After wasting time looking through the collection of common moths that arrived in my traps overnight I hurried off to Bockhill, hoping that the overnight conditions might have brought some migrants in.
I walked down to Hope Point, which was alive with birds, mainly Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, with Chiffchaffs, Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers adding the the warbler list. A group of four Whinchats were moving through, flying from bush to bush.
As soon as I had taken a distant record shot and started to try and get closer to the bird it move off and disappeared towards the golf course. Ahead of me four of the Bockhill group were birding along the Lees. When I caught up with them, it appeared that the Whinchats hadn't been there when they "did" Hope Point a few minutes earlier, showing that birds were still arriving.
Nigel pointed out this Ruddy Darter, resting on a bramble. Common Darters are far more frequent here, but since we don't have any Dragonfly breeding habitat around it is good to see so many around.
The Freedown was very birdy when we got there, and three Whichats on the tops were probably part of the group I'd seen earlier. A male Redstart jumped in and out of the hedge, but did a disappearing act when I tried to get closer.
There were several Spotted Flycatchers in the area, and they proved a bit more co-operative, although they seldom remained in one place for long.
I returned to the Freedown later this afternoon, hoping to re-find the Restart, but failed. Willow Warblers were still prominent, several chasing each other along the hedge.
The Spotted flycatchers were still around. They seemed to be using the large hedge to stay out of the wind, and were often perched on the fence.
Every now and again they would dive off of their perch and catch an insect, the click of their beaks being clearly audible.
When I got bact to the farm a Little Owl was sitting out on it'd favourite perch, but as usual as soon as the camera was pointing his way he was off.
He was quite content to sit in the tree while I took his picture, I suppose that he feels more secure in the denser cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment