initially the garganey pair were feeding in the flooded meadow 

to the left of the photo

pair of garganey

                                   

                                   
                                       

the hide.. and a peacock butterfly!

singing robin

first speckled wood of the year