Sunday 14 October 2012

6th-14th October - Birds and Moths

After a morning of chores on Saturday (6th), we decided to drive to Sissinghurst Castle in the afternoon, usually it's a walk straight from the house but the back is not quite right yet. We got to the moat and over the field was a SPARROWHAWK being mobbed by about 4 crows, beyond the Sparrowhawk something else caught my eye, 3 COMMON BUZZARDS were circling high above as were many large gulls. Another bird caught my eye lower down, which turned out to be a LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, again a bird flew into view just behind the gull, a raptor just gliding south, luckily it turned and flapped once before carrying on it's way showing a yellowish head and shoulders MARSH HARRIER what a great  minute or two!!
Common Buzzard with company

I mananged to get out Sunday morning as well, SISKIN were evident with just small flocks being heard and seen in the one and half hour visit. More noticeable though were CHAFFINCHES flying north-west, maybe only 100 or so birds in total but in amongst them was the buzzing of a BRAMBLING (102) a welcome addition to the year list. Also a few REDPOLLS were heard and seen and s GREY WAGTAIL flew west. In the afternoon a look in the veg garden produced the MIGRANT HAWKERS below.
Migrant Hawker

Monday 8th started with a few moths which included a few year ticks RED LINED QUAKER, GREEN BRINDLED CRESCENT and BEADED CHESTNUT.
Green Brindled Crescent

Another Sunrise

While we did the moths on Tuesday, a small flock of 9 REDWINGS flew over followed by 2 FIELDFARE, it didn't stop there as Steve heard a Hawfinch, unfortunately I missed it, hopefully there will be another but this is a very tricky bird here or anywhere, come t that! On the moth front we had DARK CHESTNUT and the first NOVEMBER MOTH of the year and a couple of PINK BARRED SALLOWS.
Goldfinch

Blue Tit

Finally today I was out from 9am to 10.50am, again CHAFFINCHES were steadily flying north-west, the total for this morning was 251 birds in 20 flocks other birds all going the same way were 15 SWALLOW, 8 HOUSE MARTIN, 80 STARLINGS and small numbers of MEADOW PIPITS, SISKIN and REDPOLL. In the car park there was LITTLE OWL surrounded by 3 or 4 MAGPIES deep in the undergrowth, at least 6 JAYS were seen and I finally got some shots but too far away for a decent one! Other birds this morning included 3 BUZZARDS, 10 SKYLARKS, 15+ YELLOWHAMMERS, 2 REED BUNTINGS, 5 REDWING, 6 BULLFINCHES, 1 REDPOLL, 4 COMMON GULLS, 8 BLACK HEADED GULLS over 60 HERRING GULLS, 1 CHIFFCHAFF and a KESTREL. There was just one butterfly today a single RED ADMIRAL, overall a really enjoyable few days.
Distant Jay.... hopefully it can only get better!!

Robin

 

19 comments:

Isidro Ortiz said...

Bonitas capturas.Saludos

Giga said...

Słońce pięknie wstaje, są śliczne ptaki, a wśród nich mój ulubieniec - rudzik, jest ćma i ważki,dziękuję za to. Pozdrawiam.
Beautiful sun rises, they are beautiful birds, including my favorite - the robin, is a moth, and dragonfly, thank you for that. Yours.

Millhouse Photography said...

Really like the Blue Tit in the colourful tree, Alan.

Jason K said...

Nice one on the Marsh Harrier Alan...they are always a great bird to get on passage!

Anonymous said...

Great set of pics there Alan...and well done with the Marsh Harrier.

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Great shots!!!.. Congrat and best wishes

Mike H said...

Good to hear that the outings are getting more frequent Alan and the patch sounds to be warming back up. Some nice photos to accompany the words and pleased to see that you are begining to practice the Christmas card shots!

Tammy said...

Lots of great things to see Alan! That is a great capture of the Migrant Hawkers! Beautiful shots also of the Goldfinch & Blue Tit!

Warren Baker said...

Ive been scanning the skies for a Marsh harrier Alan, but no luck :-)

Brian King said...

Beautiful shots, Alan! I really like the hawker and moth photos! Fantastic detail! Gorgeous sunrise, too!

Rohrerbot said...

Incredible shots!!! I love the first picture. I was on vacation this past week and gone out birding. Love Migrant Hawkers!

Maria said...

Great variety of birds, I love the Blue Tit!

Unknown said...

Hi Alan, good to see you blogging. A Brambling in October! Is that early for your patch?

Lasse said...

Great captures and the sunrisepicture was gorgeous!

Helma said...

A superb varied blog. Beautiful Buzzard in flight and that your mating dragonflies are super. Beautiful Goldfinch, Blue Tit, but your moth is a beautiful colored butterfly. You robin in Backlight is a beautiful picture, compliment.
You sky with the sun is also very beautiful.
Just beautiful blog.

Greetings, Helma

Heather Wilde said...

Love the Goldfinch

Rachel J said...

Good to see you getting out and about Alan. Hope that means the back is on the mend. Great about the marsh harrier and brambling. Nice shots as always.

Marianne said...

Love the photos, wonderful sunrise, and that moth is a real stunner.

J said...

Very nice shots, Alan. That pastoral sunrise pic is lovely. Have yet to see any winter migrant birds here.