Great Crested Grebes - similar to those on Tuesday
(c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
On Tuesday we went on our 3rd visit this season to a new location. There were more signs of spring with a Garden Warbler, which sang from the same Hawthorn as a Blackcap before disappearing over the railway line. There were still no sight or sounds of the Willow Tits, but a distant Lesser Whitethroat at the very western edge, and there was a vocal Sparrowhawk throughout the morning and lunchtime. The woodland had a Whitethroat right outside the entrance, which showed well for the am crowd, less so in the afternoon.
Elsewhere, it was a day of aquatic youngsters. There were 6 cygnets from the aggressive Cobb, and his more relaxed Penn. The Great Crested Grebes had 4 young balanced on their back, and there were at least 3 pairs of Coot, each with 2 young. There were good views of a Treecreeper, but still no Willow Tit, but new signs of greenery bursting through all over. There were a lot more butterflies with the usual Peacocks, but a large increase in the number of Orange-tips seen.
Common Whitethroat
Whitethroat
Marsh Harrier - Ancient & Modern
Heron
Female Pochard - unusual Reddish brown colouration
Mute Swan
Orange-tip [male]
Record shot of Orange-Tip [female]
The 1st visit can be seen here
2 comments:
Willow Tits (and Marsh) should be incubating now, so will be quite tricky to find - females mostly on the nest and males keeping a fairly low profile.
Possibly, but locals haven't seen them recently, and they may check the nest boxes. Saw 2 Willow Tits without a problem today, going into a nest at another location. Looked as though they were still nest-building
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