Before I start today's report, a little update on yesterday, if you remember Margie was basking in the glory of finding, sneakily while I was at work, a Dark Green Fritillary in the garden, , doubt I'll hear the end of it to be honest!!😏😂 I was patiently staking out the garden hoping it would return, when a large orange butterfly appeared, landing on the foliage at the back, much rushing about to get the camera, got the shots, a blooming Comma, denied!!
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| Comma butterfly in the Garden!! |
Anyway on to today's efforts!! As you remember I have not been to well recently, very fatigued, lacking motivation, not helped by my back condition, I can't get it off the bed!!😂, sorry old ones are the best! Joking aside I was beginning to think I would never get my Mojo back!! However today I woke up bright and breezy, no alarm😲, was up, out and on site by 5.30AM Hurrah!!! With heat expected today I wanted to be home by 10!!
Unfortunately, initially at least, the birds didn't share my enthusiasm, I parked at the "my Patch" along the Old London Road in Albourne, could hear a distant Yellowhammer, above the hum of the A23, but couldn't find it, the first field and it's hedge were devoid of anything interesting, I went up the hill and turned left towards the Vineyard, nothing of note although a Skylark made a brief song flight, at the bottom of the hill, usually a good spot, zilch, things picked up as I entered the Vineyard just on the other side of the fence was a smart Roebuck.
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| Skylark |
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| Starling |
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| Roebuck |
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| Looked at me like this for ages, I blinked first turned and left, when I looked back, he was walking off the other way! |
I headed through the gate at the end out on to the top of the hill, on my last visit this was long grass with plenty of Skylarks, predictably it had been cut, presumably for silage, no sign of any Skylarks, hopefully they got a brood off before being mangled in the mowers, although the presence of a gang of Gulls picking over the field suggests some may not have been so lucky!! The Gulls were mostly Herring Gulls but a couple of Black-backed Gulls in with them, by size would say Lesser, but not 100% sure.
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| Herring Gull |
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| Black-backed Gull |
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| View from the top of the hill |
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| Obligatory HPP Church pic in the early morning sun! |
So, so far so bad, however things picked up as I walked down the hill towards Church Lane, a Song Thrush running down the path ahead of me, a Blackcap in full song high in an Oak Tree and the Swallows by the church sitting on wires, counted 20 sat preening and more flying about, so looks like they have had a good breeding season so far!
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| Song Thrush |
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| Blackcap |
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| Swallows |
Obviously I didn't attempt any flight shots!!😂 At this point a juvenile Green Woodpecker flew in and attempted to land on the wire, it didn't end well😁though it scared all the Swallows into the air before disappearing into a pine tree, I was about to see if I could get some shots when another one landed on the tree right in front of me!! Not sure who was more surprised, I got a couple of shots of the bits I could see, before it flew away right, yet another one flew over and disappeared into the tree behind me!!
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| Juvenile Green Woodpecker |
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| A Male |
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| When the pecker chaos subsided the Swallows came back! |
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| Goldfinch, saw a few today, including some youngsters |
I headed down Church Lane, bit of a diversion, down a footpath on the left, but not much happening, until yet another Green Woody flew into a tree right above my head, probably one of the three from earlier!
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| Rabbit |
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| Juvenile Green Woodpecker, think it's a Female |
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| Yet another Green Woodpecker this ones an Adult!! |
Headed further down Church Lane, went over the stile onto the "Patch" proper, could here a Yellowhammer and a Common Whitethroat singing, eventually located them both, the Yellowhammer was atop a large Oak with the light against me the Whitethroat was better positioned!
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| Singing Yellowhammer |
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| Singing Common Whitethroat |
I wandered around the area, quite a bit skulking in the bushes, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, nice to see a male Greenfinch though didn't get a pic and after all the Green Woodpeckers a nice Great Spotted Woodpecker showed well!
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| Marbled White |
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| Another GSW |
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| Singing Chiffchaff |
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| With Margie not present I decided to get a bit arty |
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| Another Song Thrush on the entrance to the glades |
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| Backlit Chiffchaff on the way back to the car |
Back at the car it was still early so I decided to cross the road and head to the fields at the end of Bullfinch Lane, the walk was very quiet and I was beginning to think it was a waste of time especially as the sun was beating down now, a nice plant, think it's an Orchid, again 2 of the 4 fields have been cut, plenty of Skylark action in the uncut ones so hopefully some extra broods to come from these, fingers crossed. Heard a couple of Yellowhammers singing in the distance and in the same place as last time an extremely showy male, posed nicely which made the extra walk worthwhile!
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| Orchid? |
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| Yellowhammer |
So a quiet walk, interspersed with some bits of quality, home just after 9 o'clock so escaping heat stroke by 10 minutes😂!! Nice to see a fair few young-uns about, don't think I've seen so many Green Woodpeckers in one session, saw at least 5 individuals, but heard several more, so hopefully a good year for them!!
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