⛈24C ~
Wind ↖SE@4mph Sunday 16th August 2020 ~ Some local birding today with an hour spent at Napton Reservoir and a pleasant afternoon stroll with Dazza around Sawbridge before the torrential rain.
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One of four Redstart at the Reservoir
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Male Redstart at Napton Reservoir happily feeding along the hedgerow
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Amazingly it was the first time I'd been back to the reservoir since lockdown when I had the place almost entirely to myself. The fishermen and dog walkers are back so it's lost its charm more recently but I did enjoy a pleasant hour studying the hedgerow which runs along the back of the sheep field. After an hour in the shade, it was quite humid by now, I'd managed (4)
Redstart, (2)
Lesser Whitethroat,
Chiffchaff and
Common Whitethroat. My thanks to Dave Cox for the original 'heads up' on the Redstarts.
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| Northern Wheatear along the track leading down to the Grand Union canal from Sawbridge |
After Napton a late afternoon walk with Dazza around the footpaths and tracks of Sawbridge, a small hamlet just a few miles from the marina. There's a small piece of information which can be found
HERE in relation to the post-medieval settlement at Sawbridge which is quite fascinating.
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Male Redstart
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A single
Northern Wheatear and more
Redstarts along the hedgerows with another four birds, including a nice looking male.
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The original photo before enhancement!
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Two silhouetted birds on the phone wires caused a few issues with identity at the time of photographing and it wasn't until we arrived home that I was able to brighten up the images for ID. The bottom one is a
Redstart and the top a
Spotted Flycatcher.
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Enhanced photograph of Spotted Flycatcher
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I'd originally tweeted this as a
Pied Flycatcher, the light on the wings and the strong black edge as you can see from the enhanced photo is a little confusing but from the characteristics of the pose, it's clearly a spotted.
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Another angle of yesterdays Wheatear
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