Scozmo's Photery

May 25th – Actually just a couple of hours but they turned out to be pretty grand in terms of sightings and photography and all on the patch, which is great.

I set off around 8 o’clock in the morning, it had been one of those early awakening mornings and the weather looked good so I was up and out out, after coffee and toast of course!

I checked over by the sheds then wandered across towards the Fox area, I’m drawn to their den as long as there are cubs around, I doubt very much whether I’ll see anything once they have moved on and it’s a good birding area into the bargain.

There’s a fenced off area that is deliberately managed and planted and so is fenced off with deer fencing to protect those plants and trees which also makes it a great bird area. There are lots of birds nesting in there, I get to hear them calling and glimpse some now and again so, as I rounded the corner to head towards the Fox den, I spotted a bird on a tree top.

This is the path I take, turning right and walking down the hill following the deer fence that protects the area on the right. (photo from a previous visit) There, perched high on a pine was a lovely male Redpoll, they can be hard to get decent shots of so I was happy he sat a while for me, as soon as I moved, gone.

I could hear a Chaffinch call behind me so …

There was a male Chaffinch with a beakful of beasties, obviously young birds were waiting to be fed so I moved on after grabbing a couple of shots.

As I moved on I was treated to a Wren belting out its call to my left.

For such a tiny bird they really can belt it out! 🙂

As I turned back to continue my walk, there was the (a) female Redpoll in the same location the male had appeared.

You can see there that she lacks the red breast of the male, it was great to see both of them!

I carried on quietly moving down the hill, the loud Blackbird that is always there, at the moment, was perched in his usual location so I grabbed a shot of him with food in his beak, before he hid.

I could see that it was going to be a hot one, the haze in the more distant images is quite strong. This planted patch is full of birds as I said and quite a few warblers.

A Willow Warbler on Willow, I think. There’s a Garden Warbler in the Larch trees just beyond that Blackbird, it sings constantly but, do I get to see it? So, I reached my destination spot for now, set up the tripod and settled in to await the Fox cubs ………….

While I waited ….

There’s a Willow Warbler that always perches in roughly the same spot every visit and a Dunnock that must have a nest in that patch.

Then they appeared! A couple of young Foxes popped up out of the den.

They look so soft and cuddly 🙂

I think I made a noise with the tripod, or my phone cover clicking shut. but, I was distracted by a duck-like call nearby.

A pair of Shelduck flew in from the right and swung towards me, one of them kept looking down at the foxes, a potential threat to their eggs somewhere nearby? whatever had disturbed them, they were almost totally ignoring my presence.

I was trying to pan around and follow them, at the same time deciding which to focus on, it all happened so quickly and they were circling around and right overhead, almost went on my butt a couple of times 🙂

But then, as I swung around with their flight, a large brown bird appeared, a Buzzard, Red Kite?

A female Marsh Harrier! What a bonus! There’s a loch a few miles to my East where a pair set up nest every year but I had never seen one over our patch before although Merlin has heard them (allegedly) 😉

Now, I know the Shelduck are somewhere in the area but I’ve always wondered where they go to nest, maybe it is on the patch? There’s an area of rough ground next to the burn just across the other side of the Rape field…… hmmmmm.

Now, the Shelduck and Harrier seemed to totally ignore each other because although they flew in that pattern, the ducks headed back round towards me and the foxes.

I was beginning to wonder if they were going to land but no, they turned again and flew off towards my right, East. Quite a show for me and events like that give me a bit of a buzz 🙂

Then I remembered the Fox cubs!

I stood my ground for a short while more, the tripod was set up and that Garden warbler might show itself yet? Sure!

I grabbed a few more shots of the Dunnock and the Willow Warbler, they were perched around 10 feet apart.

Time to move on. I was intending to head West-ish across the scrub ground when I spotted a bird foraging ahead. It had flown up into a tree by the time I got my act together but it just looked a little different.

You don’t really get to see it in these shots but it had a very pale breast and I thought it might be a Tree Pipit but feedback so far has been Meadow Pipit, which are much more common in these parts 🙂

However; the bird was behaving in a very agitated manner which I didn’t pay much attention to until I started to move on and spotted what I thought was a pigeon doing its soar ….

A male Sparrowhawk with a catch, I guess the soar I had seen was it adjusting its grip! Yet again i was totally caught out, had to rip the camera out of the bag etc …

Not nice to see but that’s nature.

The day was really hotting up, in temperature and sightings 🙂 We’re now well into Butterfly season so I try to record my sightings of them as I walk too! All getting very complicated 🙂

Into the far field where I spotted a Brown Hare quietly munching grass.

I think that first shot says “Really? I’m eating here!” 🙂

My walk took me down that field, circling back on myself, towards the wildlife camera, yes, that’s still in place just less going on right now.

While I was transferring files to my phone, a Black-headed Gull flew towards me so I started grabbing a few shots, I saw it kind of put the brakes on mid-air then carry on ….

It was only when looking at the images that I spotted the bug and the gull going for it 🙂

Across the reed beds and back onto our lane, I was heading up towards the feeding post. There have been Curlew and Lapwings nesting in the field that is left fallow and it looks like the Lapwing are ready to move on, I saw four take off together and flying circuits.

It felt good to get under tree cover, it was getting quite hot out there.

I spotted a Song Thrush up in the foliage, there are plenty around they just stay under cover a lot.

At the same time, I spotted a young bird trying to stay under cover and thought it was a young Thrush but it was a young Robin!

I’m kind of expecting to see many more, there were a lot of Robins around in the Spring.

I carried on to the feeding post, dropped a little food and stepped back.

The Nuthatches are busy with their nests and young right now but this one dropped in to grab a few morsels.

There are always GSW around in our area, quite a lot of them so it was nice to see one drop in here too. (Great Spotted Woodpeckers)

You may remember that there were a LOT of Coal Tits around in Spring, fewer now, all busy with nests and young.

I wandered on down the lane, down the hill to the first gateway.

I spotted a Comma butterfly flitting ahead of me, then a Red Admiral, still not big numbers but more variety.

I use the iRecord app to record the butterflies and dragonflies I get to see.

I was standing under direct sunlight and it was getting V hot so, I decided to make tracks home and make some lunch.

I came across that young Robin again and then ….. a Nuthatch nest 🙂 The male? was foraging in the nearby trees, then hopped back to the nest hole and in.

I now know where to watch out for young fledglings in the near future.

So, finally heading for home, I had set off around 8 o’clock and it was now just past 11, a decent wander on a hot day. I’d had a couple of wildlife events, seen a lot of wildlife and photographed most of it, the Jays are still eluding me but, I really can’t complain.

All this right on our doorstep? Wonderful.

Stay safe and well, see you again soon 🙂

patch photos