Monday 16 May 2011

Catching up




Male Redstart
Over the weekend my mate Les rang me up a couple of times and each time He was on the phone He was trying to describe a bird He was watching, ( He's not a birder) as I have said before He works on the Isthmus at Keswick Launch co. so yesterday I went over to spend some time with him. It was a while before the bird showed but when it did it turned out to be a beautiful male Redstart. it was a good distance away and my pics don't do its marking justice, but it was good to see.

They are a beautiful bird to watch.

The patch which is Thacka flash, "the pond" and the new Thacka beck reserve have all been pretty quiet since the Little Ringed Plover visits. But yesterday a Wood Sandpiper dropped in for a while, no sign this morning though.




Wild apple blossom along the top track
On the Flash this morning was the usual Mallard, plus a Coot the first in a while. After I had put the Westies back in the car I had a walk round the Thacker beck reserve. surprisingly I found 3 more Coots on there, and better still against all odds 4 possibly 5 Lapwing chicks. When I say against all odds I mean to say they have survived all the disturbance by irresponsible dog walkers. 3 of which I tangled with this morning  for not having their dogs on a lead, in spite of the fact that there are now notices up saying dogs must be on a lead. (my blood boils)


Horse-Chestnut blossom

We are not getting the variety of birds we got last year on the Flash, and I can only think that this is because the water level is still very high, therefore less attractive to waders. Also the new reserve seams to be picking up the birds we had on the Flash last year.




                                          A common woodland fern
                                              Male fern I think.

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A big thank you to everyone for looking in and leaving their comments, much appreciated, Gordon.