Checking on the Swallows and pratising macro photography at Cranford Park today

A very brief blog. I went back to Cranford Park today. It was gloomy and overcast, but I wanted to check on the Swallows. Of course whilst I was there I went to see the Kestrels. Only one showing this morning, and he/she was mobbing a Crow, so I think it's an adult bird rather than one of the juveniles.....

 

 

I also found a Meadow Pipit....

 

But back to the Swallows. They are still going back to the nest site, even though the nest is no longer there. I managed to grab some flight shots against the grey sky, and in a couple of them the bird has something in it's beak.....

 

 

I'm pretty certain they are re-building the nest. That's great news, but only if whoever destroyed the first nest, doesn't destroy this one.

 

After much patience a bird flew in and I grabbed a very quick photo of it perched......

 

I also took a very quick photo of the nest site as it looks now......

 

and then I moved away. I really want these birds to succeed nesting so I don't want to disturb them at all. I'm a little concerned that it might be late in the season too. Swallows migrate to Africa for the winter, usually leaving Britain in September/October.

 

Fingers crossed for this pair.

 

 

 Part of the new equipment I bought yesterday was a macro lens. On my old lens I could easily do macro, but I had to be standing at least 1.5metres away, which sort of defeats the purpose.

So in the Secret Garden today, I had a little practice....

 

There was a Crab Spider on a Scabious flower. As I watched, a female Thick-legged Flower Beetle got nearer and nearer to it........

 

and just about escaped with it's life.

 

All of the critters below were seen in the Secret Garden today. I've not had time to identify them yet, so for time being they remain unlabelled.....

 

The last one is for Sheila Perry who was sitting with me when this little critter decided to explore my camera bag. A Ladybird larvae......

My Birthday blog from Cranford Park

It's my birthday today, 21 again.........

 

I hadn't really made any plans except to meet my good old friend, Luke Dray, as I am buying off him his old Sony camera equipment. Luke's deserting the Sony brand name for Canon, for his own good reasons.

Fewy and Scally decided during the week they were going to go to Cranford Park too, so it ended up being quite a good day. I even bumped into one of the other Cranford Birders, Tony James.

 

Down side is my hand is still in a splint, so it's quite awkward and painful for me to take photos yet, but I managed a few today, some with the help of a tripod which made things easier. So todays photos are all taken with a mixture of camera bodies and lenses.

 

In my last couple of blog posts from Cranford Park I mentioned the Swallows. I also said I wasn't going to reveal where they were nesting so they could rear their young in peace. Sadly someone has found their nest, and it's been completely destroyed......

 

The photo below is one I took on the 4th July......

 

and this is what I found today.....

 



 

I'm absolutely gutted that someone could do such a thing. Whoever done it has obviously used stones and small rocks to hit the nest until it collapsed. There was some stone debris on the floor, but no sign of the nest nor any eggs or chicks. If the nest had collapsed of its own accord, there would be some signs of the nest on the ground below but there was nothing, which just proves to me that someone very clearly didn't want to leave any trace behind of what they had done.

I have a suspicion as to who it was, but I'm not going to name names without proof.

This was one birthday surprise I didn't want.

I did see two Swallows flying nearby, but I don't know where they went.

 

We also had another look for the White-letter Hairstreak butterflies, but without success. There is one particular lovely wood path surrounded on both sides with Elms, the butterflies preferred habitat, but despite seeing some dark butterflies near the tree tops they didn't settle low enough for us to confirm they were the Hairstreaks. If anyone else wants to try looking for them, here are the directions. From the corner entrance from the orchard in to the woods (the orchard stile entrance, not the gate entrance), turn left and take the second path on the right. It's the narrowest of all the woodland paths and the start of it looks almost like mown grass. Good luck.....

 

So now for some good news.......

The young Kestrels have finally decided to move out in to the meadows. We saw at least four birds today, flying and hovering low over the long grasses. Occasionally one would land on the grass path, but by the time we could walk there, the bird was back up in the sky. There was a lot of calling and interaction going on between the birds, and every now and then they would disappear back in to the woods. My favourite bird on my birthday. It certainly made up for the sad news about the Swallows.....

 

 

We also saw two Red Kites but just like last week I could only get one in shot....

 

 

and two Hobbys were out hawking for dragonflies. Again I could only get a bad shot of one of the birds...

 

 

The ChiffChaffs were quite visible today. Fewy managed to get a lovely photo of one in the Headland area while I managed to grab a passable shot of one grooming nearby.....

 

 

After the abundance of photos of the Thick-legged Flower Beetles that have been adorning my blog posts over the last few weeks, today I found just two. Instead it's now the season for Soldier Beetles. There were loads of these gorgeous red critters around today, and they all seemed to have just one thing on their minds......

 

 

Of course the butterflies were out in force today, with lots and lots of both Small and Large Skippers, Commas,  Gatekeepers, and Cinnabar moth caterpillars

 

I also bumped in to Allan and Steve and their gorgeous dog Bentley. I first met Bentley when he was a bouncing puppy about a year ago. Now he's 15 months old and looking rather handsome.....

 

 

I think I might have to start doing a regular 'dog blog photo' from my Cranford Park visits.

 

Other birds seen today by Scally and Fewy before I arrived were two Kingfishers from the Stone Bridge,  and lots of Blackcaps, Common Whitethroats and juvenile Long-tailed Tits in the Headland area.

 

So for a more or less unplanned birthday, it turned out to be actually quite good.

Of course with both Scally and Fewy on site I had to grab at least one 'blackmail' photo. I wouldn't be 'me' if I didn't........

 

Finally, thank you Luke and your Mum for driving over to bring my new 'toys'.

Thank you Scally for my new tripod.

 And thank you Fewy for driving me back home.

 

Now for a large glass of birthday wine :)

Hunting for Hairstreaks at Cranford Park

Before I start waffling on like I normally do, I must just point out my photos are not of the quality I would have liked them to be today. I fractured my thumb earlier in the week, and am currently in a splint, so holding my camera was a little difficult. I wasn't intending on going out at all today but the clear blue skies and the lure of the woods was too much to bear....

Anyway, on 1st July Alison Shipley was at Cranford Woods when she spotted a White-letter Hairstreak butterfly. With no camera on her, she quickly grabbed a shot on her phone...

Phone photo by Alison Shipley

As far as we know this could be the first sighting of this butterfly species at Cranford Park.

I went down there today but despite searching along every woodland path, I could not find any.However another friend, Susy Jones, also saw White-letter Hairstreaks today too, but in a totally different location.

 

photo by Susy Jones

These butterflies only fly in July, and prefer woodland rather than meadows. They are particularly attracted to Elm trees, and are most often seen flying high amongst the tree tops. Eggs are laid July-August and hatch the following spring. Hopefully by the end of this month I might find one in Cranford Park like Alison did.

 

There were plenty of other butterflies around....

 

worn looking Speckled Wood

Meadow Brown

Small Skipper

fresh Comma

Red Admiral

tatty looking male Meadow Brown

female Green-veined White

and my first Cinnabar caterpillars of the year

Male Banded Demoiselle

 

It was very sunny and hot today. I was suffering a bit in my splint, but not as much as this Blackbird was. Actually he was probably doing a bit of 'anting' rather than sunbathing. Some birds like Blackbirds, Thrushes, Dunnocks etc like to lay out flat in the sun to encourage mites to come to the surface and be pecked off. Some birds will even lay on top of ant nests and let the ants climb all through their feathers to help clean them. I watched this Blackbird for over ten minutes before he realised I was there, shook himself off and flew away.....

 

 

At the Headland area the Common Whitethroats weren't as visible as last week, with just a couple of fleeting glimpses..

 

 

Whilst I was watching the Kestrels (more about them later) a Heron landed in a nearby tree....

 

Two Red Kites went over as well but I couldn't get both in the same photo...

 

 

I checked on the Swallows nest and it's looking good with another rim of fresh mud added to it since my last visit. I took one quick photo so I wouldn't disturb the birds and quietly left. I'm not going to post the photo, or any that I take of them on the nest in the future, until I know the last chick has fledged. It's quite a big deal having Swallows nesting at Cranford Park and I don't want to see them disturbed. Later in the day I caught one of them out hunting and managed a half way decent snap....

 

 

There are still no signs of any Little Owlets out and about yet, which is quite surprising as for the last two years the first sightings have always been at the end of June. Maybe this year the Little Owls are going to fledge later. Only time will tell.

 

The Kestrels, however, are almost bang on target. I still cant count how many youngsters there are, and they still haven't left the security of the woods yet. I found them on the edge of the woodland and deep in the woods today. They're not yet hunting for themselves and so you hear them before you see them. Usually it's a juvenile calling because it's seen one of the adults with food. But I did get to see both adults see off a Buzzard earlier...photo below...

 

bad photo of a juvenile by the wood circle

adult hunting over the meadows

Adult flying to mob Buzzard

 

Both adult Kestrels to left hand side with Common Buzzard bottom right

adult and Buzzard

Deeper in the woods I heard the familiar Kestrel call and saw one land in a tree just above me. Sheltered from view by overhanging branches I managed a couple of photos but the light was in my eyes and I had to really lighten the photos to show the bird. It looks as if it has a vole or mouse in the first photo.....

 

 

Hopefully next week they'll start the process of learning to hunt themselves. This is when we usually see them on the grass paths in the meadow area, hunting grasshoppers and practising their 'mantling' technique.

Not a bad day despite having my hand strapped up and the weather being just a little on the humid side. Looking forward to my next visit already for updates on both the Swallows and the Kestrels, and with hopeful news of some Little Owlet sightings.