Young above and below

Keith's bantam hatched 8 chicks

Yesterday I went up to the Flash first thing giving the Westies a walk at the same time. The flash has been drained considerably, possibly to stop it flooding the near-by farm. In doing so it has completely changed the dynamics of the area, it has made it less attractive to wildfowl but more attractive to waders.
       This morning however there wasn't much of anything, apart from a count of approx. 100 Lapwings, the gulls seem to be spending their time on the new reserve.
        Later in the day I went over to see Keith and it was a nice surprise to find his bantam had been successful, as can be seen from pics

While I was taking pics of these I heard twittering above me and looking up I found these 2 young Swallows looking down watching me.

 

At one point while stood chatting outside a Crossbill started calling from a Larch tree above us, then flew round to the back of the house and lost to view.

Another sunny morning

Juvenile greenfinch

Had a walk along Thacka lane this morning heading for the motorway tunnel, and taking the Westies for a longer walk for a change. The sun was really warm again but even so the time of year shows a slight decline in insects about.

However this hover fly, which I now know to be a Marmalade, was enjoying this Geranium in the grass verge.

As we past the farm there was quite a few Swallows about and House Sparrows.

A family of house Sparrows, there was quite a few more than this flying about.

A sign of things to come, this is a species of Maple I found in the wood by the M6.

If we get the right conditions it could be a colourful Autumn, fingers crossed.

 Still no Buzzards about but 2 Kestrels in different parts of the walk. Again looking at the Flash from a distance there didn't seem to be anything about. May try and scope it in the morning, weather permitting.

Its Birds and Cattle

Long horned cattle

Had a walk round the Thacka Beck nature reserve this morning, and it was a nice surprise to see the cattle had finally arrived, all three of them. To be honest I was expecting a few more than three, but at least its a start and shows CWT mean buisness. I had only just set foot on the reseve when 2 Raven proncked overhead, its good to hear them.

There wasn't a great deal on the pools apart from these Moorhens  getting annoyed with the Mallard and a about 12 or so  Black-headed Gulls mainly juveniles. Most of the pools had a few Mallard on but that was about it.

    

Just as I was getting back to the car  Roy arrived, so I walked up the big hedge with him, we found Goldfinch, Chaffinch, and this Whitethroat.

Whitethroat

There was also Blackcap but unfortunatly it was camera shy.  It was a very warm and sunny morning, making for a very pleasant hour or so.

Sounds different

Speckled Wood

The Westies and I had a slight change of scenery this morning making our way up to the Cowraik nature reserve, its found just off the Beacon Edge road, and use to be a quarry.
           We had just entered the wood when 2 or more Jays started making their usual alarm calls, then 2 Ravens flew over. Its interesting to listen to the Robins at the moment as there is a definite change in their call/notes/song, its always another sign of Autumn.
            In the horse paddock next to the reserve I found 21 Common Gulls which I thought was unusual, also a few Jackdaws and Crows.