Dabbling with Waders

Thank you so much to everyone who has enquired and sent good wishes concerning my husband's health. He returned home after spending five nights in hospital and is much better than he was although the doctor says he is still very unwell but going in the right direction. When he is well enough he will have to have surgery which we hope will be before the end of this year or possibly at the beginning of next year.

~

To me this year, Summer seemed no more than the blink of an eye and already we seem to be in the grip of Autumn.

'Radiant joy is everywhere.
Spirits in tune to the spicy air,
Thrill in the glory of each day.
Life's worth living when we say, October!'

(Joseph Pullman Porter)

The following photos were taken at Draycote just before my husband's unexpected admission to hospital.

I had heard there had been quite an influx of waders there and as you probably know I am not good on waders/water birds so I hope my IDs are correct. The first one, the Lapwing, I know is correct. A member of the plover family, it is also known as the Peewit which describes its display call. A very attractive bird I think, which is disturbingly on the red list of threatened species due to modern day farming practices!

Lapwing

I had heard there was a Curlew Sandpiper there and as I had never seen one I was hoping I would be lucky but I know from experience that it is one thing knowing a particular bird has been seen at Draycote but quite another to actually find it myself! I hope that the two photos below are of the Curlew Sandpiper, they were taken at the time I know it was there and look to me like photos I have seen of it.

Curlew Sandpiper (above and below)

A little duck I often see at Draycote is the Teal, a small but attractive dabbling duck.

Teal Duck

Another duck I see there frequently is the delightful Tufted Duck, a diving duck which I know is a favourite of Warren's...or would be if he ever saw one :)

Tufted Ducks (with Mallard)

'The water-birds with shrill discordant scream
Oft rouse the peasant from his tranquil dream.'

(John Leyden)

Talking of the Tufted Duck, the rather similar but much more unusual Lesser Scaup has put in an appearance at Draycote again, needless to say, as in the past, it has so far eluded me :(

I saw quite a few Ringed Plovers. I think they were Ringed and not Little Ringed?

Ringed Plover (above and below)

I saw an abundance of Autumn fruits in the hedgerows.

Hawthorn Berries

'The thorns and briars, vermilion-hue,
Now full of hips and haws are seen;
If village-prophecies be true,
They prove that winter will be keen.'

(John Clare)

Rose Hips


Snowberries

'October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.'

(George Cooper)

As I mentioned last year, there is a type of algae which affects parts of Draycote Water which gives a strange turquoise blue hue to the water, this effect is particularly noticeable in the following photo.

Black-headed Gull

Just for fun, I want you to see how difficult it was for me to spot the waders in the part of the reservoir where they were. The following uncropped photo shows that not only were they some distance away but also just how well camouflaged they were. It was very, very difficult to distinguish between rocks and birds!


If you look carefully you will see there is a Ringed Plover in there!

I have seen this species at Draycote before so am (fairly) confident the two following photos are Dunlin.

Dunlin (above and below)

There were lots of Cormorants but all too far away for a decent photo.

Cormorants

Finally, I think (and hope) I have the next ID correct. There was definitely a Ruff present on the day I was there so I think the final two photos are it.

Ruff (above and below)

Well that is all for now and as long as there are no more dramas my next post will not take as long to appear as this one has. Until then, enjoy the beauty of Nature, wherever you are.

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.

The Eyes Have It!

It is so nice to be back in blogland after my recent eye surgery and despite some complications I am happy to say things are now pretty well as they should be and I just have (I hope) one more hospital appointment in a couple of weeks time and then that should be the end of it. Thank you so much for all your good wishes, it is much appreciated.

I don't know what has happened to Summer lately but it seems to have disappeared here and we have had rain and cool temperatures for some days now. However, I have managed to get out with the camera a couple of times and on a sunny Sunday recently we visited the local herb centre where I knew I would be guaranteed to see some colourful butterflies.

Peacock Butterfly

Brimstone Butterfly

Meadow Brown Butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

' "Ho!" said a butterfly, "here am I,
Up in the air, who used to lie
Flat on the ground for the passers by
To treat with utter neglect!
None will suspect that I am the same
With a bright, new coat and a different name;
The piece of nothingness whence I came,
In me they'll never detect." '

(Miss H.F. Gould)

Gatekeeper Butterfly


Comma Butterfly

Small Copper Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

'Child of the sun! pursue thy rapturous flight,
Mingling with her thou lov'st in fields of light;
And, where the flowers of Paradise unfold,
Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold.'

(Samuel Rogers)

~~~

The following photos were taken at one of my favourite places, yes, you've guessed it, Draycote :) The first three photos show a Canada Goose being very aggressive towards a Coot which had done nothing to antagonise it other than just being there!

I was close enough to see that the goose was not just threatening the Coot but actually pecking the poor thing!

It wasn't long before the Coot made a swift exit watched by a very self satisfied Canada Goose.

The next two photos were taken before I had my surgery and show Mallard mums showing off their little ones. I'm not sure what had caught their attention in the first photo but most of them seemed to be looking at something to their left.

Mallard Mum and Ducklings

This young Crow seemed happy to pose for a photo.

Crow

'The crow—the crow! the great black crow!
He loves the fat meadow—his taste is low;
He loves the fat worms, and he dines in a row
With fifty fine cousins all black as a sloe.'

(P.J. Bailey)

I know they are quite common birds but I rather like Moorhens with their colourful red bills.

Moorhen

This Grey Wagtail was posing nicely.

Grey Wagtail

There always seem to be good numbers of wagtails at Draycote, predominantly pied but also frequently grey and yellow. I am rather confused about the following one as there doesn't seem to be much yellow on it that I can see but I assume it is a young Grey Wagtail. I stand to be corrected.

Edit: Thanks very much to Keith, Greenie and Warren for identifying the bird below as a young

Pied Wagtail

'I go to nature to be soothed and healed,
and to have my senses put in order.'

(John Burroughs)

Something else which can be seen in large numbers there are Rabbits. I was interested to learn that without Rabbits much of our downland and cliff tops would be overgrown with brambles, gorse and hawthorn. They suppress the growth of shrubs by nibbling the growing shoots and the resulting turf encourages the growth of insects, attracting low growing plants such as trefoils and vetches beloved by butterflies. The very short grass itself attracts insects such as ants which in turn attract many species of birds.

Rabbit

Finally I will end as I started with this Frog which was just outside my back door and which stayed put while I hurriedly fetched my camera. I know some people aren't keen on them but I think they are beautiful.

Common Frog

Well that is all for now. I will be trying to catch up with all of your great blogs over the next few days. Enjoy the beauty of Nature, wherever you are.