New Life At The Lagoon

This afternoon I had an hour to myself and decided to visit Liden Lagoon. I was trying to figure out the last time I was here and it was on 16 Apr. Wow a lot has changed since then.

So in picture detail, here are a few highlights:

A juvenile Wren tries to grab Mums attention....

Only to see her fly right past......

Oh well lets try again........

But Mum's still looking the other way!

A female Chiffchaff, how would it be possible to know that....

Well there's a very distinct brood patch so there's a very good chance this Mum.

Now when you're looking after 3 hungry chicks, the last thing on your mind, is sorting out your mop!

And here is a family shot. Mum, Dad and the 3 Kids.

Now this is an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull showing off. If I didn't know any different I would say that this is almost a perfect pirouette.

Hmm I don't think this Herring Gull has quite got it, but those wings are mighty impressive!

All a bit boring. But my word that is a big mouth.

Last years juvenile Mute Swan. I'm thinking it's almost certainly a female as the now new resident Cob seems to oblivious to it as swims around the Lagoon.

The new family of 5 cygnets.

Now this a female feral Mallard and a very pretty one.

Now of all the 47 Canada Geese on the Lagoon, this one was a right poser. As extrodinary as this may sound, she actually broke away from the all the others to come across to me, stand on the rock, have her photograph taken, then swim off to join the others. So bizarre and very true. The only assumption I can make is that this goose may well have been at Coate Water and was very use to people feeding it. So I've come along and she obviously thought I was going to feed her. Sadly not! The reason I think this bird is a female, is that she is lot smaller than a lot of the others around her. The orange collar around "her" neck is part of an on-going project from the CWP Here. The letters on this bird are IU.

The only thing I missed was actually seeing this chick come out of the egg. It was a bit wobbly and ran off, straight into the water. Probably not the best decision it made............

.....as it disappeared under the sludge surrounding the nest.

Once it realised that being in the water probably wasn't such a good idea just yet........

..........it was straight back up to Mum for some reassurance. Maybe it was just dazzled by the sunlight and lost its bearings. Well lets face it, it has been in semi darkness for a couple of weeks!

Now I watched this Squirrel run across the track in front of me from the wood opposite. It obviously had something of interest in its mouth........

............which turned out to be peanuts in their casing. And judging by the dirt around it, he's just dug it up. And there I was thinking that Squirrels stored nuts for the Winter. Could this actually be reserve food for youngsters!

The only two damselflies that I saw flying here at the Lagoon today were this male Common Blue, Enallagma cyathigerum............

.....................and this male Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans. Funnily enough they were both together, with not a female in sight!

And now for something completely different a Tiger Moth for the year list. Unfortunately not from the family Arctiidae (Garden Tiger Moths etc.) but a Second World War plane. The A17-48 above is actually from Australia. There is a lovely article Here about this wonderful aircraft.

Birds Recorded: 5 Great Crested Grebe (2 adult, 3 juv), 8 Mute Swan (1 pair, 5 cygnets, 1 juvenile from 2014), 47 Canada Geese (33 adults, 14 juv), Mallard, Moorhen, 7 Coot (6 adults, 1 newly hatched chick), 5 Herring Gull, 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Wood Pigeon, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Blackbird, 1 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Wren (1 adult, 1 juv), Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow and Goldfinch. Also Damselfly.

How Things Change

I managed a quick walk around Nythe Pool this lunchtime and what a difference it was from my last visit here in April. Where there was once rubbish as far as the eye could see, was replaced by a huge covering of Yellow Iris. Such a shame that when it all dies back all that rubbish will be exposed again.

April

June

Nythe Pool in the distance

Plenty of wildlife about with several juvenile Blue Tits calling from the hedges and at least 2 male Blackcaps singing. Along the grass verges were a few Cardinal Beetles and in the hedgerow along Dorcan Brook there were both Green Shieldbug and Dock Leaf Bugs.

Excellent hedgerow for bugs.

Cardinal Beetle

And another.

Also this Green Shieldbug

And a couple of Dock Leaf Bugs

A very active bug that didn't like being photographed, but always returned to the sunny spot on the leaf when I backed away.
As the water runs out at the bottom of the pool I found a single female Banded Demoiselle in the Hawthorn bush, but interestingly I didn't see any along the brook.

A very dainty damselfly

As I was watching the damselfly a familiar call came from behind me and on investigation I came across a male Pheasant that has taken residence in the wood.

The Nythe Pheasant

Very secretive hence the poor image quality as I tried to photograph him through the dense foliage. I do miss manual focus!
A Buzzard passed overhead being mobbed by a crow. Unfortunately it happened so quick I didn't get a chance to change the exposure settings. The resulting image is a bit different to say the least.

An interesting silhouette of the Buzzard and crow.

And with the colour removed, hmm.

Birds Recorded: a single female Mallard, 1 Buzzard, 1 Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff singing, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow and Chaffinch.

Also seen a Green-veined White butterfly, a single female Banded Demoiselle, several Cardinal Beetles, a Green Shieldbug and 2 Dock Leaf Bugs.

Sunny Days Again

With an opportunity to stretch the legs, it was back off to Stanton Park for another walk around the Pool. The route was the same as our last walk, though we did attempt to walk across the meadow behind the beehives, unfortunately just beyond the field the path crosses a very muddy track. So it was a case of doubling back across the meadow and continue our walk like last time.

Our walk again. We did attempt to try a slightly different route, however it was deemed to be a bit to muddy for the footwear we were wearing. The muddy patch was where the letter "n" of Ponds was on the map above. (Map courtesy of Google Earth)

Just as you leave the car park and past the gate to the main track there is a dead tree on your left with a Bracket known as the Chicken-of-the-Woods or Sulphur Polyporeon, on one side and a nest box on the front. Above it though there was a very large Hornet investigating the box, crevices and other holes!

Not the best of shots of this Hornet, but it was the only one I got before it disappeared into the wood.

Further on and the sun was out over the pools on both sides of the track. Though there was no sign of the terrapin in the left-hand pool, the one on the right was just dragging himself out onto his favourite log. Also on the pool were 3 Moorhen chicks chasing after mum and dad for food.

The Yellow-bellied Terrapin drags himself out onto his favourite log, just as the sun came out.

Now mum was here a second ago............

.........I can see a bit of her tail......

..........there she is.

What no food this time, where's dad!

As we left the pools and headed up towards the "X-roads" a Cuckoo called from way up ahead. Too far away to locate it, but always nice to hear. The rest of the walk towards the Beehives was really pleasant in the sun and on either side of us, were the bird songs of Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming in the depths of the wood and we could also hear the mewing of a Buzzard as it circled way overhead.

At the Beehives, yet again not too many bees about despite the warmer and sunnier conditions today. Really strange! We carried on through the gap in the hedge and decided to walk through the meadow to our right. However finding the track almost impassable further on due to mud, we doubled back and at the gap carried on past the Dragonfly Ponds.

Today, unlike our last walk, there were several Broad-bodied Chasers "buzzing" about the pools. They are so quick.

A female Broad-bodied Chaser

A male Broad-bodied Chaser

From the pools we headed of towards the pool and around towards Stanton House Hotel. Once again the Cuckoo called, but still no sight of him. On the water there was no sign of the Mute Swans and their family. Most likely they had hauled themselves onto one of the fisherman's swims and were having a sleep. Also on the water at the opposite end to the dam, there was a single Lesser Black-backed Gull trying desperately to grab onto what looked like a carcass of a dead Bream. Unfortunately it was so submerged it was difficult to see what fish species it was. The gull wasn't bothered what it was and even after I left a few minutes later it was still having a go.

This Lesser Black-backed Gull is desperate to get hold of this fish carcass.

It was getting quite upset at not being able to get the better of it.

And even brought a tear to its eye!

Other highlights were a Yellow Wagtail heard calling just north of the beehives and a large family of Long-tailed Tits moving through the woods

Birds Recorded: 1 Mute Swan, Mallard, Buzzard, Moorhen, Coot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Cuckoo, Swift, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, Yellow Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Also recorded: Yellow-bellied Terrapin, Hornet, Broad-bodied Chasers and Orange-tip.

Perfect Timing

A quick walk around the pool at Stanton Park was timed to perfection. We arrived as it finished raining and as we returned to the car, half-an-hour later, so another shower was starting up.

Our walk took us up the Main Drive from the car park, over the "x-roads" and down to the beehives, following the line of conifers to our right. From the hives it was through the gap in the hedge, a right turn with the dragonfly ponds on our left and then once back on the footpath it was left towards the pool. Unfortunately the dam path is still not open due to what looks like subsidence, so we followed the path down below the waterfall and around towards Stanton House Hotel, before making our way back to the car park.

Our route around the lake.

(Map courtesy of Google Earth)

As we left the car park and headed up the main drive, I had a quick look in the stream and there were still dozens of Sticklebacks, which I'd seen on my previous walk here. I'm still non the wiser as to whether they are three-spined or nine-spined Stickleback (AKA ten-spined).

Note:
In the UK there are three recognised species: the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus and the nine-spined stickleback Pungitius pungitius can be found in freshwater, saltwater or brackish waters, whereas the fifteen-spined stickleback Spinachia spinachia is purely marine More Here

Further up the Main Drive and another quick look in the pools either side revealed only a Moorhen and a drake Mallard. There were no signs of either of the Terrapins. Too cold probably!

From the pools it was over the "X-Roads" and down to beehives that were also very quiet. Normally there would hundreds of bees about but there very few out. All that was about were a couple of Greenfinches wheezing away in the fruit trees.

Greenfinch

Even the dragonfly pools were quiet and though the sun came out, nothing was stirring! We made our way down to the dam, only to find that it is still closed off to the public, so it was down the dip in front of the waterfall and then back up the other side. Along here there were a couple of nest boxes with at least one with Blue Tit chicks chirping away inside.

Just beyond the dam we followed the path around towards Stanton House and on our left in the tall grasses there were several Jackdaws. Not sure what they were doing in there, but they seemed to be quite busy. Further around in sheep field below Stanton House there were half-a-dozen more, collecting food. It was at this point a Cuckoo called from across the lake, unfortunately it was heard and not seen.

One of several Jackdaws in the tall grasses

And this one was in the sheep field below Stanton House

Before we got back to the car park the resident Mute Swans were at the top end of the lake with 6 newly hatched cygnets. Strangely enough there was also one of lasts years juveniles by the feeding area. By the size and appearance I would say it is a pen and her father is being very tolerant in letting her stay on the pool. Whilst I was watching the cygnets bobbing about a Sedge Warbler called out in the reedbed next to them.

The 6 new additions to the resident pair of Mute Swans

Last years juvenile by the feeding station

Birds recorded: Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Wood Pigeon, Cuckoo, 5 Swift, 2 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Marsh Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Nuthatch, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Blue Skies Over Aldbourne

Visited family in Aldbourne this afternoon and sat out in the garden in the warm sun. With Don's house being on the hill on Oxford Street you can see all the way back towards Swindon affording great views of any raptors about.

We weren't disappointed with 2 Red Kites and 2 Buzzards passing overhead at altitude. Normally you can see the Kites low over the house but these and the Buzzards were a good 1000ft up. Other high fliers were 12 Swifts which were in a type group, and almost certainly courting/mating. Below them were a dozen or so Swallows and House Martins.

Red Kite

Swift

Dunnock

Male Blackbird

Birds Recorded: 1 Mallard in flight, 2 Red Kite, 2 Buzzard, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 2 Collared Dove, 12 Swift, 6 House Martin, 5 Swallow, 2 Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

I nearly forgot, yesterday one of the resident Carrion Crows took exception to a Wood Pigeon in the garden and chased it straight into the kitchen window. Fortunately Woody wasn't hurt, but he certainly left an impression on the window with the dust that came off his feathers on impact.

An impression of a Wood Pigeon.

Birds hitting windows is a very common occurrence and perhaps I need to invest in some hawk silhouettes which can help in normal situations. More Here on this Topic