It Never Rains But it Pours!!

Just as I thought everything was back on track it has all gone haywire again! My husband went for the results of some blood tests on Tuesday and was told he had to be admitted to hospital then and there. I won't go into details but it was found that his kidney function levels were much too low. Needless to say our local hospital couldn't deal with the problem and we had to make the twenty five, or so, mile journey to Oxford! They had quite a job to find him a bed and he was moved from unit to unit and bed to bed before finally being put in the right place. Thankfully he seems to be improving now and I hope it won't be too long before he is back home.

Consequently this post, which I was starting to put together before the emergency, is not quite my usual one and time doesn't allow me to sort out any verse or quotes.

However, we were back at Draycote twice recently and this post and the next contains photos of what I saw there.

The long staying Egyptian Goose was still present when we visited last week, it has been there since about the 3rd of June and certainly seems to have enjoyed its stay.

Egyptian Goose

I think it is very handsome and its plumage is beautiful.

I have two poor record shots of a small wader next which I am sure someone will be able to ID, I do find waders difficult. Living in such a landlocked county, about as far from the sea as it is possible to be in this country, I haven't had much experience with waders etc but am taking a guess at a Common Sandpiper.

Common Sandpiper?

I don't think we have ever been to Draycote without seeing lots of Pied Wagtails, such busy little birds, always flitting about. This one had a beak full of food, as did the one at the beginning of this post.

Inevitably there are always Coots and Moorhens there too.

Moorhen

I was very pleased to see Little Egrets there as they are rare vagrants at Draycote.

Little Egret

I love those yellow feet!

Sadly the hide is out of use at the moment due to mindless vandalism! However the feeders at the side of it are always busy and this Great Tit looked very smart I thought.

Great Tit

While this Squirrel was partaking in a little vandalism of its own :)

Grey Squirrel

Just as we were coming to the end of our visit I was thrilled to see a bird which we don't usually see anywhere near my area and which I had never seen before.

Wheatear

What a dainty little bird it is and not too camera shy. Unfortunately as it was at the end of our visit the light wasn't as good as it had been.

Incidentally, I checked the Draycote website just now and they have had a Red Necked Phalarope there for the last couple of days!!

Well, I'm afraid I am going to have to leave it there for now but if all goes well I hope to be able to post again before too long and I will probably need some more help with wader ID when I do.
I will try to visit you all when I can but please bear with me...

Enjoy the beauty of Nature, wherever you are.