A FLASH OF PURPLE AT THE PALACE

 

Blenheim Palace is about 45 minutes from home and for a while I've known that you don't have to go in the tourist entrance in order to have access around the park and lake as there are some public access points.  However, I hadn't known exactly where to go until I was speaking to one of the birders whilst waiting for the wryneck at Lark Hill earlier in this week and asked him. I was interested to find out on this occasion due to the presence of a purple heron on the main island in the lake  in front of Blenheim Palace which was a bird I also hadn't seen before. 

It was another fine sunny day today so after lunch I thought I'd see if I could work out where exactly to go; even I didn't see the heron it would doubtless be a pleasant walk around the lake and parkland. I'd heard there were also some juvenile cattle egrets that gave good views. 

I arrived at Woodstock where Blenheim is located and after finding a place to park in a side street, I walked down to the A44 which I crossed and passed through a pale green painted wooden gate which looked as if it was leading to a dwelling but in fact went down a small drive and then opened through another gate onto the parkland. 

I knew from reports I'd read,  that there would be a good view of the island  in the middle of Queen Pool   where the  purple heron was often found,   by standing on the Grand  Bridge  in front of the Palace  which divides this lake from the Great Lake , so made my way around  the lake as far as this bridge As I expected there were a couple of birders/photographers there already looking over the bridge and they informed me the heron had been seen at 8. 30 that morning but not since then, and they weren't exactly sure if it was still on the island or somewhere else in the reeds. 

I could see the juvenile cattle egrets on the grass by the lake and while I watched they flew across in front of the bridge and around the side of some trees out of sight.

An hour passed with no heron seen so I decided to walk around over the bridge and see if I could see the cattle egrets which I found preening themselves perched in one of the trees. There was a still a good view of the island from here so I decided it was worth waiting a bit longer. The other photographers also had decided to change their location too and one of them took his tripod further round the lake. 

Suddenly there was a shout.. 'It's flying' and sure enough the heron flew up from the reeds where the photographer was and made for the island where it perched in a fir tree for possibly  five to ten minutes giving clear but distant views.  This was about the best we could have hoped for!  Then it flew off to the left, circled around and passed over our heads to the lake on the other side of bridge and was lost to sight. 

I was pleased to have seen another 'lifer'  and also that I knew where to go when the next rarity was reported at Blenheim! 

purple heron

purple heron in the fir tree towards centre of the picture ( about a third of the way up)

purple heron flying

Blenheim palace

                  

WRYNECK - FOR THE RECORD

  I've never seen a wryneck before so when looking at the local Oxon Birding Blog I  was interested to see that one had been seen for a couple of days recently at Lark Hill, near Wantage. 

The location looked fairly easy to find, especially as someone had kindly given a link to the exact spot  where the bird was being seen and a description of a group of a few bushes which it seemed to be favouring. I waited till this morning to check to see if the wryneck was still there - it was-  so after lunch drove the half an hour trip over to Wantage. I arrived at the same time as someone else who introduced himself and I recognised him as a birder I'd met before at a couple of other sites.  It was about a half mile walk across an undulating track through  farmland but eventually we reached a spot where a couple of birders were already positioned . On the way we had met a returning birder who said  the wryneck had not been seen for an hour or more so I prepared for a bit of a wait.

As we approached we could see the two birders with binoculars looking down the track ahead   and we hurried to join them, guessing that the wryneck was in view. Yes they said, but it had just flown back into a bush! Bother!  However, it was not long before it reappeared on the path, and we had a clear view, albeit very distant, too distant for a photo. A few more birders now joined the group and someone tentatively suggested we move forward a little whilst still maintaining a respectful distance. 

We did so and the  bird reappeared  several times during the next hour or so I was there, but sadly still too distant for any photograph to give more than an outline of its dark shape. Apparently there have been wrynecks seen at this spot on four occasions over recent years. Maybe there is a convenient ants nest nearby for it to feast on!  It was difficult to get much an idea of its size and colouring from such a distance and   I have to say that, had I been on my own, I may have moved  closer but I didn't want to upset anyone!  A recent photograph on the blog gave rise to the consideration as to how close that photographer had actually got, or whether he had an extremely good lens!

There came a bit of a lull when the wryneck seemed to be remaining out of sight for longer than  usual so I decided to come away.  However, I was pleased to seen a 'lifer' and to have found a new location for birdwatching. 

The photo  shows the distance from where we stood to the bushes where the bird was seen on the track. 

Below is  a terrible picture of the wryneck taken from a distance. 

A GATHERING OF GREENSHANKS

 

I really wasn't sure what kind of weather to expect for my morning at Slimbridge today. Although bright at home, the initial forecast was for cloud followed by some rain at lunch time. As I neared Slimbridge it began to rain but looking towards the west it did look somewhat brighter so I tried to remain optimistic. 

However, I was pleased when it had stopped by the time I reached the Centre and the warm temperature soon dried things up. In fact as the morning wore on, the sun appeared and made for a very pleasant day, weatherwise.

In the carpark I checked the Slimbridge twitter feed and read that there were plenty of waders to be seen from the Rushy Hide, in particular some greenshanks which were currently quite close to the hide itself. I made that first stop, as it usually is, and quickly found two greenshanks which were a lot closer than I've seen them  before. But they were both asleep!  Other waders to be seen included redshanks, black tailed godwits, ruff, lapwing, green sandpiper and avocet. 

I made my way up to the Estuary hide  where I could see it was high tide. Birds of interest included  a wheatear, a hobby and a marsh harrier. There were also at least 9 cranes, curlew and greater black backed gulls. 

On my way back I popped in to the Rushy again; there were now   4 greenshanks, two of which came even closer to the hide and allowed some decent photographs compared to the one I took in the CWP recently!

The WWT centre was incredibly quiet I think I only saw a handful of children which I suppose was unsurprising seeing that the school are back. There was only one child on the  playground near the Zeiss hide. From this hide, you really need binoculars to see what waders are present on the water, but I did see a spoonbill flying, plus a white Ross's goose with the barnacle goose flock ( a small white goose shape in the distance!)  Earlier a bittern had been seen in  the reeds but didn't reappear. 

My final stop was at the Discovery hide where I had heard there had been a cattle egret as well as  some garganey. There was definitely no egret on site now, but I was unsure  about the garganey as they would be in eclipse plumage and therefore difficult to pick out. However, a WWT guide appeared and immediately got them in his scope and I was able to find them at the back of the reserve through my binoculars afterwards. 

With the sun shining, the buddleia outside the Rushy pen was attracting a number of butterflies; small tortoiseshell, small white, red admiral and three commas. 

avocet

gadwall

garganey

black tailed godwit

green sandpiper

the following are a selection of photos I took of greenshanks, apologies for the large number of them!

these two ventured close to the hide

WHITE HORSE HILL

Being another hot day, I decided to find somewhere  where there would be a breeze as I walked so opted  to visit White Horse Hill near Uffington. I was  bit disappointed not to see many birds; i.e.  no wheatears or whinchats  just a few flocks of goldfinches, a chaffinch and a yellowhammer,  However I did find this red kite perched on a fence post. 

LOWER MOOR FARM

 It looked like being a beautiful autumn day so I headed out late morning to the Cotswold Water park, I wasn't looking for anything special,  but on the past couple of visits to Lower Moor Farm it had been damp so I thought I'd go again and just enjoy being out and about. There could well be a few butterflies and dragonflies about and maybe a bird or two. 

I parked in the last available space in the car park ( I later realised there was a children's activity morning  in the Education centre ) and took the route past the newly opened Dragonfly cafe, ( I must have a coffee there one day!)  A   bird of prey flew past  and as I came out into the open I could see a kestrel perched on the wire above me  being mobbed by a couple of swallows

As I followed one of the paths around the reserve, I  came across several buddleias which had attracted a number of butterflies. These were mostly Red Admirals but I also saw a painted lady, small white and a small tortoiseshell.  Speckled woods were regularly seen in the hedgerows. 

Near the lakes and ponds there were plenty of dragonflies, which I stayed to watch for a while; these included brown hawkers and migrant hawkers ( first for year) as well as common damselflies and common/ruddy darters.  

kestrel

painted lady

track with buddleias

brimstone

one of the lakes at Lower Moor Farm

                                                             migrant hawker (m)

Dragonfly cafe - it looks out onto the lake