Saturday 24 May 2014

MSQ Comes up Trumps

 Yesterday saw our final visit to Messingham Sand Quarry.  In all  our visits we raised £68 for Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.  Perhaps they will now consider sending my membership pack, which I should have received over 6 months ago?  

The birds, flora, and insect life were outstanding, so I doubt any of yesterday's participants were disappointed.  The morning highlight was definitely the Cuckoos.  We briefly saw a female, but it was the relatively confiding male, who stole the show.   Luckily, he was still around for the first part of the afternoon session.  A Hobby was also present in the first part of the post-lunch preamble.
Cuckoo
 Blue-tailed Damselfly
 A Blue species of Damselfly
 Very Pale Damselfy
 Chiffchaff
 Robin
 4-Spotted Chaser
 Record Shot of Willow Warbler
 Fly
 Record Shot of Pochard
 Female Chaffinch on Nest
 Record Shot of Reed Warbler
 Drinker
 Large Red Damselfly
 Cinnabar
 Scorpion-Fly
 Cuckoo
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
Ditto
 Hobby
 Hobby
 Ditto
 Small Copper
 Frog
 Speckled Wood
 Probable Bramble Sawfly (Thanks B. Warrington)
 Cormorant

Friday 23 May 2014

A Special Day Despite the Weather!

Yesterday we had our only visit to Swine Moor this year.  The morning didn't promise well with everyone driving through heavy rain.  However, those who did persevere were rewarded in spades.  The hours spent agonising over the weather forecast paid off.  Luckily, the rain began to ease, and after the first 15 minutes it ceased altogether.  
Pectoral Sandpiper
 Garganey
 Ditto
 Ditto
The walk along the river bank produced plenty of Hirundines and Swifts, Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and Pied Wagtails feeding their chicks.  A Meadow Pipit was also present after lunch.  However, it was the action on the pools which was most interesting.  The first real find was a pair of Garganey, and then we saw another independent drake.  The final pool produced 2 Greenshank, a Redshank and what appeared to be 2 Ruff, but they were very distant in the gloom.  In the afternoon one of these was much closer, and working on the photos revealed it was a Pectoral Sandpiper - a vagrant from America.  Also in the afternoon were 14 Black-tailed Godwits, some of them quite colourful - these had been completely absent in the morning.  Although the weather looked quite threatening at times in the afternoon, we luckily stayed completely dry, and we saw some excellent birds as a result.
 Black-tailed Godwits (foreground)
 Black-tailed Godwits
 Record Shot of Greenshank
 Sedge Warbler
 Ditto
 Swallow
 Ditto
 House Martin
 Ditto
 Pied Wagtail (male)
 Pied Wagtail (female)
 Reed Bunting
 Ducklings
 Togetherness is being.......a Dung-fly
 Phil G's Best Friend!
 'Submarine'