Bees, Bee Flies and Birds

The weather is slowly deteriorating but a break in the clouds mean't we could finally get outdoors to the Isabella Plantations; a great little garden in Richmond Park.

Spring is now well underway and bees were happily feeding in the evening sun...

I then decided to get a MEGA close up to see how and what bees are actually feeding from; it's quite graphic so if you don't like close ups of hairy, sticky, insecty insects, look away now- oops, too late!

Feeding alongside these bees was this alien creature; a Bee Fly. This is a first for me but after reading about it recently in a field guide, I could ID it straight away. It looks a bit like a Hedgehog with wings... no? Nah, actually it looks nothing like a Hedgehog with wings.

Now for some bird life. A pair of Treecreeper were... well, creeping up a tree with what looked like nesting material in their mouths- I'll be keeping an eye out for them as spring progresses...

This Goldcrest was singing from a nearby Alder giving great long views to all who watched it...

But by far the wierdest thing that happened today was spotting this Mandarin Duck perched up a large Oak tree!!

Buzzard on my doorstep

Just last week I found a small urban fringe literally on my doorstep with woodland, wildflower meadows and a hill. Don't ask me how I never noticed it before but somehow it has managed to conceal itself from me! The late summer evenings mean't I could wander down there after dinner; so thats exactly what I did.

The most exciting find of the evening was a Buzzard which cirled above the hill before gliding off in the direction of our house... not bad considering its the second time I've been there!

Walking up the hill which has no name- maybe I should call it 'The Hill'... yeah, that sounds good. Ok, walking up 'The Hill' I spotted a lone Daffodil in a field, apparently the site is renowned for its wildflower meadow and holds such species as Cuckoo flower and Pyramidal Orchid... never hear of them!

View from the top of the hill...

Then it was into the woodland where everything suddenly came alive; at least 5 or 6 Chiffchaffs were chiff chaffing away and 2 Blackcaps were singing their heart out. I watched Blackbirds, Mistle thrushes, Long tailed tits and Great tits as they explored possible nests and even a Nuthatch blasted out that wierd call from somewhere high in an oak tree.

One of the many Chiffchaffs present

What a great evening and here's to a great new local patch!

Butterflies and Birds in Bushy Park

It's yet another sunny day today... 'hmm, just right for butterflies' was the thought going through my head as I did some revision for the Yr 10 exam when we get back. After lunch (nope, sadly today I didn't see a Swallow whilst eating my sandwich), I decided to go to Bushy Park (what a change!) and look for some butterflies, especially as I know a favoured haunt of the Speckled Wood.

Upon arriving in the park, I was greeted by these 2 bad boys as they stared at passers by.


It wasn't long before I found my first butterfly of the year... a Speckled Wood, resting on the leaf litter in a small area of woodland...

... and a shot from the side- those elaborate colours make great camouflage as this butterfly spends most of it's time on the woodland floor.

As I watched the Specked Wood, I noticed I was being watched by a Nuthatch. How ironic- a birdwatcher being watched by a bird!





On to the main lake and many of the Coots were busy building their nests.






A very protective husband keeping away potential predators...





The Great crested Grebes have been forced to build a new nest as their old one was taken by a Coot, their new nest is right on the bank of a busy path with dog walkers and young kids being frequent.
My first proper views of the Bushy Park Grebes...







Whilst trying to pinpoint a singing Skylark high above me, I flushed this Grey Heron, which did a quick circle of the lake and suddenly dived into the water in an attempt to catch a fish!

The First Swallow

Whilst eating a sarny in the garden this morning, I heard that unmistakable 'chitter' 'chatter' call above my head. Looking up... yep, my first Swallow of the year! The shot's rubbish I know!

A quick post from Wisley

Landscape gardens like RHS Wisley have never really been my cup of tea, I much prefer wild and untouched landscapes. However, if there's the chance of seeing wildlife there, I'll happily go!
The first thing we saw was a Pied Wagtail, closer inspection revealed the poor little guy had a problem with one of his eyes- maybe an infection? It didn't look too good and wasn't moving...


To my relief, the bird soon perked up, began to move about and act like colourful male Pied Wagtails should.





So... I've got Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtail, all I need now is Yellow Wagtail!
Whilst waiting for the Yellow Wagtail to turn up, I watched Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Siskins, Coal tits, Jays, Lapwings and much more as they enjoyed the sun.
I was quite surprised and pleased to find 3 Buzzards circle above the Temperate House. They were very high up but I like the colours on this shot of the sky as the light faded.



A Kestrel was also hunting in a nearby field


The clocks have changed and its now getting dark at 8pm instead of 3pm, so make the most of these light evenings... I know I will; just found out I've got a nature reserve near where I live. I'll definitly check it out and report back to you how I get on.

Happy Birding!

A afternoon in the Bush

After being told by a fellow blogger Tricia (see her great blog here) that a pair of Grebes had decided to use the main lake in Bushy Park, I decided to go and watch the 2 birds for a while (plus, Grebes in summer plumage make great photographs!).

Today however, the Grebes had decided they didn't want to show themselves and so I only managed an empty nest shot!


.... and a record shot

To cheer me up, I watched 3 Grey Wagtails flittering about and doing all those jumpy things only wagtails can do. This guy hasn't quite developed those lovely black markings on it's throat yet.

This colourful male Reed Bunting showed very well; shame my 300mm lens is jammed a 250mm!

Eygptian Geese and other foreign wildfowl still seem to be going by their foreign timetable and are giving birth to young very early in the year, it must be hard work for mum.

It then started to rain and mum signalled for her gooslings to shelter under her wing... arrrrr

A Frog

The first frog of the year has found its way into our garden pond, although we get sightings of these in the pond most weeks in the spring and summer, they have never laid any frog spawn in it- probably because the goldfish would eat it all!

Hunted Hoverflies

Firstly, sorry for the lack of blogging recently- I know you've all missed me so much ;). Schools been piling up lots of GCSE coursework recently (my Yr 10 exams are only a couple of weeks away.... AHHHH!).

I managed to get out in the garden on Sunday and take some shots of some insects that are on the wing in this lovely weather.
I'm pleased to see that Hoverflies are back in the garden, I love the colours on their body, which disguises them as Wasps, and no bird in the right mind wants to eat these bad boys...

Unfortunatly, wasps are not fooled by the Hoverflies attempt to mimic them...

Back to the Hoverflies- I think these guys are called Episyrphus Balteatus??!

However, there is another creature that eats Hoverflies and isn't fooled by its colours... the Crab Spider, and worse still, there's one living on the same plant that the Hovers were feeding on!

This spider has an ingenious way of feeding, it will climb up a flower...

...get into pouncing position...

...wait until an insect comes to feed... and then it will strike (sorry, no pictures for this bit, you'll just have to imagine an insect getting eaten alive by a Crab Spider)!

Wheatear

I have read about Wheatear in field guides and in Birdwatching magazine all the time, but I have only seen them once before, in a field in the distance, where there was no way of really appreciating their plumage.

On a recent trip to Farlington Marshes on Saturday, an encounter with two males really blew me away at the spectacular nature of their plumage. There has been an early influx of these summer passerines in Britain and we managed to find 8 at Farlington. Other hightlights from the trip included a singing Cetti's Warbler and pair of Avocet (another summer migrant).

My shots of the Wheatear are not the best as these birds are not used to human presence!

Two males