Saturdays visit to Cranford Park, and my first juvenile woodland birds

I was pretty tired on Saturday after a stressful week at work, and managed just a brief two hour visit to the park. I had a tummy bug last Friday and don't think I'm completely over it yet.

 

It was worth dragging my aching legs around though, as I found juveniles of three of our favourite woodland birds.

 

The first was a juvenile Robin that hopped on to a branch in front of me....

 

 

The second was the Great Tits nesting in the box by the Information Centre. The adults were very attentive with both male and female bringing in food on a regular basis.....

 

but there was one juvenile that kept popping it's head out of the nest box hole calling for more food after the adult had left....

 

It won't be long before they fledge and venture out in to the big wide world.

 

The third was by the river. I was standing on the path watching a couple of Blackbirds when a Blue Tit kept scolding me. It was very insistent and was hopping around from branch to branch giving off small alarm calls whilst still managing to hold on to a beak full of food.....

 

and then I realised I was standing right next to their nest. I hastily moved away to a safe and discreet distance, and grabbed a couple of zoom lens shots of the juveniles peeking out of the hole.....

The meadows are starting to really flourish, and are attracting all sorts of lovely critters....

 





 

Common Carder bee on Red Clover

 

unidentified bugs

Azure Damselfly on one of the young oak saplings

 

On my last few visits I've been seeing lots of Thick-legged Beetles in the buttercups, but I finally found a single female one on Saturday too. Below are comparison photos. The first two are of the male with their 'thunder thighs', and the last one is of the more delicate looking female...

 



male Thick-legged Beetle on a buttercup

male Thick-legged Beetle on a dandelion

female Thick-legged Beetle on a buttercup

There were lots of Cardinal Beetles in the long grasses too..

Cardinal Beetle

 I didn't see many butterflies on Saturday but the most commonly seen was the Green-veined Whites and Speckled Woods.

 

female Green-veined White on a buttercup

I rested at the log circle for some time, and shared my lunch with the regular pair of Magpies. I see them every time I sit at the log circle. They must have nested near by. Granted these birds aren't to everyone's liking but I could watch these clever Corvids for ages. What was particularly amusing was the way both of the birds would hop from log seat to log seat all around the circle. When they had finished hovering up all the crumbs, one of them stared at me for a short while.....

 

 

 

So a fairly short visit for me, but still an enjoyable one.