More from the Farm

Lotmead Farm: 6:30am - 9:30am
Location

Sunrise: 7:00am

Temperature: 15°C

Notes
Main highlight this morning was watching a Spotted Flycatcher preening and occassionally leaving its branch to catch its breakfast, behind the cow sheds. Other highlights were 10 Wigeon, which were new for me on the pool, a fly-by Cormorant and 2 Muntjac in the field between the Hide and pool. A few Red Admirals out in the early morning sun.

Birds noted flying over
- 1 Grey Heron that landed in the field behind the pool.
- A Cormorant that headed northwest.
- Just 14 large gulls overhead
- 30+ hirundines. At least 20 House Martins and 2 Swallows over the farm, and 8 Swallows heading south behind the pool.
- 1 Linnet
- 1 Yellow Wagtail over the farm
- 2 Grey Wagtail over the pool
- 5 Meadow Pipit

Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 10+ Barn Swallow
- 15+ House Martins

Warblers seen / heard around the water
- At least 5 Chiffchaff calling and 1 singing
- A Blackcap by the pool.

The counts from around the pool, duck pond and farm:
1 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mute Swan, 28 Mallard, 10 Wigeon, 1 Buzzard, 3 Pheasant, 5 Moorhen, 2 Herring Gull, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 2 Feral Pigeon, 5 Collared Dove, 1 Green Woodpecker, 20+ House Martin, 10 Swallow, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Yellow Wagtail, Dunnock, 14 Robin, Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 8 Goldcrest, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 9 Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, 1 Linnet, Goldfinch, Bullfinch.

Butterflies: 5 Red Admirals

Also: 2 Muntjac

Images and videos from today:

An escapee. This female Pheasant was supposed to be in her pen.

Two of the 10 Wigeon seen on the pool this morning.

The first Muntjac to pass the Hide this morning.

And the second one 15 minutes later

A Muntjac

And very close.

A Cormorant heads northwest

A Spotted Flycatcher.....

...which spent most of its time.....

....preening....

....and more in depth preening....

..........and a stretch........

..........before sitting still for a quick photo.

A Spotted Flycatcher making the most of a bit of Autumn sun

A "Leaf Warbler" I suspect its just a Chiffchaff....

but those yellow underparts!!

Looks like something out of Macbeth. A Carrion Crow in moult. Youngster maybe!

Lots of these about this morning.

My first fungi of Autumn. I'm thinking Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea

Getting there.....

I finally did it today with my 500th bird species seen Worldwide with a Spotted Crake, seen from the Van de Bovenkamp hide at Slimbridge. It arrived yesterday and was very obliging as it came out of the reedbed and started feeding right in front us at 9:44am . I was one of the lucky ones that came early, watched the Crake and then left as the Hide began filling up.

New Passage 6:30am - 8:30am
I actually left home at 5:20am, as I was already up at 3:45am making breakfast for Dawn before she left for work at 4:40am. With the car packed with bins, telescope and camera it was off to New Passage to see what was around. I had no idea what state the tide was in and when I arrived in the pouring rain, it was quite obvious I'd arrived at Low Water.

With waterproofs and wellies on it was off to the promenade first and a look across the beach. There were quite a few Wigeon, Teal and Tufted Duck on the water and several Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Curlew along the waters edge. There were also hundreds of waders with Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Turnstone present. A Little Egret was seen feeding in the River Pill and overhead there were many Meadow Pipit and Skylarks calling as they moved inland. A Sparrowhawk found an unwary Dunlin on the beach and was whisked off into a tree for breakfast. By the esplanade there were 3 Wheatear feeding on flies in and around the boulders and small party of Linnets landed in a bush to my right.

Birds Recorded at New Passage: Little Egret, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, 2 Snipe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Whimbrel, Redshank, Greenshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, 3 Wheatear, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 3 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow and 10 Linnet.

A few images from this morning:

6:36am in the pouring rain

A few Gadwall make their escape

As do a pair of Snipe

There were 3 very obliging Wheatear on the boulders. I reckon this is a juvenile male..

...and a female...

the juv male again

....another female/juv....

....and the male again. Well he is very photogenic!

Linnets

Slimbridge 9:05am - 11:15am
Having left New Passage in a light drizzle it soon stopped and as I arrived at Slimbridge, so the sun came out. Surprisingly I was the first one to arrive at main entrance, probably because they don't open until 9:30am. But after several minutes there were a good half-a-dozen or so bird watchers all waiting for the doors to open.

Now I've not been down to the Van de Bovenkamp hide before and Peter one of the wardens at Slimbridge was kind enough to take me there, as this was his patch on the Reserve. He had just come back off holiday and was just as keen to see the Crake as we all were.

By the time we got to the hide there were 7 of us, all sat there waiting patiently for the Crake to appear. And sure enough it did within a few minutes of us arriving, giving us amazing views as it began feeding in the shallows. A huge tick in the box.

As the Hide began to fill to the brim I headed off to the Zeiss Hide, which I found more by luck than judgement, and I must say this must be one of the best hides on the Reserve, with great views across a very shallow purpose made wetland, situated just behind a reed bed and field. In the hide I met another warden called John, who was spending his day off bird watching at Slimbridge. And why not, in fact I couldn't thank him enough as he kindly pointed out 3 Little Stint in amongst the Dunlin. I definitely would have struggled with Id'ing them, even with my 20 - 60 zoom lens on the scope. I did find a Ruff and Snipe, and heard a Green Sandpiper, which we both saw eventually with another bird. In the field were several Common Crane and they seemed to be enjoying the warm sun, as we all were.

Eventually it was time to leave and John suggested I went to the South Lake for the two Curlew Sandpiper. I didn't find two birds, but I did see one on the island on the right hand pool. So not a bad morning out at all.


Birds Recorded at Slimbridge were: Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, 30 Pintail, 70 Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Common Crane, Lapwing, 60 Dunlin, 3 Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, 2 Snipe, 2 Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Reed Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Reed Bunting

Spotted Crake

Little steps....

a quick look at the camera

all clear and a feed.

He certainly loved pulling at the weed for those little snails

A few of the Common Crane opposite Zeiss Hide doing a bit of preening...

...whilst these birds were on the other side of the reserve up by Holden Hide

A short flight and .......

....then down onto a field close to the river.

A drake Pochard on one of the pools. I just love those red eyes.

Misty Morning

After all the wind and and wind over the past few days, I hadn't really expected to venture out this morning to find low lying mist all around Swindon. I had hoped to get out early to see if there were any owls about at Blakehill Farm NR. The early bit I got right, but spotting any owls in the mist was not going to happen as I pulled up to the car park at 6:15am.

So my next goal then was to track down the Whinchat and Wheatear, seen here for the past week or so. It took awhile until the sun burnt back the mist, but I did eventually spot 6 Whinchats and 3 Wheatear.

Other birds of interest were 21 Cormorants heading south, with 13 heading back towards the Cotswold Water Park 30 minutes later. There was also a Kestrel seen in the mist and a Buzzard calling by the farm at the end of the track. Other birds heard calling were 2 Red-legged Partridge,  1 Green Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

As the sun came up several Skylark started calling, whilst overhead there were quite a few Meadow Pipit flying through, with one pair stopping off on a Hawthorn. In the cattle field were 40+ Swallow plus 3 Wheatear and 3 Whinchat. There were a further 3 Whinchat in the next field over.

In the bushes along the track I had 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff with 2 singing, up to 50 Goldfinch which settled in the bushes and then descended into the field to feed on the thistle heads. There were also 3 Reed Bunting, a pair and a very vocal female.

Despite the mist I did see at least 2 Hare

Here are a few images and videos from this morning:

Spot the cow in the mist

Sunrise was 6:38am

Unsurprisingly lots of spider webs covered in morning dew

Things did brighten up and in the cattle field to the left of the new bench there were 3 Whinchat and 3 Wheatear.

A few patches of lingering mist.

A Kestrel searching for prey from the top of the May tree.

And then through the mist it flew straight towards me and veered off when it saw me!

Two of the many juvenile Goldfinches here on the reserve.

A juvenile Goldfinch

Just a handful of the Goldfinches take off. Very charming!

A female Reed Bunting sunbathing

A female Reed Bunting calling

This is a juvenile Robin, gaining his red breast but still with a spotty head.

A Common Whitethroat was also joined by a Lesser Whitethroat, which alas was camera shy.

A very short video of the Common Whitethroat

A pair of Meadow Pipits rest up on a Hawthorn

13 Cormorant off to the Water park no doubt.

Birds Recorded were: 21 Cormorant, Canada Geese, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Red-legged Partridge, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Skylark, 40+ Swallow, 15+ Meadow Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, 6 Whinchat, 3 Wheatear, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 1 Raven, 50+ Goldfinch, 3 Reed Bunting.

Also 12 Rabbits and 2 Hare

September Moths

As much as I love putting the moth trap out, it really is hard work trying to work out what species I have trapped. I'm still trying to ID moths from July.

Bird watching is definitely easier, but I like a challenge, but probably only once a month.

Today's trappings were: 69 moths, 6 Caddis Fly (Limnephilus lunatus) and a good candidate for an Acorn Weevil, Curculio glandium

The moths I have been able to ID so far are:

Large Yellow Underwings, Noctua pronuba (38)
Lesser Yellow Underwing, Noctua comes (2)
Common Marbled Carpet, Dysstroma truncata (3)
Garden Carpet, Xanthorhoe fluctuata (1)
Light Brown Apple Moth, Epiphyas postvittana (5)

Rosy Dot Pearl, Udea ferrugalis  (1)

Here are the rest with duplicates no doubt!!

Moth 3

Moth 4

Moth 5 - (4)

Moth 7

Moth 8

Moth 9

Moth 10

Moth 11 - very tiny just 8mm wingspan possibly a pug sp.

Moth 12

Moth 13

Moth 14

Moth 15

Moth 16

Moth 17

Moth 19

Moth 20

Common Marbled Carpet

Common Marbled Carpet, Dysstroma truncata

Common Marbled Carpet, Dysstroma truncata

Moth 3

Moth 4

Moth 5

Moth 5

Garden Carpet

Moth 7

Moth 8

Moth 9

Moth 10

Moth 11 - Pug sp.!

Moth 11 - Pug sp.!

Moth 12

Moth 13

Moth 14

Moth 15

Moth 16

Moth 17

Rosy Dot Pearl, Udea ferrugalis

Moth 19

Moth 20

Caddis Fly, Limnephilus lunatus

Acorn Weevil, Curculio glandium

Acorn Weevil, Curculio glandium