Brass In Pocket - The Pretenders

Magical to see the Sun Rise over the trees first thing!

Overnight catches from the Moth Traps continue to rise in overall numbers of Insects as well as additional new Species for the Year List. However, having said that it was singularly

BURNISHED BRASS

 that was added last night plus another variation of

 

COMMON MARBLED CARPET

 This allowed for an earlier than usual start to the daily Wildlife rounds

with, as usual, the Irrigation Pond being the first location.

There was a suspicion a couple of days ago that there were 'young birds' in the

 COOT NEST

but that was laid to rest when the 'sitting' bird was absent and

at least c4 eggs could be clearly seen.

 Additionally at that site there were a few

COMMON BLUE DAMSELFLIES

flitting about.

On to the Gravel Pit, and without putting the horse before the cart it could be said

that this relatively small watercourse was something like a mini 

Slimbridge Wildlife Trust.

First to show was what was considered to be the 'usual'

LITTLE GREBE

but on closer inspection there seen to be

 c2 (beyond the pair of Canada Geese with the single Gosling) 

both in full summer plumage.

Being such secretive little birds it would be a reasonable theory to

think that they are those which 'over-wintered' here, and who knows

if they have bred or not. Little Grebes do carry their young on their backs,

and while close scrutiny has been given to this not have yet been seen.

Maneuvering the Strange Rover to best advantage it was thought that a female

 MANDARIN

was spotted in the margins but by the time we had finished faffing about

there was no sign of it until minutes later it flew overhead.

It would have been nice to see a little more of this scarce visitor to

our Recording Area, but the moment was lost!

However, that was when we picked up on a male

TUFTED DUCK

chugging its way out of the Sedges.

While concentrating on the 2

LITTLE GREBES

frequently diving, another 'splash' caught my eye as the

MANDARIN

made a return but 

 

quickly headed for cover of the vegetation and then climbed onto the bank.

Between shots of a

 

BLACK-HEADED GULL

which also dropped in briefly for a drink, she appeared again

 

but the scene was short lived as she soon flew off.

The rest of the patrol was by and large 'fruitless' unless you count a bunch of

 WHITE CLOVER

and similarly a clump of

BIRDS-FOOT-TREFOIL

so we decided to head back for a final look at the Gravel Pit.

Stopped in our tracks half way we managed to secure a shot or two

 of c5 overflying

 MUTE SWANS

Back at the GP we disturbed this bathing

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

which may have provided a nice bit of footage, but surprise, surprise the

 

5 MUTE SWANS

 

had beaten me to the punch and were

 

sedately cruising up and down the pond.

 

At the End of the Day.

The NEW MOON of a couple of days ago.

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