JUVENILES AND GARDEN BIRDS

 Now we're coming to the end of June there's a lot of fledged and juvenile birds flitting around the farm which for me is a good thing, as it shows that we've had at least some breeding successes. As the numbers of our song birds seem to be dwindling year on year I'm hoping with the nest boxes we've put up the berry bearing trees and bushes we've planted and lots of areas that I try to keep wild it will go towards helping some of the birds and animals bring on the next generation of wildlife.

Here's some of the youngsters that I've captured during this time.

goldfinch

dunnock

chaffinch

great tit

great spotted woodpecker

pied wagtail

stonechat

Our garden birds give me great pleasure and some good photographic opportunities, especially during the lockdowns and my latest incarceration when I fractured my ribs. 

Here's a small selection of our Garden birds.

male chaffinch

male house sparrow

dunnock

blue tit

goldfinch

male great spotted woodpecker

female linnet

male siskin

male linnet

 Although swallows are not really garden birds I include this one because it swoops all around the garden area and is nesting in a shed close to the house.

swallow

 That's it for this one thank you all once again for dropping in and lets hope at least for the birds and wildlife 2021 is a great year.

STONECHATS , BUZZARDS AND A COUPLE MORE

Since cracking my ribs I've been unable to do much birding, it's also stopped me from driving and even walking has been quite painful. 

Thank goodness though I am now on the road to recovery and was able to get out a couple of days last week with my camera and bins to see what was about around the farm. I still haven't driven anywhere as I still have a lot of discomfort and still after three weeks can't sleep on my right side and so I think it's still a bit risky to get in the car.

We've got a few breeding pair of Stonechats at the farm who still persist in alarming at you when you get into their territories but it does give you close views and some decent photographic opportunities.

 Here's a few Stonechat images I took last week.

female

male on a foxglove

female on a foxglove

female

in flight

female with food

Also it was nice to see our resident Buzzards soaring overhead I think they must have hungry chicks to feed and so are being more conspicuous than usual.

Here's some of the Buzzard images I've captured.

soaring buzzard

this one was hovering obviously on the hunt

Walking along a damp boggy area with a small pond I noticed this Tree pipit bathing, it hoped onto a branch where it fluffed itself up and started preening.

tree pipit

Down at the Old Farm the Redstarts are still about but still couldn't get close to them this distant male is all I could manage.

it's the orange blob on the branch of this dead tree

There's also a nesting pair of Pied Wagtails this one was on a silage bale.

pied wagtail

We also get quite a few gulls up here some land in the fields and others like this one just drift by. I think they're non breeders mostly consisting of Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls.

LBB Gull

On my way back up from the farm I saw this distant male Reed Bunting which I was pleased with as I thought they hadn't come back to breed this year, so hopefully this one has a mate and a nest somewhere.

male reed bunting

It was nice to get out after nursing my ribs over the last few weeks and nice to have some fresh air and a good selection of birds.

Thanks for calling by and hope you'll stop by again catch you all soon.

RIB TICKLER

Friday the 4th of June will live deep in my memory, as the day I cracked my ribs after falling on some rocks whilst carrying a set of ladders from the tree we had a Tawny owl nest box in.

It's been a bit of a frustrating time for me since my accident not been able to even lift my binoculars let alone my camera so birding for now is out of the question. (where's my crying emoji).

I did edit a couple of pics that I'd taken before my accident and Mr. Nest finder Stephen Carter has sent me some pic's of a couple of recent nests that he's found, so at least I've got some content for you.

Here's is findings,

spotted flycatcher

reed bunting chicks

meadow pipit

A nice couple there for you especially the Reed Bunting and Spotted Flycatcher which are very difficult to find.

Here's a couple of recently taken pic's from yours truly the Green Woody is a bit blurry but it was a heavy crop.

stonechat

green woodpecker (female)

pied wagtail

Hopefully my ribs will get better soon so I can get back out there, I never want to go through this again the pain was and still is excruciating, thank you all once again for stopping by and hopefully I'll catch up with you soon, cheers.

HAM WALL

Spent a day at RSPB Ham Wall last weekend 29th May it's part of the Somerset levels and a place that is teaming with wildlife. It's a place I've always wanted to visit and a chance to see a Bittern one of quite a few species of bird that have for one reason or another eluded me over the years. We stayed at Glastonbury in the Premier Inn arriving on Friday evening, we stayed overnight so we could get up really early have breakfast and head off to the reserve.

We arrived at the reserve at about 7am not that early I know but to the wife that's the middle of the night. As soon as we walked onto the path that leads into the reserve we could hear booming Bitterns so at least we knew they were there. There were birds everywhere calling and moving swiftly amongst the thick foliage. The ever elusive Cetti's Warbler which I'd love to get a photo of was calling constantly from inside the thick hedges and bushes but would not show enough of itself so I could get a decent image. This Blackcap did come out into the open and so I managed a few shots of him as he started singing away.

blackcap

As we were heading towards the reed beds and the pools flying over head were these cormorants.

cormorants

Another reedbed specialist is the Marsh Harrier and we were not disappointed as there were a pair flying over the reed beds quite regularly. Best area we found was at the Avalon hide where I managed some half decent images of the male but the female stayed quite a distance away.

male marsh harrier

distant female

I was well pleased after watching the Marsh Harriers so we took the chance for a smug selfie.

Here's a couple more species from the hide.

great crested grebe with chick

pochard

Another species on my wanted list and up until a couple of years ago were pretty rare in the UK was the Great White Egret. Well another one ticked off the list as this huge white Heron dropped into one of the pools.

great white egret

Walking around there were plenty of common birds about like this Wren in the reeds.

wren

And what I think is a lovely portrait pic of this Robin.

robin

But I had visited here to see and hopefully photograph a Bittern, and like I said earlier they were booming everywhere but every time we stopped to wait and watch not a sniff of one. It seemed everyone was asking if anyone had seen one but it seemed as if they were staying deep in the reedbeds.

Walking back along one of the pools I noticed in the corner of my eye a dark bird flying over my shoulder, I spun around and there it was in all it's glory my first Bittern.

first bittern

botaurus stellaris

I managed to rattle off a few shots heart beating like the clappers hoping that at least a couple of them would be in focus and usable for this blog.

 Ham Wall had delivered, to say that I was mildly pleased would be a massive understatement, what a bird.

Besides all the great species that we'd seen what a place Ham Wall is, we had a fantastic day and I think even the wife is turning into an avid birder.

top BIRDer

Thank you all once again for coming along with me on my birding adventures and I hope you'll visit again, catch you all  on the next one.