A few more
Yellow Wagtails are beginning to appear at the marina, with two birds peering into my window from the adjacent boat when I opened the blinds on Sunday morning, plus a single bird on the raised bank as I walked to the car.
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| Yellow Wagtail - One or two beginning to appear at the marina! |
A reasonably quiet visit to Brandon Marsh on Sunday morning with nothing to get too excited about save for a couple of
Common Sandpipers. Dee and I took a stroll along the Oxford Canal later in the afternoon, one of the highlights was watching one of several juvenile Starlings piggybacking one of the local sheep. Several freshly emerged
Gatekeepers along the route however, the surprise of the walk was a
Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly, a species which is more at home around rivers and streams and the first I've recorded along any stretch of the local canal.
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| Newly emerged Gatekeepers along the Oxford Canal |
With Dee attending a wedding fair at the Brandon Hall Hotel this evening with one of her mates I managed to dodge the bullet and take in a bonus visit at Brandon Marsh. Although the rain had turned almost torrential by the time she dropped me off I spent an enjoyable hour or so in the Teal Pool and East Marsh Hide. Teal Pool held juvenile
Redshank,
Green Sandpiper and a single
Snipe but a pleasant surprise was a nice
Wood Sandpiper, which suddenly dropped in from River Pool.
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| Hitch hiking Starling. |
East Marsh Pool had lots of
Swallows,
Sand Martins and a decent number of
House Martins feeding low over the water. Two juvenile
Common Terns were among five adult birds and waders included single
Little-ringed Plover,
Oystercatcher and
Common Sandpiper. Just prior to heading off a couple of young
Yellow Wagtails dropped onto Willow Island and a surprise as I headed down the Central Marsh Track was a bubbling ♀
Cuckoo! After dinner at TGI Friday's Dee and I were treated to the eerie calls of a
Barn Owl, which was quartering the fields opposite our moorings when we arrived home!
