Silence Is Golden - The Tremeloes

Weather wise, a day of 2 halves with a 'full fleece' chill a.m. followed by a 'redders' afternoon!

was once again the destination, mainly for ease
of access, and the chart is for the reader to follow my track.

Parking centre bottom there is little or no walking required to reach
TERN HIDE

but I could already hear the chattering from within. One of my real 'pet hates', it seems to be more of a hobby of so many 'birders' to recount every detail of every Spadger they have ever seen totally oblivious that

this is likely deterring any birds from approaching the hide!

PLEASE 'SHUT UP'!
Offering a whispered "good morning" I was asked if I could
identify a distant Wader, which was my first bird of the day, a

RUFF
and a Year Tick at that.
Despite the hint that it, along with 2 Common Sandpipers and a
Dunlin, might come closer if 'we' kept quiet had no effect so I left.

There was now a choice of which hide to visit next and in the event decided on neither. At the Y in the path I bore right and continued to a new 'kissing gate', not seen before, and allowing access to the northern end of

MOCKBEGGAR LAKE
top right on the map.

At first glance
GOLDEN-RINGED DRAGONFLY
seemed to be the only thing here with wings

but a 'splash' further along drew attention to this feeding

COMMON TERN

Here I met a most pleasant and mild mannered chap who told me he had not been 'birding' long and was having trouble with both eye-sight and binoculars. Pointing out the Tern and having a brief chat we parted company, me staying at the same location. Moments later and from a distance he started to beckon me and on arrival asked if Little Egret has a 'yellow' bill? "Not likely it doesn't, so have you seen an Egret with that colour bill?" He pointed to a shingle bank mid-stream where stood 'the'

GREAT WHITE EGRET

a regular visitor here

but a bird I have only located once during all of my own visits.

It maybe fair to say that this recent colonist to our shores should be encounter a little more often after successfully breeding at Ham Wall, Somerset this year.

A GREY HERON sprang from the waters edge and obligingly

perched, giving some idea of size comparison.
The Egret was also a First for the Year!

As we stood there, a Kingfisher flew in perching on the same bush, another Common Sandpiper was spotted (or should that read a Spotted Sandpiper was Common?) as Little Grebe, Gadwall, Teal and Mallard also emerged from the reeds. I'd like to thank the gentleman concerned for both the bird and company.

A wayside flower, on the way to the Lapwing Hide, is thought to be
WILD RADISH

This is the small promontory, shown on the map, outside of the hide
today attracting a good number of birds including

EGYPTIAN GEESE
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mute Swan, Coot, Tufted Duck,
Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Teal, Starling and
Gadwall.

COPPER UNDERWING MOTH
was found inside the hide while the

view south shows the Tern Hide and Horses kept to keep
vegetation at bay.

MIGRANT HAWKER

COMMON CENTAURY

and SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY were
seen on the way back,

while this SPIDER was found later at Harbins.

Further to the Great White Egret report above I received correspondence from my friend John (Never Miss a Trick) Gifford pointing out,

Hi Paul,

This is 'THE' Blashford Lake Great-white Egret, the rings on the left leg are a positive ID. I have checked back into Blashford's archives and found an old picture of it, just to be certain. As ever my THANKS go to John, a most astute character.

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