Friday September 14

A cloudy morning with a light westerly breeze.

A wander around with the Richards, armed with several plastic boxes for blackberry picking, turned out to be quite productive (for berries and birds). As usual we made very slow progress, and there was ample time for a fully grown Common Toad to crawl out of the way.

Toad

There was some evidence of bird migration as a handful of Meadow Pipits and Swallows were heading south. A large tit flock was carrying one or two Chiffchaffs, while several tackers tacked unseen.

The flock of Greylag Geese has reached 210, and the flashes also contained the usual thirty or so Teal, four Green Sandpipers, and half a dozen Snipe. As we arrived at the watchpoint I spotted a small, rather long-tailed duck flying over and just had time to get the bins on it to confirm my suspicions that it was a female type Mandarin. It headed south-east before the lads could see it.

We wandered back, looking at crickets, butterflies, and the like before I heard the unmistakable call of a Kingfisher. My luckless companions were a few yards away and didn't notice the call.

Among other insects I spotted a small moth which turned out to be a rather late-flying Bramble-shoot Moth.

Bramble-shoot Moth

It might seem as though I was hogging all the wildlife, but I'm pleased to say that enough was seen by all of us to make it a successful visit.

A visit to the Miller & Carter at Matchborough for lunch produced another Kingfisher on the Arrow, and this time we all saw it.