A couple of hours out of the village birding.
|
Mute Swans (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor) the hole Family. |
It was great to get out of the village area for a couple of hours this morning and to do a loop of the lake just off junction 4 of the M54. I walked clockwise round from the lay-by at the Western end, I crossed the grass area and out to the track by the water and had my first scan of the area and as expected it was quiet.
|
Mute Swan (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor) the Male. |
I found a pair of Mute Swans (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor) with 5 cygnets, good numbers of Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), at least 4 Great Crested Grebes (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos) but nothing else out on the water. Along the margins there was a single Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), several Common Moorhens (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus) and out on the grass and in the bushes Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and down under the trees along the motorway 3 Jays (Arrendajo / Garrulus glandarius).
|
Mute Swan (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor) the Female. |
I walked through the first area of bushes out into the grassy area with a few Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) bushes and area of scrub with lots of Blackthrorn (Prunus spinosa) mixed in with the Hawthorns.
|
Mute Swans (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor) the Kids. |
In the same area I found hundreds of adult and freshly emerged Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathinerum) as well as 20+ Common Bluetail ( Ischnura elegans), 10+ Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas) as well as a few Small Whites (Pieris rapae), Small Tortoiseshells (Aglais urticae) and a couple of Ringlets (Aphantopus hyperantus).
|
Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum) Male. |
There were also a few plants of the uncommon but rather dangerous Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) and quite a nice show of a couple of dozen Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) most of which were standard looking plants but there were a few which were purpler and possibly have a tad of a Marsh Orchid in them somewhere.
|
Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum) Female. |
In the reed-mace along the margin I heard and saw several Reed Warblers (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), a fine looking Reed Bunting (Escribano Palustre / Emberiza schoeniclus) which sang for ages but it took me ages to actually see it.
|
Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum) Mating pair. |
In the bushes I added Common Whitethroat (Curruca Zarcera / Sylvia communis), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) as I was about to move on further around towards the Boat launching area a Common Tern (Charrán Común / Sterna hirudo) flew in from the west and continued on straight out to the East.
|
Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum) emerging insect. |
Around by the boat launch they were getting ready to take the kids out sailing so it was a bit noisy but I did find Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and lots more Common Spotted Orchids.
|
Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). |
Along the path way towards the village I started to find a few woodland species including family parties of both Blue (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) and Long-tailed Tit (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus), a pair of Bullfinches (Camachuelo Común / Pyrrhula pyrrhula), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and a noisy singing Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes),
|
Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). |
|
Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus). |
|
Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). |
I turned along the track down the Northern edge of the lake and in the first cleaning had a very smart
Comma ( c-album) butterfly as well as a
Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus),
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and a singing
Garden Warbler (Curruca Mosquitera / Sylvia borin).
|
Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) or Hybrid with Marsh Orchid species. |
I continued on along the Northern shore and added
Coal (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater) and
Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major),
Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis),
Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto),
Common Treecreeper (Agateador Norteño / Certhia familiaris) and Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).
|
Comma ( c-album). |
I turned right at the end of the Northern edge of the pool and walked back across the dam and on to the Southern side again, on the way seeing more
Reed Warblers, the
Mute Swan family,
Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus) and 5
Rooks (Graja / Corvus frugilegus) which flew in towards the lake from the fields but turned around before arriving.
|
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). |
I walked back to the area of grassland on the western side of the lake but it was not as quiet as there was a prat encouraging his dogs to swim after the ducks and grebes and then photographing them, unfortunately he saw nothing wrong with it but after giving me a barrage of foul mouthed abuse he went back over onto Priorslee.
|
Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus). |
I continued looking for insects and on dry land I soon found
Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis),
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta),
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris),
Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum),
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) and out over the water a female Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) as well as both male and female
Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator) but the female stayed way out on the floating reeds and avoided the camera.
|
Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). |
On the water after the pillock with the dogs had gone and the birds settled back down a family of
Eurasian Coots came out and started to feed on the floating weed where the
Red-eyed Daselflies were chasing each other around.
|
Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum). |
One of the Blue Damsels out on the water sat for long enough for me to see it was a male
Azure Damselfly (
Coenagrion puella) which was mixed in with the much more abundant Common Blue Damsels.
|
Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus). |
Just before I got my lift back to the Village with Julia I added
Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus),
Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula),
Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula),
Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone),
Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis),
Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo) and on one of the light at the layby a
Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto).
|
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). |
|
Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra). |
|
Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra). |
|
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus). |