Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Brandon Cuckoo

Cuckoo & Dunnock Record Shot!
Despite suffering from a bad back and gammy leg I decided to play the martyr and head for Brandon Marsh just after sunrise before the real summer returns later this afternoon.

As an alternative to my usual route I decided to head firstly to the West Marsh in the hope of recording some Kingfisher photographs in the morning sunshine. Walking through Horstail Glade this early in the morning is always a delight and currently it’s awash with an excellent spread of Enchanters Nightshade. A Nuthatch calling and a Chiffchaff singing made for an idyllic location and I sat on the bench at the top end of the glade for a short while just enjoying the peacefulness.

I arrived at the West Marsh Hide and was greeted by a very generous Kingfisher who posed patiently for several shots before heading off across towards the River Avon, job done! Martin, a very quiet young lad who I often see around Brandon, joined me a short time later and we sat enjoying the sights and sounds before a phone call from Jim Rushforth had us scurrying away.

Jim had rang to tell us of a young Cuckoo which he and Mike Lee had come across being fed by a Dunnock close to the wind pump. I can tell you that when Martin and I arrived a very short time later my back and leg had just about given up the ghost!

Juvenile Cuckoo @ Brandon
Anyway after relocating the bird in question shortly after arriving, as per usual the bird had disappeared, both Martin and I spent a happy 15 minutes snapping away, the only downer was poor light and the fact that the bird was 6 feet into the bottom of a Willow. Anyhoo I’ve posted two of my photos, one a record shot of the bird being fed, apologies for the blurries.

After leaving the hard working Dunnock and her giant size toddler and for that matter Martin, who was still frothing at the mouth, I spent a very enjoyable morning with the other Tuesday chaps touring the reserve. I didn't bother to investigate the damage that had been caused by some mindless morons who had decided to burn down the Roman Roundhouse on Saturday evening. However, I was delighted to hear that some other numpties who decided to extract the lead from the barn roof over the weekend had been captured red handed by the local constabulary!

Other birding highlights of the morning were 5 Green Sandpiper on Carlton Pool, 3 Redshank, 1 adult/2juvinile, on Teal/River Pool and 5 Little Ringed and two Ringed Plover on East Marsh Pool. The general consensus regarding the two Wood Sandpipers reported on Saturday is that they were probably the two juvenile Redshank.

Finally, Butterflies were in excellent numbers today which included the first signs of some second generation Common Blue, plus my first White Admiral of the year, which flew past the tool store.