Out and about locally over the last few days and of course my usual Sunday visit to Brandon Marsh this morning. To be honest nothing too exciting to report, not even a single sighting of Spotted Flycatcher down at Napton churchyard. The churchyard Buddleia did however provide Red Admiral and Large White butterflies to photograph. It was also nice to catch up with
Kevin Groocock, who I bumped into during my visit.
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| Red Admiral - Napton Churchyard |
In fact anything of interest has actually been seen right on my doorstep, or pontoon as the case may be. On Friday afternoon while giving the boat a well earned wash, four Common Tern were fishing around the marina for most of the afternoon, this shortly followed by two of the local Ravens over and a single Greenshank, which circled overhead calling for a short time before heading off east.
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| Blackcap |
A trawl of the marina grounds this morning before heading off to Brandon yielded (35) Pied Wagtails, (2) Yellow Wagtails and (2) Linnet feeding on the west side bank, plus juvenile Blackcap and a Chiffchaff in full song. Swallow and House Martin numbers have depleted considerably over the past several days and it's over a week or so since I had my last Swift sighting.
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| Poor light record shot of Greenshank on Teal Pool @ Brandon |
Brandon was dank and overcast when I arrived this morning and an early tour of the river meadow and the farm field area was extremely quiet, save for Buzzard, Willow Warbler, Bullfinch and Whitethroat. Although East Marsh Pool was heaving with geese and ducks this morning, (Teal and Shoveler numbers now building), the best of the bunch were my first two Wigeon since late spring. Waders consisted of (4) Snipe, single Greenshank and Little-ringed Plover, plus (4) Green Sandpipers on Teal Pool. Among the Swallows passing through were a half dozen House and at least three Sand Martin, a Common Sandpiper was also heard but not located!
On route to the screen area fresh Otter spraint was found in one of the usual hot-spots and indeed an Otter sighting was forthcoming, when a gentleman was kind enough to show me a picture he'd taken at Carlton Hide mid-morning.
Finally a pleasant hour or so sky watching at the marina produced of note: Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, (3) Common Tern, numerous Swallows and (2) Yellowhammer.
