A WHINCHAT

In a previous post I'd stated that we had lost the Whinchat from the farm although I did spot a male in early spring but he was just passing through. What I can't understand is that the habitat is here for them and the likes of  Stonechat, Wheatear (although declining year on year) and Redstart are still breeding here, so there must be a reason why they are no longer breeding up here?

So a couple of weeks ago I headed for my old stomping ground Cwmtillery lake and reservoir to see if they're still doing ok up there.

It was good to see that the moorhen's and Coots have had a successful breeding season with both species feeding or tending to chicks the Coots nest was right up against the bank right next to the path that dog walkers fishermen and just people in general use quite frequently.

moorhen

moorhen with chick

coot

coot chick in the nest right next to the path

Walking up the path going towards the reservoir this rabbit was just sat on the path ahead of me but soon bolted soon as it saw me.

rabbit

Walking up around the top of the reservoir there were quite a few birds about but couldn't see any Whinchat but this Meadow pipit and Stonechat provided some good views.

meadow pipit

male stonechat

Walking back down towards the lake and thinking I wasn't going to see that elusive chat I heard a weird call it was a bit like a Stonechat call but at the same time very much different. Raising my bins up towards the call I'd spotted one, a female and it had it's chick with it. I scanned about for the male but it was nowhere to be seen, my thoughts were it had either been predated or was somewhere else looking after the other chicks, I rattled off quite a few shots before leaving it to feed it's chick.

female whinchat

And here's a shot of the chick, you can see the white eyestripe starting to develop.

whinchat chick

So had a great morning out and saw my target species the Whinchat even though it was just the female and it's chick I went home well happy.

taking off

I just hope in the not to distant future we'll have them back up here with us, they are cracking little birds.

A SPINNING COIN

 My good friend Stephen Carter invited me along to a local wood to see if we could locate any Wood Warbler territories. The Wood Warbler is a spring/summer migrant  from tropical Africa and is pretty scarce outside it's preferred habitat of closed woodland with  sparse undergrowth. 

We walked about a 100 meters into the wood before Steve detected the off nest call of the male it was a long way from where we were stood and soon disappeared back into the canopy. We went a bit further in to the wood and this time we saw another male off calling this one was a lot closer and even gave snatches of the birds song which sounds like a spinning coin on a table top. I managed a couple of photo's as the bird moved around the tree branches above us.

wood warbler

 The bird must have had a nest close by and although we stood quiet and watched the male for a while we couldn't quite locate it so we left the bird in peace as not to disturb it to much.

wood warbler giving us it's spinning coin song

It was the first time I'd managed to photograph Wood Warbler so I was well pleased. Steve was a little disappointed that he couldn't locate the nest for his records but there's always next time. Well that's it for this one so as always thanks for dropping by and I'll catch you soon.

BACK TO RUTLAND

As I'd hoped this year we were able to get back up to Rutland Water to hopefully see and photograph the Osprey's.

We stayed in a Wetherspoons in a town called Corby which is about 15 minute drive from Rutland.

We went to the Lyndon nature reserve side of the Reservoir first where we saw the Osprey nesting pole last year and to my shear delight they were there!!

osprey nesting site

The site is a long way off from the hides which is a good thing but I had come armed with my digiscoping gear and it turned out to be the best decision I'd made as the views of the birds were outstanding.

Above is a short video of both the male standing guard preening itself and female on the nest.

Here's some of the other Osprey images I managed to take on the day.

At the Lydon visitors centre there is a feeding station where we saw this Muntjac deer.

muntjac deer

Also a Greenfinch which was nice to see as they've disappeared from my feeding station over the last few years.

male greenfinch

Male and female Pheasant

male

and the female

There were some nice warblers about with this Lesser Whitethroat and Willow Warbler showing well.

lesser whitethroat

singing willow warbler

Rutland Water is a massive site and to get to the opposite side of the reservoir you have to drive there, it has another visitors centre with a shop and cafe area that sells refreshments and loads more hides. Here's some of the birds I photographed while over there.

common tern

buzzard

cormorant

avocet

nesting colony of black headed gulls

 Also spotted this pair of Gargany from one of the hides. The Gargany is quite a rare summer visitor to the UK from Africa so I was well pleased to get this photo.

male and female gargany

It was a long day at Rutland but well worth it. It was great to see and photograph quite a few nice species but for me the Osprey's were the stars of the show.

Ospreys at their nestsite

Rutland Water is a beautiful place and if you've got just a partial interest in wildlife is well worth a visit. The Ospreys at Rutland is on a constant video feed which can be seen on YOUTUBE.

CUCKOO'S AND THEIR HOSTS

Every Spring hails the return of the Cuckoo back at the farm. Although this year they were a bit late and didn't really show as well as previous years but I managed to locate the Male and get a couple of pic's.

male cuckoo

The main reason they return every year is because just above the farm is moorland where good numbers of Meadow pipits and Skylarks nest. Also on the farm there's a habitat area of open woodland where Tree pipits also nest, the Cuckoo's use these species as their hosts to bring up their offspring. The male will lure the host away from it's nests and the female will go in and lay her solitary egg.

meadow pipit

The Tree pipit is very similar to the Meadows but is a Summer visitor here from Africa, the very faint lines on the flanks and a shorter hind claw is the best way to seperate them in the field, also the Tree pipits display call is slightly different. Tree pipits start and end their display flights from a tree where Meadows take off for their display flights from the ground and then return there.

Here's a couple of Tree pipit images in display flight.

tree pipit

 And here's a Skylark, there's always good numbers of these nesting on the moorland.

skylark

The Cuckoo's will be on their way back to tropical Africa by the end of June and as they only arrive here at the tail end of April their stay here is very brief, but I will look forward to their return at the farm next Spring as I do every year.

WOODPECKERS

 Green Woodpeckers are a very difficult bird to get close to let alone photograph but my luck was in a few weeks back when a male bird landed on a lampost near my home and then landed on the floor where it started feeding on an ants nest.

male green woodpecker

feeding on ants

They are beautiful birds and I feel very privileged to have them nesting up here every spring. For those who don't know the difference between male and female the male bird has a splash of red on it's moustachial stripe just below the bill which can be clearly seen on the photo above.

The next two images are of the female no red on the moustachial stripe.

female green woodpecker

Here's a short clip of the male feeding.

We also get Great Spotted Woodpeckers that unlike the Greens come regularly to the feeders here's a couple of pic's of the male and female.

male with the red patch at the back of the head

female

another female

So that's our regular breeding Woodpeckers, there is another woodpecker that breeds in the UK that's the Lesser Spotted a very rare bird indeed they are found in only small pockets of woodland around Britain and are I'm sad to say still declining.